The Loved Ones
Wilson hit the big red button that stopped the conveyor and then used his shovel to push the various limbs and body parts all the way into the crematorium chamber so the door would be able to close. When that was done he reached down to pick up a pale arm which had fallen from the beltway onto the floor. Very recently it belonged to a man, and had been severed at the elbow. The knuckles were scraped and bloodied, and it appeared he had fought someone before the end. Wilson tossed it through the gate and then he hit the green button to trigger the fire door to close and the furnace to light up. It hardly phased him anymore. Only the sight of putrid remains made him throw up now, so he still kept the bucket handy for those occasions when the crews were doing more of the “neighbourhood clean up and reclamation,” as opposed to what was euphemistically called ‘justice duty.’
