Wednesday, July 22, 2009




So many puzzle pieces.
It was easy to overlook some of the pieces, even weeks after she returned home. She thought of her father's "day" job at the food processing plant. What was the connection between the that one and the home operation where she lived? Her town was known for food processing, had provided jobs for several decades. Grew into a worldwide operation years ago.

A fall instructor-in-training, with another of the B-level instructors, worked part-time at one of the local food processing plants, but it was an office job. Over the years, other instructors had led seminars in motivation at various plants. The newspapers had written many articles, though she had not read them closely. Nearly twenty years earlier, she had worked as a lift truck operator in one of the plants. That was back in the days when the cafeteria had a self-serving line every day where the employees could choose from a variety of dishes.

At her father's, she questioned that there was a food processing plant on the base. She hadn't realized before and could not think of what more to ask at the time. The unvoiceable query must have been tapping its thumb on the back of her brain, and it was just now loud enough - or other sounds were low enough - that she could finally hear it.

How far did this cover-up extend? How much money traded hands? The only reason it still concerned her was that the illegal activities seemed to reach farther than even she would have believed. Did the people at the highest levels understand that usurpers were working right under their noses? She had to believe that they did not know. For one, jobs were more plentiful, employers were more generous, society seemed more compassionate even ten years ago. It was only since people of power began moving from one central location to other states that progress slammed on the breaks and started moving in reverse.

These people had a history of being cutthroat. If this is what the future looks like, then she was worried. Few people she knew liked their style, and those would probably eventually be burned unless they were very good at obeying commands. Servitude tasted, to her, like ipecac. Dudes, you've got another thing comin'. Not going to make a public spectacle of myself again. I know how you get people. You won't get me again.

Countless others had endured the experience, knowing they had been played by power monsters. Not just here. Not just in this country even. How many over the years had used the words to control people? It's all right there in the writing. The new ones, they have been building a society to suit their greed. The old bosses, do they not know, or are they powerless to stop it? Like the old guard at the end of Elizabeth's reign? They knew, but some were tired. Others took for granted her 'golden age' and thought a man would be better. Maybe a better man would have been better. She even chose him in the last moments of her life because he was possibly the least of the evils.

This new puzzle would put itself together on the back burner in her head. She could not always find right away where she filed stuff. Had to leave it alone, to simmer, while she stirred it occasionally. Now that she was thinking about it, though, she realized that other companies had also begun about seven or eight years ago to change their employee benefits programs. And not for the good of the employee, but to put more money in the pockets of the higher ups. Or to at least keep up their profits - at employee expense. Such was the case at another company she worked for part-time. Sick days had to be "earned" anymore, and the cost of insurance went up. That happened after the original owner's wife died. The owner had passed on a few years earlier.

Was it a new way of thinking by younger generations? Was it that unpopular, traditional values were not taught enough? Something was going on. Surely, someone had the answers. If not, there were a lot of things at stake.

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