Breaker Boy

by Joan Hiatt Harlow

  “Wales was one of the first places to find anthracite coal,” she told him. “So mining goes far back on both sides of your family.”

  “My nana—my mother’s mother—used to tell me Welsh stories about the mines.”

  “Aha—like the ones about the knockers?”

  “She called them Coblynau. That’s the Gaelic word for ‘knockers,’ ” he explained. “They were the elves that lived in the mines and—”

  “And knocked to warn that the mines were about to collapse. We have similar stories in Poland.”

  Corey thought for a moment. “But if the knockers warned the miners, they would have been good, wouldn’t they? I always thought the knockers were wicked. The Coblynau would steal the miners’ tools and lunches . . . and play all sorts of tricks on them.”

  “If they are good or bad depends on the story,” Mrs. Chudzik said.

  “I miss Nana and Gram,” Corey said. “I have no grandmothers now.”

  Mrs. Chudzik nodded. “Did they tell you the tales about hellhounds?”

  This is getting strange. Does Mrs. Chudzik know that people think Hovi is a hellhound? “Um, yes. My grandpa from Wales teased me with spooky stories of the devil dogs with their bloody fangs.” He glanced down at Hovi, who slept on the floor next to his chair.

  “Do phobias go away? Or will I have it all my life?” he asked, suddenly coming back to the subject he dreaded. “I’ve been wondering . . . and almost afraid to ask.”

  “Once you convince yourself that you are not in danger, it may go away, or at least, not be as severe. As I told you, though, recovery will take time. Remember, it’s only been one day since we talked, and you haven’t had time to practice.”

  “Will I have panic attacks all my life?” Corey asked again.

  “I don’t know. You may want to stay away from the mines or swimming or whatever might precipitate the phobia. But you may never know when one might come upon you. However, there are ways to avoid them or diminish them.”

  “I tried to recite the words you told me, but when I was with Abby today, I couldn’t even think.” He frowned, trying to recall the words. “ ‘I am safe. I’m not afraid. I don’t need to be afraid or run away. Nothing is happening to hurt me.’ ” His shoulders slumped. “A lot of good it does me now.”

  “Try not to dwell on what happened today,” Mrs. Chudzik said.

  “Did you ever know someone else who had them like I do? The seizures . . . or whatever you call them?”

  She nodded but didn’t answer. Instead she looked at the clock. “It’s suppertime. I should get you home right away.”

  15

  Mrs. Chudzik Speaks Up

  It was suppertime when they arrived in Mrs. Chudzik’s car. Corey had told Mom he was going to look for work today. So perhaps she wasn’t upset and thought he had found work and just hadn’t come home yet.

  “Please come in, Mrs. Chudzik,” Corey begged. “It will help if you’re there to explain what happened today.” He was certain that his parents would not scream at him with Mrs. Chudzik there.

  With a sigh, Mrs. Chudzik turned off the car and headed to the house with Corey. “Stay!” she ordered Hovi, who sat back obediently, looking miffed.

  Corey opened the front door and called out, “Mom? Dad? I’m home.”

  Mom appeared from the kitchen. Seeing Mrs. Chudzik, she looked surprised, and then concerned. “Why, Mrs. Chudzik, has Corey been at your house all this time?”

  “Not exactly. There was an incident—up on the hill near my house. Abby Russell fell into a pipe up there and Corey was with her at the time. He wasn’t hurt,” Mrs. Chudzik explained. “Abby is fine too.”

  Dad came in from the kitchen and stood by the door with a perplexed look. “What now?”

  Corey moved closer to Mrs. Chudzik. “Abby Russell fell into a mine shaft. But everything is all right, Dad.”

  Mom asked, “How did she get out?”

  “She was able to pull herself out,” Mrs. Chudzik answered.

  “Seems like wherever Corey goes, there’s trouble,” Dad muttered.

  “Corey had nothing to do with her fall,” Mrs. Chudzik answered quickly. “No one knew there was a pipe there—hidden from sight. She stepped on the ground, and down she went.”

  Mom gasped. “Good heavens. How far down did she fall?”

