A few recent incidents where our water source - a river - was polluted caused water treatment plants to be shutdown for days without warning. These prompted me to write a short story to illustrate unscrupulous people only interested in profits without any care to the effects they cause to the environment and to the people.
Dirty Water
It was a dark and stormy night. Rain pelted on the windows, trying to force its way in. However, Gridy the Boss was oblivious to the noise. He was smoking an expensive cigar with his legs propped up on his grand table, made out of a chunk of a once magnificent tree he ordered chopped down. His personal office, although spacious, was filled with smoke. He liked the feeling because it gave him the illusion of being in the Swiss Alps and not this hot and humid dump.
No matter. At the rate he was going, within a year he will be able to afford a luxurious house and live a promiscuous life, wherever he chose.
But at the expense of a lot of people.
******
He operated a shabby factory hidden in a secluded part of a small town. His factory was legally registered as a food processing plant but that was just a front. Hidden inside, he employed illegal immigrants to manually strip and process precious metals out of electronic waste. The chemicals were easily discharged into the river that conveniently ran along with the backyard of the factory.
Recently, he landed on a job to dispose of electronic components from an international conglomerate of tech companies. He employed even more illegal immigrants and bribed many officials. He expanded his factory and, naturally increased discharges to the river. The once clear river was now reduced to a source of murky liquid. Withered foliage ran in parallel with the river, death and misery spreading by the day.
“Hey boss, I’ve got an idea for ya,” his sleazy factory manager said.
“Spell it out. I ain’t got all day,” Gridy was irritated. He did not like to be interrupted when he was counting his fortunes.
“You know those rubbish we paid to that company to dispose of every week? The tens of thousands of dollars that dumpster guy rips us of -“
“Rips ME off, Rat. This is MY company and mine alone,” he reminded his manager whom he always called Rat for the whiskers and protruding nose that reminded him of the rodent.
“Yes, your company,” Rat corrected himself. “I’ve got an idea that could save us... you, save YOU hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
“Get to the point!” he was getting impatient. Despite their similar alignment towards unscrupulous practices, he was well aware nothing good would come out of a rat.
“Yes sir. Behind this factory are acres and acres of nothing but an endless jungle. I would suggest we dump the waste there, bury them and when the shrubs grow back, no one will be the wiser.”
“Well, I don’t know...,” it took Gridy thirty seconds to decide that Rat was on to something big. “Make it work and you will be handsomely rewarded.”
Rat made it work and became Gridy’s second in command. Together, they compounded their riches... and the suffering for those that lived within the radius of the effects.
******
While Gridy was dreaming of bigger plans in his office and Rat planning to open up another dumping ground, the storm grew in intensity. Lightning turned the dark, night sky as bright as day before surrendering back to the blackness. Defying physics, the lightning ignored the nearby trees and stroke down into the river. The energy transferred caused even the dark, murky water to glow.
Mixed with clean, crystal clear rain, the polluted river water started to rise and rise and rise like a huge column of wall. The polluted liquid struggled to expel the onslaught of clean rainwater. The dark and the clear separated and morphed into two giant monsters the size of mountains.
Both appeared like blobs of jellies but in contrast to the smooth curves of the crystal clear monster, the dark one had sharp spikes protruding out of its body. The lightning flashes were relentless, just like strobe lights used to stop motion, illuminating the two giants as they engaged in battle. In a flash, the dark blob connected an uppercut to the clear blob’s face, sending it stumbling backwards.
In another flash of lightning, the clear monster retaliated with a head butt. In the next few subsequent flashes, both were tumbling into the forest. Whichever tree the dark blob touched or enveloped into its mass, the tree withered. On the other hand, the clear blob’s touch brought life back to the trees. Although it tried to save as many trees as possible, the fight was too intense for it to focus.
There was no clear winner until both monsters clashed and rebounded onto the ground. The clear blob recovered first and took the opportunity to heal the surrounding trees and plants. With its attention on the greens, it did not notice the dark blob slithered behind, its arm morphed into a stake. The evil monster stabbed the clear blob, its dark poison quickly spread through its body.
The poisoning was swift. The clear blob lost its powers and collapsed into a pool of dark liquid. The victorious dark blob absorbed its nemesis and grew twice in size. It let out a growl into the night so loud that even the storm could not suppress. The force was so great that it pushed the storm away, revealing that dawn had arrived. The rain and thunder stopped, there was silence.
The dark monster turned towards the factory, aware it was the source of its powers. It towered over the fourteen storey building twice over. It bowed down and stared through the factory’s thirteenth-floor windows at the back of Gridy and Rat. Oblivious, the two men continued talking about their fortunes and how to earn more.
The sight of them somehow irritated the monster. It let out another growl, shattering the windows and threw both men across the room. They stared at the face of death for the first and the last time. The monster gobbled up the factory complex, feeding off the nuclear supply that powered the building.
It felt the energy and then, even more energy as the nuclear reaction warmed its body. It felt satisfaction for the first time in its short life, and then, pain, as its corrupted body started to react with the uranium. It growled in agony. Its body ballooned for a second before imploding into a speck of light. Attracted by the light, a curious blue-green butterfly flew towards it, only to be disappointed as it fizzled out.
People who had dealings with Gridy were puzzled by the sudden disappearance of him and his factory. They searched high and low for him to reclaim their losses but he was nowhere to be found. His vanishing brought the downfall of his equally corrupted accomplices.
The good and the clean triumphed once more. There was relief for those who wished Gridy and Co. never existed. After a few days, the river started to deliver clear water again from the mountains and life returned.
-End -
