Ten Drums High

Chapter 1: N&J Environmental Wins a Contract

Natalie waited impatiently in the conference room of N&J Environmental’s office. Her younger brother, Jason, sat beside her, but she was too excited to talk to him right now. He hadn’t heard any of the rumors flying around, and she wanted in on the buzz. All she knew was that N&J Environmental may have won a big government contract, something called Chemical Disposal, and they may have to hire more people to get the work done.

N&JE folks were filing into the conference room talking and laughing. An all-hands meeting had been called, and everyone knew something important was about to be announced by Mr. Brown, Natalie and Jason’s father. Natalie spotted Kate, a young but very bright engineer, walking in the door and immediately sidled up close to her. “Any news?” she asked. “Nothing since you asked me ten minutes ago,” Kate laughed. “C’mon, let’s sit over here.” Natalie followed Kate to a pair of chairs near the front of the room. She felt too excited to sit, but she did anyway and tried to think of something to say, so she wouldn’t twitch. “What’s the Chemical Disposal job?” Natalie asked. The name was on everybody’s lips, but today was the first time Natalie had heard it.

“It’s a big, high profile job management has been working on for weeks. The site is near the Hackensack River with something like fifty thousand drums of toxic and flammable waste. I don’t know much about it, but I hear it’s really bad,” Kate said.

“Wow. Sounds bad.”

“It would be a great job for us, and worth a lot of money. I’d love to work on a project like that,” Kate added.

Natalie agreed even though she didn’t actually work at N&J Environmental. In fact, she didn’t work at all unless you counted school as work. But it was summer vacation, and while many of her eighth grade friends were shopping at the Mall, Natalie hung out with the scientists and engineers that worked at the company. Geologists, hydrologists, chemists, and toxicologists, they were some of the smartest people she knew, and everyday she learned something new.

Sometimes Mr. Brown paid Natalie and Jason to help out on a project. Filing, computer data entry, assembling reports, it really didn’t matter. Natalie liked working because she felt a sense of pride that her work was worth something. Making her own money to spend at the mall was pretty nice too. Right now she was saving for an iPod, and she only needed $50 more to buy it. At $10 an hour, that wouldn’t take long. There was opportunity in a big job like Chemical Disposal, and Natalie wanted in especially if it meant working with her friend Kate.

Natalie fidgeted nervously in her seat and took a deep breath to try to calm herself. She felt nervous in part because she was hoping for some work, but mostly she was nervous for her dad. He had spent many weeks working on the proposal, and everyone expected a win when he personally took charge. Loss of the contract wouldn’t be devastating for the company financially, but moral would take a big hit. She couldn’t stand the thought of people being disappointed in her father. Natalie shuddered at the thought and tried to think of something to distract her mind. Then she leaned toward Kate and whispered, “Um, I tried to pry my Dad for info, but he wouldn’t talk”.

“He probably knows you couldn’t keep it quiet,” Kate teased.

Natalie laughed, “You’re probably right,” and the humor seemed to ease her anxiety.

The room was full when Mr. Brown strode in and squeezed through the crowd to the front. He cleared his throat and spoke clearly, “I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors, so let me put them to rest … we won the Chemical Disposal job”. “Yeah!“ the crowd erupted. People jumped up clapping loudly and shook hands with one another. Kate whistled shrilly which made several people jump, and everyone laughed. Natalie jumped to her feet and clapped her hands. Silently, she breathed a sigh of relief and felt proud of her father. Mr. Brown stood at the front of the room and let the moment sink in.

Chapter 2: The Site Files

Mr. Thompson was assigned senior project manager for the Chemical Disposal project. He was older, somewhere in his forties, with lots of experience. He was also very nice, and Natalie liked him a lot. Dan Woodbury was also assigned to the team. He was a young engineer who had been hired a year ago at the recommendation of his professor. He was tall, a bit awkward, and very smart, or so they were told. It was hard to tell because he rarely worked with Kate or any of the other young scientists and engineers his own age preferring to mingle with the senior people in the office. He never talked to Natalie or Jason unless their Dad was with them.

Kate rounded out the team. She asked her manager. Margie, for the assignment the afternoon of Mr. Brown’s announcement. Margie asked Kate what she knew about the site and why she was so interested in it. Kate admitted that she didn’t know much, but she liked working with Mr. Thompson. Margie shook her head and said she would give Kate’s name to Mr. Thompson, and he would decide whom he wanted on his team. Margie then warned Kate that she should be careful what she asked for, because she just might get it. When Kate asked why, Margie just smiled and said she’d find out.

Both Natalie and Jason were at the office the day the files arrived from the Chemical Disposal Site, a truck full of boxes stacked to the roof. It took the team all day to unload and organize them in the store room. Natalie and Jason helped. “Eww!” Natalie said carrying an open box, and she wrinkled her nose, “This one stinks like poop!” Jason laughed and said. “They all stink like poop! It’s disgusting. What did these people do?” Mr. Thompson frowned, “They actually smell like chemicals. These boxes were stored with barrels of hazardous waste. Chemical Disposal was supposed to be a waste disposal facility. They took in hazardous wastes from all kinds of companies and burned them on-site. Unfortunately, they were a very shoddy operation, and the neighbors complained of the smells and smoke so much the government had to shut them down. Today is their last day to close up. These records tell us what chemicals were brought there, so we can dispose of them properly. That’s our job”.

“Someone’s going to read all this? Jason asked his face scrunching up. He pitied the poor person who took that job. Mr. Thompson laughed, “Well, it’s a lot for sure, and Kate and Dan are going to do most of it.” Kate smiled weakly as she looked at the boxes that filled every nook and cranny of the truck and suddenly felt very overwhelmed. This is not quite what she expected. Maybe her boss was right she thought to herself.

Some of the boxes were big, some were small, some were closed, some smelled like mold or chemicals, but all were bursting at the seams with paper and ready to fall apart. Kate dug right in carrying some of the largest boxes. Natalie and Jason tried to keep up with her box for box. They were both surprised at how strong Kate was.

Dan, to everyone’s surprise, carried only small boxes. He was physically much bigger than Kate, Natalie, and Jason, and yet he carried the smallest boxes and was the slowest. Kate became angry when he handed her a large box out of the truck that was too big for her to carry. She made a face behind his back, and soon Jason and Natalie were doing the same. Dan paid no attention to them.

Shortly, Mr. Thompson excused himself for a conference call, and left Natalie, Jason, Kate, and Dan to finish the job. Several minutes later, Dan looked at his watch and declared to no one in particular, “I’ve got to talk to Frank. See ya!” and disappeared into the office. Kate and Natalie looked at each other in disbelief as they watched the door close behind him.

