A steel cable from the iron collar around the condemned man’s neck runs up to a pulley and back down to a spool connected to the back of an old bubblegum machine.
His cell, open to the city’s elements and bustling streets, sits next to the coin-operated spool.
A quarter [dollar] turns [the spool] a quarter [of a] turn. But istead of dispensing bubblegum, it dispenses justice by winding up the wire like a winch.
A half dollar for a half turn. A dollar a turn.
One good turn deserves another, so people line up at the machine to take turns buying turns.
This is the old model. Gallows 2.0, out next quarter, accepts Visa, Mastercard, and Bitcoin, and you can buy forward OR BACKWARD turns (to loosen the noose) while viewing through the cell’s webcam over the Internet.
Welcome to Justice 2.0
April 1, 2014