He scurried back to catch the next trip down the lift. He cursed to himself for leaving his dinner bucket. He hated to call home ( on company time) and force someone out to the mine for the sake of his forgetfulness. The elevator shaft seemed endless ; its final stop always the same lightless hell , a sub-level of the earth made of dusty , black rock and dank , chilly air. He resignedly picked up his tools and went back to work.
She easily slipped through the gate at the boundary of the mine. The guard lived in the shack next to her's , and he waved to her as she passed by.
"Hey , girl ! " he called after her. "Yer daddy's a workin' over on hole twenty-three today.You be careful ,okay , that mine's older'n you ! "
" All right ! " she called over her shoulder as she began the long climb to mine twenty-three. She hated those damned mountains , home ,or not. "Nothin' good here but trees and coal , and what do I see of that coal ? " she thought . Nothing but coal camps , worthless company script , and the thick , black phlegm her daddy spit every night.
He hated working in this hole. There was no escaping the coal dust , and his throat ached from coughing. "If I could get away , I could get a factory job down south ," he mused internally." But how do ya leave yer family ? yer home ?" He knew he was tied to the land like the roots of the pine he one day lie in. The foreman's gruff shout went up the line .
" Git yerself above ground ! Yer girl's y' ere !" He quickly made his way to the lift. The creaking mechanisms began to carry him toward the sunlight.
Something sounded wrong .She could hear an odd creak and groan as the shuddering timbers gave way, and the earth closed its grasp around the pick-wielding intruders.
Something sounded wrong . She could hear the wails of the other miners in his ears. He heard himself cry out involuntarily as the lift fell beneath him ,and the walls blocked the shaft of light above.
She lay in a crumpled heap , sobbing into the dirt . When she heard footsteps and shouts coming toward the mine , she got up , her face tear-muddied and broken .
The land had swallowed her soul with him. She knew she'd be here forever. The hills were her nemesis ; their black hearts would forever rule her fate as they had ruled her father's . Her only escape would be to keep her children from the hadian darkness of these hills,but for her there was no hope. Here she was born ; here she lived ; here she would die.
She wiped the grit from her face and struggled down the hillside amongst the crowd.