“Do you suddenly feel abandoned?” Kate asked. “How are we going to move all this?” she gasped looking at the mountain of boxes remaining in the truck. Natalie agreed and then added, “Not only that, but why does he call my dad, Frank. It’s so weird.”

“Yeah”, Kate smirked. “He does that a lot. We laugh at him because he doesn’t call him “Frank” to his face. Dan’s so full of himself, no one can stand him. Smart guy, but that doesn’t mean anything if everyone thinks he’s a jackass.”

Jason picked up an oversized box and staggered under the heavy weight toward the back of the truck which dropped about 4 feet to the pavement. “Jason!” Katie cried out in alarm. “That box is too big. Put it down!”

Jason tottered backward and then, to everyone’s horror, the bottom of the box gave way. Files and binders flowed downward in a blur and when they struck the truck bed, yellow, blue, and white papers burst forth, surged over the bumper, and sped to a stop on the pavement at the girl’s feet. The girls, who had just managed to jump out of the way, looked up at Jason in disbelief.

"Oops,” Jason smiled sheepishly. His whole body tingled with embarrassment. He put the empty box down and prayed he wasn’t in too much trouble.

Natalie asked, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, but some of these boxes are too big. I can’t carry them.”

“Some are too big for me too,” Kate said pointing to several large boxes. “Let’s drag the big ones to the side, and later we’ll use a cart to carry them to the store room.”

They all agreed that was the sensible thing to do. But the mood had suddenly dropped to a new low. Emptying the truck was tough enough, and they had been abandoned by Dan, but now they had to clean up this mess too. And, if there was any semblance of order to these files, it was lost.

Jason sighed to himself despondently as he carefully picked up a small box and carried it to the store room. He felt better a few minutes later when Kate arrived with several new file boxes and helped him clean up the mess. They worked quickly together, and soon all the papers were back in boxes, and the incident was forgotten.

Two hours later, the truck was still half full. Mr. Thompson came out to see how they were doing, and he frowned when he learned that Dan had left and not returned. He looked at the large overstuffed boxes they had dragged to one side and knew immediately what had happened. He decided, they needed more help, … a lot more help. “Kate, why don’t you and Natalie take some boxes to your office and begin sorting through them?” “Sure,” Kate answered happy not to carry any more boxes. After two hours of heavy lifting, her fingers were sore.

Natalie said thanks, and the two girls each took a box and headed for the office. Mr. Thompson then clapped Jason on the shoulder and smiled brightly. “All right, Jason. Let’s go find some big, strong people to help unload this truck.”

Chapter 3: Digging In

Natalie and Kate put the boxes on the floor in Kate’s office and opened them. Immediately, the foul chemical odor floated out and filled the small room. “Eww!” Natalie groaned and plugged her nose. Kate gasped at the smell and opened the window wide as it would go. “I hope that smell isn’t permanent. If it is, I’m moving to a new office.”

After several moments, the smell seemed to dissipate. “I guess we might as well dig in,” Kate said handing Natalie a bundle of dirty white and yellow papers. Natalie took them and looked at the top page. It was yellow, and across the top was the title “Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest”. The page was filled with boxes with typed letters. Natalie had seen these manifests before and knew they provided information on what chemicals were shipped to the facility. But she knew immediately this job wasn’t going to be easy. The letters were smudged and hard to read and many of the papers were ripped and dirty. She could make out some of the words, benzene, flammable, toxic, acetone, flammable, toxic, 10 drums. “What are benzene and acetone?” Natalie wondered out loud.

“Benzene is found in gasoline mostly,” Kate explained without looking up. “Sometimes they purify it and use it as a solvent, but it causes cancer, so they don’t use it much anymore. Acetone is a solvent too. Both are toxic and very flammable.”

“Oh,” Natalie said continuing to look at the manifest. Then she asked, “Why do they use this stuff if it’s so toxic?” Kate was studying a manifest in her hands and didn’t answer immediately. After several moments, she looked up and said, “What? Oh, they use them in paints, inks, metal cleaners, and other things.” Then as an afterthought she added, “Acetone makes great nail polish remover.” “Acetone!?” Natalie asked in surprise. She liked the smell of nail polish remover. Kate laughed and told her she was smelling acetone and not to breath too much of it, it really wasn’t very good for her.

Natalie thought about the iPod she wanted with its slick red plastic cover and digital screen and asked if toxic chemicals were used to make it. Kate answered emphatically “Yes! Solvents, cleaners, and acids are all used to etch and clean the circuit boards and mold the plastics in all computers.”

“Rats,” Natalie groaned, “Maybe I shouldn’t get an iPod.”

“Why not? I have one.” Kate pointed to a small white iPod on her desk, the ear phones dangling at the edge. “As long as the company takes care of its own waste, I have not problem with computers and stuff.” Natalie felt relieved and smiled. She really wanted that iPod and was so close to having all the money she needed.

Natalie continued leafing through several more manifests and reading the chemical names. She recognized some including lead, arsenic, and cyanide. But others were unfamiliar such as perchlorethylene, sodium hydroxide, and others with strange and unpronounceable names. Natalie marveled at each as though she were peaking into a dark and mysterious world of alchemy where each chemical had the power to do amazing things or to cause great harm or even death. It was a world that Natalie didn’t know much about yet, but she was determined to learn.

Kate was studying a crumpled and torn manifest when she exclaimed, “Wow! Look at this! They’ve got phosgene!” “What’s that?” Natalie asked. “It’s a chemical warfare agent, a very deadly nerve gas.”

Natalie felt a tingle climb up her spine. “Why would they have phosgene?” she asked perplexed.

“Oh, it’s also a waste from the manufacture of some chemicals like that artificial sweetener, sucralose,” Kate told her.

Natalie looked at the top of the manifest Kate was holding, but it was badly damaged. “I can’t read who the generator was,” she said disappointed.

Kate looked at it but couldn’t read it either. “That’s OK. I’m sure we’ll be able to read it on the next manifest.”

Just then Mr. Brown poked his nose in the door and said, “We’re going down to the Chemical Disposal site this afternoon to take a look around. Do you two want to come?” “Yes!” they both exclaimed together.

“Good. We leave at two o’clock,” he said and left.

The two girls spent the rest of the morning looking through the files and writing down the names of chemicals. “What I really want to know,” Kate mused looking around at all the paper, “is how we’re going to summarize all this information. This is only the first two boxes of about a hundred.”

Natalie gave a nervous laugh, “Well, Dan is supposed to help isn’t he?”

