Us and Them

by Hugh R. MacDonald

  “You’ll get lots of oats soon, old boy, once we start the planting. You’ll need all the energy you can get to dig up those old fields – all you can eat then,” JW said, as he began to brush him down.

  He wondered what his father would think if he knew he’d been riding on Lightning’s back. He hadn’t broken him to a saddle but, after being thrown to the ground a few times, he had been able to convince Lightning to allow him to ride on his back. JW remembered lying on the ground the first time after being thrown, the wind knocked out of him. He cleaned the rest of the stall and walked toward the door.

  JW noticed Tennyson, his pet rat, sitting on the small woodpile that remained stacked in the barn. He was getting pretty old and no longer ventured outside. His girlfriend, as JW’s father had called her, had been picked off by a small hawk, but Tennyson, bad leg and all, had made it back inside the barn. His was now a solitary life. JW noticed there was a lot of grey in Tennyson’s whiskers and facial hair, making him wonder what the life span of a rat actually was. He grabbed some oats and laid them on the wood beside Tennyson. “Eat up, old boy,” JW said. He suddenly realized that he referred to Gulliver, Lightning and Tennyson all as “old boy” quite often when he spoke to them. Gulliver and Tennyson had not become friends, but they tolerated each other.

  Tennyson was a constant reminder of the time JW had spent in the mine. As a young rat in search of food underground, he had run up JW’s pant leg. Startled, JW had gotten hold of his tail and flung the rat against the wall, injuring his leg. Feeling guilty, he later smuggled Tennyson – named for one of JW’s favourite poets – out of the mine, concealed in his satchel. He wasn’t sure what others would think of him taking a rat home.

  JW heard Gulliver bark and went outside. Mickey was coming toward him. His friend had grown tall over the past two years, but JW was a few inches taller. Their friend Patty hadn’t seemed to grow much at all. He was usually working the opposite shift to Mickey, so the three seldom got together. What Mickey lacked in height, he made up for in width. Although he was still working at the trap door, Mickey hauled coal with his father on his days off, which accounted for the extra muscle. Mickey had told JW that he and his father were partners in the coal hauling business.

  “I do all the work, and Da gets all the money,” Mickey had said jokingly, but JW believed it was probably close to the truth. Mickey’s father, Shawn McGuire, was mean-tempered much of the time.

  “Hey, JW. Ready to go?”

  “Yep. Chores are all done, and my lunch is packed,” JW answered.

  “That all you think about – food?” Mickey asked.

  “Yep. Doesn’t look like you miss too many meals, either.” Holding up the satchel, JW said, “I was at Beth’s last night. I’ve got some cake and cookies in here, enough for the two of us.”

  Mickey smiled. “I figured we’d catch some fish for lunch, but cake and cookies sound like a good backup.” Gulliver bounded alongside the two boys as they headed for the riverbank. As they’d grown older, they’d realized what they’d called a river was really only a brook, but they still called the side of the brook the riverbank.

  Neither seemed to want to break the early morning silence as they walked along. Only the crunching of stones underfoot disturbed the quiet. Gulliver moved from JW to Mickey in his quest to be petted.

  —

  Beth looked around the Co-operative store. There was everything in here that she could possibly need or want. Her parents, like JW’s, didn’t have a lot of extra money, but still she liked to spend time gazing at all the goods that were housed under the Co-operative’s roof. Her mother hadn’t needed anything today, but since JW was off fishing with Mickey, Beth had decided to walk to town once her chores had been completed – just to look around. Beth’s father was a carpenter and spent months away at a time, working and learning new skills in Louisbourg, which was on the other side of the Island. Her mother, besides raising Beth and her younger sister, was a seamstress, making beautiful clothes for those who could afford them.

  “Surprised to see you in town today, with a big test coming on Monday.”

  Beth turned to face Davey Brown. “I guess I could say the same of you,” Beth said.

  “True, but I live in town,” Davey said.

