The Librarian of Boone's Hollow - Kim Vogel Sawyer Page 0,63
with other customers, so Emmett wandered the store and waited his turn.
They’d added electric appliances to the household goods section, and he couldn’t resist opening the door on a refrigerator. A light came on, illuminating the shelves inside, and cool air flowed out. Wouldn’t Maw like to have one of those in place of her old icebox? But they’d need electricity run to the house to operate it. Paw’d been saving for years to have the electric company bring a line to their cabin. Emmett glanced at the refrigerator’s price tag and whistled through his teeth. If a fellow put one of those big items on his tab, he’d never have the money to run electric wires to his house.
He moved on and found a display of leather work gloves. He tried on several pairs until he found some that fit tight without cutting off his circulation. Teach had said to get two, and he seemed to know what he was talking about, so Emmett followed his advice. Then he headed for the area where boxes of shoes and boots formed towers. He examined the drawings on the ends of the boxes, looking for boots similar to the ones Paw had worn for as far back as Emmett could remember.
A clerk hurried over. “Sorry it took so long. Been busy in here all day. Usually is, the first Monday after payday. How can I help you?”
Emmett glanced at the beanpole-thin, sweaty-faced youth. “I need some boots for working in the mine.”
The clerk stepped past him and gestured to a stack at the end of the rows. “This here style is what most o’ the miners wear. Tall shank, double-thick sole, and a steel toe. What size you need?”
Emmett shrugged. “Eleven, I think.”
The clerk squinted at the boxes, then slid one free from the middle of the stack. He handed it to Emmett. “Most of the men put good thick socks on, too, so they don’t rub blisters.”
Emmett didn’t want any more blisters. “Better get me some, then.”
“Sit down over there an’ try on them boots.” The clerk flapped his hand at a low bench nearby. “I’ll fetch some socks. Three pairs or four?”
“Four, I guess.”
“Four it is.” The fellow scurried off.
Emmett gritted his teeth and clomped stiffly to the bench. He’d spend half of his first paycheck before he even got it. But he supposed he could call the purchases an investment in his future as a miner. The thought didn’t do much to cheer him. He sat and pulled off his shoe. Black dust filtered down to the white tile floor. Emmett rubbed it away real quick with his sock, hoping nobody noticed. The boot fit a little loose over his stocking, but a thick sock would fill the gap. This pair would do.
He put the boots in the box, closed the lid, and slid his feet back into his shoes. At the counter, he signed his first ticket as an official employee of US Coal & Coke’s Mine Thirty-One, then tucked his purchases under his arm and left the store. He stood at the edge of the boardwalk and looked up the street. Where was the wagon that took the Boone’s Hollow workers home? He shifted his gaze to the firehouse clock, and his heart sank. The shift had ended almost an hour ago. The wagon had probably already gone on. Without him.
He leaned against a porch pillar, his entire frame sagging. A tiredness beyond anything he’d known before strained every muscle in his body. And now he had to walk that mile-long road up the mountain. Maybe he should take a hotel room instead. Didn’t the Miner’s Hotel let workers sign receipts? Temptation to travel the short walk to the hotel pulled hard, but in the end he couldn’t make himself do it. If he didn’t get home, Maw would worry.
“A man keeps goin’ even when it’s tough.” He pushed off from the post and aimed his aching feet for the road.
Boone’s Hollow
Bettina
MULE PLODDED DOWN BOONE’S HOLLER’S main street, and Bettina didn’t give him so much as a nudge to hurry him along. Dawdling was fine. She’d dawdled all day. Done it on purpose. But now dusk was falling and she’d delivered her last books, and Miz West’d be wondering why she hadn’t turned up yet. There wasn’t no choice but to drop her pack off at the library and go on home to Pap’s wrath.