  “Not far,” Corey answered. “Her jacket caught her and she stretched out her legs and her feet and stopped her fall. She got out by herself.”

  “Oh, thank God you didn’t drop in there with her. You could have both been killed!” Mom exclaimed.

  Dad frowned. “Those ventilation passages and abandoned mines are all over the place.”

  Mrs. Chudzik continued, “Mr. Russell is planning to make a map of all the mine shafts that may be around this area. Part of that mine is on my property, I’m sorry to say.”

  “The ground underneath this whole area of coal country is a maze of underground tunnels,” Dad said.

  “When I think what might have happened if they’d both fallen down into the pipe . . . Why, we might never have found them.” Mom’s eyes filled with tears.

  “I hope you learned a lesson,” Dad said, shaking a finger at Corey. “You need to realize the seriousness of the decisions you make, like going up that cliff when you don’t know what dangers are there. You’ve got to stop acting like a child!”

  For a moment there was silence, and then Mrs. Chudzik spoke up in a soft voice. “But, Mr. Adamski, Corey is a child. He’s just beginning to learn the dangers and the seriousness of life and how to make the right choices. Isn’t it a bit early to judge him as an adult?”

  Dad stood there with his mouth open, red-faced and unable to answer, when Mom spoke up.

  “That’s true. He’s only a child—and a good child at that. We shouldn’t expect so much of him.”

  Dad nodded, and gradually the tension waned.

  Mrs. Chudzik stayed long enough for a cup of tea, and then, after promises that they would all get together for a real Polish dinner next Sunday, Corey walked her out to her car. Hovi whined as Corey patted him. Mom and Dad waved good-bye and called thank you from the front porch.

  After she had left, Dad was curious. “Corey, why is it when you are in trouble, you end up at Mrs. Chudzik’s front door?”

  “I don’t know, Dad. I guess it’s because her house happens to be the closest at the time.”

  “It is strange, isn’t it?” Mom added.

  “She did tell me that in China if someone saves your life, that person becomes responsible for your life forever,” Corey admitted.

  “Oh, I hope Mrs. Chudzik doesn’t feel she must be responsible for you forever,” Mom said.

  Dad snorted as he went inside. “It’s fine with me. We need all the help we can get with Corey.”

  16

  Inspecting the Ventilation Shaft

  When Corey woke up the next morning, he went down to the kitchen, where Mom was cleaning up the breakfast dishes. Dad had gone to work, and Jack and Sammy had already left for school.

  “How are you feeling?” Mom asked him.

  “I’m just fine.”

  She took the broom and began her morning sweep of the entire house: the doors, the porch, the walk—everything. The coal dust was in the very air around mine country. Mom did the wash two or three times a week and hung it out on the clothesline. But by the time she brought it in, later in the afternoon, it was already overlaid with coal dust.

  “I don’t suppose we’ll ever get away from the coal and the dust,” she said. “This will be our lives and our deaths, too. It’s in our lungs. Both your grandfathers died from black lung disease. The only way we’ll get away from the dirt is to die, and then they bury us in it.” Mom slammed the broom against the wall with an angry whack.

  Corey hated to see his mother so unhappy. “Mom, I’m going to be a breaker boy real soon. Things will be better then, you’ll see.” Corey pulled on his jacket and started out the door.


  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to see how Abby is today.”

  “Well, go ahead, but don’t go up on that cliff again. Keep in mind that there’s danger right under your feet once you go off the beaten track.”

  “Mom, don’t worry so much.”

  Corey headed to Abby’s house. He wanted to apologize to Mr. Russell, that he didn’t do something to help Abby. He hoped he could explain his phobia, as he certainly didn’t want the Russells to think he was a coward. He wished they would forgive him—or that maybe Mrs. Chudzik would speak for him to Abby’s family, like she had with Dad. He hoped and prayed that his own father wouldn’t find out the truth—that Corey, his oldest son, hadn’t done a single thing to help Abby.

  At Abby’s house, Mr. and Mrs. Russell gave him a warm welcome and shook his hand.

