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Show work day, Karl and Jame would have had to shout to be heard above the clamor, but because of the holiday the mill was as close to silent as it ever became. Karl and Jame were not going to work on the west side of the Monongehela River, where the Canaan Works spread out; they would cross the bridge to the small, independent Firth Sterling plant. "How much you going to get paid?" Jame asked. "Ten cents an hour." It wasn't much to start with, but Karl was sure he'd get a raise pretty quickly, as soon as they saw what a good worker he was going to be. "Huh! I still only get two bucks and a half for an eleven-hour day turn, and the same for a thirteen-hour night turn," Jame said, "and I been working as a rougher for the past two years. And then they have the gall to charge two cents toll to walk across the bridge. But I never pay it." "You don't? How do you get out of paying it?" Karl asked. "On account of I don't walk across the bridge, I cross underneath the bridge," Jame said. "I'll show you how." That must be one of Jame's jokes, Karl thought. "You're kidding me, huh, Jame? You trying to tell me you walk across the river?" Jame threw back his head and laughed, his Adam's apple bobbing in his thick neck. "Don't be nutty, Karl. Walking on water's the one thing I haven't figured out how to do yet. When I said under the bridge, I meant the underside structure. On the girders. You can shinny down and walk across the underneath girders, then climb up |