There was a sudden ghastly burping noise in the spectral silence of the Blue Ribbon Laundry - a bat fluttered madly for it's hole in the insulation above the dryers where it had roosted, wrapping wings around its blind face. It was a noise almost like a chuckle. The mangler began to run with a sudden lurching grind - belts hurrying through the darkness, cogs meeting and meshing and grinding, heavy pulverising rollers rotating on and on. It was ready for them.
Ok, so it sounds like the screen write for a B-Movie, but don't think just because this short story by King is about a domestic appliance makes it any less scary than what it is. The Mangler is really what it says on the tin: a mangler, just one that happens to be in a laundromat and which kills people. Intentionally. It might sound funny, but take an hour to read the story, and you will find that it's not. The mangler is a scary piece of machinery; and while they're almost archaic machines now, you won't want to touch one if you ever come into contact with one in the future.
I love Stephen King and music festivals; I eat my toast upside down; I daydream about getting married probably a bit too much; and I wish every day for a pet sausage dog puppy (who never materialises – sob).
