The keyhole glowed. From inside his chest, a melody began—rusty at first, like a forgotten lullaby. Then it swelled. It was not a symphony. It was not an opera. It was the sound of a hundred tiny hammers striking silver bells, the sound of a carousel in a rainstorm, the sound of a child laughing for the first time.

“Turn me. Turn me with something you love.”

Down the grey street, at the very end, a faint, tinkling music could be heard, growing fainter, like a music box being carried away by the wind.

Click.

She told him a story. Forty years ago, a traveling toymaker had come to town, offering a strange service: for a single tear from a parent, he could install a “motivation engine” into a newborn child. It would make them orderly, obedient, and endlessly productive. The cost was their joy. Many parents paid.