Five Mountain Daddies

by B. B. Hamel

  Curious though, I get up and pad across the room. I peek out the front window, and I can just barely see the driveway.

  There are two big black cars, and no delivery trucks anywhere in sight.

  My heart starts racing. I grab my phone and hurry downstairs, just in time to hear Samuel say loudly, “Get the fuck out of here.”

  I come down the steps and round the corner, and pull up suddenly. Standing in the doorway is Ingram, grinning a creepy smile, flanked by two guys with suit jackets and black sunglasses.

  “I don’t think so. We’re here to talk with Amelia.” Ingram spots me over Samuel’s shoulder, and my eyes go wide. “Ah, speak of the devil.”

  Samuel turns and gives me a pleading look. I take a step away, but Ingram moves quickly, trying to push past Samuel.

  Things happen so fast, I can barely react to them. Samuel shoves Ingram back, cursing, and Ingram’s two guys jump at Samuel. It’s a brutal fight, with Samuel slamming an elbow into one guy’s skull, the other one getting a vicious punch to Samuel’s gut. Samuel stumbles back and I scream as Ingram rushes in again.

  I turn and run into the kitchen as I start to dial 911. I hear more shouting and grunts of pain, but I don’t get far before Ingram catches me. He grabs my wrist, tears the phone from my hand, and throws it across the room.

  “You stupid cunt,” he says, eyes wide and crazy. “You thought you could beat me?”

  “Get the fuck off me, you psycho,” I shout in his face.

  “You can’t cut my fucking salary. You’ll have a revolt, you stupid bitch.”

  I don’t have time to wonder how he knows that. I stomp on his foot and knee him in the crotch. He grunts and stumbles backward, groaning with pain, and I stumble away from him, cursing.

  Samuel bursts into the room. His shirt is ripped, and there’s a cut on his brow, but he’s okay otherwise. He comes right up to Ingram, grabs him by the front of his shirt, and throws him toward the hallway. I scream as Ingram crashes into the ground and Samuel drags him by his ankle.

  I follow and watch Samuel pull him outside. The other two guys are already out there, both of them getting up slowly. Samuel tosses Ingram over toward them and walks back inside.

  Before he shuts the door, he faces the guys again. “Come near her and next time I won’t let you get up.” He slams the door shut.

  I stand there, arms wrapped around myself, breathing fast. He locks the door and comes over to me, hugging me tight. “It’s okay,” he says. “It’s okay.”

  “Samuel,” I gasp, hyperventilating.

  “I have to call Roy,” he says. “He needs to know.”

  “Samuel,” I say again as he walks toward the stairs. “Please, wait.”

  He heads upstairs. I stumble after him, trying to get control of myself, but failing miserably. I get up the steps after him, just as he finds his phone tangled in last night’s covers.

  “Stop,” I say. “Stop. Ingram knew.”

  Samuel hesitates. “Knew what?”

  “About the pay cuts. He knew.”

  Samuel stares at me. “Are you sure?”

  “He said it. He told me he knew.”

  It takes a second before that sinks in, and he groans. “Oh fucking fuck,” he says softly.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Fuck,” he shouts. He slams his fist into the bed over and over. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

  I come up behind him and hug him tight. Slowly he calms down and he holds me, both of us trembling together.

  “It could have been someone else,” he says quietly.

  “Nobody else was around,” I say. “It was at the very end of the night.”

  “He wasn’t sleeping,” Samuel says. “That fucking bastard.”

  “It was a trick the whole time. He must… he must be working for Ingram.”

  “I’m going to kill him.”

  “No,” I say seriously. “You can’t.” I force him to look at me. “You can’t.”

  “He betrayed us, all of us.”

  “He did,” I agree. “But you can’t kill him. We have to get this contract signed and finished, and then we’ll get rid of Ingram and Roy.”

  He takes a sharp breath. I can tell he wants to fight more, but he slowly releases and slumps against me.

