THE TOWERS FAMILY SAGA
       Episode 111
     THE STEADY TIDE
The days flowed like the
river in the distance,
slow and very constant.
Virginia kept the count,
her pills a steady beat
in the rhythm of the day.
She sat at the console,
checking the flow of
the orders for the steel.
"We are in the green,"
she told the room below.
Robert looked up, smiling.
"The forge is singing."
"It has a good tune,"
Barbara said, wiping
oil from her tired brow.
"It sounds like peace."
They did not hurry now.
They did not look for
the shortcuts of the past.
"How is the dose, Vee?"
Minnie asked from the
doorway, tray in hand.
"I feel very stable."
"I feel like myself."
"No more of the fog?"
"The fog is long gone."
She stood and walked
down to the shop floor,
the heat of the furnace
a warm embrace on skin.
"It feels so right here."
Robert stopped the press.
"It is a good life."
"It is a hard life,"
Virginia said, laughing.
"But it is our life."
"We earned every bit."
"We paid for it dear,"
Barbara added quietly,
looking at the scars
of the last few years.
"But we are here today."
"We are the survivors,"
Robert said to the team.
"And we are done with
the games of the past."
"The games are over."
"The work is the joy."
The metal glowed white,
a pure and honest light.
They watched the shape
of the iron as it cooled.
It was a part of them.
"What is the next task?"
"We fill the orders."
They worked in a unit,
a well-oiled machine.
No friction in the gear.
No tension in the air.
Just the sound of the
strike on the anvil.
"This is enough," he said.
"This is all we need."
The sun went down low,
casting a long shadow
across the metal floor.
They cleaned the station.
They locked the doors.
They left the forge for
the quiet of the home.
The night was a cradle.
The peace was a gift.
They slept without fear.
They woke with the day.
The life was a promise.
They kept it to heart.

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