Short Story Essay, Research Paper

Marie reached back and flicked the single strand of hair out of her eyes. “ROBERT!” she screamed, awareof his presence just metres away, “why hasn t this been checked?”Patrick Sellesk moved uncomfortably in his dark leather chair, trying to understand what the woman wasscreaming about below in the factory. She ran back and forth between two large machines, screechingcommands at men who stared at her as if she was mad. “What s this?” Patrick thought. “I don t remembergiving her the authority to adjust the generator…”Later that night Marie decided she d had enough with authority and rules. “I don t care WHAT you saw me do down there, Mr. Sellesk. The generator was about to explode! If I hadn tdone something about it the whole factory would have been short circuited.”"Nevertheless, I don t want you, or any of your co-workers, to adjust the generator under anycircumstances at all… have you got that?” Patrick swivelled around in his chair and glared at the womansitting opposite him for a minute without a movement. “I invested in a lot of very skilled and efficientpeople to work in the generator room, and I don t need you in there every five minutes to get in theirway, no matter how big your hunch is.”"Sir, I m saying that if I hadn t-”"You re saying you were the one responsible for saving the factory. And I am saying that your help wasunnecessary – the people in the room could have done the same thing as you, no doubt better.” Patrickfixed his eyes on the woman s defiant grimace and mentally arranged for her to have an accident later thenext day. “Stick to your job missy. Keep out of the way when people are trying to do their work.”"I think I ve heard enough.” Marie stood and turned towards the door, noticing the security system hiddenbehind the pot plant. “I won t touch your generator again… but don t go thinking that this is a one outof the blue incident. If you don t upgrade our equipment soon, there s going to be more than a generatorgoing down.” Marie slowly turned the doorknob and felt it click open. “That s not a threat, but awarning.”As the door clinked shut Patrick felt a wave of hate come over him. That woman was a threat to hisattempts to get the factory closed down, and he was going to make sure that it was third time lucky. Next MorningMarie and Joseph fastened the tubing and breathed out heavily. “This is going to be a bad day,” she saidthrough the thick steam. “I can feel it already.”"I heard you ended up in Sellesk s office last night getting reprimanded,” Joseph grinned. “The old cootcan t stay out of what doesn t involve him.”"You re right about that!” she laughed back. “He thought that I should have stayed out of the generatorroom and let the guys in there handle it.”Joseph smiled. “Everyone knows he s looking for an unconditional reason to close down the factory without

paying redundancy out… I d just like to know what he s up to, and whether we re going to suffer forit.”Sellesk leant back against the thick steel pole and said his farewells to the building which had made himrich. His finger slid effortlessly across the thin remote detonator he held in his hand, straining topress the little red buttons that would finally make him free of whingeing little workers and companyexecutives. Sellesk s fingers twitched at the thought of seeing the building explode…. but it was notthe right time now. He still had to make the call. And he knew Marie Fitzgibbon s address. Late That AfternoonMarie finished patching the conveyor belt and turned it back on, hoping that this would be her lasterrand for the day. As she packed up the gear and began to turn around for the supplies closet shenoticed something that wasn t there the day before… a small, translucent plastic casing underneath theconveyor belt s motor. Sellesk had observed Marie s house for weeks before this… he knew what time she got up, what time shewent to bed and what time she got home each day from work. It was not hard to spot a fault in hersecurity system either. Sellesk pried the window open, slipped in unnoticed and headed for the telephone. Marie jumped in her car and drove as fast as she could to the nearest Police Station. “There s a bomb over at Sellesk s factory,” she bellowed as she entered the station. “Get the bomb squador something out there now!”"And you are?”"Marie Fitzgerald. I was working there and I noticed what appears to be a liquid explosive hiddenunderneath a conveyor belt.”"23 Victoria Road?”"Yes.”"You live alone?”"What?! Yes! Why?”"We just traced a call that came from your house. A woman reported the bomb just before you walked in.”Patrick smiled to himself as he climbed out the window. Nothing could stop him now – not even that womanMarie. She would be blown to pieces when the building went down. Marie jumped in her car and sped towards her house. She noticed the Police car following and signalled tohim to hurry up. It was at least a five minute drive to her house from here and she had walked in about10 seconds after the call. Patrick pulled out the cloth and wiped the windowsill clean of his fingerprints. Now it was as simple asdriving back to his house and getting ready to kiss goodbye to the horrible factory. It was at thatthought that he first heard the Police siren. The coarse screeching of tires against raw gravel made his heart skip several beats. The Ambulances were the second ones on the scene. “There was nothing we could do,” said the young officer in charge. “He was already gone by the time wegot here.”The portable tape recorder and the detonator were picked from his pockets. Marie stared as they coveredhis body with a plastic sheet. She wouldn t miss him, not at all. And now everyone would get what theytruly deserved… the workers and their redundancy, and him…death.