Trapper Boy (8 page)

Chapter 22

A
lone in the darkness, JW turned up the wick on his lamp and saw long shadows on the far walls. Rats stood on their hind legs as if in a macabre dance. He watched as several sniffed the air. JW noticed the one with the injured leg kept to the back of the pack. He knew the rat wouldn't last long because the healthy ones would get to the food first.

JW rubbed his hand along the wall and felt a small indentation he'd noticed the night before. He brushed aside some loose shale and the opening grew larger. He continued to pull shale and small rocks aside until there was just enough room to fit his satchel in the hole. And the hole was high enough off the ground that the rats couldn't reach it.

The familiar sound of metal against metal told JW it was time to move nearer to the trap door. As soon as the horse came into view, JW pulled the door and it opened smoothly.

“Might be an hour or more before the next cart comes through. There's been a small collapse back a ways, and it's gonna take some time to clear it from the track,” the miner said.

“Is everyone okay?”

“Oh yeah, just dirt on the track.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” JW said. He waited until the cart cleared the doorway then closed the door.

He decided to have some of his lunch while he waited. He reached deep into his satchel and pulled out a molasses cookie. The rats squealed as they sensed the food. He ate all of the cookie except for the small portion that rested between the coal-stained fingers of his right hand. He reached his left hand into his satchel and his fingers closed around what he sought. He walked a few steps and threw the remaining piece of cookie as far as he could into the darkness.

JW watched as the healthy rats scurried after the morsel, their shadows moving hurriedly in his lamp's light. The injured rat tried in vain to follow, but soon stopped. JW walked toward the injured rat and watched as it tried to get away. The rat pulled its wounded leg behind itself, but made little progress. Stopping a few feet from the rat, JW opened his hand, letting the oats fall to the floor. He then backed away, and watched as the rat greedily ate the meal. It was able to consume most of the oats before the other rats returned.

“Boo!”

JW jumped and felt his breath whoosh from his mouth. He managed not to scream.

“You're easily spooked for an underground miner,” Mickey said, unable to hold in his laughter.

JW angled his lamp so it illuminated Mickey's face. “I wasn't expecting any visitors, especially not ones that tap you on the shoulder and shout ‘boo.'”

Mickey continued to laugh, and JW soon joined in.

“Did you hear there was a small cave-in and that there won't be any trams through for an hour or more?” Mickey asked.

“Yeah, I heard. Well, at least I got the rats to keep me company.”

Mickey reached to pick up a lump of coal. “Just throw something at them and they'll stay away.”

“No, don't do that. I already hurt one last night. I made the mistake of dropping some food at my feet, and one of them was up my pant leg before I knew it. I threw it against the wall. Poor thing, it was only looking for food.”

“You got your pant legs tied up tonight?” Mickey asked.

“Yeah, I won't make that mistake again.”

“You know the best thing when there's a cave-in? I mean when no one's hurt, of course. You get to go exploring 'cause you don't have to worry about the door. It just stays closed.”

“Da said I wasn't to leave the door under any circumstances,” JW said.

“That's what every new man is told on the first shift, but after a while, you get to realize that it's okay to do a little exploring, as long as you're here when the trams are ready to go,” Mickey said. “I do it all the time. C'mon, I'll show you where your father works. I'm working the door close to where he is.” Mickey pulled a rock from his pocket. “Look what I found on one of my treasure hunts.”

“What is it?” JW asked and squinted in the dull light. He saw a fossilized imprint of a dead animal. At least it looked different from the usual ferns and other plants. Perhaps it was a fish.

“I'm not sure, but there's a bunch more in the same tunnel. It's only a five-minute walk up the tracks. We can be up and back before they even think of getting the cave-in cleared.”

Against his better judgement, JW ignored his father's warning and decided to follow Mickey. It was just a short distance, and they'd only be gone a few minutes. It felt like old times – Mickey and him on a treasure hunt.

