Prelude
This is the road of dust and mud, this is the road of misery and wealth, this is the road of hope and desperation, this is the road of love and hatred, and this is the road of compassion and cruelty. Like all roads, this one too deserves the travelers who can pay enough attention to its details. There is blood in this road, there is pain. They are the tears of struggling souls, the tears of the people who deserve more than what they are given and asked to be content. This road is not smooth, full of thorns and sharp rocks. It is a road going nowhere and everywhere. It is a circle and a line; it is a life and a death.
CHAPTER 1
Right after a huge lorry passed on the highway, the dust waiting beside the road moved up from the asphalt, got speed and rolled in the air like smoke from the tip of a cigarette. With the wind coming from the dirty façades and pavements, collecting the odour of the unnamed wastes through every door along the road, the dust got accumulated to a white cloud and went through the iron gate of a shoes factory. It became a wheel revolving around itself, a vacuum sucking the air inside and giving nothing out. The security guard of the factory found himself at the middle of a painful fight against an invisible enemy and without losing more time he ran to his cubicle, closed the window, locked it tight and sat on his chair. The cloud of dust turned towards the large lane between two big buildings of the factory where the workers were waiting for the bell to ring. The lane is large enough for two trucks to enter and leave for heavy loadings.
By the time the power of dust eased and it became completely harmless, the bell on the four poles of the four corners of the factory rang and hundreds of workers rushed towards the gate. Little women, some as thin as dolls, left their production lines as if there was a fire in the factory, found their shoes at the bottom of the walls –some were hidden behind the stairs or inside the small holes of the wall- and got in a long queue to punch their attendance cards. A dog and two puppies were shaking their tails while turning around the workers. The women with tired eyes and tired tomorrow did not have the luxury of playing with the puppies before getting back to the family responsibilities. For them, life is a jumping process: happy but poor childhood, crazy but restricted youth, hopeful but highly responsible adulthood… One ends, the other starts. No break for stopping and taking a deep breath.
By the time the entire factory is emptied and the foreign managers started walking up and down to check the facilities, the telephone in the director’s room rang.
-Yoboseyooo
He assumed a Korean manager is calling either from Seoul or from another unit in the factory. But at the other end of the phone line there was the voice of a frightened child with broken, heavily-accented English.
-Sir, can we talk for a minute? I am Khoa, from line 7. This is very important, sir!
Director thought in a millisecond to recognize the owner of the voice. This was one of the spy union members he hired after the last strike the factory had a few months ago. The agreement was simple. Whoever informs the director about a possible strike at least one day earlier will receive a double salary at the end of the month. The promise was clear and there was not much to lose for the factory. In fact, if he can stop the strike or at least intimidate those who will attempt, the damage can be minimized.
- Yes, we can talk. But you should not come here. Come to the empty room behind the warehouse. I will be inside and the door will be unlocked. Just get in. Ok?
There was a long silence on the line. The director somehow thought that Khoa did not understand what he meant so wanted to repeat everything once more.
- Did you understand what I said? Come to the empty room behind the warehouse. No one should see you. Be careful!
Silence continued but this time it was befriended with susurrant breathing. Perhaps he was intimidated by the possibility of being seen by other workers or he was not sure about the accuracy of the information he gathered.
- Yes, sir! I will be there soon. See you soon.
The director hanged up the phone without saying a word. He watched some of the office girls who are preparing to leave and one accountant was looking towards him as if she saw something suspicious. “What are you staring at?” he shouted at her. The young accountant smiled as she did not understand what the director asked her to do. It was one of the weird moments and as in all weird moments, she escaped the ambiguity by a quick, meaningless smile.
The director left the room without saying any more words and went to the warehouse. There was the warehouse manager at the gate. After greeting him with usual words, he asked him to watch around and do not let any worker inside the warehouse except for Khoa from Line 7. The warehouse manager bowed his head without asking any question and stood up to check the surrounding area. When the director went inside the ware house, he could not stop himself checking the newly-arrived rolls of leathers from China. He touched the top of the roll to feel the quality but the idea of the secret meeting with Khoa made him uneasy. He walked through the paints, ropes and wooden materials and reached the end of the building. When he opened the door of the small security room between the ware house and the wall, he saw Khoa walking up and down in the room with a bundle of papers in his hand.
- How did you come here? The ware house manager did not even tell me you were here! He did not see you?
Khoa looked absentmindedly and seemed he did not understand why the question was important.
- I jumped over the wall. It is the safest way. If I come from the front, some who have cleaning duty can see me.
The director seemed pleased with Khoa’s self-guided intelligence. He smiled but this was too brief that Khoa could not catch even a glimpse of it. The director sat on the old chair which seemed ready to collapse but somehow it did not. He stared at him with questioning eyes.
-Sit down, first! Stop walking around… You are making me dizzy. Sit down and tell me what you learnt.
Khoa sat on the other old chair and before starting to talk, gave him a paper from the bundle in his hand.
-Sir, there will be a strike tomorrow. And not a small one! It is the biggest one so far…
-- To be continued
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