The Edit

The prompt for the Sturgis Library Writing Group this week was simply “The Edit”. I wrote a story using my reporter character from the fictional Pittsburgh newspaper called “The Manchester Press & Journal”. There is an element of truth to this story, I will explain at the end.

The Edit

Two of my earliest assignments as a cub reporter for the Manchester Press & Journal were related to industrial accidents and the importance of a safe working environment.  Because of this, my boss asked me to write a piece on safety for the health section of the Friday paper.  “Try to relate safety at home being as important as safety in the workplace.  Keep it under 500 words, Rookie.”  This would be easy, I knew someone, a neighbor of my parents, who had been injured while performing a home improvement project.  I phoned him to ask if if he could relate the details of his accident and he agreed, “if it helps someone else to be safe at home, I’m all for it,” he said.  To protect his identity, I would refer to him as “Buddy” in my article.

Buddy’s Story

Buddy was restoring a 200 plus year old home that he and his wife had purchased.  The chimney above the roof was in rough shape with cracked bricks and large chunks of mortar missing from the joints, so he decided to remove the old bricks and construct a new chimney above the roof line.   

To make the task of getting the old bricks to the ground and new bricks to the roof easier, Buddy designed a system of ropes, pulleys and a medium sized barrel to lower and raise the materials.  To support his system, he nailed 2×6 boards to the roof of the house and a sturdy oak tree branch.  Raising the barrel to the roof using his cool (he thought) pulley system, he secured it in place by tying the rope lift around the trunk of the oak tree. 

Buddy climbed a ladder to the peak of his roof and began chiseling away at the old bricks, tossing them in the barrel after removal.  When the barrel was nearly full, he climbed down to the ground and untied the rope to lower the load.  At this point, the project became very interesting.

The moment the rope was untied, the barrel plummeted to the ground, Buddy’s wrist became tangled in the rope.  Weighing less than the barrel of bricks, Buddy quickly found himself rocketing skyward.  The descending barrel struck his right shoulder, dislocating it.  Reaching the pulleys, his entangled left hand got pinched in the wheels.  The barrel meanwhile had crashed into the ground, breaking apart on impact, spilling its load of bricks.

Buddy was now heavier than the remains of the barrel and began a rapid descent to the ground, his pinched left-hand bleeding.  About halfway to the ground, he encountered whatever remained of the barrel on its way up.  This resulted in a bruised shin.  Buddy hit the ground hard, breaking an ankle.  Dazed, he loosened his wounded hand from the rope entanglement.  Absent the counterweight of Buddy’s body, the few sections of shattered barrel fell to the ground once more, hitting him the head, knocking him out.  

There is a happy ending to this story, Buddy fully recovered.  He came to realize that do-it-yourself work might better be left to the experts.  His biggest takeaway from his experience was the need to be as careful and mindful of the safest methods in performing household tasks as you are at your places of work.  He urges everyone to be safe, all the time, you owe it to yourself and your family. 

Pleased with my effort, I brought the single sheet of paper to my boss.  

Gently waving the paper like a fan, he asked, “How many words Rookie?”

“425, boss.”

“I’ll do my review and send it on up the line.  It should be in this Friday’s paper.”  

I stood there grinning and nodding.

“Don’t you have something else to do?” I guess I was dismissed, but nothing diminished the excitement of my story appearing in Friday’s paper.

“Hey Rookie!  I see your name under a story in the Health Section.”  It was Sly from the mail room.  He plopped a crisp copy of Friday’s paper on my desk.  “Yes siree! In print.  Heh. Heh.”  He slithered off to torment someone else.

I eagerly began flipping the pages of the Health Section.  Where was my story?  I went through more slowly a second time.  There, butted up against the Hair Club for Men, Chiropractor and Electrolysis ads were two sentences:   

Be as careful and mindful of the safest methods in performing household tasks as you are at your places of work.  Be safe, all the time, you owe it to yourself and your family.  Followed by my name.

Those damn editors.

Note: The story about Buddy’s misfortune is one I had read a long time ago (40 years or more?) in a humor section somewhere – perhaps Reader’s Digest, I don’t know. Because of my involvement in safety teams at the place I worked at, I was asked to write a story about the importance of safety whether at work or during projects at home. It would appear in the company newsletter. So I wrote Buddy’s story as it appears above. Before the story was published, a representative from Human Resources poked her head into my office to say my story had been “editorialized”, but didn’t offer anymore information. When I received the newsletter, my story consisted of just two sentences and my name. Those damn editors….

Ernie Stricsek

The Sturgis Library Writing Group

June 6, 2023