Pop Hilder works at a bustling manufacturing plant. He and the other workers go by their machine numbers, so he is often called “Five.” One morning, Fifteen tells Pop about the layoffs at a nearby factory. Pop, who is six months away from retiring with a full pension, fears that their bosses will do the same. An hour later, the foreman asks Pop to train a new hire on his machine. His name is Mr. Merrill, and he’s the nephew of the factory’s owner. Shortly after that, Pop is called to the supervisor’s office. Mr. Kenny informs him that a non-union newcomer will be taking over machine five. He explains that the young Mr. Merrill was only there to get a feel for the grunt work before he takes an executive position.
Mr. Kenny assigns Pop to machine twenty-nine. Pop is shocked—it’s a hazardous machine, and all the previous workers have lost fingers on that post. Pop takes the rest of the morning off to prepare for his new job. At lunchtime, Eight and Twenty-Two talk about the situation. They’re sure the company wants Pop to get injured and quit so they don’t have to pay out his pension. At one o’clock, Pop is supposed to show up at his new post, but he’s nowhere to be found. The company calls his wife, who doesn’t know where he is either. By three o’clock, the higher-ups have received a police report that a man matching Pop’s description drowned himself in a nearby bog. Mr. Kenny briskly resumes the hiring process. Now they won’t have to pay out a pension.