Tomorrow Girl - A Short Story in Shanghai

Part 2

Kangqiao Industrial Park

Factory operations continued full steam ahead, despite the shocking news of the CEO’s death and the police investigation. This was the peak season after all, when production went into overdrive in preparation for the holidays. Tomorrow Girl had record sales last quarter and demand was expected to increase dramatically in the final months of the year.

Kang remembered the rush season last year, when a worker was killed in an accident with one of the packing machines. The medics removed his body and then work continued business as usual. Still, in this case he was surprised that production hadn’t stopped with the death of the head of the company.

Kang and Shao had been lucky enough to move away from the dangers of the production line to the testing department that occupied the entire tenth floor of the building. Throughout the department, there were separate teams that conducted a series of safety checks, including sophisticated lab analysis for heavy metals, toxic chemicals and flammability.

Low-skilled laborers like Kang and Shao performed simple manual tests. Their specific focus was making sure the glass eyes didn’t come out, since this could pose a choking hazard to younger children. All day long they’d pull, bend and hit the dolls to see if they could make the eyes fall out of their face. Sometimes they’d even use a tool like a hammer to apply extra force.

 “Faster, faster!” shouted Jin, the floor boss for their team.

“Yes sir,” Shao said fearfully, hurrying his pace.

Kang didn’t hear him. He was concentrating so deeply, contemplating what would happen if something hard and heavy like the corner of a television fell down and smashed the doll’s face.

Kang tried to imagine the children who would own these toys on the other side of the world. He had never met an American, but he felt a special duty to make sure their daughters could play safely.

“You’re too slow, Kang,” Jin barked. “I told you the whole factory has to double capacity. You can’t linger like an old woman.”

“We can’t rush,” Kang said earnestly. “We might miss something.”

“Be careful,” Shao urged in a hushed voice. “You can’t talk back to the boss.”

Jin laughed dismissively. “Nobody is going to miss anything.”

“I see the other workers skipping some of the tests.”

“Don’t worry about the others. You’re the one who is creating the problems.”

“What if one of these dolls was sold to your daughter, sir? Wouldn’t you want our team to take a little more time just to be sure there was no danger?”

“Are you challenging my judgment? How dare you!” Jin thundered.

The boss struck Kang hard across the face and he crashed to the floor. The other testers paused in stunned silence at the sight of their fallen colleague.

“Let this be a lesson to the rest of you!” the boss shouted. The other workers returned to testing, keeping their heads down to avoid Jin’s angry glare.

The boss looked down as Kang wiped blood from his lip. “I’d fire you right now if we weren’t so busy,” he growled. “Now get back to work and do it faster this time.”

When Jin left, Shao helped Kang to his feet and brought him a cloth to wipe the blood.

“You’re too kind,” Kang said. “You’ll get in trouble if he sees you.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Shao said. “But you better do what he says, Kang. I know you care about the American girls who get these dolls that we could never afford. But you better think about yourself. What happens to your own daughter back in the village if you get fired?”