Part 7 (1/2)
”You bet. Whatever you need. Maintenance, get over there with another torch, anything you got to help.
My phone is starting to ring off of the hook. We must not have been the only ones who heard that b.u.mp.
Just don't blow yourselves up over there.”
Stacks swiveled his chair around and picked up the first line that was ringing. ”Control Shack, Stacks. . . . No, we don't know what it was either. . . . I have no idea. . . . Yes, calling the police might be a good idea. . . . Ma'am, I need to keep this line clear for emergencies. No, no. There's no emergency here. I need to keep this line clear. Ma'am, yes ma'am. No, ma'am. Please, I need to go. Goodbye!” He banged the phone down, and it rang immediately. All three lines were lit.
”s.h.i.+t, this isn't going to be a good day at all. Control shack . . .”
w.i.l.l.y stumbled in pain and darkness, blinking his eyes and trying to see. He knew that a working phone had a green indicator light on the base of the box. He kept looking for the green light, concentrating, wiping the sweat from his eyes, and focusing on taking another step.
He tried to ignore his growing pain, push it to the back of his mind, but his eyes had nothing to focus on, so his mind went to his injuries and the pain increased. He tried to maintain focus, and gulped some of the dense air around him. He coughed, and his broken ribs tortured him. He fell to his knees, and then struggled to get up.
He pushed off of the rib of the mine, clawing up the side with his good left hand. As he rose, he hit his head on something hard and metallic and he bit his tongue. More blood. He felt the object with his hand and found a telephone box. There was no green light. No light at all. The phone was dead, damaged by the blast.
He found the cable that served the phone and began to follow it. One foot in front of the other, keeping the cable in his had. It helped to hold the phone cable, as it became his eyes and gave him more to focus on than the pain.
When Metzinger reached the phone, he was walking at a brisk pace and noticed nothing unusual. His crew was less than a quarter-mile behind him and the other work crew more than a mile away, through a labyrinth of tunnels. There were no signs of anything unusual. He picked up the phone and waited for April to answer. He liked talking to April when he had the chance, but it was unusual to do it over the phone.
”Phone shack. Who's this?”
”Hi, April. Wilhelm here. You know Wilhelm Metzinger. Second-year electrician apprentice? I'm at east section one at crosscut six.”
”h.e.l.lo there, Wilhelm. Is Deitrich with you?”
Metzinger frowned. Always Deitrich. The girls just seemed to like him more. He sighed. ”Nein, he stayed with the others. He sent me to see what was going on. We heard and felt something, and our ears popped. He thought I could handle it on my own.”
”That's nice, Wilhelm. I just talked to Stacks and he doesn't know anything either. But he did say that you guys were goin' to have to come out soon 'cause we don't have power. You probably didn't even notice it down there, but the phones have a battery backup so we can still stay in production. They're trying to get the generator working. Apparently it's too cold or something.”
”Should we keep working, or should we come out?”
”Give me a minute, Wilhelm. I want to talk to Stacks. He's not answering his phone, so I need to go see him. Just hold on; I'll be back in two shakes.”
Wilhelm looked at the phone. How long was two shakes, he wondered. He pa.s.sed the time looking around in the darkness, adjusting his cap lantern, and finally sc.r.a.ping patterns in the dusty floor, when he heard an unusual noise over the phone line. There was scratching and line static, and then it sounded like labored breathing. Metzinger listened intently. He finally heard a scratchy voice.
”Help . . . this is w.i.l.l.y. Men trapped, west cuts twenty-two, crosscut, roof fall, trapped . . . this is w.i.l.l.y, men trapped, west cuts twenty-two, crosscut, roof fall, trapped.
Metzinger was stunned. ”w.i.l.l.y? This is Wilhelm. What is going on? w.i.l.l.y, do you hear me?”
”Wilhelm? Men trapped, west cuts twenty-two, crosscut, roof fall . . .” His voice was getting weaker.
”Stay on the line, w.i.l.l.y. April will be right back. I need to tell Deitrich. Do you hear me? Stay on the line.
April will be right back. w.i.l.l.y. You must stay on the line.” Metzinger left the phone off of the hook and began to sprint back to Deitrich.
