Day Twenty

Today's words:

Enzyme

Belt

Fertilizer

Factory

Pad

Cheat

The last thing he remembered was putting the enzyme

Packet on the belt

In the fertilizer

Factory.

Then everything went black. Something must have acted as a pad

To shield him from the blast, enabling him to cheat

Death. He escaped, but felt like a cheat,

When so many others had died. He was incredibly lucky; the enzyme

He was packing expanded in the heat and acted as a pad

Sheltering him under the belt

In the factory.

The main explosion was in the fertilizer

Warehouse. Later he read, "Texas Fertilizer

Plant Explosion No Accident." No surprises there - he knew what a cheat

The owner was. The whole factory

Had lots of code violations and at least one enzyme

Used was so dangerous only special technicians could work that belt.

He'd seen them pad

Their expense reports, and assure inspectors that a pad

Of air filters separated workers from exposure to fertilizer

Fumes on the belt.

Not true. But what does a cheat

Matter, when your only job choice is working the enzyme

Line in the factory?

And what happened to the owners of that factory?

Of course they used their corporate status as a pad,

Protecting them from any responsibility for the enzyme

Workers' injuries, or the deaths at the fertilizer

Plant of those who tried to help. One more business looking to cheat

Workers and keep them at the belt

Even when there's a fire next door. He'd stayed at his belt

On the factory

Floor. They weren't going to cheat

Him out of his pay. They'd said in the past he'd tried to pad

His hours. But he knew their fertilizer

Didn't contain the enzyme

They claimed. That belt was out that day. Idled, a pad

On the factory floor. Still the fertilizer

Went out, with the cheat of a missing enzyme.