The Factory Girls – Episode 13
“Helen, wait up!” Dana saw her supervisor approaching the factory just ahead of her and ran to catch up.“Dana, hi.” Helen’s voice was dull. “You made it in, then?”“’Course I did. I’m not out of a job yet!”“I doubt everyone will see it so conscientiously.”“They will. After all, we’re going to need every last bit of money now, aren’t we?”“We are that.”Helen looked so gloomy that Dana forgot for a moment that she was her boss and dug her in the ribs.“Hey, Eeyore, don’t give up so easily.”“I know. You’re right. I was thinking the same myself, but it’s hard to see what we can actually do.”“I thought that, too,” Dana admitted. “But then I had an idea.”“You did?”“Yeah, a Save Our Factory campaign.”“A what?”“You know, with slogans and posters.”“And chaining ourselves to railings?”“You think it’s a stupid idea?”Dana had feared the same herself when it had come to her in the middle of the night. She’d been awake for hours past the end of Pat’s footie highlights on the telly, past OIlie coming in from his darts match, and way past Sean shutting up the workshop after a late-night tinker with his favourite old bike. Then, as the Deveroe church clock had struck two a.m. it had come to her. Instead of just giving up, why not fight for Cardill’s? At the very least it might gain them a bit more time.Dana had learned to fight the hard way. Her parents had been in intensive care for several days after their accident. Dana and her brothers had sat with them, talking to them, playing music, reading the paper . . . anything to bring them round. Briefly it had seemed as if, with their dad at least, it was working. He’d blinked awake for an hour, maybe more, and hope had fluttered for them all. But then their mother’s heart had failed. Two hours later their father had closed his eyes again and he’d gone, too. For a long time Dana had struggled to forgive her father for giving up. Gradually, though, she’d accepted that the odds against him were too strong. Maybe Xion would be too strong for Cardill’s now, but Dana had to fight. “You think it’s stupid?” she asked Helen again.“No.” Helen grabbed her arm. “Not at all. I think it’s fantastic. Come on, let’s go and find Carol now.”
