“You’re crazy, Cameron,” Shane said. “You’re fucking crazy. You can’t talk like that. Get the hell out of here.” But Cameron stayed where he was.

“You okay?” Shane asked Marie. He tried to help her up, but she shrugged him off. She laced up her boots and got unsteadily to her feet, leaning on Lawrence.

“He hit her with the bucket. I saw it,” I said.

“Fucking dyke attacked me with a wrench,” Cameron said.

“Cameron, you asshole,” Shane said. “What the hell is your problem? I told you to go the fuck home.” Cameron just kept smiling.

“I told you, Shane. I ain’t no oiler,” Marie said. “I should be sitting up in that seat.”

“This is not about that,” Shane said. “You know how these guys are, fragile egos, think with their dicks. In the future, do you think you could go farther away to pee?”

“Oh please,” I said. “Shane, you don’t provide porta johns. Fucking Cameron pees on any rock, pees on the fucking pipeline, for god’s sake.”

“Practically pees on me,” Marie said.

“Well, like I said,” Shane said, “it’s Cameron’s fault. He got out of hand. He’s got mental problems. Don’t worry. He’s off the job.”

“We can report this,” I said.

“We?” Marie said. “There’s no we.”

“We’ve got to fight back,” I said.

“Oh, I’ll fight back, all right,” Marie said. “But not with you. I can take care of myself, foreman. You need to pull your head out of your ass.” Lawrence helped her to the truck. They didn’t look back. I watched them drive away. Cameron still sat in the excavator, chuckling high and reedy in his throat.

“Go home, Cameron,” Shane said wearily. “Please just go home, okay? I’ll call you.”

When it was just Shane and me I said, “I’m still reporting this.”

“Who are you going to report it to?” asked Shane.

“I saw what happened,” I said. “Including sexual harassment, assault, everything. He’s not getting away with it.”

“Be careful, Karen,” Shane said. “There’s two sides to every story. Remember, you hit him in the face with a pipe wrench. Drew blood. Not that I don’t admire it.”

“You want to see what that asshole did? I’ll replay the tape,” I said, but when I dragged Shane back into the trailer, there was nothing to replay but snow, though I pressed and pressed buttons, rewound and rewound again. Shane stood behind me in the doorway.

“You motherfucker.” I turned on him. “You fucking coward.”

“It’s not me,” Shane said. “It’s the system.”