Thomas considered. “Ride Ghost Factory just before 12:00. I’ll make sure Paulina’s at the unloading station and I’ll meet you when you get off the ride. No one but Paulina will see us. Then we can go somewhere private to talk.”
The show was coming to an end, leaving them only seconds before the lights came up, but she couldn’t help wondering where he had in mind.
“Where is it?” asked Vanessa.
“It’s … hard to explain. You’ll understand when you see it,” said Thomas.
Vanessa stood up and hurried to the exit with the American Dream finale echoing behind her.
She spent the remainder of the morning in her office, poring over the “Union-Free Toolbox” and “Union-Free for You and Me” in hopes of discovering a way out of her terrible conundrum.
A close reading of the text produced no obvious answers, but it did unearth a sliver of hope. One passage revealed that a terminated employee could appeal to an independent labor board for reinstatement if he or she believed the termination was a result of legally protected union organizing activities. Since the chapter was written with a union-busting slant, it focused on how to avoid run-ins with the labor board—but the information was helpful all the same.
A glance at the clock revealed the nearness of the noon hour. Vanessa reshelved the handbooks and set out for Ghost Factory.
Thomas
Thomas smoothed his Ghost Factory waistcoat and brushed off the shoulders of his jacket, then shoved his hands into his pockets in an attempt to stop fidgeting.
“Are you okay?” asked Paulina.
“Oh, yeah,” said Thomas. He stared at the never-ending stream of carriages, hoping with the approach of each trundling ride vehicle that Vanessa would emerge at last.
He caught a flash of red hair from an approaching carriage.
It was Vanessa. She stepped onto the moving walkway, which carried her to Thomas and Paulina at the end of the unloading area.
“This way,” said Thomas.
He escorted her behind a barrier parallel to the walkway and along a brick wall to a door hidden in a dark corner of the unloading area. Thomas opened it. “Stairs. Watch your step,” he said.
After closing the door behind them, he followed her down the steep staircase. They stood face to face in a long room—more like a dead-end hallway—lined with abandoned mechanical figures.
“What is this place?” she said.
“Storage. They put spare or broken mechanical figures in here.” He patted the disembodied head of a ghost horse.
“Festive,” said Vanessa.
“But private,” said Thomas. “If a bit claustrophobic. So, what’s wrong? How can I help?”
Vanessa rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know how to make this sound any better than it is, so I’m just going to say it straight out.”
“Go ahead,” said Thomas. “I’m listening.”
“Mr. Destiny ordered me to fire one of the Legacy organizers.”
“Which one?”
“That’s just it,” said Vanessa. “He doesn’t care. ‘Pick one,’ he said.” Vanessa looked disgusted. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Did he say why? Like, explicitly?” asked Thomas.
“He made up some garbage about what you all did wrong—nothing to do with unionizing, of course—and when I called him on it he gave me some mealy-mouthed response. I know he’s just trying to frighten the crew members into voting ‘no,’ but there’s nothing I can do about it.”
The desperation in her voice tore through him. “If someone is wrongfully fired for organizing, they can appeal to get their job back,” he said.
“I know,” she said. “But that’s not a guarantee. And it doesn’t prevent the other crew members from getting scared off the whole idea of a union. One termination could be all it takes to torpedo everything you’ve done.”
“Maybe not,” said Thomas. “What if … what if you fired someone like he wants you to, but the crew members think you did it for a legitimate reason?”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” said Vanessa.
“Mr. Destiny wants you to fire a union organizer to send a message, right?”
“Right,” said Vanessa.
“Well, what if you fire someone, but lose the message? Mr. Destiny thinks you did his evil bidding, the crew members don’t connect the firing to the union, and everyone’s happy.”
“Except the person who got fired.”
“True. But I’m sure I’ll recover quickly,” said Thomas.
“You’ll recover—you’re volunteering to get fired?”
“It’s the only way.”
“You can’t do this,” she said.
“Vanessa, we’re so close. Help me. Help me do this, please.”
Vanessa’s lips pressed together and a wrinkle appeared on her forehead. “How could it look like you were being fired for something else?”
Thomas thought fast. “All we need is a rumor. If one of the crew sees me do something that’s grounds for instant termination, they’ll spread the story to the rest of the crew. They’ll think I got fired for that, not for organizing.”
“Won’t Mr. Destiny hear about it?” said Vanessa.
“Not likely. He pays as much attention to crew members as that horse does.” Thomas pointed to the horse head.
Vanessa laughed in spite of herself. “All right. Let’s say I take you up on this crazy plan. What can I fire you for?”
“Safety. If I do something unsafe, I have to be fired.”
“So you have to do something unsafe, in front of me, where other crew members can witness it?” said Vanessa.
“Then they spread the story of why I got fired, yes,” said Thomas. “But Mr. Destiny will think it’s because he told you to fire someone.”
“This is insane,” said Vanessa.
“I’m open to other options,” said Thomas.
Vanessa threw her hands up in the air. “You know as well as I do there aren’t any. What will happen after? Will you appeal to get your job back?”
“Of course. And if that doesn’t pan out—well, I’ll find something. After all, we toasted to new beginnings, didn’t we?” He poured all his charm into a teasing smile.