Summary: I dug my fingernails into the flesh of my palms as the ground reeled beneath me like the deck of a ship in a summer squall. A trickle of dust and small stones rained down as the walls of the Ophir Mine creaked and groaned like an animal in its death throes. A WHIB for the episode “The Philip Diedesheimer Story”.

Rating: K+

Word Count: 755

I dug my fingernails into the flesh of my palms as the ground reeled beneath me like the deck of a ship in a summer squall. A trickle of dust and small stones rained down as the walls of the Ophir Mine creaked and groaned like an animal in its death throes. The lantern hanging from a peg near the opening of the lift flickered in a sudden breeze from the quaking stone, threatening to go out. If it did, I would be left in darkness – terrible, suffocating darkness.

My breath came in tearing gasps. Sweat dribbled down my brow, stinging my eyes as it made its way down my face to soak into my already wet shirt.

I needed out.

I needed air.

A hand touched my shoulder and I swallowed back a startled yelp as I whirled around. It was only Gil Fenton, and he looked even more weary than I felt. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, a rueful smile tugging at the corners of his lips. A slightly hysterical laugh burbled out of me, and the smile slipped from his face only to be replaced by lines of worry. “You all right, Adam?”

“As fine as a man can be in a death trap like this,” I forced the words through the tightness in my throat, and gestured around me at the cavern that had mercifully stopped shaking.

“Ah,” Gil rubbed a grimy hand across his forehead, leaving a streak of dirt on his sweat-dampened skin. “You didn’t have to wait for me, you know,” he said as we made our way over to the lift.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to leave you down here by yourself.”

Leaning over, he rang the bell, and the metal cage slowly began its long ascent towards the surface. My anxiety lessened a bit, but I knew that I wouldn’t fully relax until I was back on solid ground once more.

“How do you do it, Gil? How do you make yourself come down here day in and day out when you could die at any moment?” I blurted. Instantly, my cheeks reddened as I realized what I had just said.

He glanced my way, a knowing look in his blue eyes. “You don’t like small spaces, do you?” he asked.

“It’s not so much that, it’s being under ground. I’m ashamed to say it, but I’ve always been somewhat afraid of mines and caves, anyplace where there’s miles of rock between me and the sky. Foolish, isn’t it?” I gave him a half-hearted grin.

He shook his head. “No, I don’t think it’s foolish; everyone’s afraid of something. But to answer your question: a miner’s life is never easy, and you’re right, you can die down here at any time. I’ve just gotten used to it I guess. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been digging around in one mine or another, and I don’t give it much thought anymore. As my father used to say, “Son, your time is gonna come just like it does for all men, and there’s no use worrying about it until it does…,”” he trailed off. Despair etched wrinkles into his brow as the day’s events finally began to sink in.

Hours of searching, hoping, digging – digging through rock, dirt, and broken timber – had all been for naught. We’d unearthed the remains of five men trapped in the cave-in. A handful more were still missing; somehow I knew in my heart that they would never be found, not alive at any rate.

I wanted to comfort him, but there was nothing I could say to ease his sorrow. Gil had known those men and they were more than just workers to him. He had toiled beside them and joked with them. He had rejoiced with them and cried with them. They were his friends, closer than brothers. Nothing would take away the hurt of their loss.

The rest of the ride up was made in silence.

With another rumble, the lift vomited us out into the open air and I sucked in a deep breath, my first in longer than I could remember. However, it gave me no relief. As Helene rushed to Gil’s side, I noticed them. Ten women were waiting a few yards away. They were longing for word about their husbands. Ten widows. Ten families broken who would never be the same again and for what? All because of one lousy silver mine. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

~Finis

Author Note:

This scene would take place between the one where Adam and Gil go down into the mine, and when we see them come back up after the first collapse in the Ohpir Mine.

I wrote this for a writing challenge on Bonanza Boomers.