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Will Bonner<br />

Every morning, before work started, Will would make it his business to walk<br />

around the various places where the staff were located to say "hello" and give them<br />

the opportunity to get any problems they might have, off their chest. After seeing<br />

the women in final inspection he left to get back to his office, with the thought in his<br />

mind that he would have to ask Joanna if there was anything wrong.<br />

"Mr. Brenner, Mr. Brenner!" Will turned to see one of the women hurrying<br />

to catch up. She stopped, but hesitated.<br />

"Is there something I can do for you?" She hesitated briefly again.<br />

"No, not for me, it's Joanna. Do you know about her?"<br />

"The only thing I do know is that she doesn't seem to be too happy over recent<br />

times, and I was hoping she would tell me what was troubling her."<br />

"She'll never do that. It's that pig of a husband, he's abusing her!" Will was<br />

taken completely by surprise, it was the last thing he expected.<br />

"But there's no marks on her face."<br />

"No, he's cunning, only beating her about the arms and body, that's why she<br />

wears a long sleeve blouse to hide the bruises. Her body is sometimes so sore she<br />

has to take a day off." The woman's intensely enquiring gaze was demanding<br />

some sort of positive response.<br />

"I'll sort the matter out believe me, I'll see that it gets stopped."<br />

"You won't tell her that I told you?"<br />

"No, I won't even talk to her about it. There'll be other ways."<br />

"The sooner the better," the woman remarked, as she walked away.<br />

Casting his mind back, Will began to realize that the abuse must have been<br />

going on for some time. He shuddered at the thought of what he had witnessed in<br />

the salvage department, being applied to Joanna.<br />

For the next couple of days, after overcoming his initial anger, his feelings<br />

turned to frustration, not knowing the right way to approach the problem without<br />

implicating himself and making matters worse for Joanna. He knew however, that<br />

to procrastinate would not solve anything, and instead he would have to tackle<br />

things head-on.<br />

The whole production plant came to a grinding halt at l2 noon for the lunch<br />

period and the vibrating sounds of activity dropped to a whisper. Joanna had left<br />

the office to sit with the women in the final inspection, and Will sat alone eating his<br />

sandwiches, but as the time drew close to getting started again, Will heard a voice<br />

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