Wish You Well

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Lou and Oz were following Diamond and Jeb through the woods on a glorious day in early fall, the dappled sunlight in their faces, a cool breeze tracking them along with the fading scents of summer’s honeysuckle and wild rose.

“Where are we going?” asked Lou.

Diamond would only say mysteriously, “You see.”

They went up a little incline and stopped. Fifty feet away and on the path was Eugene, carrying an empty coal bucket and a lantern. In his pocket was a stick of dynamite.

Diamond said, “Eugene headed to the coal mine. Gonna fill up that bucket. Afore winter come, he’ll take a drag down there with the mules and get out a big load’a coal.”

“Gee, that’s about as exciting as watching somebody sleep” was Lou’s considered opinion.

“Huh! Wait till that dynamite blows,” countered Diamond.

“Dynamite!” Oz said.

Diamond nodded. “Coal deep in that rock. Pick can’t git to it. Gotta blast it out.”

“Is it dangerous?” asked Lou.

“Naw. He knowed what he doing. Done it myself.”

As they watched from a distance, Eugene pulled the dynamite out of his pocket and attached a long fuse to it. Then he lit his lantern and went inside the mine. Diamond sat back against a redbud, took out an apple, and cut it up. He flicked a piece to Jeb, who was messing around some underbrush. Diamond noted the worried looks on the faces of Lou and Oz.

“That fuse slow-burning. Walk to the moon and back afore it go off.”

A while later Eugene came out of the mine and sat down on a rock near the entrance.

“Shouldn’t he get away from there?”

“Naw. Don’t use that much dynamite for a bucketful. After it blow and the dust settles, I show you round in there.”

“What’s to see in some old mine?” asked Lou.

Diamond suddenly hunched forward. “I tell you what. I seed some fellers down here late one night poking round. ’Member Miss Louisa told me to keep my eyes open? Well, I done that. They had lanterns and carrying boxes into the mine. We go in and see what they’s up to.”

“But what if they’re in the mine now?”

“Naw. I come by just a bit ago, looked round, threw a rock inside. And they’s fresh footprints in the dirt heading out. Sides, Eugene would’a seed ’em.” He had a sudden idea. “Hey, mebbe they running shine, using the mine to store the still and corn and such.”

“More likely they’re just hobos using the mine to keep dry at night,” said Lou.

“Ain’t never heard tell of no hobos up here.”

“So why didn’t you tell Louisa?” Lou challenged him.

“She got enough to worry ’bout. Check it out first. What a man do.”

Jeb flushed out a squirrel and chased it around a tree while they all watched and waited for the explosion.

Lou said, “Why don’t you come live with us?”

Diamond stared at her, clearly troubled by this question. He turned to his hound. “Cut it out, Jeb. That squirrel ain’t doing nuthin’ to you.”

Lou added, “I mean, we could use the help. Another strong man around. And Jeb too.”

“Naw. I a feller what needs his freedom.”

“Hey, Diamond,” said Oz, “you could be my big brother. Then Lou wouldn’t have to beat up everybody by herself.”

Lou and Diamond smiled at each other.

“Maybe you should think about it,” said Lou.

“Mebbe I will.” He looked at the mine. “Ain’t be long now.”

They sat back and waited. Then the squirrel broke free from the woods and flashed right into the mine. Jeb plunged in after it.

Diamond leapt to his feet. “Jeb! Jeb! Git back here!” The boy charged out of the woods. Eugene made a grab for him, but Diamond dodged him and ran into the mine.

Lou screamed, “Diamond! Don’t!”

She ran for the mine entrance.

Oz shouted, “Lou, no! Come back!”

Before she could reach the entrance, Eugene grabbed her. “Wait here. I git him, Miss Lou.”

Eugene fast-limped into the mine, screaming, “Diamond! Diamond!”

Lou and Oz looked at each other, terrified. Time ticked by. Lou paced in nervous circles near the entrance. “Please, please. Hurry.” She went to the entrance, heard something coming. “Diamond! Eugene!”

But it was Jeb that came racing out of the mine after the squirrel. Lou grabbed at the dog, and then the concussive force of the explosion knocked Lou off her feet. Dust and dirt poured out of the mine, and Lou coughed and gagged in this maelstrom. Oz raced to help her while Jeb barked and jumped.

Lou got her bearings and her breath and stumbled to the entrance. “Eugene! Diamond!”

Finally, she could hear footsteps coming. They drew closer and closer, and they seemed unsteady. Lou said a silent prayer. It seemed to take forever, but then Eugene appeared, dazed, covered with dirt, bleeding. He looked at them, tears on his face.

“Damn, Miss Lou.”

Lou took one step back, then another, and then another. Then she turned and ran down the trail as fast as she could, her wails covering them all.

Some men carried the covered body of Diamond to a wagon. They had had to wait for a while to let the smoke clear out, and to make certain that the mine would not collapse on them. Cotton watched the men take Diamond away, and then went over to Eugene, who sat on a large rock, holding a wet cloth to his bloodied head.

“Eugene, sure you don’t need anything else?”

Eugene looked at the mine like he expected to see Diamond walk out with his stuck-up hair and silly smile. “All I need, Mr. Cotton, is this be a bad dream I wake myself up from.”

Cotton patted his big shoulder and then glanced at Lou sitting on a little hump of dirt, her back to the mine. He went to her and sat down.

Lou’s eyes were raw from crying, her cheeks stained with tears. She was hunched over in a little ball, like every part of her was in wrenching pain.

“I’m sorry, Lou. Diamond was a fine boy.”

“He was a man. A fine man!”

“I suppose you’re right. He was a man.”

Lou eyed Jeb, who sat mournfully at the mine entrance.

“Diamond didn’t have to go in that mine after Jeb.”

“Well, that dog was all Diamond had. When you love something, you can’t just sit by and not do anything.”

Lou picked up some pine needles and then let a few trickle out between her fingers. Minutes passed before she spoke again. “Why do things like this happen, Cotton?”

He sighed deeply. “I suppose it may be God’s way of telling us to love people while they’re here, because tomorrow they may be gone. I guess that’s a pretty sorry answer, but I’m afraid it’s the only one I’ve got.”

They were silent for a bit longer.

“I’d like to read to my mom,” said Lou.

Cotton said, “That’s the finest idea I’ve ever heard.”

“Why is it a fine idea?” she demanded. “I really need to know.”

“Well, if someone she knew, someone she . . . loved would read to her, it might make all the difference.”

“Do you really think she knows?”

“When I carried your mother outside that day, I was holding a living person fighting like the devil to get out. I could feel it. And she will one day. I believe it with all my heart, Lou.”

She shook her head. “It’s hard, Cotton. To let yourself love something you know you may never have.”

Cotton nodded slowly. “You’re wise beyond your years. And what you say makes perfect sense. But I think when it comes to matters of the heart, perfect sense may be the last thing you want to listen to.”

Lou let the rest of the needles fall and wiped her hands clean. “You’re a good man too, Cotton.”

He put his arm around her and they sat there together, neither one of them willing to look at the blackened, swollen cavity of the coal mine that had taken their friend from them forever.