The three unlikely friends
His shoulders would hunch over the work bench as he concentrated on grabbing the lenses as they came past him. The fingers that clenched the suction cup were stained yellow from the roll-ups that he smoked. The fingernails were chewed to below the tips of his fingers and were wide and thin. He had strong hands though. You could see that they could cause damage but he was gentle with them.
Even though they had sat next to one another for a little over a year now they hardly ever spoke. In fact no one around here did. They all came in to do their job and that is exactly what they did. Then they would go home and come back the next day to do it all again. There were 12 of them in the factory sitting in front of 2 small conveyor belts. A small radio sat in the corner of the grey room belting out some station that was either too scratchy to hear or so low that you could not hear it anyway. Everyone seemed to come here for an escape though, to get lost in their own thoughts. This was a danger as it allowed them to over analyse their little lives and each day they would return with the idea firmly planted in their heads that they were not capable of anything more.
On the other side of her sat a lady who looked middle aged. This was Maddy. She wore glasses , which was a little ironic seeing as she worked in a lens factory! Everyday she would wear the same dress, just in a different colour material. You could imagine her at the weekend spending hours pouring over some new fabric and spending the nights sitting at her machine squinting under the light as she proudly sewed up her new outfit. She seemed a very proud woman, always looking immaculate and always every hair in place. Her earrings would match her shoes which matched her dress which matched her nail polish. Her make-up was always light and freshly applied every time she got up to go to the toilet.
These three strangers spent most of their waking hours sitting side by side yet they would hardly ever utter a single word to each other. A small nod of the head and slight upturned mouth in the morning would be their greeting and a wave of the hand as they walked out the door was their goodbye. The thoughts that raced through their heads were surprisingly similar and yet so far apart. Soon they would find themselves linked and on a journey that would make them the most unlikely friends for life.
Even though they had sat next to one another for a little over a year now they hardly ever spoke. In fact no one around here did. They all came in to do their job and that is exactly what they did. Then they would go home and come back the next day to do it all again. There were 12 of them in the factory sitting in front of 2 small conveyor belts. A small radio sat in the corner of the grey room belting out some station that was either too scratchy to hear or so low that you could not hear it anyway. Everyone seemed to come here for an escape though, to get lost in their own thoughts. This was a danger as it allowed them to over analyse their little lives and each day they would return with the idea firmly planted in their heads that they were not capable of anything more.
