Will Mohler

“ The work at the rock quarry was organized according to the same futilitarian pattern that governed the manure-pile operation. Rock had to be hacked, pried and blasted from one end of the quarry, then reduced to coarse gravel with sledge-hammers and carted to the other end of the excavation in wheelbarrows. Most of the men commenced working at some task in the quarry with the automatic unconcern of trained beasts who have paused for rest and water, perhaps, but have never fully stopped. ”

“ When I had been marked, one of the guards took his ink and brush and advanced upon Bertha. The other addressed himself to me. "There is a choice of activities. There is the jute mill, the rock quarry, the stump-removal detail, the manure pile...."
"How about the steam laundry?" I asked, prompted now by the cold sound of a sudden gust of rain against the wooden side of the building.
Splukk! went the guard's kidney-sock as it landed on the right hinge of my jaw. Soft or not, it nearly dropped me. ”

“ The slab was less than six inches wide at the top!
"If we work this thing right, this job will practically do itself. We'll be through here before sundown," I heard myself snap out. The others, accustomed now to obeying any imperative voice, fell to with crowbars and peaveys as I directed them. "Use them as levers," I said. "Don't just flail and hack—pry!" ”

“ Well, anyway—we've got work for climbers like you. Real work, shnook. I know climbers like you hope you'll meet aristocracy in a place like this—ten hour men or even weekly workers, but I can promise you, shnook, that you'll be too damned tired to disport yourself socially, and too damned busy looking at your toes. ”

“ I had never seen people look so completely dispirited and tired. Only one man raised his head to look at us as we stood there. I noticed that his forehead had bright purple marks on it. These proved to be "No. 94, Property of MMF," in inch-high letters which ran from temple to temple just above his eyebrows. Incredibly enough the man grinned at us.
"You'll be sah-reeeee," he yelped. I saw him go down into the mud under a blow with a kidney-sock from a burly male guard who had been standing in the center of the cheerless little circle. ”

“ Besides, the steam laundry is for the ladies. Don't forget who's in charge here."
"Who is in charge here, then?" I asked, strangely emboldened by the clout on the side of the jaw.
Splukk! "That's somethin' you don't need to know, shnook. You ain't gonna sue nobody. You signed a release—remember?"
I had nothing to say. My toes, I noted, looked much the same. Then, behind my back, I heard a sharp squeal from Bertha. "Stop that! Oh stop! Stop! The brochure said nothing about—"
"Take it easy lady," said the other guard in an oily-nasty voice. "I won't touch you none. ”