After warming up and calming down, Mike went out to start and warm up his truck for us to go to the hospital. We had gotten a phone call form the hospital saying he was going into emergency surgery and he was in critical condition. The atmosphere inside was gloom like the grey skies outside the only sound that could be heard was the sound of someone lighting a cigarette. Besides for the men who were offloading the barge and the men in the pump house making sure the fuel went to the right tank everyone else was silently waiting for more news about their boss.
The other men knew that the poor boy who was huddled up with knees to chest with red eyes from crying was their boss's son. They gave him a look of pity knowing that he had already lost his mom in accident when he was 5. None of them could give him word of comfort or assurance for they were not good with words. None of them went to college, some never even graduated from high school. The best they could do for Sam was a pat on the back or a look of calmness for the boy well we walked out to Mike's truck.
We had gotten word before we left that Devin was airlifted from the orginal hospital and taken to biggest hospital in the area before he went into surgery so we had an hour drive now with traffic and snow covered road. As it started to gentle snowing again we drove for 15 minutes in silence. Mike being considerate and trying to help take our minds form the bismol situation he started talking.
"Do you know why I still help out even though I'm retired?"
The question took me by surprise, I never put any thought into why he was still there helping there. Seeing me pondering and Sam's silence it made him chuckle slightly.
"It's because your father Sam"
This made Sam look up well sitting in the back seat of seat.
"Really?" Sam said timidly.
"Ya he wanted you guys to have a good mentor he knew his mind wasn't the same after the incident so he wanted to make sure you two were ready to work and had somebody he made those mistakes or saw them happen to make sure you didn't do the same. Sam, your father was always very kind to me when Ed's father took over the terminal and treated me well. Even though I am broken man form all the years of hard labor I put in at the place, he respected me for knowledge and my hardwork over the last 40 years since the terminal opened" Then Mike went into a long pause before he continued.
"As you boys well know I don't have much time left on this earth. When I got the red dye on me it was my final nail in the coffin and I know I will some day soon pay for it. If that doesn't kill me then then asbestos or some other chemical will. I just hope the place I built with my own hands will be a place that last for generations."
Mike didn't have many years after being exposed to Red Solvent 26 a highly cancerous chemical that was used to dye high sulfur diesel by the US government despite the extremely hazardous nature of the chemical. Even a with full protective gear on the chemical could still permeate the skin. If there was any contact with the chemical to the skin it would permanently stain body, leading to a death sentence to the person exposed.
Eventually the chemical carcinogenic properties would take affect and kill them. Luckily or unluckily Mike was exposed only to a small dose of the chemical so he had a chance to live a few more years with his family.
This made us realize how selfless Mike was and how much Devon's actions must have influenced the man driving us to the hospital was.