Kate shot her a quick look of disgust. They hadn’t even seen Dan in three hours, and he was supposed to be a part of the team. “Like I said, how are you and I going to get this done by ourselves?”

Chapter 4: Chemical Disposal Site

At 2 pm, they met Mr. Brown, Mr. Thompson, Dan, and Jason, in the parking lot and headed out on the hour drive to the Chemical Disposal site. On the way, Kate and Natalie described what they had read. “Wait until you see this place,” Mr. Brown said with a smile, “It’s pretty impressive.”

An hour later, they crossed over the Elizabeth River and turned onto River Road. They drove passed a couple of buildings and then, on their right, the site came into view. Hundreds of steel drums were stacked one on top of the other, sometimes ten high, blue drums, red drums, rusted drums, crumpled drums, bloated drums, leaking drums. As they drove down the road, they quickly realized there weren’t hundreds of drums but thousands of drums, maybe tens of thousands of drums. “Oh … my … gosh,” Jason gasped looking at the multi-colored wall. “How big is this place?” he asked.

“It goes all the way to the river,” Mr. Thompson answered. “The property is about five acres in size, and just about every square inch is stacked with drums.”

Natalie gawked at the sight and swallowed hard. “Where did he incinerate the wastes?” she asked. A wry smile spread across Mr. Brown’s face, and he looked at Mr. Thompson. “Did I say incinerate?” he asked sarcastically.

“No,” Mr. Thompson answered. “I didn’t hear you say incinerate. Did I say incinerate?” Mr. Thompson returned the question to Mr. Brown.

“No, I didn’t hear you say incinerate,” Mr. Brown prattled back. “Nope. We didn’t say incinerate,” Mr. Brown and Mr. Thompson said together, and they laughed heartily.

Natalie was sure they were mocking her, and she waited patiently for them to have their fun. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mr. Brown glance at her in the rear view mirror with a big grin on his face. She didn’t look at him, but sat and waited patiently with as dull an expression as she could muster.

She wasn’t biting, and Mr. Brown liked that about his daughter. She was very patient and street-wise. She knew when someone was pulling her leg, and she simply didn’t react.

Jason, on the other hand, was still young and not so patient. “Well, what did you say?,” he shouted bouncing in his seat. Mr. Brown and Mr. Thompson both laughed out loud again happy that they could continue their fun. “He poured the wastes in a dirt pit and lit it on fire”, Mr. Thompson snarled. “He cut the ends off a couple of 55 gallon drums, and welded them together to pour the liquids into the burn pit.” “That’s not legal!” Dan exclaimed. Dan had been very quiet for almost the entire ride, but now he looked at the Kate, Jason and Natalie and spoke as though he were their teacher, “Not only that but there’s no emissions control. No smokestack to carry the toxic smoke high into the air and away from the human population. Think of all the vapors that would be released. Only about half of liquids would have burned; the other half would have volatilized into the air. No wonder the neighbors complained of smoke and odors.”

When he was done, Natalie whispered in Kate’s ear, “Thanks Teach.” Kate giggled and nodded in agreement. Mr. Brown continued, “Yes. So the State finally ordered him to close, and we’re here to help to clean up the mess.”

Half way down the block, Mr. Brown turned the car through the gate and drove onto the property. The smooth asphalt road turned to dirt and potholes, and for the first time they noticed the pungent smell of chemicals. Mr. Brown stopped near a large metal sided building with a smoke stack and turned the engine off. “Ok folks,” he said turning around to face everyone. He spoke deliberately in a quiet serious tone, which Natalie and Jason knew meant he was serious. “This is a very dangerous site. There are lots of flammable and toxic chemicals here. Don’t wander off anywhere! Natalie and Jason, please stay with Dan and Kate.” “OK, Dad,” they both agreed. “OK, let’s go meet the owner, Mr. Burns.”

They all stepped out of the car and walked toward the office door. Jason, Natalie, and Kate walked behind and looked at the site. The stacks of drums went on as far as they could see on both sides. The sun glistened off bright red and green puddles that dotted what little ground was exposed. Several men wearing stained coveralls were working on an old forklift near the building. A young man wearing a plastic yellow splash suit carried a large maul. He had jet black hair and a rough but handsome face. The muscles in his arms were large and rippled as he swung the heavy maul in the air and chatted with one of the other men. Natalie stepped closer to Mr. Brown and whispered, “This place is scary.” “Yeah,” Jason agreed. Mr. Brown smiled and reminded them not to wander off.

Mr. Brown stopped in front of the office door and said, “We have some business to attend to in the office. Why don’t you guys stay out here for now? Dan, you can make a sketch of the site and take some photos.” Dan agreed, and then Mr. Brown and Tom stepped inside.

Kate, Natalie, and Jason stood by the door and stared at the site taking in everything and hardly believing any of it. Natalie pointed to the man with the maul and asked, “Kate, what is he going to do with that axe?”

“I can’t even imagine,” replied Kate flatly. “This place is unreal.”

Dan walked away from them with a scowl on his face. He rarely smiled unless one of the senior engineers was around. He drew a few lines on his paper, snapped a couple of photos and then, without a word to Kate, Natalie or Jason, stepped inside the office. “There he goes again,” Kate said shaking her head. “He can’t handle being away from the big wigs even for a second.”

“He can’t have drawn much of a map in one minute,” noted Jason. The other two agreed.

Just then a short fat man opened the office door and stuck his head out. He whipped a cigar out of his mouth and yelled at the other men, “Hey! Get back to work! We’re not done here yet!” The men separated, and the young man with the maul strode past Natalie giving her a quick smile. “Hi,” Natalie said taking a step back. Then she quickly added, “Umm, what’s the axe for?”

The young man stopped and said, “I use this to punch holes in the tops of the drums, so we can empty them.” Kate stiffened with a look of horror on her face. Natalie was shocked as well. She thought about all the flammable chemicals that they had read about in the files.

“Isn’t that kind of dangerous?” she asked. The man glanced quickly at Kate and then back to Natalie.

“Naw!” he scoffed. “I’ve been doing this for weeks. This apron keeps the chems off me. Gotto go! Cheerio!” he said and disappeared around the corner of the building to a large open area where several drums were lined up near a large shallow pit that was as black as midnight. On one side, three 55 gallon drums, their ends welded together, sloped into the center of the charred and barren hole. “The burn pit!” Natalie gasped.

