79. Superman

I protect from the heat of the sun, the scorch and the burn. I also protect from falling bricks, dirt, wood, nails.

Whoever wears me is invincible! For I belonged once to Superman – can you not tell by the symbol on my front? OK, it’s not the right colour, but I’m pretty certain it comes directly from him, or someone close – perhaps the head of the Bin Laden Group. He’s superhuman, or at least he thinks he is.

I know I shouldn’t, but sometimes I let the fear of the wearer get to me. Fear, mixed with sweat and hard concrete. I am the helmet that was worn by the labourer the day the crane fell. I didn’t really have to do much – he wasn’t hurt. At least not externally. But he was controlling the crane that killed so many, on 11 September 2015. Superstition breeds fear, and deadly dates breed superstition. One year to the day after Bin Laden registered the domain name saudi-binladin-group.com, the 11 September attacks took place in 2001. But all this is crazy speak. What’s a day or date but a number and a name?

This man’s guilt – I could feel it like nails punching outwards and inwards. Yet it wasn’t his fault. Superman could have told him that. It was the waters stirring beneath the scenes. The end of an era perhaps? This was the last time that the Bin Laden construction group would undertake a Mecca contract.

The company registered as A is now B.