  “Well, JW and I studied last evening, and we’ll go over it again later tonight.”

  “It’s a good thing he’s got you to help him,” Davey said.

  “Oh, he doesn’t need my help. We help each other,” Beth said.

  “Where is he today? Working on the farm?” Davey asked. There was more than a hint of disdain in his tone.

  “No, he’s fishing with his friend Mickey.”

  “I’d never leave a pretty girl like you alone to go off fishing with a friend,” Davey said. He turned quickly and left the store. The bell above the door clanged loudly.

  Beth blushed at his words and watched as Davey hurried up the street without a backward glance.

  “I think he’s sweet on you, Beth,” Mrs. Ferneyhough said, then added, “Anything I can get you, dear?”

  Beth blushed a deeper red when she saw that Mr. Ferneyhough was smiling. “No thank you, Mrs. Ferneyhough,” she said, and left the store. She remembered JW’s mother had said the same words to her two years earlier about JW, I think he’s sweet on you, dear. Beth wondered what had gotten into Davey. He was aware that she and JW were boyfriend and girlfriend. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind.

  Chapter 4

  “And then Mickey fell backwards into the pool, and I couldn’t get a good grip on him ’cause of all the mud, and he had to walk downstream....”

  Beth heard JW’s voice, but she was thinking of her trip to town and not really paying attention to what he was saying. She didn’t know whether or not she should tell JW about Davey.

  “We got trout and codfish too. I brought some for your mother,” JW said, and handed the fish to her.

  “Thanks. I’ll give these to Ma later.” Beth sighed. “I was in town today, and I saw Davey Brown. Out of the blue, he said he wouldn’t leave a pretty girl like me alone to go fishing with a friend. I don’t mean that I’m pretty. I just thought I should tell you what he said.”

  “Oh, he got that part right. You’re the prettiest girl in town. The prettiest in the whole world,” JW said, and then blushed. “You know what I mean. He can think all he wants, but I’m gonna have a talk with him. Set him straight.”

  They’d gotten together to study for the evening, but JW spent much of the time glancing over at Beth.

  “Well that’s as much as I can do tonight,” Beth said, pushing the books to the middle of the table.

  “Me too. Is there time to go for a little walk?”

  “Sure. You can help me put some feed out for the animals.”

  The chickens squawked as JW and Beth entered the barn. With Beth’s father away in Louisbourg, the Jessomes had had to sell their cow; it was too much work for Beth and her mother. They still had a goat – one of the kids that JW’s goat had given birth to. It was full-grown now and provided them with enough milk to cover their needs. JW brought cheese and butter over from time to time as well as eggs, because the Jessomes’ two hens didn’t account for many eggs in the run of a week. They were very proud people, like his own family, and Mrs. Jessome, in return, sent fancy lace doilies to JW’s mother. They were made from the end pieces left over from material used to make curtains and other articles for the town’s more affluent citizens. This exchange meant JW’s mother had pretty decorations she could never afford, and Beth’s mother got what she needed without having to spend her meagre earnings on necessities.

  JW believed this sort of exchange, the barter system or sharing of surplus goods, was what established a true sense of community. He had been thinking a lot about that sort of thing recently. After entering the mine as a trapper boy, JW had attended a union meeting wi
th his father and heard a speech by JB McLachlan. James Bryson McLachlan was a union organizer and advocate for miners’ rights. JW had subsequently gotten to know JB, who espoused communal ownership as a preferred economic system.

  JW understood the attractiveness of such a system, especially among the poor and destitute. Everyone got an equal share, at least in theory. But after thinking about it for a while, JW wasn’t convinced it was best. Perhaps parts of the communal system could be used to improve the present one that left miners and their families to live in poverty. Sadly, profit over people seemed to be what best suited the mine owners, as JB was quick to point out. JW liked McLachlan and hoped to spend more time learning from him. JB had become a local legend. He had gone to jail for speaking out against management practices at the mine and for encouraging civil disobedience.

