Huddled in Belgian trenches where time has stopped, soldiers count the numbers radiating from their watches, deadly as mustard gas, comforting as any light in darkness. Covered with a thin powder That puts a glow in your cheeks , they paint buttons, fingernails, teeth. Beneath the stardust, boys gravitate to their radiant blue bodies. 1925 Confused bones bond Radium tight, and it singes their core until jaws break, teeth rot, wounds grow purulent without healing. The company claims safety.
Dentists lie through their teeth.
And one hundred Radium Girls are dead. A woman is stretched out on her sick bed. Five former workers encircle her, arms folded, looking down at the figure whose eyes are closed and could pass for dead. A man in a dark suit sits and stares directly at her closed eyes but doesn't touch her. One woman holds a comma of white hand while the others stand inert.