They felt the first strike the hardest. As the heavy maul slammed into the top of the drum, Natalie, Jason, and Kate all jumped with fright. Then the screech of metal as the maul was pulled from the lid gave them the shivers. A short silence, then another strike. The sound of the maul bashing into the drums soon emanated in a slow but steady rhythm. Every ten seconds, Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! All three of them jumped each time the maul struck. “Think we should tell Dad?” Jason asked gritting his teeth. Kate snapped out of her frightened trance and said, “Yes! Immediately!” They walked to the door and as they stepped inside, the last “Thunk” was replaced with a loud explosion that knocked them all off their feet.

Chapter 5: Where’s Bobby?

Papers flew everywhere around the office and a book shelf near the wall fell over with a loud crash spilling books and papers onto the floor. “What was that!” the fat man demanded jumping back to his feet. He opened the door and ran outside. Everyone followed him. The crackling of fire could be heard around the corner, and they all raced to see what had happened. The clearing where the young man was only moments ago was empty, and several drums were scattered outward from the blast. A mangled drum carcass lay on its side with flames licking the air. “Damn!” cried the fat man. He took a garden hose and began to spray the drum. “Where’s Bobby!” he shouted to the others. No one knew. “Well, go find him!” he demanded. Kate, Jason, and Natalie watched the scene in horror. Then Natalie grabbed her dad’s hand and said, “A man was out here opening drums with a big axe. I think …” she swallowed hard. “I think …” The lump in her throat was too big and her eyes began to swell. Mr. Brown looked down at her and understood immediately. “Tom,” he called. “I’m going to take the kids home. Can you and Dan stay?”

“No worries,” Tom reassured him, and Dan nodded with a big grin on his face.

“Thanks! Let’s go kids, you too, Kate!” Mr. Brown ordered. The three of them didn’t argue.

As they drove out of the site, Mr. Brown called the police. Within a few seconds, sirens could be heard in the distance. Everyone was relieved they were going home. Natalie sat restlessly in her seat, her head swirling with so many thoughts she could not control. What happened to the young man with the axe? What caused the explosion? Jason sat next to her and looked at Kate and Mr. Brown. He also wanted to ask so many questions. Only after they had crossed the river and were well away from the site, did he finally speak. “Dad?” he said in a quiet voice. Everyone stiffened. Instinctively, everyone knew that something terrible had just occurred, but that didn’t relieve the need to talk about it, to come to some common conclusion.

“Yes, Jason?” Mr. Brown answered trying to sound calm.

“What happened?”

Mr. Brown shifted in his seat and was silent for several moments. Then he said, “Do you remember how we talk about safety all the time?”

“Yes,” all three answered.

“That young, man, … Bobby, I think Mr. Burns called him, was not being safe, was he?” Natalie immediately spoke up, “He told us what he was doing, and we were coming to tell you because we knew it wasn’t safe!”

“Well, you did the right thing,” Mr. Brown said. “Unfortunately for Bobby, he hit a drum with vapors in it. His axe must have caused a spark igniting the explosion.”

“My ears are still wringing,” Jason said banging the side of his head with his hand. “I can’t make it stop.”

“It’ll go away soon,” Mr. Brown assured him.

“So, what happened to Bobby?” Natalie asked. Kate looked at Mr. Brown with a pained expression on her face. Mr. Brown frowned and asked her, “Do you want to answer that?” Kate’s eyes widened in horror, and she shook her head, “No”.

“It was a pretty big explosion,” Mr. Brown answered looking at both Natalie and Jason in the rear view mirror. “I doubt they’ll find him.”

Chapter 6: From Bad to Worse

Natalie’s throat was dry, and she could barely speak, “It’s so weird. I was talking to him only a few hours ago, and now he’s gone.”

“Yeah,” Jason agreed.

They sat across the kitchen table from Mrs. Brown who nodded her head sadly. “I’m sorry, kids. Dad shouldn’t have taken you to the site. We thought you would be interested, but it was too dangerous.”

Jason looked out the window and then said, “By the way, where is Dad? It’s dark out, and he’s not home yet.” Mrs. Brown looked at the clock. “Hmmm, eight o’clock. You’re right, Jason. I wonder where…?” Mrs. Brown hadn’t finished speaking when the phone rang. Jason picked it up and said, “Hello”. His face suddenly lit up, “Oh. Hi Dad! We were just wondering where you were!” As Jason listened, his face slowly turned from joy to confusion. Mrs. Brown and Natalie watched trying to read his face, as he muttered, “Huh … What! … No way! … Really! … OK.”

Finally, Natalie couldn’t take it any more and squealed, “Jason! What is going on?” Jason pulled the phone away from his ear and blurted, “Dad says there’s a fire at the Chemical Disposal site, and he has to stay to help. He says we should turn on the TV ‘cause it’s on the news”.

“What!?” Mrs. Brown exclaimed, her eyes suddenly wide with concern. “Please give me the phone, Jason,” she said snatching the handset from him. Jason ran after Natalie into the TV room.

Natalie turned the channel to the local news station, and immediately, they could hear a mishmash of police and fire sirens. Red and blue flashing lights lit up the screen and behind them ... fire, a monstrous fire. Flames rose from buildings and slashed the air. They rose skyward at one moment and then descended to the ground and disappeared for a split second only to rise again in a blinding flash. Thick billowing clouds of black smoke puffed upward and disappeared into the dark sky. Then the TV picture changed, and they were looking at fire fighters hauling hoses, and next they were looking down from a helicopter at stacks of drums lit up by the huge fire ball. A newscaster was yelling over the noise trying to describe the scene. The roar of the fire and helicopter was so loud, they could hardly hear him. “Chemical Control Site” … “10 alarm fire” … Then they heard a large boom and the helicopter jolted to one side sending the camera flying. The picture on the TV shook and slammed to the floor of the helicopter. “What the heck was that?” the pilot screamed. Jason held his stomach and thought he was going to be sick. Natalie stood looking dumbfounded at the TV.

Suddenly, the picture went back to the ground, and the anchorman was yelling to the helicopter crew, “Get out of there!” Behind him, another explosion rocked the scene and a trail of fire could be scene blazing skyward. The anchorman ducked and ran out of the camera shot, but the camera followed the fireball as it rose skyward, arced, and then descended to the ground and exploded in a small fireball as men scattered out of the way. Then the picture turned to a distant view in which everything was dark except the fire off in the distance and a few street lights on either side. In front of the camera stood a news anchorwoman with a fireman. “Can you tell us what’s going on Chief? What are these explosions?” “The Chief spoke with a deep voice that evoked authority. “The heat from the fire is causing the drums to explode. Most of them explode on the ground, but some are launched into the sky a couple of hundred feet like rockets. It’s a very dangerous situation for my men. We can’t get too close.”

