Chapter 10 #2
Andrew made a note to do something—to get canaries or put in better shafts to get some air in the mine.
The conditions weren’t great down there, and somehow the reports he’d gotten lately hadn’t told him that.
They hadn’t explained the stickiness and the feeling that there was no air to breathe. That had to change.
A certain amount of heat and stale air was to be expected.
Andrew wasn’t na?ve about that; he’d spent time down shafts before.
But this was a little more than he would expect with the air shafts that had already been sunk.
Perhaps they were at the wrong angle to catch the prevailing winds. He would have to check that.
As he was chipping away at the rock, a large chunk came loose, and to his surprise, it was a fossil. Another seashell. He wondered if Julie might like to have it. He pocketed it.
The ringing of a bell meant that it was time to head back up. The men finished up their work and clambered out of the shafts to the ropes that hung ready to lift them from the depths. Troy had built a second pulley system so that two men up on the surface could each bring a man to the daylight.
As he came out of the hole, Andrew drew in a full deep breath. The feeling of a breeze on his skin was like magic. He smiled. “This is better.”
Julie was waiting for him. “You look as if your melancholy has left you.”
“It has,” Andrew agreed. “Getting out of my head was good advice.” He took her hand in his and they began to walk toward the camp for lunch. “Oh, I found this down there.” He withdrew the fossil shell from his pocket and handed it to her.
Julie inspected it. “It’s lovely,” she said.
“It’s a fossil,” he said. “The mine is quite rich in them.”
She held it back out to him. He shook his head. “No, you keep it.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling. “I brought you that tonic.” She pocketed the fossil and withdrew a glass bottle. She held it out to him. “This should help you to cope better with everything, with all the stress and the late nights.”
He closed his hand around the bottle and leaned in to kiss her cheek. She blushed as his lips touched her skin, and Andrew knew that he would never get tired of that. No matter how long they stayed together, he would always love the fact that she flushed so prettily when he kissed her.
Their relationship had been coming along nicely since the flood.
There was something holding them together now, like she knew she could rely on him.
He had come to her rescue, even when some folks had told him not to bother, that she couldn’t still be alive.
He knew that he had done it because not knowing would have driven him mad, but also because the prospect of life without her was not something Andrew wanted to consider.
All of that seemed to have welded them together and Andrew was glad.
Lunch was cold chicken and salad. They had agreed to mostly let their little flock grow. But he supposed someone had gotten tired of just eating the eggs.
Walter made a note in his notebook and pursed his lips, but he ate the food anyway. Perhaps even Walter, the stickler for the rules, had a side that made allowances for folks.
“We still don’t know what happened to the missing birds,” Julie said as she popped a tomato into her mouth.
“You’ve set up cans to jingle, haven’t you?” Andrew asked.
She nodded.
“Well, I’m sure we’ll find out what has dared to steal a chicken,” he said.
“Walter is taking this seriously,” she warned him. “He won’t like you saying things like that.”
Andrew chuckled. “That’s why I’m only telling you.”
For the afternoon, Andrew decided to do something about the air shafts they had sunk.
He spent time opening each one up further so that more air could enter.
It would also bring in rain, but as this was an infrequent occurrence, he thought it wouldn’t matter that much.
Of course, if they had another downpour like the one that had led to the flood …
then they were in trouble. But the miners had to be able to breathe, darn it. So they’d just have to risk it.
When he was done, he went and found Julie and decided to go for a walk with her. They hadn’t been to the creek since the flood, and he knew she was nervous about being near it for an extended period of time. She would go to fetch water but not much else.
This time, they crossed it and walked off into the fields beyond. They were green and alive with little ground-hugging flowers that seemed to pop out of the ground beside boulders and between long strands of grass.
It was a lovely landscape and was one of the things that Andrew found soul-enriching about being here.
“When you first came here, you asked me if I had thought about ever building a permanent house,” Andrew said. “Do you remember?”
Julie let out a breath. “Gosh, that feels like so long ago, although it’s really not. Yes, I remember. I was wondering where this little town, whatever its name will be, would stand. And where the statue to you would be erected one day.”
Andrew stared at her. “Statue? What statue?”
“Oh, you know, the one that just about every town places in their square to commemorate the man who dared to erect the first building,” she said. “That will be you.”
“No, if it ever existed it would have to have thirteen people on it,” Andrew said. “The twelve of us and you. So, you can just forget that load of malarkey. I didn’t bring you to this place to show you where the town square would be; I brought you here to see where I want to build us a house.”
She stared at him, her mouth hanging open. “A house? You mean with actual windows and a real door? And a roof that doesn’t sound like a kettle drum when it rains?”
“Yes,” he said, drawing her to him and putting his hands on her waist. “A real, honest to goodness two-story house with bedrooms and a kitchen and all of that.”
“And our own outhouse and bathroom?” she asked, raising a brow.
“All of that,” he said, smiling. For all Julie was tough as nails, she was still a woman and enjoyed little luxuries like hot baths. Mind you, so did he.
“And you want to build it here?” she asked, looking around.
He nodded.
She looked back the way they had come. She could see the cleft the creek made in the land from where they stood, but it was far enough that this spot hadn’t been touched by the flood.
It was in no danger of being swept away.
Andrew could see her working this out, as he had.
Her thoughts seemed to cross plainly over her face and then she looked him in the eye and nodded.
“Yes, this is a good place to build us our very own, honest to goodness house,” she said, her voice rising a little with her excitement. “I can’t wait.” And rising on her toes, she pressed her lips to his.
The love he felt for her flowed over him, and he returned her kiss with enthusiasm. Despite their house still only being a dream, Andrew knew he was home.