Mr. Joe Zalusky had just come home form work at the steel mill to find his house partially covered with a dark and ugly foam-like material. It was on the roof, the porch, and the steps. One entire side of the house, including the windows, was covered with the alien-looking stuff.

It looked like the house was being devoured by the blob in that old sci-fi movie. He wasn't sure what to do and hadn't the faintest clue as to what was the cause. He went to the corner bar and asked the bar keep what to do. "Joe, I‟d say you need a drink, but if you told me this story while you were drinking, I'd have said you had enough" "So tell me what's really getting to you?"

Joe was trying to be serious, and he finally convinced a few of his cronies to walk down the block and see his house. When they got there, the house was still coated with blue-black foam and some was even on the front door. Joe got a stick and poked at the foam. It broke up easily and now seemed less alien. "Looks like black soapsuds", remark one. It sure did act like soapsuds and Joe's anxiety level started to drop.

While they were standing by the house, a neighbor walked over. "You got the stuff, too", was the neighbor's remark. It looked like the mysterious blight had covered at least two houses, but what was it, and where did it come from?

The Rest Of The Story

"Gotta be pollution", was the pronouncement of an old timer. "That chemical plant over on Elm is what's doing it". They drove over to meet the plant manager who had already reported his foam problem and wanted to handle it before it got out of hand. The chemical conglomerate made everything from color dyes to soap powder, and all the waste went to one treatment plant. There was a big settling pond that was filled with dyes, soap powder and other chemicals. Add enough dye colors and you got black. The winds off of Lake Erie had been blowing a near-gale and the pond was whipped up to a frothy state.

The wind was blowing foam off the surface and hurling it eastward. Most of the foam ended up on company property, but some escaped. The company sent a representative down the road to settle any claims. That usually meant handing out $100 and some free detergent – the same stuff that had made the foam in the first place.