“Mom! Where’s Dad?” Natalie asked very concerned when Mrs. Brown walked into the room. “Dad is not near the site, dear,” her mother reassured her. “He’s out conducting air monitoring in the surrounding neighborhoods.” “Good thing!” Jason said. “This fire is crazy out of control!” The three of them stood in the living room glued to the TV.

A few minutes later, the picture went to a TV anchorwoman who was standing beside a short fat man. “That’s him. He’s the boss man from the site!” Jason shouted jumping up and down.

“Yes! It’s Mr. Burns!” Natalie agreed. Mrs. Brown just frowned and watched the TV.

“Do you know the cause of the fire?” the anchorwoman asked him. “How should I know?” the man said with a wretched smile. “But, I tell ya, the government took over the site today, and this never happened when we were in charge!”

Chapter 7: The Toxic Cloud

Natalie felt the color drain from her face. “What was this man talking about?” She thought to herself. We didn’t take over the site today and the government wasn’t even there as far as she knew. The government wasn’t going to take over the site until tomorrow. “That’s not right. He was still in charge!” she said indignantly.

Mrs. Brown frowned again and touched Natalie’s hand and said, “He knows, dear. It’s an old public relations trick. Blame the government publicly, to make himself look innocent.”

“But he can’t do that. It’s a lie!” Jason protested.

“People lie all the time if they think they can get away with it,” Mrs. Brown scowled.

“Over to you, Andy” the interviewer said.

“Thanks Patty. And now for a look at the weather.”

“Ugh!” Jason grunted. “Who cares about the weather at a time like this! I need something to eat.” He stood up and stomped into the kitchen.

“There’s some soup on the stove!” Mrs. Brown hollered after him. She hesitated for a moment thinking of her nice clean kitchen and Jason’s propensity for making a mess, then quickly followed him.

Natalie stood alone in the middle of the family room. She was looking at the TV, but her thoughts were far away at the site earlier this afternoon. Pictures of drums, Bobby, and now the fire flashed through her mind. It was all so out of control. Worse than that, it was a nightmare. How did it get like this? Her head swirled and she put her hand on the back of a chair to steady herself. Then something on the TV caught her attention. It was a map of New Jersey and New York. The weatherman was pointing to an elongated black cloud that stretched easterly across the Arthur Kill to Staten Island. “That’s odd,” Natalie thought to herself. She turned her full attention to the TV again to listen.

“This westerly, blowing at about 10-15 miles per hour is blowing the toxic smoke from the fire toward Staten Island,” the weatherman said.

“Mom!” Natalie yelled, “I’ve got to go to the site.”

“What!” Mrs. Brown answered almost amused at her daughter’s request. “Don’t be silly, Natalie. Not even your father would let you near the place,” she said.

Natalie hopped up and down, “They’re missing the toxic cloud from the fire! It’s headed toward Staten Island! Dad said they were conducting air monitoring around the site, but they are missing the part that is blowing toward Staten Island. Can I call him? … Please?!” Natalie begged.

Mrs. Brown thought about it briefly. She had confidence that her husband knew what he was doing, but she also knew that Natalie’s instincts were pretty good … No, better then good ... they were excellent. She had an uncanny ability to be right with very little information, and Mrs. Brown had secretly used Natalie’s skill on several occasions to her benefit. “OK,” Mrs. Brown sighed. “A phone call won’t hurt.”

Natalie picked up the phone and punched the redial button. Her father’s mobile phone number appeared on the screen and the phone dialed. After two rings, Mr. Brown answered. The roar of trucks and sirens filled the background, and he shouted, “Hello Natalie!”

“Hi Dad!” Natalie yelled back. “How did you know it was me?”

“Our home phone number popped up on my phone. Who else would be calling me?” he laughed. “So, what do you have for me?”

“He knows me too well,” Natalie thought to herself and then quickly pushed the notion aside. “The TV says that a westerly wind is carrying a toxic cloud of smoke from the fire over to Staten Island. I figured you‘d want to know.”

“Staten Island?!” Mr. Brown exclaimed very surprised. “Wow, that’s quite far from here. No, we didn’t know. We’ll get an air monitoring crew out there right away. Thank you very much, Natalie. I knew I could count on you.”

Natalie beamed. She held her hand over the phone and said to Mrs. Brown, “They didn’t know.” Mrs. Brown returned the smile, not surprised at all.

“Dad?” Natalie said wistfully. “Can I come and help?”

“What?” Mr. Brown answered. “It’s very noisy here?”

“Can I come to the site to help?” Natalie repeated loudly.

“Yeah right!” Jason said sarcastically as he entered the room carrying a bowl of soup. “Jason! Mrs. Brown scolded him. “You know you can’t bring food into the family room. Get back into the kitchen.” Jason frowned and turned around. Mrs. Brown turned her attention back to Natalie. She had faith her husband would make the right decision, so she kept quiet. Still, she bit her lip nervously.

Mr. Brown considered Natalie’s request for a second. Not that he would let her come to the site; that was out of the question. But he knew she wouldn’t accept a simple “No” without a good reason. But the answer was simple enough. “Not this time Natalie,” Mr. Brown said. “You are not safety trained and it would be illegal for you to be here.”

“Oh,” Natalie moaned, and her heart sank. She knew he was right. There was no argument to be made.

Then Mr. Brown continued, “Besides, I have something else for you to do. I need you to go to the office and help Kate and Dan look through the files for information. Where the underground storage tanks are located, where the compressed gas cylinders are, etc.. Can you do that for me?”

Natalie perked up immediately, “You bet!” she said.

“Alright give the phone to mom, and I’ll talk to her,” Mr. Brown said. Natalie handed the phone to Mrs. Brown and then, suddenly feeling very hungry, she raced into the kitchen.

Chapter 8: Stay in Your Lane

When Natalie, Jason, and Mrs. Brown walked into the N&J Environmental office, they found many folks gathered in the conference room watching the news and discussing what it meant to the company. The TV sat on a wheeled cart in the middle of the room with the newscaster’s voice blaring loudly. No one wanted to miss any bit of news. A table along one wall was covered with empty pizza boxes, soda bottles, and used paper plates, cups, and napkins.

Everyone smiled and greeted them as they entered the conference room, but the air was tense with worry. Several managers gathered around Mrs. Brown and asked if she had heard from Mr. Brown. She tried to calm them by relating her conversation with her husband earlier in the evening. That seemed to put everyone at ease for a while. They told her that several air monitoring crews had been sent into the field earlier in the evening when the fire first started, and about a half hour ago another two teams had been requested for South 1^st Street and Staten Island. They were almost ready to go.

