TRASH DAY
Prompt - Trash Day : Write from the perspective of a garbage collector
"Haud on!" I regretted the words as soon as I'd shouted them. Not least because of the glares I was getting from Danny and Karl, they just wanted to get on and get the shift over with.
"What's up this time?" Danny snarled, "it better be good."
This was the third time in the past month when I called a halt, sure I'd seen something falling from a bin that shouldn't have been there. Twice I'd got it wrong, so I ought to have learned to keep my mouth shut by now. But this was different.
The first time I was sure I'd seen a big silver teapot that might be valuable. Turned out to be a big ball of tinfoil. Then there was the camera that turned out to be a battered novelty handbag. Shame about that, he was good at fixing cameras.
But this time was not like those others. This time he was sure, and it made him feel sick. It made him wish he'd looked away. For what he'd seen falling, mixed up with all the other detritus of the big black bin, was a human arm. From it's bloody shoulder stump to the whitewashed fingers, it could only be the one thing. This time he hoped he was wrong.
"Just gie me a minute tae look." He stepped on the back of the truck, started pushing stuff around until he found what he was looking for. And wished he was wrong.
"Whit is it this time, the crown jewels?" Danny and karl were laughing at him. He wanted to be able to join in, to take the piss out of himself again. He wanted to say he'd got it wrong again. he couldn't, could he?
"Come and look. Tell me it's not what I think it is." Danny joined him on the step.
"Fuck!"
They wouldn't be emptying any more bins today.
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