The Curse Of The Moloch (11) He watched from a distance the work of the dynamite loader and his assistant as they placed their special explosives in the drilled holes. They worked carefully and quickly with a great deal of caution; upon completion they attached the snake-like dynamite sticks to copper wires that led to a plunger further down the shaft. Jake pulled the inquisitive boy away, "Got t' be a might kerful.. foller me.." They moved till they found a safe perch near their tools; then after settling down they tied their large kerchiefs around their nose and mouths. There was the shrill notes of a whistle of warning with aloud call to stand back; the explosive charges came quickly with a fierce roar and with a burst of chocking coal dust. After the dust of the blast cleared, rubber-wheeled shuttle cars entered with crews to remove the coal after its breakage from the walls. A shrill siren was heard shrieking through the passages indicating a short break for lunch. Jeremiah and his boss joined the other crew with the eating and drinking from their respective tin pails; after finishing they enjoyed a puff on their hand-mades. Included in their bantering, Jake repeated to the other crew about Jeremiah's fear of the devil and his emmisaries that might lurk about in the mine; wherein they replied that they were also afraid in the beginning but not anymore as the told of their protection. But, again, Jeremiah didn't have an inkling of the magic potion as the bantering turned... "Sure do," answered Jake, "Sure do.." "Old Red sure was a' strange one... Always skeered of spooks, devils n' th' like every time he came down..." "Sure was a strange 'un. What ever happened t' him?" "Old Red went kinda crazy-like one day... Swore he a' saw th� ghosts, devils an' even th' Moloch.. By gum he sure went loco.. left th' pits a' screamin' his head off... headed fer th' woods.. never bin seen since..." "Tis a mystery all right.." The nodded their heads which affirmed the tone of the mystery. Then Jake exclaimed roughly, "Nuff of this h'yar' talkin', let's get back t' work. Thars a' plenty t' do b'fore quitting time. The boy an ah 'll go t' th' other diggins'" Jake gave a two-fingered salute of farewell to his work mates as he prodded Jeremiah to his feet. They hefted their implements for a short haul to a newly started sloping blind-shaft. Their work continued with the same routine of hauling, coupling, placing and drilling. They worked till they heard again the shrill siren that sounded a different signal, the end of the workday, followed by a slight wait for the replacements of the next shift. A few instructing Words were exchanged before Jake and his apprentice were able to trudged their long weary walk back through the tunnels to the shaft elevator... At the nearness of lift Jeremiah turned and saw a strange sight inside in a small niche in the rough coal-faced wall; within was a halfhuman skull with shining smooth pieces of crystalline stones inserted in the eye sockets. Around the human remnants were strangly carved amulets of pine and oak decorated with small feathers. As the boy stared at the image he started to realize that this relic was the miner's protection against evil creatures that might lurk in the deep of the mine � � Chapter Twenty-one After a hard day's work, Jeremiah left together with a few of the miners, as they trudged the weary odd mile to their homes in the settlement. Few words were spoken as their bodies were steeped in their tiredness; only at the separation of their ways would they call out a few parting words. The youth did likewise upon the path leading to his two-storey grand house, "See y'all at th' comin' mornin'". The parting miners returned no answer; they only replied with a simple affirmative nod and a weak wave of the hand. When he reached the splintery steps of the grand house Miz' Jezebel, his stern mother, was waiting for him armed with a pail of cold water and a couple of pieces of rags. Her greetings to him were sparse; with the sign of a moving bony finger she indicated that he should take the pail and rags and march to the shed behind. "Take 'em an' git yerself in thar... Thar be fresh duds t' change into. Mind ye, use th' rags and water real well an' tek th' black frum yer body., Now git'" Jeremiah grabbed the water pail and pieces of rags from Miz� Jezebel and shuffled to the shed. He opened its rickety door carefully and entered the junk strewn room. It took a few minutes to push aside the odds and bits to make some room; whereupon, he surmised that the cleared dirt floor would do well for the dumping of his work clothes. His rite of ablutions was rudimentary. He stripped off his work clothes; then he dipped one the rags in the cold water and applied it to the task of removing the coal dust from his body. The act was repeated, with the aid of a sliver of laundry soap, till he thought the task was completed; then he lifted the pail of the now dirty water and sluiced it over his body. With another and much larger rag Jeremiah dried his drenched body, and rubbed some hidden patches of dirt. True to the words of his mother he found clean clothes to change into; he hurried as the cool air on his naked torso caused him to shake with shivers. After dressing, he combed his hair with the openess of his fingers trying to remove bits of coal. Picking up the pail, his soiled work clothes and the wet rags he left the shed, closing the door cautiously as the last time he had knocked it off its loose hinges. Seeing everything was in order, he returned to the sight of his mother. Miz' Jezebel, his demanding kin. She looked straight at him upon his return and cursorily inspected his body, "Didn't do a good job ov it... can see a few drops ov dirt on ye... Wal', never ye mind... come next Sati'day nite ye can 've a good scrub in the' tub... Jess chuck the dirty rags in th� corner.. ah'll take care ov 'em later. ..ye kin tek yer pit duds back t' yer