Highway to the West
Jon’s back was to the early sun as he led a safety talk with the others. Rebecca standing in the circle of flaggers faced him. They were working the job for summer break from the writing program at the university. He kept a notebook in the hotel room to write poems about what he had seen.
He tried to convey a sense of confidence, but the crew was on edge. A flagger, someone Rebecca’s age was killed yesterday. Her back was to the traffic one moment, and the next, she was gone. It could have been in Dennison or somewhere near Sioux City.
It haunted his mind, but the other flagger’s death was only mentioned in passing.
He told others to be aware of their surroundings, but he didn’t know that flagger’s name. The work day demanding their attention, and they were planning their work day. Clarence, a site inspector from the office, had stopped by to talk with them. Jon was trying to prove himself as the leader of the crew.
Have an escape route
Jon and Rebecca were seeking inspiration, and they figured traveling through the Midwest would do wonders. He was friends with her parents, and they showed them the books they had started. When they left for the job, he promised that he would get her home at the end of each assignment.
Clarence said, “The drivers around here are beginning to get impatient. It feels as if the roadway is irreparable, and the work drags on. They thought work on a section was completed, only to find it torn up and it needed to be repaved. They are rushing to work miles away, and this highway is used by farmers to haul cattle and crops. You may control traffic, and lanes are closed for the paving equipment, but in all reality the road belongs to the drivers, not us.”
Water in the ditches glistened in the early morning. A film of oil rainbowed puddles.
Pay attention at all times.
John and Rebecca had arrived early and stood shoulder-to-shoulder on a dirt driveway to a cornfield. Wind turbines scattered as far to the west as he could see stirred stories in Jack’s mind of dragons slayed. Blades turned and flashed in the sun on each rotation. Jon watched them turn
in the wind, the blades of one tower of synch with the other. But when they briefly moved together,
the giant towers looked like lovers who danced, where one fell into the others arms.
The asphalt of stretch of asphalt glistened. A long road ahead, thought Jon. Don Quioxe was on the greatest journey of his life.
After the end of the talk, Jon and Rebecca sneaked a kiss. They promised to dedicate themselves to the work at hand, but he knew they couldn’t help but take in all the scenes around them, to inspire when they would sit in their hotel room and write.
Birds took to the sky. “Angels on wing,” he said.
Be prepared for a long day
Rebecca had made sandwiches for Jon and herself. She also packed chips and cookies, food they could eat while standing along the side of the road. Expect to work a long day without a break, Clarence had told them.
Make sure you drink plenty of liquids, and have your survival kit with you at all times.
Jack took his place at one end of the work zone, where he held a stop/slow paddle, and he assigned Becky to watch the intersection with a quiet side road, hoping it would be easier for her. He was tired from the previous day’s work, and it was only Tuesday. They would have to work long days through Friday when they would go home for the night, and on Sunday, it would be time to drive back here, or to some other place.
The beauty of the farmland was inescapable. He was sure they would take it in and write a great poem of two at night. But first they had to get through the day.
The end workers communicated using walkie talkies with each other the first and last of each vehicle. Jill and the sideroad workers called out whenever someone ignored them and made it on the roadway. One errant driver was headed toward the pilot vehicle that was headed toward him.
Protect the Workers
Jack had his escape route. He worried more about the construction workers who left themselves vulnerable to any traffic headed toward them. Jack worried about Jill, but she called out that she had an escape route, as well.
Mid-morning, one errant driver rushed past Jack after he already sent his traffic. The car sped down the highway alone. He called out over the radio a warning. Minute later Jill reported that the car barely missed a worker who was walking along the asphalt paving machine. She said that the worker was nearby and she yelled at him. He jumped onto a platform of the machine just in time.
It was his escape. He said this was his fourth year on the job.
Before the work started he showed the flaggers photos of his wife and his daughter. He said he wanted to make it back home alive to see them again.
The flagger who was killed in the western part of the state haunted Jack’s mind, but they were safe.
At the End of the Day, Meet Again
The crew was young like Jack and Rebecca. Some were working the entire construction season, and some of them just for money until something better would come along. The workers had walkie talkies to communicate, and to notify others to identify others of any incidents. At the end of the day, procedures would be reviewed and relayed in their minds. There had been someone missing at a safety review on a highway out west. Jack thought about how it could have been Rebecca.
Sunset
The sun burnished the sky to the west. The rumble of equipment had stopped. In the shadows along the side of the road, Jack saw the figure of a flagger he had never known. He didn’t know her name. As he and Rebecca walked to their van, traffic rushed past and headlights shone. A soft breeze offered relief.
Lines of words ran through his head, waiting to bring to life a blank page.
At the hotel Jack wrote a poem and showed it to Rebecca as they sat next to the window. A distant star shown in the sky. Rebecca’s father phoned, and Jack took the call. He promised to bring her home safe at the end of the week.
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