Read Tough Day for the Army for Free Online Page B

questioned about the possibility of storing the replacement stunner cartridges in the relatively dry front office, Mr. Clampsin asked the researcher if he was a “company man” or a “narc.” When informed that this researcher is employed by the company, Mr. Clamp-sin responded that no one he was acquainted with was going to “traipse over to the next county past hell and gone and take a hit on the production quota just so every last one of next week’s hamburgers has its brains scrambled right.”
A Word This Researcher Has Been Thinking About a Lot Lately
    Cleave. Once the cattle are stunned and hung on the bleed rail they are cleaved apart, by hand, because there is no machine that can do it with the speed and precision necessary, given the inherent variation among cattle. Robots can build cars, but they can’t render meat. The thing about cleave, though, is that the word means two opposite things at once. It means to split apart, but also it means “to cling to.” How can two things be the same thing, but also their opposites?
Apparent Sharpness of the Knife Used by Roy Clampsin to Remedy Case #4557 of Improper Stunning Prior to Hanging on the Bleed Rail
    You just wouldn’t believe.
Where Foreman Clampsin Acquired the Nonstandard, Policy- Violating Knife Used to Remedy Case #4557 of Improper Stunning Prior to Hanging on the Bleed Rail
    â€œNam.”
What “Stunned” Meant in a Different Context at One Time
    A time, before this researcher was married, when he and his future wife lived in the apartment without much furniture, the one with the large, southeast-facing sliding glass doors that allowed the sun to flood inside and warm the worn wood floors so in the mornings she would stand barefoot, looking out, sipping a cup of tea, and this researcher was behind her looking at her body bared through her nightclothes by the sun and he held his breath so it would not catch in his throat and make a noise that would disturb the picture in front of him.
Partial Interview Transcript of Terry Lobegel, Stunner Operator during Case #4557
    Q : How long had you been operating the stunner, and where had you worked previously within the plant?
    A : I spent most of the time at the sluicer end, and that is a place you do not want to spend much time. It takes one of two things to get to the stunner floor: seniority, or a union leadership position, of which I had neither. Fortunately, there is a third way, and that way is having dirty pictures of the plant manager having sex with a woman who is not his wife which I had several copies of, as well as the negatives. I also have a computer, scanner, and the plant manager’s e-mail address. My wife knows how to work all that stuff. You do the math.
    Q : In your own words, please recount the incident involving Case #4557.
    A : Here’s the deal. Running the stunner wasn’t as straightforward as raking entrails down the sluicer bins, but it seemed simple enough: cow comes in, head gets clamped, aim the bolt, and fire away. Simple as pie, seemingly. Turns out it’s more art than science.
    Q : Can you amplify what you mean by “more art than science?”
    A : Amplify? Say it louder? Is the tape not working? Check! Check! One two! How’s that?
    Q : (Unintelligible)
    A : Anyway, these cows are like snowflakes. Looking at a whole field of them you’d be hard-pressed to notice any individual number, but it turns out that no two are quite exactly alike, so while the diagrams on where to aim the stunner and the training video and the guidelines on how much pressure to apply are all well and good, it isn’t that simple. Every one has a soft spot, and a millimeter can really make a difference, and the experienced guys just know how to do it. Clampsin warned me it wasn’t as easy as it looked, but I was desperate to get out of that sluicer. Sluicer ain’t fit for your worst enemy. My mama always said I’m my own