What is the squirrel machine? Is it a rodent ensnarement device? A mechanism for concealing one's guarded harvest? An anachronistic fable? A meaningless diversion? Set in a fictional New England town in the 1800s, the narrative initially details the relationship and maturation of Edmund and William Torpor. But the two brothers quickly elicit the scorn and recrimination of an unamused public when they reveal their musical creations built from strange technologies and scavenged animal carcasses.