Jim sat on the stack of iron scraps. He listened to the thump of it behind him. 65 beats, every minute. The average. He'd counted them before. Sometimes they increased, but always came back to that same 65 beats. Jim puffed slowly on his cigar.
"Hey ya, Jim." The voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Yo," Jim said, plowing a puff of smoke. "How's it going Jim?"
Jim sat down next to him and fished out a cigarette from his pocket. He lit it and took a few drags before answering. "Not bad. From what I hear, the boss thinks we'll be finished in just a few minutes."
Jim nodded. "Seems about right, We've almost run out of iron anyway, I don't think we could build it up much more." He knocked some ash from the cigar.
"That's what I was thinking. Once they get the top all welded, the gate should be finished." Jim took another pull on his cigarette. "Though I wonder how much good it'll."
"Yeah, but that's not for us to decide." Jim said, trying to blow a smoke ring from the cigar. "We just build the thing."
"Jim, and Jim!" They heard the boss's voice over their radios. "Come on up front. We're just finishing up. I want us all there for it."
"Rodger that," they said in unison. Jim flicked his cigarette behind the scrap. Jim kept his cigar in his teeth and the two walked the short way to where the boss was standing.
"We nearly finished Jim?"
"Sure are." The boss said, smiling. He spoke into his radio again. "You have those welds finished Jim?"
They saw the man up on the structure flip up his mask and reach for his radio. His voice crackled down to them. "Just about Jim. Jim has a few more to do on his side, but we'll be down in a second."
Jim smiled. "Excellent," he said into the radio. Jim puffed quietly on his cigar while Jim reached for another cigarette. The three men stood looking up at the massive iron gate.
"How long have we been working on this thing?" Jim asked, lighting up his cigarette.
Jim tapped the radio against his hand. "Ever since the incident. I don't think it's been too long."
The radio crackled again. "All right, that's it for us. Can you have Jim lower the crane?"
"Rodger that." Jim said into the radio. He switched the dials for frequency and spoke into it again. "They're finished, Jim. Lower 'em down."
"Rodger boss," Jim responded. The crane and the platform that Jim and Jim were on started to move and they were quickly on the ground with the rest of them.
"So, does this mean it's finished?" Jim asked, cigarette now between his fingers.
"Sure does, all that work and we're finally done." Jim said, smiling and tucking the radio into a pocket. "I'd like to see her get past that."
Jim and the others were silent for a bit. They admired the structure. It was massive, a wrought iron gate that stretched up high. The fearsome metal teeth on top shined. It was a menacing structure. Jim was smiling, hand still on his radio.
"Boss?" Jim said, blowing some more cigar smoke.
"Yeah, Jim?"
"One question for you."
"Shoot."
"Isn't a gate supposed to have...yeah know, walls on either side?"
Jim was quiet for a moment, fiddling with his radio. "Jim?"
Jim took another puff of his cigar. "Yeah boss?"
"Shut up."