  I hug him tight. I don’t now how close he was with Roy, but I’m guessing he really trusted him. This must hurt bad, and it just makes me so fucking mad I can barely stand it.

  I’m going to finish this contract today, and I’m going to break these guys. I’m not going to let them win, not after all of this. Samuel’s been hurt too much, been put through too much.

  He doesn’t deserve this. I won’t let him down.

  I kiss him softly and pull away, more determined than ever.

  26

  Samuel

  I feel cold as I drive. I hate leaving Amelia right now, but I don’t think Ingram’s going to be back anytime soon, at least not today. His guys are hurt, and Ingram himself got it pretty good from Amelia’s knee to his fucking nuts.

  Ingram’s not the guy I want to hurt right now, though. I clench the steering wheel, mind spinning.

  When the fuck did he betray us? I can’t imagine it was from the beginning. Maybe he thought this strike would never end, and so he took matters into his own hands. Maybe he needed money. I don’t understand why he didn’t come to me if he needed help with something, but he didn’t.

  He betrayed me, broke my fucking heart. That’s all I know. Roy is a fucking traitor and a scumbag, and I know I want him dead.

  Except I don’t, not really. He’s still a friend, hell, something of a mentor. I used to look up to Roy in a lot of ways. Now that bastard broke me, but I can’t let him keep me down.

  I pull up outside the house and kill the engine. I head up to the front door and knock loudly.

  Vernon answers a little minute. “Samuel, hey,” he says. “What are you doing here?”

  “We gotta talk.”

  He nods, frowning at my expression. “Sure. Come in. Sarah’s just back from Boone’s.”

  I follow Vernon into his place. Sarah’s in the kitchen, washing some dishes when we come in.

  “Hi, Samuel,” she says. “What’s going on?”

  I stare at the two of them and I feel my anger rise. These are good people, the kind of people that Roy betrayed by selling out our secrets to Ingram. I can take the hurt, but I can’t take him hurting our friends. I don’t think I can ever understand or forgive that.

  “We should sit,” I say.

  Vernon glances at Sarah. “I’ll give you two some privacy,” she says. “Gotta get ready for my shift soon, anyway.”

  She leaves the kitchen, kissing Vernon on the way. I sit at their table, wringing my hands, and Vernon sits across from me.

  “What’s going on, Samuel?”

  “Ingram came to Amelia’s this morning. Tried to attack her.”

  He looks surprised. “Is she okay?”

  I respect him so much for asking that question. “She’s fine.”

  “Good thing you were there.”

  I sigh, and appreciate him even more. Some other guys might question me being there, but not Vernon. He’s a good man, even if he’s not perfect.

  “It was bad,” I say. “But we have a contract. The strike should be over soon.”

  “That’s awesome news,” he says, perking up. “But shouldn’t you be telling Roy about this?”

  My expression darkens and I look away. “We gotta talk about Roy.”

  Vernon leans back in his chair. “What’s going on?”

  “Roy’s working with Ingram.”

  Vernon’s silent for a second. “You’re fucking kidding me?”

  “No,” I say. “It’s true.”

  “No fucking way. Roy? Ingram? Roy hates that bastard.”

  “It’s true,” I say, harsher than I need to. “Believe me, I’d never say it if I weren’t sure.”

  “Shit,” he says softly. “Man. I… fuck.
”

  “I know what you mean.”

  We sit in silence together. We’ve worked with Roy down in the mines countless times, put our lives in his hands… and this happens. It’s almost unbearable.

  “What do we do?” he asks me.

  “Do you want a promotion, Vernon?”

  He sighs. “Fuck no.”

  I lean toward him. “But you’ll do it.”

  He meets my gaze. “Of course I will. What else can I do?”

  “Good man.” I lean back, sure that I made the right choice. “Call some guys, people you trust. Have them watch Roy and watch him fucking close.”

  “What are we going to do about him?”

  “Right now, we’ll do nothing.”

  “Nothing? We should string that fucker up.”

