Black Sunshine: A Novel by Ninie Hammon

Author:Ninie Hammon [Hammon, Ninie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ninie Hammon
Published: 2014-06-06T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

Ricky Dan leads the way toward the rail shaft. Will and Lloyd follow him through the nearest break—one of hundreds of 18-foot open spaces between coal pillars that connect the shafts.

Halfway down the break, there should be a curtain across it, a dam in the middle that blocks the air flow and directs good air toward the face of the mine. There is no curtain.

In the absolute black, it is impossible to see more than a few feet ahead; walking bent over means they can’t shine their headlamps out front without squatting down.

Will is chilled. He’s always chilled in the mine—even when he’s hard at work. Maybe it’s because he’s always sweating—even when he’s sitting still. Fear sweat. The stink of it makes him nauseous. And the damp makes him shiver. There’s moisture on every surface. Water constantly drips from the roof; sometimes it comes down like rain. The shuttle driver has to grease the steering wheel when he leaves on Friday or it’ll be rusted when he returns for his shift Monday morning.

Cold, damp and dark. And small. He feels the walls begin to squeeze tighter and tighter; senses the weight of the mountain suspended above him. Ready to crush him…like that coal train that roared over him only inches…

Stop it!

Will grabs hold of his thoughts and forcibly wrenches them away from the spiral into panic. As long as he stays busy, he can cope. Well, busy at any job except helping the pinner on the roof-bolting machine. Drilling holes for the 4-foot-long bolts that attach the unstable slate of the mine roof to the denser layer of sandstone above it is the most dangerous job in the mine. Work under unbolted top so frightens Will he sometimes loses his breakfast—tells the pinner man he has a stomach virus. Greasing the belt line isn’t nearly as frightening and it keeps his mind occupied. But just walking along in the dark like this…

He turns his head and glances over to the right as they pass the next break. The headlamp on his red helmet lights up something crouched in the shadows in the shaft on the other side of it. He jumps back, loses his footing, and goes down on one knee.

Lloyd turns around. “You okay?”

“Fine, just tripped.” His voice is shaky but he doesn’t think Lloyd noticed. Headlamps mess with your eyes; the dark messes with your head. Makes you see things that aren’t there. Ghost images, formed out of shadows and dust and fear.

He shouldn’t have been able to see all the way through the break to begin with. This is the third one they’ve passed with no curtain. All the breaks along the rail line are supposed to be sealed off with heavy burlap or plastic curtains or with permanent concrete-block walls, “dammed up” to direct good air to the face of the mine.

Hob Bascomb does as good a job as he can, but curtain-hanging and building permanent seals are tasks he gets around to when they don’t have him pulled away doing something else.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.