Mrs. Brown appeared calm and confident on the outside and her presence seemed to reassure everyone, but she inside she worried. She always worried about Mr. Brown and all the field people. She especially worried during emergencies because people weren’t as careful as they normally were and accidents happened often. During emergencies, someone always got hurt, who and how bad were the only questions.

After a few minutes, Natalie remembered the task her father had given her and, slipping out of the conference room, she ran down the hallway to Kate’s office. She found Kate sitting on the floor buried in files. Beat-up cardboard boxes from the site towered above her, stacked two or three high, and looking as though they might collapse at any moment. Yellow, red, orange, and white, papers were scattered everywhere. Kate’s office, which was normally neat and clean, looked like a windy day in the fall. When Natalie entered, Kate looked up quickly and smiled. “Please say you’re here to help,” she said in a pitiful voice. “Dan heard they needed more people in the field, and he just left,” she added with venom.

“Yes, I am,” Natalie reassured her.

“Thank you,” she gasped in relief. “They want to know where the compressed gas cylinders are and what’s in them. I’ve been looking for an hour now, but I can’t find them”.

“Didn’t we see those earlier today?” Natalie asked. “Yes, that’s why I’m going crazy,” Kate cried clenching her fists. She lifted a handful of papers piled on her desk and flipped through it, then threw it down in disgust. Natalie sensed Kate was at her wits end. “Let me help,” Natalie said stepping over one box and around another to get to Kate’s desk.

Several minutes later, Natalie found the maps under Kate’s telephone, and Kate shrieked with joy. They poured over the information for a few minutes and then called Mr. Brown. He thanked them, asked where Dan was, and then asked for a list of explosive materials. Kate said Dan was getting ready to go into the field which surprised Mr. Brown. Then he hung up.

Kate began rummaging through a box immediately, but Natalie just looked around them at the mess and gave a big sigh. “What’s the matter?” Kate asked.

“I wish I was going to the site,” Natalie answered moodily.

Kate laughed. “Me too,” she said.

Natalie wasn’t surprised. She knew Kate liked working in the field. “Why aren’t you going then?” she asked.

“Because I wasn’t asked to go. My job is here,” Kate said matter-of-factly. “Dan, on the other hand, just decided he was going into the field and left.”

“He just left? He wasn’t asked to go?” Natalie gasped in disbelief. “He’s such a looser.” Kate nodded and tossed the box on her lap to one-side and picked up another. “Dan does whatever Dan wants, and it drives me crazy,” she said bitterly.

For several minutes, the two girls shuffled through file after file searching for any information about explosives. Down the hall, they could hear the dull drone of the TV in the conference room. Then they heard voices in the hallway, and Dan and Jimmy, a field tech, passed by the door carrying respirators and several air monitoring instruments. They were arguing about something.

Natalie looked up and frowned. She didn’t like Dan very much, but now that he had abandoned Kate for a second time today, she really disliked him. She got up and looked down the hallway. His large frame shuffled along under the weight of the instruments. His shoulders seemed a lot broader than she remembered. Natalie felt a knot in her stomach that was half anger and half fear. “Hey Dan!” she started not really sure what she was going to say or what she wanted to accomplish. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping Kate?” Dan stopped, spun around, and glared at Natalie. He squared his shoulders and flexed his muscles under the weight of the equipment he was carrying and suddenly, he looked even bigger. She wavered and felt the urge to duck back into Kate’s office. Behind her, Natalie heard Kate whispered emphatically, “What are you doing, Natalie?” But Natalie ignored her and the urge to run. She didn’t really know what she was doing, but she felt compelled to confront Dan.

Dan seemed confused for a moment. Natalie mused that he was not used to being confronted. Then he smiled and said confidently, “Your dad asked me to join one of the air monitoring teams. So that’s what I’m doing.”

Not being fooled for moment, Natalie said, “That’s not what my dad just said on the phone.” Jimmy grunted something unpleasant under his breath, turned, and continued down the hall. Dan frowned and then, deciding he had better things to do than fight with the boss’s daughter, spun around without saying a word and followed Jimmy.

“What were you thinking?” Kate gasped.

“Well, someone had to say something,” Natalie answered. “He can’t just do whatever he wants.” Natalie was still shaking, but she felt better.

“But that’s what manager’s are for, to keep people like him in their lanes,” Kate argued. “What does that mean?”

Kate grabbed another stack of papers and said, “We have a thing here called “Staying in your lane”. It means you’re part of a team that depends on you to do your job and do it well, so everything gets done and no one gets hurt. If you abandon your task and do someone else’s job, not only does your task not get done but you annoy your team members. No one likes a lane jumper. They usually don’t last very long around here.” “Well, why doesn’t a manager do something about Dan?” Natalie snapped.

“They will,” Kate reassured her. “It’s only a matter of time.”

Natalie pulled a large file out of a cardboard box and put it on her lap. She felt tense from her confrontation with Dan. But she also felt very annoyed with her dad as well. He knew Dan had simply abandoned his job. Yet he didn’t say or do anything about it. Natalie knew Kate would never say anything to the managers; she was too nice to cause any trouble. Natalie was wondering if she should talk to her dad about it, when she opened the cover of the manila file on her lap. The words across the top of the first page made her eyes widen, and she quickly forgot about Dan. “Explosives” was written in large red letters. She looked at the second page, and it was also marked “Explosives”. She checked the rest of the pages, and they were all the same. “Kate!” she practically shouted with excitement. “Oh!” Kate jumped and tossed a handful of papers into the air.

They looked at each other and at the papers scattered across the room and then burst out laughing, and the tension in the room vanished. They were too good of friends to dwell on anything for long. They giggled some more as they picked up the papers. Then Natalie showed Kate the folder she had found. Kate read the lists of explosive chemicals, trinitrotoluene (TNT) 10 drums - in shed; picric acid 30 cans – in warehouse; etc.. On and on the list read. “This is it,” Kate said reaching for the phone. “Let’s call your dad.”

After they relayed the information to Mr. Brown, he thanked them and said they were real life savers. He asked them to keep looking and hung up. A moment later, Mrs. Brown looked in and asked how they were doing. Natalie smiled and said “We’re staying in our lane”. Kate chortled and added, “We’re doing great.”

“Good,” Mrs. Brown said. “Can I get you anything? It’s going to be a long night!” “Yes”, Kate said, “I’d like a bottle of water, thank you.”

“Yes, me too, please, mom,” Natalie chimed in.

“Sure,” Mrs. Brown said. “I’ll bring them right away.” Then Natalie and Kate bent to their task and worked late into the night.

