The Bone in the Digester

Bryan adjusted his face mask while dragging the air line and water hose to the other side of the digester sump. This was where the drain pipe entered the digester, and was the only part that couldn't really be hosed clean. He had already dug out several 5 gallon pails of heavy black silt, at the cost of making the mask slide around on his sweat. The euchre game during coffee break couldn't come soon enough.

One more pail, then I'll take a breather and move the light so I can see what I'm doing. I swear the light never shines on what you need to look at, and it's always so dark in here. You'd think with the 4 manholes open and over a dozen lights we could see better.

A few shovelfuls later a white stick clung to the side of the shovel and was left poking out of the silt. Even with gloves on he didn't want to touch it without hosing it off first. For good measure he hosed around the sump, then moved the light into the sump with him. He squatted carefully to take a closer look. It was long and slender with a knob on the end. It came out easily enough, and he gave the rest of it a quick swoosh with the hose before holding it up to the light.

It's a bone. I'm holding a bone in my hand. What do I do now?

Bryan stumbled out of the sump and waved the bone at the safety man. All he could think was that he was going to miss the euchre game after all.

"Gail, Gail, here, take this, let me out of here!" he cried as his feet scrabbled at the wooden steps placed below the manway.

"What's the matter, are you ok?" Gail asked. She had been checking the air equipment and had missed Bryan's discovery. "Here, you're gonna hurt yourself thrashing around Akkk! What's that?" She took the bone by her gloved fingertips. "Bryan, what the hell! If this is another of your practical jokes --"

Now that he had torn the mask off, and was pawing at the safety ropes Gail could see his face was pasty white and sweaty. “Stop it!" she yelled, and slapped at his hands. “Sit down, I'll get this stuff off you. You're out of there and you'll be ok now."

She carefully put the bone down on the air tank trolley, and pushed Bryan down onto the nearby upended pail so he couldn't see the bone. She made soothing noises as she stripped off his safety gear and unzipped his coveralls. “Lean back, and take some deep breaths. Calm down." She eyed the bone. “Look, I'm going to have to call the management, and they'll call the police. Think about what you are going to tell them. I'll just be on the phone over there, don't go anywhere."

Bryan's face was looking a little better, she thought. How would a bone get into a digester? She paged her foreman. "Hey Two Dogs, this is Gail down at number 5 digester. Get your lazy carcass down here, there's going to be shit happening that you'll need to know about."

Next she tried the Chief Operator's phone, and got lucky. "Chief, this is Gail down by number 5 digester. Bryan found a bone in the sump, yes a bone, an honest to God bone. I've got it right here!" Silence. "I thought so to at first, but you should have seen his face. Nobody is that good of an actor." Silence. "How the hell do I know what to do? You get paid the big bucks to make decisions, do something. Probably calling the police is a good idea."

"Geez, what an idiot," she said to Bryan as she hunkered down on another pail. “Are you ok now?"