Until Our Blood Is Dry

by Kit Habianic

  The crowd thinned. People began to drift away, some towards waiting cars and vans, others on foot, heading back to the tunnel for the long climb back up to the village. Helen helped Angela, Sue and the other women to roll up the lodge banner and load dropped placards into the minibus and said their goodbyes to the nurses and printers, the civil servants and the railway workers.

  ‘You coming?’ Sue held the minibus door open.

  Helen nodded towards the camera crew. ‘I still got to speak to that lot. They want to film it outside the pit. Want to give them a few words, and all?’

  Sue grinned, shook her head. ‘You’ll do fine. Come and find us after in the pub.’

  She climbed in next to Chrissie Hobnob. All the women were waving as the minibus sped away.

  Interview finished, Helen perched on one of the oil drums and watched the camera crew pack their things. She narrowed her eyes, tried to make out signs of movement beyond the gates. But all the men had vanished. A breeze picked up, studding goosebumps along her arms and legs. But she wasn’t ready to go home. Not yet. She needed to see for herself how this would end. At last, the winding ropes tightened. She heard the faint rumble of the winding drum starting to unspool. There was a pause, then the pit’s iron wheel shrieked like a speared animal. The sound made the hillsides tremble. Flocks of crows fired themselves squawking from the trees. Helen had never seen so many crows, dozens on dozens of them. They drew together, those thin, dark birds, rose so that they blotted out the thin grey sky. Then, they turned and flapped towards the sun. She stood and watched them until they disappeared.

  The valley fell silent.

  Acknowledgements

  In the book the song ‘Joe Hill’ is from the 1930 poem by Alfred Hayes titled ‘I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night’, later turned into a song in 1936 by Earl Robinson and recorded (MCA Music). The book also quotes from Idris Davies’ debut collection Gwalia Deserta (Dent, 1938).

  Although every effort has been made to secure permissions prior to printing this has not always been possible. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions but if contacted will rectify these at the earliest opportunity.

  Further acknowledgements

  Kit would like to thank …

  Iris Ansell, Hilary Bailey, Dave Cohen, Agnieszka Dale, Yaz Djebbour, Martina Evans, Sophie Hignett, Amanda Hodgkinson, Dorothy Kreinders, Sophie Lambert, Kim Morrissey, Gail Robinson, Jacob Ross, Tribe Thomas and Nick Wray, the inmates at online creative colonies the Writers Asylum, You Write On and The Book Shed and fellow travellers from Centerprise, Mary Ward and City Lit.

  Special thanks also to South Wales Miners’ Library at Swansea University, the British Library, Colindale Newspaper Library and Big Pit.

  Last and not least, Richard Davies, Susie Wild, Claire Houguez and all the wonderful team at Parthian Books for backing this novel.

  Parthian

  The Old Surgery

  Napier Street

  Cardigan

  SA43 1ED

  www.parthianbooks.com

  First published in 2014

  © Kit Habianic 2014

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN Epub 978-1-909844-54-4

  ISBN mobi 978-1-909844-55-1

  Editor: Susie Wild

  Cover design by www.theundercard.co.uk

  Front cover image © John Mason / www.geologywales.co.uk

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.