Chapter 9: Dan's Plan

Jimmy drove the truck east toward Main Street and the Arthur Kill. Night had come, and an unusual darkness touched everything. It was the type of darkness that was part night and part corrupt, the kind that gave Jimmy the shivers. He’d heard about Bobby, the man who’d been killed earlier today. The details were sparse, but it was a very suspicious death. Then the fire, and now Dan’s odd behavior at the office. Jimmy didn’t consider himself superstitious, but he was glad that three bad things had occurred already, because, as everyone knows, bad things happen in threes. Nonetheless, he watched the road carefully just in case the corruption wasn’t over.

Dan sat quietly in the passenger seat, but inside his mind, he was hard at work. After the explosion and death of Bobby, he had been thrilled to stay with Mr. Thompson at the site. The police had come and investigated. But as the facts unfolded, Mr. Burns had become very agitated and told Mr. Thompson to leave or his boys would throw them off-site. They were back in the N&JE office when the news of the fire broke. The office went into a near panic as Mr. Brown and Mr. Thompson told everyone to drop whatever they were doing and began handing out assignments. They needed air monitoring teams, sampling teams, risk assessors, etc.. Anyone and everyone could be called to the site to monitor the fire at any time. Dan had assumed they would bring him, but to his shock and dismay, they assigned him to read the site files with Kate and took several other engineers into the field.

Dan’s dismay quickly turned to anger. Reading files was work for junior scientists. He was a senior scientist, and he wanted to work with the senior managers at the fire. That’s where the action was and where his talents would really shine.

With some quick thinking and minor fibbing, he had managed to escape the office and was now on an air monitoring mission with Jimmy. Not bad work, and certainly better than reading files. But air monitoring was lowly field tech work, not senior scientist work. Now, he needed a plan to leave Jimmy and get to the fire. Air monitoring was simple enough and Jimmy was a very capable. He certainly didn’t need any help Dan thought to himself. Still, he couldn’t just abandon Jimmy without a good reason. He thought hard for several minutes, and when nothing came to mind, he decided to wait for an opportunity to present itself.

The two men drove the half hour trip in silence. Dan knew Jimmy was mad at him for lying, which was OK, Dan wasn’t here to make friends with anyone. The truth was that John, another field tech, had been assigned to accompany Jimmy in the field. But when Dan had heard about it, he had left Kate and went to the warehouse where he told John he had been assigned elsewhere and that Dan was to go with Jimmy into the field. They had argued for several minutes and finally John stormed off. The short altercation with Natalie in the hallway had blown Dan’s story, and Jimmy hadn’t spoken to him since. Dan smiled to himself because he figured it didn’t matter much, he was good friends with the senior managers and that’s where the power lay. As they passed a Burger Shop, an idea flashed across his mind. He chuckled to himself, sat back, and relaxed in his seat.

Presently, they spotted Main Street and turned into a residential neighborhood. The street lights were further apart here, and the street was quite a bit darker than the main road. Jimmy slowed down and slipped into a parking spot. Stepping out of the car, he sniffed the air in three short breaths, then coughed as the smell of the fire invaded his nose. “Really big fire,” he thought to himself. He switched on the PID and air particulate monitor and waited for them to warm up. He wondered why Dan hadn’t gotten out of the car and then decided he didn’t care. After his little stunt this evening, Dan was someone he wanted as little do with as possible.

When the instruments were warmed up and calibrated, Jimmy threw the straps over his shoulder and stepped up on the sidewalk. “Ready.” he announced curtly. Dan got out of the car and asked, “Everything working OK?”

“Yes, which way do you want to go?”

“Well actually, I need to go to the bathroom. I saw a Burger Shop a couple of miles back, so if I could have the keys, I’ll go there and meet you back here.”

Jimmy handed him the keys without a word and walked away down the street.

“Excellent” thought Dan. “That was easier than I thought.” With the keys in hand, he slipped into the driver’s seat and headed for the site.

Chapter 10: Dogs

Alone, Jimmy walked down the sidewalk to the nearest street light and looked at his monitoring instruments. His task was pretty easy. He would walk around the neighborhood and monitor the air for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulates like smoke and dust. If he found really high levels, he would call it in, and the police would evacuate the neighborhood. An evacuation here was unlikely, however, as the smoke from the fire was still quite high in the air. It was more likely to cool and descend on Staten Island where another team had been deployed. Jimmy figured his biggest challenge would be walking around all night without falling asleep.

Under the light of the street lamp, he could see the PID read zero VOCs, but the particulate monitor indicated the level of smoke in the air was slightly above normal. He sniffed the air again but couldn’t smell the smoke anymore, as his nose had de-sensitized after a few minutes. Stepping out of the light, he continued up the sidewalk.

The neighborhood was pretty quiet, and he appreciated that. It allowed him to clear his mind and wander casually through random thoughts. He thought of the noise and confusion at the fire and was happy to be far from it. He wondered who Bobby had been, and how his family was grieving. He couldn’t help laughing about how Natalie had confronted Dan and exposed his lie earlier this evening. Dan had looked as though he wanted to kill her. She may be the boss’ daughter, but she was very brave in her own right, he thought. Jimmy looked at his watch and noted that Dan had been gone for about ten minutes. He wondered how long it would be until he returned.

A dog barked close by, and, judging from the high pitch, Jimmy estimated it was quite small and nothing to be concerned about. But the canine alarm had aroused several other dogs and soon a smattering of barks and yips rose out of the neighborhood. None of this really bothered him. He had dealt with plenty of dogs before, but a deep growl from the side of small house caught his attention and gave him the shivers. A deep pitch meant a big dog, possibly a Doberman or a pit bull and certainly big trouble if the animal was loose. Jimmy couldn’t see the dog in the dark, but he could hear the chain-link fence rattle that restrained the animal and its bone crushing bark. Jimmy picked up his pace to pass quickly. Then, out of the corner of his eye he spotted a large black creature streak across the lawn directly toward him. His heart skipped a beat, and, in panic, he stepped toward the road and felt his foot roll sideways off the curb. A loud crack split the air and … pain … intense white pain. Jimmy collapsed onto the street and fainted.

Dan arrived at the site about fifteen minutes after leaving Jimmy. He could see the massive fire and feel the heat even though he parked about a quarter mile away. The skyscraping flames towered above the one and two story buildings and even dwarfed the smokestack that had marked the site for so many years. Dozens of dwarfed fire trucks with miles of hoses splayed everywhere surrounded the conflagration. But what surprised Dan most was the wind. It was cool and steady as it swept towards the fire, but grew in strength the closer he walked. This was the air that fed oxygen to the fire, the crucial gas that gave fire and living creatures alike, life. By the time he reached River Street, the wind was a steady force as it rushed inward to be consumed, super heated, and then jettisoned upward in a billowing explosion. It was an awesome spectacle, and Dan marveled at it unabashedly.

