Red White and Black

Chapter Three

Sammy

A cascade of sparks rained down on the workers below, earning Sammy a reciprocal stream of swearing and variety of crude comments concerning the dubious virtues of his mother. They oughta know better than to be standing underneath a guy while he's welding. Still, he knew all too well what it was like to have one of those white hot sparks drop down an open collar or into the pocket of your pants. You started dancing and swatting at yourself like a man possessed.

Less than forty feet away, the inferno of the basic oxygen furnace roared, throwing off its own shower of sparks. It was kind of like standing right next to a live fireworks display given on the surface of the sun. The heat rolled out of the furnace hitting Sammy like a hammer, threatening to suck the very breath from his lungs. At times, if the air moved just right, it became nearly impossible to breath; it was just too hot. One of the first things he had learned when he had started in the mill as a teenager was to leave the coins and keys out of his pockets. More than once, they had absorbed enough heat to sear the skin on his leg. The heat was often so intense, the very scaffold plank on which he had been standing had ignited, leaving him wondering why and how he had volunteered for this particular hell.

"Sammy!" A voice called and he realized it was his Charlie Stewart, his foreman. "Get your butt to the shop as soon as you finish up that bracket."

Sammy nodded his acknowledgement, not wanting to waste precious air speaking when he didn't have to. Nearly three decades of working in and around a dozen things that could kill a man within seconds had forged Sammy into the kind of guy who wasted very little. The main thing was to do his job and stay alive and safe. It took focus and concentration, not sucking up to anybody with polite words.

He continued welding, making sure there were no pits or imperfections, knowing that someone's life may one day depend on the quality of his work. A flaw would leave a weak weld and a weak weld could eventually break free, leaving the load this bracket would hold to come crashing to the floor. This was one reason he was meticulous in his work, but there was another, perhaps even more revealing about his character. It was his nature. It had to be done right and up to his exacting standards or it wasn't good enough. For Sammy, the choice was always clear: there was perfection or there was failure. No compromise, nothing halfway.

And it was that very attitude that had chased away his wife fifteen years earlier.

Sammy no longer thought about his failed marriage; the pain and guilt became too much to bear, but he knew deep down it was his fault Debra had left him. It was the one area in his life he could point to as failure and that too was part of the reason he chose to bury it in his memories. She was a good woman and the love of his life but she had left when he stubbornly refused to meet her halfway on even the most trivial and insignificant of things. She left him and he turned bitter toward the world. Forty five years old, and I got nothing to show for it. I'm dying on my feet, he thought, and no one will care.

It was his recognition of this lack of purpose that had made him apply for the supervisory position at the mill. Something, anything, to add meaning and purpose to a life in real danger of fading into the shadows and passing away with no more impact than a puff of wind. He had convinced himself this was the real reason for applying, but it sure didn't hurt there would be an increase in pay accompanying a supervisor's position. Admitting it would mean admitting he was failing, but the truth was that he needed the money.

He completed the weld and brushed the scale away to reveal the gleaming metal beneath. After a quick scrutiny, he nodded. Perfect, he thought. If only these young kids would pay attention, I could teach them a thing or two. Well, everybody but the blacks. They can't be taught anything. Too interested in their jungle music and knocking up another welfare mother to care about a career.