  “Nothing,” I repeat. “Just watch him. If he tries to leave town, have them stop him. Other than that, it’s business as usual.”

  “Doesn’t seem usual to me,” he says softly.

  “Yeah, well.” I sigh, shaking my head. “Better muster more guys. Ingram’s going to be on the warpath these next few days.”

  “He hasn’t been already?”

  “It’s going to get worse, but after that, it’ll get better.”

  Vernon sighs and we sit there in silence together, thinking about the weight of what we’re doing. It’s the weight of the mountain we mine under, all that rock and death and pressure behind held up above our heads by human ingenuity. We can do that, and we can do so much more. We can do this, I’m sure of it.

  “Get the guys,” I tell him, slowly standing. “You’re my number two now. I’ll spread the word.”

  He nods. “Okay, Samuel. I’ll do it.”

  I head toward the door and stop. “Vernon.”

  He looks up at me. “Yeah?”

  “Thanks,” I say.

  “Yeah.” He shrugs. “Man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”

  I laugh and leave his house, get back into my truck, and head off.

  27

  Amelia

  I’m nervous when I knock on his door. I shouldn’t be doing this, coming to his house on a weekend, but I can’t help myself.

  This isn’t the sort of thing that can wait until Monday.

  An older woman answers. “Hello, can I help you?” she asks.

  I assume this is his wife. “Hi, Mrs. Watt? I’m a colleague of Neal’s, and I was hoping I could speak to him.”

  She looks at me for a second and sighs. “It’s the weekend, you know.”

  “I know,” I say. “I’m so sorry for this intrusion.”

  She gives me a look that could wither a vine but finally nods. “Come inside, I’ll see if he’s busy.”

  I step into their home. It’s surprisingly modest, although I don’t exactly know what Neal makes every year. Board members are treated differently, so I don’t see what their pay is, and they’re not normal employees. His house is a nice colonial, clean entryway, with photos of children and family members running up the staircase along the wall.

  Mrs. Watt is gone for a few minutes. I feel so stupid coming here, but I couldn’t let this wait, not a single second longer. I check my phone, seeing if Samuel tried to contact me, but there’s nothing. That’s okay, he said he’d call if there was trouble, so no news is good news, at least so far.

  Finally, I hear footsteps, and Neal rounds the corner. He smiles a little uncertainly. “Amelia? What are you doing here?”

  I smile back. “I’m really sorry to bother you like this.”

  He motions to a side door nearby. “Come in here,” he says.

  I follow him into an office. He shuts the door behind me and moves around behind the desk, sitting down with a sigh. The office is nicely furnished, with good light coming in through the window to the side. There are vinyl records along one side and fancy-looking equipment against the far wall. He folds his hands and look at me expectantly.

  “So, why are you bothering me on my day off?” he asks.

  “I have a contract.” I pull it out of the folder I have in my hands and place it down in front of him.

  He smiles a little bit, confused. “This could have waited until Monday, you know.”

  “No, it couldn’t have.” I hesitate and decide to be honest. “It’s Ingram. He’s getting more aggressive.”

  Neal shifts a bit in his chair. He really does look like a kindly old grandfather, especially in his khaki pants and tucked-in plaid shirt. “We’re aware of his… aggressive tactics. But surely they’re not that bad.”

  “He’s beating miners,” I say simply. “I’m afraid he’ll kill someone before we could get this to you.”

  He looks surprised. “Beating? Killing? You’re kidding me, right?”

  “I thought you knew,” I say softly.

  He shakes his head. “We knew Ingram was attempting to intimidate the miners using his little police hit squad, but I had no clue he was actually… attacking people.”

  I sigh. I didn’t know someone could be so naïve, but honestly, if it weren’t happening to me, I wouldn’t believe it either. Fact is, I grew up sheltered, just like Neal’s sheltered from the harsh reality of the world. His wealth keeps him safe from men like Ingram and the horrible things they do to keep their power.

  “It’s bad and getting worse,” I tell him. “I think he’s just as desperate as I am, except he’s willing to go further.”

