I'm sure you've heard Annie talk at meals and such; it just wasn't mentioned. She communicates telepathically with Paul quite a bit, but when the three of you are together she speaks.
The arm is cut up quite a bit, but fully functional.
In answer to your question, Paul says, "I took the tension off the flywheel then picked up the anti-reverse ratchet catch and gave the flywheel a push in the opposite direction to get the arms to go backwards." Of course, you never saw him touch anything, but that's his explanation.
Annie leads you toward the truck and tells you to sit in one of the chairs by the table where you eat (outside). She grabs a bucket and heads over to the water tower, opening a tap to fill the bucket with fresh water. Meanwhile she's calling "Nerfy! Where are you, boy? Come here, Nerfy." She then sings, "Bill Grogan's goat," a four note line from a song. "He can't resist that," she says conspiratorially. "Bill Grogan's goat," she sings again, and Nerfy bounces into view, singing "boop boop boop boop" on the same four notes. "There you are," she says, and catches him gently, placing him on the table. He sings the four notes again.
I believe you have met Nerfy. In any case, he's a six inch diameter purple ball that appears to be made of foam rubber but that it has cartoonish eyes that look to be drawn on it but are animated, and a mouth that is a hole that appears and disappears beneath the eyes. He always sings those four notes when he sees anyone.
Annie tells you to take the shirt off. "Nagajuice stains," she says, "and the purple will wear off your skin soon enough, but might never come out of your clothes." She dons a pair of rubber gloves.
Drawing your arm out by the fingers over the grass with her left hand, she picks up Nerfy in her right, and squeezes him gently. Purple liquid oozes out of him and drips onto your arm, and she rolls the arm and spreads the liquid over the injured portions. You feel blood rushing into the arm, and you can actually feel the cuts knitting and healing over. She works quickly, and as soon as she has coated the entire area she tosses Nerfy on the table, picks up the bucket, and rinses your arm with the cold water--probably not a moment too soon, as you were starting to get faint and are certainly light-headed. The skin is stained purple, the color of grape juice stains, but the flesh is completely healed with no sign of scars or scabs.
"Thank you, Nerfy," she says, rinsing the gloves in what remains of the water, removing them, and dumping the bucket on the grass. She heads to the water tower to rinse out the bucket.
--M. J. Young