Mickey pulled open the trap door, and for the first time JW ventured beyond it. He watched Mickey pull it closed and waited until he took the lead. Their headlamps cast a dull light. Mickey walked the tram rails as if he'd been doing it his entire life. JW looked up the tunnel that Mickey pointed out as the one JW's father worked in. It was dark and he couldn't see any light at all.

“It's just up ahead where I found the rock I showed you,” Mickey said. “The tunnel has lots of other strange-looking rocks in it too.”

“Is it a working tunnel?” JW asked.

“No, it's abandoned. There was a cave-in months ago, and Old Man Hennessey was hurt real bad, so they closed it down. We gotta be careful, walk lightly.”

Entering the tunnel, JW felt a shiver run across his shoulders and wondered if he should turn around. The promise of long-dead animals encased in stone and coal overruled his fear. His father had told him and Mickey many times about the fossilized animals and plants found at the Joggins coal fields on Nova Scotia's mainland. A famous scientist, Charles Lyell, had discovered them there many years ago.

“A few more feet and we'll be there,” Mickey said. “Look!”

JW stared at the pile of rocks and saw the outline of something. Pulling a piece of coal closer to his face, he was disappointed to see it looked like the skeletal remains of a plant, perhaps a fern. He dropped it and pulled another from the pile. It also looked like a plant of some kind.

“Are these the only rocks you found?” JW asked.

“There's more in further, but it's too dangerous to go in any deeper. But it's where I found this rock,” Mickey said, holding it out. “You can have it. I can get more later.”

“No, that's yours. I mean, thanks, but I want you and I to find some more on our next treasure hunt.”

“We better get back,” Mickey said. “There'll be a lot of trouble if we're not at our doors once the trams start running again.”

Mickey pointed the way to JW's trap door, then turned to go back to his own.

“Can't you walk back with me?” JW asked.

“You're not afraid, are you?”

“Not really, but I don't want to get lost.”

“Just follow the tracks back to your door. You can't get lost,” Mickey said.

“What if the trap door won't open from this side?” JW asked, unable to hide his rising panic.

“Alright, I'll walk you back.”

“Thanks.”

They walked in silence. JW felt the blood rise to his cheeks and stay there. He waited until Mickey pushed on the door and then slid through the opening.

“Thanks, Mickey.”

“Sure, no problem.”

They heard the sounds of metal against metal and knew that the trams were running again.

“Oh no! I'll never get back to my door in time,” Mickey said, and broke into a run.

With the door opened a crack, JW watched for a moment as Mickey hurried along the tracks. The tram was already making the turn, so JW closed the door tightly. He attempted to make small talk in order to slow down the miner.

“I've no time to talk, boy. Worked all night with nothing to show for it. Open the door, boy.”

JW pulled the rope and watched as man and beast sped along on their journey, coal dust falling from the cart. He closed the trap door again, and soon the silence returned, broken only by the occasional squeak of a rat.

JW hoped Mickey had made it back to his door before the unhappy miner. His face flushed hot at the memory of Mickey walking him back to his trap door. Fear of the dark had overwhelmed him. He recalled the pleading that had been in his voice and the reluctant agreement of Mickey. Few words had been exchanged.

He had little time to think about much of anything, because several minutes later another pony came pulling a filled cart. A short time later it was followed by another, and JW listened to the familiar sound of metal on metal. He realized the extra carts must have been the ones waiting on the other side of the roof-fall.

JW leaned his back against the wall and felt something move across his boot. His heartbeat quickened. Pulling his foot back, he saw it was the lame rat. His first instinct was to shoo it away, but instead he reached into his coat pocket and found a few oats. He let them fall next to his foot. The rat devoured the oats and scurried into the darkness. It wasn't ready to trust him completely.

