The whistle blew, loud and clear. Midnight. In a fast second, everyone in the building dropped what they were doing and grabbed their coats. Everyone wanted to beat the traffic, though no one ever did.
Larry took his time. He knew running to his car wasn’t going to make any difference, and since it was the middle of the night and Bill would be asleep anyhow, he had no great incentive to get home. He’d only been on the night shift a few weeks and he didn’t like it. He rarely saw Bill at all, except for weekends.
He stopped near the gate and washed his hands, then grabbed his jacket and lunch pail and headed out to the parking lot. He stepped in line with a few others who were the last out of the huge automotive factory, and turned to see he was next...