  “You just missed Abby. She left for school a half hour ago,” Mrs. Russell said. “Thank you, Corey, for staying with our Abby and reassuring her the way you did.”

  Didn’t they know how he’d failed? Maybe Abby never told them.

  Corey was bewildered. Should he just let them go on thinking whatever it was they believed? Or should he confess how he froze with fear and clung to that stupid tree? He decided he’d wait until he talked with Abby again. He was about to leave when the doorbell rang.

  “It’s your father,” Mr. Russell said, ushering Dad into the kitchen. “He wants to see where the accident occurred yesterday. He’s coming with me to put up the ‘danger’ sign and see what the pipe is and where it goes. Why don’t you come with us, Corey? You can lead us directly to the pipe.”

  Corey looked to see what Dad might be thinking. “Sure. I can do that,” he answered.

  “Fine with me,” Dad said.

  Mr. Russell put the DANGER sign he’d made into a valise and tucked it under his arm, and the three of them headed toward the old mine.

  When Dad noticed the cavernous opening in the wall of the cliff, he asked, “How long ago was that a working mine?”

  “Maybe fifty years ago or more,” Mr. Russell answered. “That opening you see only goes in a little way because of a cave-in that blocked off the entrance. No one’s been able to get in there since—unless there’s another entrance that we don’t know about. There could be poisonous gas in there or treacherous holes . . . who knows? There are no old maps of the mine itself.” He held up a yellowed roll of paper. “This is the oldest one. The deed to Mrs. Chudzik’s property doesn’t show the mine. I need to get a crew in here to survey the whole area, but I don’t know if the powers that be will want to spend the money.”

  Dad rolled his eyes. “Money ranks number one among the mine barons. Never mind danger or loss of the miners’ limbs or lives. Why, there have been accidents when a boy gets caught in the machinery and the breaker stops. The bosses insist that the breaker should keep running until the end of the day—despite who might be dead in the machinery.”

  “I heard that happened only once,” Corey muttered with a warning look at his father. Did Dad forget that Mr. Russell was an engineer for the company and not a common miner? He hoped Dad would be more careful of what he was saying to someone as prominent as Mr. Russell.

  The men and Corey headed into the mine. Dad glanced at his son with a questioning look, as if to say, Are you all right? Shouldn’t you stay out of here?

  Corey nodded and whispered, “I’m okay.”

  The cavity leading into the mine was large and open, and Corey remembered what Mrs. Chudzik had suggested—to breathe deeply and stay close to the opening, keeping in mind that he didn’t have to go in there and everything was all right. So Corey stood close to the entrance and silently repeated those words over and over.

  Corey watched in awe as Mr. Russell brought out a small, portable battery-powered electric lamp and turned it on. Corey had never seen one but had heard of this new invention that some people called a flashlight. How amazing that without a cord or wire, the flashlight could be carried around in a man’s satchel to be used anywhere. Mr. Russell was near the back of the cavern, and the light revealed another black crevice that burrowed even deeper into the wall of the cliff. How deep into the mountain did it go before the rubble from the cave-in blocked the way?

  Mr. Russell came back and took out his notebook, scribbled some information in it, and then summoned Dad and Corey to leave. “Let’s go up the cliff now. I’ll be coming back here later,” he said. He handed Corey a piece of coal. “This has a nice fossil on it. I found it near the entrance. It could be a million years old. I thought you might like to have it.”

  Corey held the coal in his hand, amazed at the perfect impression of a leaf, with all its little veins. A million years ago, Corey thought. It was as if the world had held that fossil for all that time waiting for Corey. He loved the fossil. It was another wonder, beautiful and mystifying.

  “I would like to investigate just how far into the ground the mine went and if it goes below water level,” Mr. Russell said.

  “How do you measure it?” Corey asked.

  “Good question,” Mr. Russell said with a grin. “I had to go to school for four years or more to figure that one out!”

  They emerged from the cavern and began their climb up the cliff to the top of the hill.

  “Watch your step,” Dad said. “It’s almost as bad outside the mines as inside. Anyone could fall into a shaft and never be found.”

