Gavin Corbett: This Is the Way

She remembered his hand was deformed, I’m sorry she says.

But Arthur opened his left hand anyhows. The thumb that was his toe didn’t look sore no more but it looked strange still. It still did not look like the thumb of a person it looked like the thumb of a monkey, looked like a toe what it looked.

I seen Judith was embarrassed was the look, she was shamed.

Arthur says see maam not every one of us gets it.

There were men in the work one of the days they wanted to talk to us all. They were in clothes made from toilet paper, was tissue was said. I says to someone what is it about they said the men said we were to work normal they would be around to every one of us and talk to us one after the other.

I was working normal, I was at the press. Later in the morning one of the men came to me he says how are you. He says can we have a minute with you sir.

I seen they were taking people in a room, he took me in the room too. The blind in the room was shut and the light was on. The man says take a seat.

The man did not say anything to me he says only can you stretch out your hands good man.

He said to me to hold my hands up and open and flat. He looked at the tops of the fingers he says can I see the other side, he looked at the other side too.

Good he says.

There was a black box in the room it had a gap in the side of it, the man said to me to put my hands in the gap. He turned off the light in the room then I seen my hands in the gap in the box were lit up in a blue colour. I got a strange feeling looking at my hands. The man pulled in in the seat beside me he looked in at my hands too. They did not feel like my own hands, I was floating around them.

The next bit of it the man turned the light in the room back on. He says keep your hands in the machine for a moment. He says now take your hands out of the machine and try not to touch anything as you do so. Keep them hovering in the air like a magician or like this like a dove good man he says.

The man went to the box he took up the paper at the bottom of the gap my hands were in. He crushed the paper and threw it in the bin. He took off the gloves he was wearing he put them in the bin too. He put on new gloves. He pulled more paper from a pipe he put a sheet of this paper on a table.

He says float your hands above the paper and try not to touch it if you can.

My arms were sore and my hands went down.

He says try not to touch the paper if you can.

The man opened a box. He had glass and wool in it. He took a stick from a glass, he rubbed the stick over the palms of my hands and up my fingers and thumbs. He touched the stick off a bit of cloth twenty times.

He says I’m sorry about this, he took a needle from the box as well.

I says I don’t want you sticking needles in me.

He says I won’t be sticking any needle in you. He says I’m just going to give your nails a quick clean it won’t take long.

He went under my nails with the needle, I did not like it one bit.

When all of it was finished the man said to me to wash my hands well and he showed a way to wash my hands.

I says I know how to wash me hands I don’t need to be told it.

He says you must take time to wash your hands and you must wash every part of your hands.

I asked them on the floor when the men were gone who else got their hands looked at the same as me. There were eight of them on the floor all of them had their hands in the box but it was only me got their nails cleaned out got told the way to wash their hands. I could not work for the rest of the day my hands were shaking I was angry.

I went up to Mylo was how angry I was. The thing I seen about his office was how clean it was, I never seen this before. There were things gone from it, things put away, the walls smelt of fruit.

Mylo was angry too he says I know I know.

He said to me to take the rest of the day off work I was disgusted I was with the men, treating me like this.

It was the Thursday of that week I came to the factory and there didn’t look like nothing wrong outside of the place and then I seen things were wrong inside of it. In two seconds I seen things were not normal, nobody was working, you would have thought there was something going to happen. People been saying things were bad a long time but it didn’t stop them doing their work, now all things were stopped, something was wrong.

I says to the girl Lorna what’s wrong.

Lorna says it’s not good I says what is it she says we’ll hear soon enough.

I seen my press it was turned off, I seen all the machines on the floor they were turned off.

We were waiting on the floor we looked up at Mylo’s office. We were looking for a change in the light, something moving. A fella came on the floor he said he looked in the store room and other rooms he couldn’t find Mylo nowhere. He said he would go up to Mylo’s office he says this is not on. He went up the steps and in Mylo’s office then he came out.

No one there he says.

We were stood about, there were doors into machines and we wondered did we have to start turning off lights. Somebody says take what you can, charge your phones, but nobody moved, nobody took anything was said serious, even jokes were said.

Then Mylo came in the main door his coat still on him. He was sweating but he was smiling, his brown hair was blown.

He says sorry.

We waited for him to say something but he was breathing heavy. We waited for him to breathe normal and steady then we seen the smile go from his face. We lowered our face to look in his eyes, he would not look in our eyes. The group of them went toward him, I stood where I was. They put their arms around him, he fell into them beside him, in their arms he went, they caught him. He floated, he was loose, they walked with him to the other side of the floor. I seen him he was crying he says I have let you all down. They put him on a seat they says Mylo things will be okay. Someone fed him a bar and put their hand under his chin to catch the crumbs then someone took him to a pub.

We sat about outside saying I don’t know about it. We were all out of a job and people were shocked. Where would we go they were saying. Someone said we would all get jobs again, we said where. He says I’ll get all of you jobs. Someone else said what about Celestina who was touched. The boy who brought Celestina to work and home every day brought her home he said he would talk to her mammy. Someone other says I’m going to the pub with Mylo, that is the right idea. Everyone said goodbye to everyone else, people were squeezing the others’ shoulders, but nobody moved, they all stayed and talked, nobody could believe it what just happened.

I could not stand about hearing this the whole day, I got in my car. I didn’t like it my job was gone but I would get another one I’d get it on my own. I came out the industrial estate I says there are some of them will not get jobs again, there are some are handicapped. I came up the fly road I went in the sheets of water. It did not feel natural to be going home to the house this time, I said I would drive. I came on to the motor way my tyres were purring. I didn’t like music but I put on the radio I heard men and women talking, they were talking about animals having sex. Mylo was going to get it from his missus now I says. Deserved it he did, it was funny but it wasn’t funny. He was cheating on her or if he wasn’t cheating on her he was thinking about cheating on her with the one in the window. He should have been thinking about his business I says. Too much going on for these people isn’t no one like me going to help themself clinging to these people isn’t that right I says I will go until I hit the buffers all of them, all them country people on the roads.