The Plainview Dictionary

The centerpiece of the fish tank's Les Misérables production. Sledge the hammerhead shark stands atop it, tiny French flag in his fin. The revolution continues through every scene where the camera pans past the tank. Nobody has mentioned it.

What Jenny thinks Sam is doing in the garage. She has heard unusual noises. She has accepted this explanation. She is running out of acceptance.

The canonical length of a machine trip. Long enough for Sam to have the most extraordinary handful of minutes of his life. Short enough that Plainview never notices he was gone. The town clock is never wrong. Sam is.

Gerald Pryor's color-coded surveillance document tracking the unexplained glow from Sam's garage. Eighteen months of entries. Labeled columns. He will not discuss what is in them. Barkley is his co-investigator and is terrible at it.

Justin's standing opinion on having been given the power of speech. He considers it a curse. He was a happy, confused, affectionate dog. Now he has thoughts. Most of them are wrong.

Sam's wife's full name. Used exclusively by Sam, and exclusively when he is in trouble. "Jenny" is love. "Jen" is friendship. "Jennifer" is the four-syllable warning shot before the glasses come off.

Einstein the scarlet macaw understands the machine better than Sam does. He articulates this constantly, in clear English, from his perch. Sam does not listen. The family does not listen. The bird has never once been wrong. This makes it worse.

Plainview's town motto. Printed on the welcome sign, the police cruiser door, and the town hall letterhead. Technically accurate, given that the most interesting thing in town is hidden in a garage. Spiritually, a lie.

Coco Reyes's secret-menu ube ice cream. Filipino purple yam. Not listed on the board. Only available if you know to ask. Sam has known to ask for six years. He brings some home when he needs to soften bad news. Jenny can see it coming from across the parking lot.

Bartender Mike's unofficial title. Where Rosie's diner is the town's information exchange (everything that happens in Plainview ends up in her kitchen), Bartender Mike keeps every confidence anyone has ever shared with him. He has a past he does not talk about. Nobody presses.

Sam's gear-driven morning routine. A coffee maker that clanks and hisses for four minutes to produce one cup. A brass-catapult toaster that overshoots into the living room about thirty percent of the time. Ginger catches hers without looking up from her book.

The ongoing battle between Einstein and Hamdini. Einstein designs elaborate traps to hold the hamster. Hamdini escapes every single one, narrating his breakout in a suave theatrical Hispanic accent. They respect each other. They remain at war.

The two places Shadow appears. Never the space between them. You see her on the couch. You blink. She is on top of the fridge. The window was closed. This is on camera. Security footage has shown her in two rooms simultaneously. The family has stopped trying to explain it.

Sam's first homemade protective suit. Cobbled together from actual scuba gear, duct tape, and optimism. Jenny walked in on Sam wearing it in the garage. She had questions. She did not get answers. The diving rig is now kept behind a tarp.

The origin of the machine's blueprints. One night Sam dreamed the entire design -- vivid, complete, compelling. He woke up and built it. He does not know where the dream came from. He does not ask. The audience may start to wonder before he does.

The twenty tropical fish in the Marvin living room fish tank. During every living room scene, a 5-6 second cutaway shows them performing a famous scene from classic theater, film, or musical. Full costumes. Tiny props. An octopus stage manager. Nobody in the family has ever noticed.

Jenny's oversized colored-rim glasses are the show's earliest visual tell. Glasses ON = mom mode, patient, everything is fine. Glasses OFF = somebody is having a very bad five minutes. The background music shifts when they come off. Even Sam has learned to stop mid-sentence.

Sam thinks the destinations are random. He is wrong. Every reality the machine opens to is a world in some kind of trouble. Einstein has noticed. Einstein has been screaming about it for months. Sam will figure it out. The audience will know first.

The warm amber light that spills from the garage windows whenever Sam activates the machine. Visible from six feet away (Gerald's property line). Visible from space, probably. Jenny thinks it's the new shop lights. It is not the new shop lights.

A flickering screen above the machine's console that shows blurry glimpses of the destination before Sam steps through. Water. Fire. Darkness. Snow. Enough to know the general situation. Never enough to actually prepare.

Fire Chief Kowalski responds to exactly two calls a year. Both are burnt toast. He trains the volunteer crew like Navy SEALs anyway. When the machine actually starts a fire, he will be ready. He has been ready for twelve years.

The bumper sticker on Sam's faded forest-green station wagon. On a show about interdimensional travel. Hidden in plain sight. The sticker was on the car when Sam bought it used. The previous owner is not answering the phone.