The lift cage was open from the waist up with only grating below attached to the bottom. There were metal posts on all four corners that attach to the top of the lift as well as two posts in the middle of each side where the gates opened.
My only saving grace was standing next to my dad. At least I had his comfort, for now. Even if he didn’t want me here. I knew I wasn't made for this kind of work. We both knew I’m different in all aspects of life. But we didn’t have much of a choice. And that only made me want to provemyself more.
The rumble that echoed in the shaft was near deafening. When the cage jilted to the side a bit, I lost my balance and tipped right into Jim.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
“Plant your feet, bend your knees. Don’t touch the sides if you want to keep your hands.” He gave me a look like I was going to be more work than I was worth.
My dad never willingly talked about the job. I only knew what I forced out of him, which isn’t much. He wasn’t very sociable, even with me. The cage lightly smacked the bottom creating a small clang and puff of coal dust. Jim unlocked the gate on the side of the cage that led into the mine and swung it open. Dad followed David out but stopped short and turned toward me, drawing me in his arms, knocking my helmet wonky.
“Dad! Come–” He drew me in for a hug that cut me off.
“You do as you're told. Follow Jim’s instructions to a T. Don’t leave his side and wander off.” He pushed back and looked me in the eyes. He had a shimmer to his green stare, like he was about to cry.
“Dad. I promise. Everything will be fine. Please don’t embarrass me,” my voice coming out as a husky whine from the dust already in my throat, like I was still going through puberty.
Jim came up as dad stepped away with David. Looking at me with an exhale that looked like it pained him. He already looked exhausted and we haven’t even done anything yet. His caramel brown eyes drooped a little when he looked down at me since he is a good four inches taller. He also had some muscle to him. His chest looked broad, yet tight and I envisioned a toned flat stomach. His arms were thesize of tree branches that I climbed as a kid which were attached to strong shoulders.
“Some basic rules,” Jim’s deep voice projected over the echoes of men working down the tunnel passage. “Don’t take your helmet off for any reason,” as I reached up to straighten it back into position. “Always know where you are down here in location to both the lift and the adit, in case of emergency. Always check your tools at the beginning and end of the day, and communicate. That last one will get you killed faster than anything if you don’t talk to your partner. Follow me, we are working in room three. Pay attention to where we go.”
“How many rooms are there down here”, I asked curiously, following him down a carved out walkway. We had to slump over so we didn’t graze the light that’s attached to our helmets off the top of the mine.
“Five in total,” he said, pausing to couch before continuing, “but rooms one, two, and three are more active than the other two. Especially room four, with the way the passages were constructed and the room was dug out. It was poorly thought out at the time. The one side that borders the side of the mountain itself is still unstable even with the extra supports we brought in.”
With my headlight on, I could see in the distance the end of the rail tracks with a buffer stop and just passed that, a five-way junction with mine car tracks in the ground leading in each direction, all coming to the main track in the center. Along the right side of the track, in the middle, was a switch track handle so the cars could be wheeled onto the main track from each room.
“This is what we call theHeart of the Mountain. The main junction point,” he said, taking us to the right, in the direction of the track switch and a cagealong the wall just passed one of the passages that I assumed led to one of the rooms.
Jim stopped at the cage and opened it to reveal a tool locker. Looking inside there were only a handful of extra tools left since we were the last ones down here for the shift.
“What chit number are you?” Jim asks, turning my direction.
“Twenty-three.” I looked at the tools to understand the system.
He extracted a pick-ax and handed it to me. “You are number twenty-three. No matter what room we are working, that will be your number. Always look over your tools before you start and after you finish. Never trust the worker before you that they did it themselves. Unsafe equipment creates an unsafe environment.”
“What if I notice something is wrong?” I asked, looking into his brown eyes that look black in this light.
“You tell your supervisor, which currently is me since I’m training you. Will is the Room Supervisor and is in charge down here. He is second in command to Tom. You will meet him eventually. He will either tell you to grab a spare or go back up top with your working partner and file paperwork.”
Jim closed the locker, then turned and walked across the middle track to the last passage on the left. We followed the track that seemed to disappear into the black even though the dim lights were shining. It’s like, even down in this hell pit, bulbs couldn’t shine bright enough to light your way.
The urge to stay quiet finally got overtaken with my curiosity and needing to hear anything while traveling through the dark other than our footsteps. “What, no additional tour?”
“No, but if we had kept going straight past the tool locker, we would have come to the Adit and the Tipple, which opens up out the side of the mountain above the railroad tracks,” Jim said, in an uncaring tone, like he didn’t even want to waste his breath on even one of those words. “We don’t tend to roam unless we absolutely must, for safety reasons. They know we are going to be in room three. If something should happen and we are not there or at the Adit with a car of coal, it will create more panic and chaos than necessary.”
Speaking of cars, we came to a set of mine cars that were once yellow and were now dented and the color of the sun if it was covered by Satan’s breath. I could have easily laid in them with how big they were with room to roll from side to side. With little room around them, we squeezed and shimmied by until reaching the other side, having to hunch over some more as the ceiling lowered like it can no longer handle the weight the miners created for it to carry.
He turned and headed towards one of many narrow passages where we heard voices, dings, and dull crumbling crashes. Jim said hi and head nodded to several men we passed until we got to two that were being loud with each other. Once we got close enough for them to notice us, the significantly taller and bigger man than all of us, gave a menacing look towards Jim.
“Well, look what we have here. Looks like someone caught themselves a fresh fish from the rivers. Although, by the size of him, he should have been thrown back.” He gave me a look like he’s trying to size me up but there wasn’t much to see.
“Knock it off, Richard,” Jim said, taking a sidestep to partially block me. “We don’t have time for your antics. We are already late.”
“Based on what I see,” he looked at me again, “It won’t matter. You’ll never get caught up with the‘help’you have today.”
“Excuse me, Dick, is it?” I asked, leaning to get a better view of the guy. “Size only matters for one reason and based on an assumption, I could probably guess that it’s why you’re an asshole.”
