Magnetized

21 William Viant Magnetized "Breathe for me" my broken-nosed boss growls, kneeling over me. He sent me up a ladder to search a crawl space for a leaking gas because he could spare me. Holding a water pipe for balance my other hand snagged a live wire. Voltage snapped and pinned a missing puzzle part in my place. My left hand plunged into the reservoir. My right bristled with gravity. Armatures whined. The power to clink open jail doors and purge recesses of losses would be mine if I could carry it back down the steps. I'd attract money from machines, standing close to them, head upturned, arms outspread. Below me on the floor a crowd gathered. I heard their ooo's and ah's and knew they pressed near to get my blessing. When someone hits 22 the minnesota review the switch and cuts me loose, the opportunity to choose between enormity of heart and self-interest faints. The foreman's grit grooved knuckles pinch my nostrils and his rheumy breath beckons. I come to, groggy but working. ...