Chris had wondered at the time how he would have felt, had Janine died from her injuries.   He wondered now what Jack and Norma would feel, if he were to die on his first day at work after three years on the dole straight from school?

“No point even holding on!” thought Chris, “I might as well let go and get it over with!”   Yet instinctively he held on for as long as he could, although his hands had gradually slipped down along the cold steel rim of the hopper, until his fingers only clung on up to the first knuckle joint.

Chris had already resigned himself to death, or at the very least terrible injuries and a lengthy stay in hospital, when he felt the vice-like grip of a pair of hands upon his ankles.

Looking down, he saw the wizened face of the old union representative looking up at him.   Although he had only that day decided not to take part in any industrial action the old man might arrange, Chris had never felt happier in his entire life to see anyone, than he felt right then to see the grey-haired old man.

The union rep. was a lot stronger than he looked, and with his help Chris managed to descend to safety again.   He heaved a sigh of relief that he was still alive, and thought, “And no broken bones either!”

Having seen the last of the incident, Georgio hurried out of his office and ran, as best he could, weaving his way between the machinery, over to where Chris and the old man stood.

For nearly five minutes Georgio and the union representative shouted silently at each other, gesticulating wildly, before going across to Georgio’s office.

Chris stood beside his machine, not knowing what else to do, as the two men argued inside the glass-walled office.

*      *      *

Finally, after more than ten minutes, the two men returned to where Chris stood.   The union rep. handed Chris a small yellow card, which he saw was an application card to join the union.   The old man pointed to a line at the bottom of the card which said: FILL THIS CARD OUT AND RETURN IT TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE PROMPTLY!