We change.

There comes a day
In the life of every slaughterhouse employee
Where she must decide whether hurting living things
Is something that she is still capable of.

She calls in sick a few times that month.
A migraine.
A sunburn.

Eventually, she picks up the want-ads.

Years later, she will laugh over a meal with friends -- make light of it.
It's what she's known for.
But later, in the quiet of her attic apartment,
She will say out loud:

How very far I've come.

And all the while, the earth is spinning beneath her feet.

Location:Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike,Westport,United States