  JW watched as Beth swept a wisp of hair away from her face. He put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Are you upset I went fishing with Mickey?”

  “Of course not. I mean I was a little surprised that you’d forgotten we were going to spend the day together. But I wasn’t angry. Besides, we have the whole summer to go to the fort.”

  JW felt Beth move into his arms and was relieved. He kissed her and then held her tightly. He knew how he felt about her, but perhaps he didn’t tell her enough. “You know you’re the only girl for me, don’t you?”

  Beth moved backwards and looked up at him. She smiled. “Yes, I do, and I told you before, you’re the only boy for me, JW, which is why I told you what Davey said. We better get back in. I have to get up early for church.”

  “I better get on home too. See you at church,” JW said, and kissed her again. He didn’t want to leave her. Perhaps he had been taking Beth for granted, and Davey thought he spotted an opening to move in. Davey Brown’s family had lots of money, and his father was JW’s father’s boss. There were a lot of advantages for Beth to be involved with Davey, but she’d just told him that he was the only boy for her. Still, he worried. He’d make plans to take her to the theatre to see a matinee soon.

  When he got to the top of the hill he turned back to look at Beth’s house. He could make out her silhouette in the darkness. He waved and thought he saw her return the gesture. He’d always thought he was in no hurry to be a grown-up because of the extra worry grown-ups had. But he’d seen how his relationship with Beth had changed in the past year.

  “Guess it’s time to grow up,” he said aloud, and jumped a little when Gulliver’s wet nose tapped his fingers. He hadn’t been paying attention but was glad his old friend had come to walk him home. He petted his head and rubbed his shoulders. The time spent in the pit had pretty much cured JW of his fear of the dark, but he still liked that Gulliver came to meet him when the long shadows made the tree limbs look like arms reaching toward him. That he no longer had to pass the graveyard late at night on the way to the mine was something he didn’t mind either.

  Chapter 5

  JW’s mind drifted back to the afternoon spent with Mickey, thinking he might not be able to take too many more of those for a while.

  There was Mickey, covered in mud. JW couldn’t help laughing. He’d watched as one of Mickey’s feet had slipped over the side of the bank. Swinging his arms wildly, he had almost regained his balance before falling backward into the stream. They’d sat around the fire, cooking the trout they’d caught, waiting for Mickey’s clothes to dry.

  “So how are things at the trap?”

  “Not much change there, JW. You know. Nice guys like Smitty and then there are guys like Old Man Reilly, and Da’s no better. They both still pick on poor Patty when your father’s not around. I don’t think he’s grown an inch since you had him in that headlock. I think you stunted his growth. When I say I’m going to move to shovelling coal, he says he’s gonna follow me. He’s strong for his size, but I don’t think he’d be able to keep up. Maybe he could go on a scale job weighing coal or, I dunno, something else. I feel like I gotta look out for him.”

  JW remembered the first night Patty had started in the pit and the fight between them. JW was on the winning side. Now, he watched the turmoil in Mickey’s face and wished he could suggest something to help Patty. “Maybe he’d be good at the start of a new tunnel. You know, getting in the small places.”

  “Yeah, but that’s where the blasting happens, and some of the experienced men get hurt on those jobs. It’s like, I want him on the surface where it’s safer, but those are the jobs for the older guys. Some of them, I should say. There are some older men missing body parts who are still working underground.”

  JW looked at Mickey and realized he was being serious. What choice do the men have? he thought. If your family’s hungry, you have to work. “Guess that’s what JB McLachlan was talking about when he was trying to rally the men. The rights of the workers. Too sick or too old to work. There ought to be something – some kind of fund to look after them.”

  “That stint in jail sure knocked ol’ JB for a loop,” Mickey said. “You’re right though, there should be something for the folks when they’re old or sick. But who can save anything when you don’t make enough to live on to start with? Maybe it’ll get better.”