Making his way through the crowds, he met another N&J Environmental air monitoring crew. He asked what they were doing upwind of the fire, and they answered that Mr. Thompson had assigned them to this area. Dan immediately instructed them to go to the downwind side to monitor, and then he went in search of Mr. Thompson and Mr. Brown.

Jimmy came to a few minutes later. What woke him he couldn’t be sure. It was either the whining, barking, or licking his face by a large the German Sheppard that stood over him. The dog’s tongue was warm and wet but rough as sand paper and left sticky goo on his skin. “Uugh! Gross!” Jimmy grunted as the dogs tongue drenched his lips. He reached up to push the big shepherd off him, and felt an explosion of pain from his ankle. He screamed and clutched at his leg, but the pain seared like a hot branding iron that would not cool. The dog jumped back and barked several times, then raced off to the small house and barked and jumped around madly at the front door. After what seemed to be several minutes of anguish, but was probably only seconds, the door swung open, and a large man stepped out and yelled, “Shut up, Butch!” But the dog would not be quieted. It jumped and barked and raced back and forth between the man and Jimmy. At the risk of more pain, Jimmy managed to call out weakly, “I could use some help!” The man peered into the darkness suspiciously, then yelled from his doorstep, “Who are you?” After a brief explanation and some additional pain, the man, his wife, and the German Sheppard surrounded Jimmy with some of the best care of his life.

Dan had lost track of how long he’d been at the site, but when the thought occurred to him that it had been quite a while, he pushed it out again just as quickly. Jimmy would be fine, and he still hadn’t found Mr. Brown or Mr. Thompson. As he walked past a fire truck, he heard someone call his name, and spun around hoping to see either Mr. Brown or Mr. Thompson, but it was one of the air monitoring crew he had met earlier. The young man ran up to him and yelled over the noise, “Mr. Thompson called me. He said something’s happened to Jimmy, and you should get back to him ASAP.” Dan looked at him in disbelief, but the expression on his face was as serious as the fire. Then the young man grabbed Dan’s sleeve, pulled him closer, and said, “Mr. Thompson also told us that he was the boss and to continue monitoring where he assigned us … up wind of the fire!” With that, the young man shot Dan a look of disgust, turned around, and ran back to his monitoring post.

Dan stood where he was for several moments digesting what he’d been told. What did he mean, “Something happened to Jimmy”? How did Mr. Thompson even know he was here? He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and looked at the call log. Jimmy had called three times, and Mr. Thompson had called him twice. He didn’t know what Mr. Thompson knew, but for the first time he felt fear. “Things are definitely not good,” he thought. Pulling himself together, he ran to the truck to search for Jimmy.

Chapter 11: Better Friends

Two days later a tired and dirty Mr. Brown addressed the N&J Environmental employees back in their conference room. Mr. Thompson stood beside him and looked even worse. He had large dark bags under his eyes and his hair, usually combed neat with a part on one side, was tossed and filthy. His jeans were dirt brown except for large ash stain on his thigh.

Everyone was in the conference room to hear them speak. This was the first time many of them had seen either man since the fire began. Mrs. Brown and Jason sat in front with the senior managers, and Natalie sat in the middle of the room beside Kate. Curiously, Natalie noted that Dan and Jimmy were both absent.

Mr. Brown spoke softly and with some exertion, “Three days ago, in this room, we celebrated winning the Chemical Disposal job.” Everyone gave a nervous laugh. Three days seemed an eternity after the fire and all the long hours and late nights everyone had worked. Many had eaten only pizza; cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, mushroom pizza, hot pizza, cold pizza, microwaved pizza, every kind of pizza. One of the managers had stacked the pizza boxes one on top of the other on the floor, and had almost reached the ceiling. They were all pizza’ed out. They had all slept on couches and cots when they could no longer stay awake. Everyone knew who the snorers were now. It had been a hard three days, and everyone was exhausted. Yet they all felt a sense of accomplishment that drew them together.

Mr. Brown continued, “But we didn’t sign up for a disaster like that.” Everyone laughed a little louder.

“I want to say that … first, I am very proud of everyone for pulling together as a team and doing a tremendous amount of work over the past few days and nights.” This time the room erupted with applause. Everyone felt it, but hearing Mr. Brown say it, made it real and everyone acknowledged it enthusiastically. Mr. Brown waited a few minutes for the applause to subside, and then continued, “The Fire Chief and Mayor were very complimentary of the work we did”. “And!…” Mr. Brown held up his hand to hold the applause, “And wanted me to pass on special thanks to two young ladies who fed us critical information which saved several fire fighters lives. Thank you Kate and Natalie!” Everyone broke into applause and turned to look at them including Mr. Brown and Mr. Thompson. Kate and Natalie grinned from ear to ear and gave each other high fives. “I know some jobs are not as exciting as others but you guys stuck with it and did a great job. Thanks.” Mr. Brown added.

Mr. Thompson then stepped forward and said, “The Chemical Disposal job is still ours. However, now that it has received national TV coverage, the urgency to clean it up has doubled. About half the drums burned in the fire, so that means there are only 25,000 drums left on-site.” Everyone laughed. Twenty-five thousand drums was still a huge number. Mr. Thompson smiled and continued, “The State has provided additional funding, and I will be asking for more folks to work on the site. Please see me afterwards if you are interested”. Then he stepped behind Mr. Brown again.

“Now for the bad news,” Mr. Brown said stiffening slightly. “Jimmy O’Driscoll was hurt the night before in an accident.” A low gasp reverberated throughout the room. “Will he be OK?” one of the managers asked. “He is OK and will recover fully, but it is a reminder that we must always be safe and watch out for each other,” Mr. Brown said. Mr. Thompson added, “He broke his ankle, so he’ll be at his desk when he returns. We all now how much he’ll enjoy that!” Everyone laughed; Jimmy was strictly a field tech who hated computers.

“But seriously,” Mr. Brown continued, “This accident was partly the result of someone not staying in their lane. As a result, Dan Woodbury has been asked to seek employment elsewhere.” Another gasp rose from the crowd. Nobody raised any objections. Kate smiled at Natalie, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to, the managers had taken care of the problem as she predicted.

Natalie tried to look the other way, but it was no use. Kate had been right, it just took a little more time than Natalie thought it should. “Alright, you were right,” she capitulated. “But didn’t it come a little too late for Jimmy?”

Kate laughed, “You’re right too. I just didn’t have the courage to say anything.” The two friends laughed. They were tired and smelled like foul chemicals, but they had done well and were better friends than when they started.