  “There’s danger, all right, especially for boys in the mines,” Mr. Russell said. “Some of those kids are only nine or ten years old and could slip down into a hole easily and be lost. Their folks are so eager to get them to work to help out with the family expenses, they lie about their ages.”

  “If the miners got the pay that they should, they wouldn’t have to send their boys to work,” Dad retorted.

  “I thought the miners were satisfied with the pay since they joined the union and had the big strike a few years ago.”

  “Things are better, but there’s a long way to go,” Dad answered.

  “Miners need to be careful how they spend their money. I see many of them on paydays, drinking their money away in the saloons.”

  Corey could see where this conversation was heading. “We’re almost to the top. Watch out for hidden pipes,” he said in a loud voice, hoping his father would get the message.

  But Dad couldn’t let Mr. Russell’s last comment go. “You’ve never seen me in those saloons,” he snapped. “And we conserve our money as best we can. Why, my wife doesn’t even buy underwear for anyone. She makes it out of the old muslin the mine throws out. I’ll bet your daughter never wore scratchy muslin underwear,” Dad said defiantly. “My wife cans vegetables from her own garden.”

  “She is certainly very resourceful,” Mr. Russell answered uncomfortably. “Shall we look for that pipe now? Is it nearby, Corey?”

  They had reached the crest of the hill, where Abby and Corey had stood yesterday. “Look at the river,” Corey said. “It’s wild.”

  “We’d better not get more rain,” Mr. Russell said. “The river is way above flood stage now. More rain and all the melting snow from upstate could cause a major disaster.”

  “We’ve had some bad floods in the past around here,” Dad said.

  Corey pointed to the south. “Look how close we are to the Mountain Crest mine. The breaker looks as if it could reach over here and pick us up.”

  “I’ve been to the top of the breaker but never realized I was looking at this hill right near my house,” Mr. Russell said.

  Corey was relieved to hear the topic of conversation change. “There’s the boulder I put over the hole where Abby fell,” Corey said, pointing. “It looked level and grassy, and you’d never know it was there before Abby dropped into it. Poor Abby jumped right down onto that pipe.”

  Mr. Russell pulled the rock away and flashed his portable light into the pipe. “It’s a long way down.” He stood aside and handed the flashlight to Dad, who peered down too.

>   “That would be a terrible fall,” Dad agreed with a whistle.

  Mr. Russell pulled a boulder over the opening and then taped the DANGER sign to it. Dad gathered more rocks and placed them around the edges of the hole.

  “The bright red letters stand out as a warning, but more needs to be done to seal this up permanently.” Mr. Russell turned to Corey. “Corey, we are so thankful that you were with Abby when she fell. But you could have fallen in too, and we might never have known. . . .” He closed his eyes and shook his head, as if blotting out the frightful image from his mind.

  Corey was uncomfortable taking credit for something he never did and was about to blurt out what had really happened, when Mr. Russell spoke again.

  “We’ll need to survey this whole area and make triangulations to figure out the height of this hill. Then I’d like to go into the old mine and see how deep into the earth it goes and how far to the south. I don’t know any way to get into the old mine, except through this pipe, which would be a tight squeeze. In the old days, they didn’t have to have two entrances to a mine in case of emergency. Perhaps there was just one entrance.”

  Corey looked Mr. Russell up and down. He was tall and thin. “I think you might be able to squirm down through the pipe,” he said. “Abby had on her big coat and there was still room. She had to keep her legs out to hold herself up.”

  Dad was gazing thoughtfully at the Mountain Crest breaker in the distance. “I wonder if we might actually be blasting that new chamber in Mountain Crest too near the chambers here.”

  “If you blast too close to this mine, it might cause another roof fall or release dangerous gases.” Mr. Russell scribbled something into his notebook and then put it into the valise.

  “I’m going to hammer this concern into the brains of the bosses up there.” He winked at Dad. “I’ll tell them there’s a possibility of a bad accident here and that could be a huge lawsuit.”

  “A lawsuit? That should get their attention,” Dad said with a laugh. He put out his hand to Mr. Russell. “Sorry I got carried away with my complaints. Sometimes I talk too much.”