Donnie Laws, di Chirico, Little Chinese Everywhere

Be careful what you leave behind inside Babette’s jukebox.

Apr 22, 2023

The jukebox at Babette's Fancy Diner is peculiar for a few reasons. Hollow and lacking in any music-playing machinery, it nonetheless plays music (and the occasional podcast) at all hours. The sturdy cabinet shelves inside the jukebox always hold exactly six items of reading, listening, or viewing material. There is usually a book, and a magazine with a bookmark tucked between the pages of a particular article. Sometimes you find an mp3 player complete with earbuds and a pre-loaded playlist, or an old Walkman with a cassette tape and headphones. There tends to be at least one high quality Giclee art print in a cheap but sturdy frame. Sometimes there’s a url printed on a business card—Babette will let you borrow her laptop if you don’t have one.

The media selections offered up by the jukebox are always worth checking out, and always tailored to the special interests of Babette’s customers. But if you open up the jukebox and see a book or anything else you like, it’s better not to hesitate about grabbing it up. Once you close the door and open it again, all the selections offered by the jukebox will be different. There are never any repeats.

Where do the books and magazines and mp3 players, etc, go once the jukebox door shuts? Like so many things about Babette’s Fancy Diner, that one’s a mystery. But it does make you wonder: if you wanted to get rid of something by leaving it in the jukebox, would the jukebox make it disappear for you? And what would be waiting for you in exchange the next time you opened the door?