April was beginning to get frustrated as she banged on the door of the control shed. ”G.o.ddammit, Stacks, it's cold as h.e.l.l out here. Open the d.a.m.n door. Why the h.e.l.l aren't you answering your phone or radio? You hear me? Open up!”
”Sorry, sweeth-uhh, April. I got three phone lines going at once here.” She could hear him reach the door, and begin to open it. ”d.a.m.n thing's froze shut. Gimme a second here, let me-” The door flew inward and April felt the rush of warm air from the shack. It felt very good. She jumped through the door and he closed it behind her.
”G.o.ddammit, Stacks. You need to answer your radio and phone. I talked to Metzinger and he didn't know what was up with the noise. Wants to know if we should pull them out or leave them in.”
”How the h.e.l.l should I know, April? We need to ask Fred and Fred. You answer the phones for a minute, let me get to them on the radio.”
She planted her hands on her hips and glared. ”Listen, you dummy. I ain't supposed to leave my phones unattended. And you are not a G.o.ddam answering service for anyone calling this place from the outside.
Let them ring. Find out about the generator and let me know what to do with those guys.” She tugged open the door and stomped out into the cold light of morning.
April trotted back to the phone shack. When she got to her post, she was surprised to discover Metzinger was no longer on the line, but she could tell that the phone was off the hook. She called to him several times over the open line and got no answer. She then noticed a background noise that wasn't there before. The signal to noise ratio sounded-well, it didn't sound right. She scratched her head and looked up at the old phone relay board.
”That's odd.” She leaned back in her chair, and stared at the panel. ”This thing acts like I got more than one phone open here.” She pulled her electronic test meter out of the desk drawer. One last check for Wilhelm first.
”Wilhelm, are you out there? Can you hear me? Wilhelm? Dammit, answer me.” She put the phone down and began to check resistance readings through the switch circuits.
Deitrich was growing impatient waiting for Wilhelm to return. It had been over twenty minutes since he left and it was taking far too long. He should have been back by now. He pulled his pocket watch out for the third time in five minutes, and then stuffed it back in his pants. Something just felt wrong. The power had gone out before, and the mine never behaved in this way.
Maybe it was all of the new guys that were making him jittery. There. He'd said it. Well, thought it. He was jittery. That thought made him angry. When Metzinger got back he was going to tear him a new a.s.shole for being slow and lazy. Deitrich heard the returning footfalls and took a breath, ready to verbally rip strips of flesh from his hide. Then he saw Metzinger's face and lost all thought of abusing him.
Metzinger gulped for air and leaned on Deitrich for support. He must have run all the way back.
Metzinger gasped. ”w.i.l.l.y-Ernst, roof fall by the west coalface. That must have been what we heard.
Needs help. Men are trapped. We need to get over there.”
”Are you sure?”
Metzinger sat down on the floor and nodded, still gasping for air. ”Yah. I heard it from w.i.l.l.y. I was on the phone with April, and he picked up. His voice was very faint.” By now some of the other miners had come over to listen to the conversation. A canteen of water was pushed in his hand and he drank deeply.
”What's up, Deitrich?” asked one of the apprentices. Several others chimed in. ”What's going on? A roof fall? Where was it? What did he say . . .”
Deitrich growled at the group. ”Quiet. Give us some room. You talked to w.i.l.l.y, right? Metzinger nodded. ”When you were on the phone with April, right? Metzinger nodded again. ”Where was w.i.l.l.y; did he say what phone he was calling from?”
”West face.” Metzinger struggled to his feet. ”We gotta help them, boss. w.i.l.l.y sounded bad.”
”Okay.” Deitrich thought for a moment then straightened. ”Everyone. Listen up. We have a situation.
From what we know, there has been a roof fall at the other end of the mine. We're going to see what we can do. Grab any tool and first aid kits you see along the way. We're gonna double-time it over there and see what we can do to help. Everyone. Let's go. Now.”
The guys working further away had trickled to the group and as Deitrich began to turn away, they fell in behind him. Metzinger stood to follow and Deitrich hesitated. ”Good job, Wilhelm. Rest for a moment, then catch up to us when you can.”
Metzinger looked relieved. ”Okay, boss. I'm getting a h.e.l.l of a cramp in my legs. Thanks.”
Deitrich turned and began to jog. His old rally cry from the battlefield came to mind. ”To me, men!” he half growled and half shouted. ”To me!”