  “Instead of hurting people, you just did your job,” he says softly. “Well done.”

  “I’m not sure you’ll think I did a great job once you read the contract.”

  He raises an eyebrow and starts to skim it. “Nothing in here looks particularly awful… although…” He hesitates a second. “I’m not sure how these numbers are going to work.”

  “That’s the problem,” I say. “Or, well, the solution is the problem.”

  He murmurs to himself, skimming through, and finally he gets toward the back of the contract. He takes a sharp breath when he reads the paragraph, and he must read it a few times before he looks up at me.

  “You can’t be serious,” he says.

  “Very serious.”

  “You’ll have a revolt, Amelia.” He shakes his head, dropping the papers. “The board won’t sign off on this.”

  “They will if you convince them.”

  He laughs a little. “I won’t sign off on this.”

  “Neal, listen. This is the solution to our problem. It works, it’ll make the miners happy, and it’ll keep Evans Energy profitable.”

  “Maybe. But we’ll lose the best of our management class. We can’t afford to hire more people right now.”

  “I’m not sure we will. And if we do, so what? Fewer managers means less overhead.”

  He shakes his head. “This won’t work.”

  “Listen to me,” I say, leaning toward him, meeting his gaze. “This is the contract that you’re going to sign, or else Ingram’s going to tear everything down.”

  “Amelia,” he says softly. “I just can’t see it happening.”

  Frustrated, I stand up. I look around his room and all I see is his privilege. I see the same thing at my enormous house and every time I look at my bank account. I see money I didn’t earn, power and privilege I likely don’t deserve. And yet when I go to Samuel’s house, the home of a man that works damn hard for everything he does, I don’t see any of that, although he deserves everything.

  “The managers will still be making damn good money,” I say. “Look at the numbers. I’m taking by far the biggest pay cut, and that cut gets spread out, covering some of the losses. Yes, people are going to come down, and we’ll probably lose a lot of employees. But if we don’t do this, Evans is done in five years, maybe ten.” I meet his gaze. “We’ve been greedy for a long time now, Neal. We can’t do it anymore.”

  He shakes his head. “You’re probably right.”

  “I am right. This will make us solvent. We can’t keep everything for ourselves and expect the people
that risk their lives for us every day to be happy with the peanuts we pay them. If we lose people, we lose people. We’ll hire what we need, or we’ll go forward with a more streamlined corporate structure.” I walk over to his desk and lean over it, palms flat on the top. “But either way, the greed stops here. Either the company dies, or we make the hard choice.”

  He leans back and watches me silently for a second. I sit back down in the chair in front of his desk and wait for him to respond, heart beating fast. That was my whole argument, everything I have, and if he doesn’t agree with me then we’re finished.

  I can see all the miners and their futures, and how it all hinges on this moment. If I fail to convince Neal of the necessity of these cuts, then Ingram is going to get more violent, and people are going to get hurt. The miners might even give up their strike, go back into the mines, and they’ll end up with an awful contract.

  I can’t let that happen. He has to listen to me. He has to know the truth, just like I do.

  “Okay,” he says finally. “Your passion is convincing, but more than that… the numbers make sense.” He picks up the contract again. “I’ll bring it to the board. On Monday.”

  I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Neal.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. I can’t guarantee the board’s going to approve this.” He smiles a little bit, “But I have a feeling you’ll convince them.”

  I blink, surprised. “I’ll be at the meeting?”

  “Damn right you will. Make sure you give that speech, just like you did.”

  I laugh a little. “Sorry. I lost myself a little there.”

  “No, it was good. We need more people like you, Amelia.”

  “Like what?” I ask.

  “Good people.”

  I can’t help but smile at that.

  We go over some more details, but eventually I stand and we shake hands. He promises to call early Monday morning with details of the meeting, and we’ll go from there. I leave his house, feeling better than I have in a long, long time.

  I pull out my phone, and there’s no message from Samuel. I type up a quickie text and send it.