  JW picked up a rock and tossed it to Mickey. “Remember the night we went looking for the fossils, and I asked you to walk me back to the trap door? I didn’t want to tell you I was scared, so I let on I was worried the door wouldn’t open. Did you ever find anymore fossils?”

  “I remember. I was just as afraid as you – just more used to the walk. But no, I never went looking after that night, and since I was in the cave-in I stay pretty close to the trap door.” They looked at each other, remembering that night, the one JW relived in his dreams. “Don’t want to end up trapped again without you there to help dig us out,” Mickey said, half joking, half serious.

  “I know we don’t talk about it much,” he continued, “but tell me about the cave-in, right from the start.”

  It was a night neither JW nor Mickey would ever forget – nor would their families.

  “Ma tried to hide the scared look on her face when she told me about the cave-in,” JW said. “Her words played over and over in my mind as I ran toward the mine. My satchel was banging off my leg.”

  “What’d she say to ya?” Mickey asked.

  “Her exact words were, ‘John Wallace! Get up, dear! There’s been a cave-in at the mine. You have to go help. Hurry along. There’s men trapped.’”

  “That musta scared ya.”

  “Sure did. When I got to the mine and heard someone tell Red that six men were trapped with little chance of being rescued, I was pretty scared. Then when I heard it was Da, you and Smitty trapped, I knew I had to try something. One of the rescue guys said the roof let go and a couple of the timbers cracked and that there was close to a hundred ton of coal in the tunnel.”

  Mickey nodded his head for JW to go on.

  “When the man told Red that the air in there wouldn’t last long, I hurried down to where you were trapped. If it hadn’t been for Da drawing me pictures of the underground workings of the mine, I wouldn’t have known where to start. It was like I had a map or something. I went in the old worked-out tunnel where you and I had gone looking for fossils, ’cause that’s where the tunnels converged.”

  “I heard the tapping noise coming through to us,” Mickey said, “and I saw your father stand right up and start swinging his pick to match whoever was on the other side. Da held back. He seemed more scared than anyone. I was embarrassed when he was the first one through the hole ya dug for us.”

  “It was kinda strange seeing him scurrying from the hole first.”

  “Don’t think he’ll ever live that down. Miners have long memories,” Mickey said.

  “Da said Grandpa had an old saying that ‘it’s an ill wind that blows no good’,” JW said.

  “Ma says that too. Living with the old fella, s
he’s seen a lot of ill winds – not many good ones,” Mickey said.

  “Being trapped in the cave-in must have been terrifying for all of you, just lucky no one was hurt. If it hadn’t happened, I’d probably still be working there. Remember Red showed up with Mr. Brown, the mine manager?”

  “Not really, I just remember Red leading us out of there to the surface,” Mickey said. “What about it?”

  “I heard Mr. Brown tell another man that there was no one to replace Red. I told him Da could do the job because he knew how everything worked underground. At first he didn’t want to listen, but when I pulled Da’s sketches from my satchel and showed him the same pictures I’d used to find you, he paid more attention and eventually hired Da to be the new boss.”

  “I don’t want to be part of these kinds of stories anymore. Now I stay pretty close to the trap door. Like I said, I don’t want to get trapped unless you’re there to dig us out.”

  “Don’t get trapped then, ’cause I don’t plan on going back in,” JW said, and laughed.

  “Not if I can help it, anyway. Still have plans to sail the seven seas. Beth’s pa’s been working on a schooner in Louisbourg and was telling me about it.”

  JW laughed again, this time at himself. “Been talking to Smitty about Barbados, and he says he’s all set to go back as soon as I have my own schooner ready.” Smitty was the first man to take the time to stop and talk to JW when he was working the trap door. Both of Smitty’s parents were teachers, and JW figured he was as smart as they come. “He told me about the white sands of Barbados and how he’d love to return home one day,” JW continued. “I told him it might be a while yet.”

  “Don’t forget I’m going as first mate. Or deckhand. I don’t care as long as I’m on board.”