He leaned against the wall again, and his heart beat slow and regular. He felt his eyelids become heavy, and stood up straight. After a few minutes, his eyes again started to close, and he shuffled his feet, but sleep overtook him. He awoke to the sound of bells ringing softly. A miner stood before him, and the horse, with bells connected to his harness, shook his head from side to side. The bells reminded JW of a sleigh ride he'd been on years earlier.

“You find the nights long, do you, son?” the man asked.

“Yes, sir, I do,” JW answered.

“They surely are. I spent a year on this very door, and many a night I drifted off to sleep. But I somehow got used to it. I was about sixteen when I started in the mine. Have to keep your mind filled to stay awake on this job. I did a lot of daydreaming. Thought about places I'd been before coming underground and wished I was back there. Still think about the ships I sailed on from time to time. The ocean can be a terrible master, but to see the sun in the day and the moon and stars at night … ah, those were fine times. My name's David Smith, but folks call me Smitty.”

“Mine's John Wallace Donaldson, but some call me JW. Where did you sail on the ships?”

“Back home in Barbados,” Smitty said.

“Barbados. That's in the Caribbean, right?”

“It sure is, and the water is as blue as the sky, and the sand is as white as snow. But the promise of a job that would give us a better life convinced my family to move here ten years ago. Lots of men from all over the world came to work these mines.”

“My friend Frankie, I just found out his father works down here. They came from Italy,” JW said.

“Yes, and Janus, who now goes by John, brought his family here from Poland. We all came hoping to escape poverty only to find it seems to have followed us,” Smitty said.

“I would love to sail a ship to Barbados some day. Do you plan to return there?”

“Perhaps one day. Maybe on a ship when you are the captain.” They both laughed. “Better get the door open, son.”

Pulling the door open, JW listened to the bells and remembered the sleigh ride as he watched Smitty go through. He hoped that he could learn more about Barbados. Perhaps he could learn from the other men about their countries as well.

Chapter 23

M
ary Donaldson turned quickly in response to the knocking at the back door, her hand coming to her mouth, surprised to see Beth standing in the doorway.

“Come in, dear. What brings you here?” she asked.

“Good morning, Mrs. Donaldson. I thought I'd meet John Wallace this morning and walk with him to school.”

“Won't he be surprised then?” Mary said.

“I don't know how he can do it. Staying up all night and then half of the day,” Beth said.

“I know, dear. I'm worried he's not getting enough sleep. He says he wants to spend an hour or two on his studies every evening. If he does that, he'll only be sleeping five or so hours a night. He won't be able to keep up the pace.”

“He hopes work picks up at the mine and that maybe he'll be able to return to school full time,” Beth said, her eyes hopeful.

“I know what he hopes for, Beth, but I've never seen the mine in this shape before. The owners don't seem to care if the men and their families starve. It takes John Wallace and his father both working just to bring in enough to manage. If his father was still getting five shifts a week then John Wallace never would've had to go to the pit.”

Gulliver's barking drew a halt to their conversation. Beth watched as Gulliver raced down the road. She heard the shrill whistle of JW.

“I'll wait outside until he's eaten,” Beth said.

“I won't hear of such a thing, and I'm sure John Wallace wouldn't either. Sit right at the table and I'll pour you a cuppa tea.”

Beth sat and waited. JW's eyes lit up when he saw her at the table.

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

“Yes. I came to walk to school with you,” Beth said. “You are going, aren't you?”

“I sure am. After I have a bite of breakfast, I'll be ready to go. I finished all my homework. I just want to read the science chapter again.”

“Yeah. I read it a few times before it made any sense. We can talk about it on the way to school,” Beth said.

Mary watched the two children discussing their studies. Her smile was sad, for she believed they were heading in opposite directions. Still, she hurried them along so they would not be late for class.

“Come right home after school, John Wallace.”

“Oh I will, Ma. If not before,” JW said, and put his hand up to stifle a yawn. He looked at Beth and his mother. “Once I get used to the shifts, I'm sure it'll get easier.”

“Come again any time, Beth,” Mary said.

“Thank you for the tea.”