The Librarian of Boone's Hollow - Kim Vogel Sawyer Page 0,46
The way Paw spoke held Emmett’s attention. Such pride showed in his father’s stance and filled his voice as he named each piece of equipment and explained its purpose. Twice Paw had clapped him on the shoulder and told him how good it would be to work together, father and son, side by side. Paw was proud of his work, sure, but more than that, he was proud to share it with his son.
“Come on over here.” Paw guided Emmett to the opening of the mine. “Lookee there.”
Emmett peered into the dark shaft.
“What do you see?”
Emmett couldn’t see anything except the entrance of a big, dark tunnel. He shrugged.
Paw snorted. He gestured, the movements broad and impatient. “See that openin’? Bigger’n a stack o’ elephants. I had a hand in carvin’ that openin’. I’ve had a hand in bringin’ out to the light o’ day chunks o’ rock that’ve laid under the ground for hunnerds of years. Think of it. What we call coal was grass an’ flowers an’ livin’ critters more’n a thousand years ago. An’ sometimes when you’re followin’ a drift, you can almost hear the breath o’ those critters sighin’ from the past.” He stretched one hand toward the mine and slowly closed his fingers into a fist. “When I’m touchin’ that black rock, I’m touchin’ pieces o’ yesteryear.”
Sweat broke out on Emmett’s back. An odd, almost hollow sound that wasn’t really a sound at all seemed to echo from the tunnel’s depth. Was he hearing it with his ears or with his imagination?
“Under the ground, where it’s all dark an’ cool, sometimes you get an idea of what it feels like to be dead.”
Emmett shot his father a sharp look. Was he trying to scare Emmett now?
Paw stared into the shaft with a faraway look in his eyes. “An’ then you come out, an’ you breathe the clean air an’ feel the sun an’ wind on your face, an’ you know you’re alive. An’ bein’ alive means more to you than it did before.” Paw’s body jerked, as if someone had pinched him, and his expression turned sheepish. “Reckon I sound pretty foolish talkin’ that way.”
Emmett shook his head. “No, Paw. Not foolish at all. I…I like what you said. I feel like I know you better than I did before.”
Paw scuffed his toe against the ground, head low. “Well, now, I ain’t never talked this way to nobody before. Not even your maw.” He aimed a grin at Emmett. “But if you’re gonna be a miner, like me, it’s good for you to understand a miner’s heart. For you to know this ain’t just a job. It’s takin’ what the Lord made an’ puttin’ it to good use. It’s bein’ what the Bible calls a good steward. Do you understand, Son?”
A lump filled Emmett’s throat. He couldn’t talk, so he nodded.
Paw blew out a big breath. He smacked Emmett’s shoulder and set off toward the road. “I reckon that’s enough for today.”
Emmett walked alongside Paw, matching his stride.
“Come tomorrow mornin’, you can ride the work wagon down with me, an’ I’ll have a talk with the boss about bringin’ you on. He knows me good—knows I ain’t no greenhorn. If I tell him I been teachin’ you an’ I’m willin’ to be responsible for you ’til you learn it all, he’ll likely hire you on the spot.” Paw’s saunter became a strut. “Yessir, gonna be good havin’ my boy work with me. Gonna be real good.”
Addie
NO ONE ELSE disembarked in Lynch, so Addie waited alone on a boardwalk that stretched the full length of the red-painted depot. She judged its length at perhaps twenty-four feet, hardly a real boardwalk at all, though the boards were still white, smooth, and new looking. The L&N engine sent up puffs of smoke and shuddered in place, making the boards beneath her feet quiver. Or maybe it was her own nervousness rattling through her. She couldn’t be sure.
She hid a yawn behind her hand. She’d stayed up far too late last night visiting with Mother and Daddy, then slept the distance between Mount Vernon and Lynch, not even awakening at the stops between. If the conductor hadn’t shaken her shoulder, she might have missed her stop entirely. She stared past the train at a tree-covered incline that seemed to stretch all the way to the clouds. Apparently, she’d been deposited at the back of the depot. At least, she hoped she had. Otherwise, the city of Lynch