room.. ye be needin' em' t'morrow.. ah'll scrub em up come next washin' day." The youth followed Miz' Jezebel, his patient kinswoman, to the kitchen of the house, lit by the wan light of a smoking kerosene lamp. There Jeremiah smelled the inviting aroma of warm food. His mother indicated the right chair at the table for him to sit on which he quickly did. On the plain boards he saw set were the eating utensils, a platter of bread and pitcher of cool water... "Jess ye wait a spell an' I'll dish up," warned his mother. Jeremiah knew the routine, which started with the usual offering of ablessing to the Lordy for the food they are about to eat. Jeremiah, together with his kin, bowed their heads, folded their hands in supplication as Miz' Jezebel's words rang out, "Lordy bless this h'yar food we're abouts t' eats... an' we thank ye kindly fer these good things ov yers given t' us in these h'yar days. Mighty blessin's dear Lordy. Amen!" "Amen," the youth responded correctly. "Th' good Lordy mighty kind t' us," Miz' Jezebel, his pious mother exclaimed. She continued by telling her son of her good fortune of receiving a small tidy pension after her husband's untimely death, "kept us in vittles these yars.." Her talk continued as she busied herself at the coal firing range, messing about with a few pots. "Yep, th' Lordy is mighty kind," she spoke out as she removed the iron cooking vessels from the stove and placed them on slabs of stone arranged in the center of the kitchen table. Then she set herself heavily on her chair and faced her son. "Well spoon up an' don mess about!" "Thank ye kindly maw.." Jeremiah heaped his platter with side-back bacon, a few boiled potatoes and mess of turnip greens. Miz' Jezebel did likewise as she was quite ravenous; it was her routine to wait for the dinner meal until the return of her son from the mine. The act was not of love and attention to her son but one of enonomy. She never mentioned to a soul on how she scraped together the few coins to pay the general store for the bits of food. Her stipend was rather small and she had to make its worth stretch from one check to the other. One of her ways was for her to eat a bit less; all she ate was a mess of porridge at breakfast with a few hard tack biscuits and some lemonade during the rest of the day. It was worth the sacrifice as her thoughts were on her son's job at the pits and of the coming earnings, which would make for easier times. "Got ye a bit ov a surprise... made a tin of pie frum th' rest ov them crab apples," exclaimed Miz' Jezebel as she jumped from her chair and scrambled to the oven; the good woman removed from the baker a large pie. After setting it on the table, she cut out a couple of large wedges, placing one on her son's plate. "Mighty good tastin'", he called out trying not to to show any facial signs that expressed the tarty flavour of the confection. Jeremiah showed his appreciation of the meal with a hearty belch, which resulted in a reprimand from his mother on his manners. But, all and all, Miz' Jezebel, his faithful mother, was somewhat glad to have a man about to take care of his needs, even though Jeremiah was still in his adolescent years. Later in the cool of the evening they sat on the rickety cane chairs set on the splintery porch. Talk was limited to the one-sided chatting by Miz Jezebel. She didn't ask much about his work at the colliery but only ruminated about the goings-on in the hollow; she mainly talked about the unhappy events with a bilious joy. Never a happy thought was uttered in her chats. Her son, in misery, was forced to listen and to respond with a word or two or with a simple nod. When they felt the chills of the cool weather, they removed themselves to the warmth of the kitchen where Miz' Jezebel' s chattering voice continued. After a while the good woman faced the battered alarm clock on the mantle above the stove, "Goodness me, gettin' on in th' time. .. sure tis gettin' mighty late...so ye better git t' yer room an' git a bit of shut-eye so ye r' rested fer th' morrow's work. Now hustle along!" It didn't take any prompting for Jeremiah to remove himself from the company of Miz' Jezebel, his caring mother. He set a lighted candle in a tin lid; its dim light guided him as he slouched out of the room. Following whispers of words for a good night and rest were given to his mother. The woman just nodded, and stared at the diminishing sight of her son as he left the kitchen. As Jeremiah's footfalls trudged on the creaking floor, he imagined that the cracks on the wall were crawling with vile crawling creatures that snarled at him as he walked. His eyes widened as he saw demons and other odious creatures tearing themselves from the boards and rushing towards him. Fear crept into his being as a whisper of wind blew out the flame of his candle. From the glow of the autumn moon beaming through a window from his open room, he imagined he saw a fading image of a calf-headed figure making his way towards him. The fantastic sight of the fiery pagan god increased the fears coarsing through his mind; with a bounding leap he raced up the stairs, two at the time. Jeremiah quickly closed the door with all the strength of his body and latched it securely. He felt safe inside his room as he slowly went to his cot to undress for the welcoming sleep. As he covered himself with his thin worn blanket he thought he heard the blare of horns and the booming beat of skin-taut drums somewhere in the near distance. � � Chapter Twenty-two The Devil Sin came early into his life and its attraction increased over the time; its power of temptation wedged increasingly through the dull routine of his life. His work at drilling in the coal seams were numbing in their tiredness; the endless boring evening routine with Miz' Jezebel, his ever chattering mother, were equally numbing in the continued dull sameness - especially of her mother's repeated warnings of sin coupled with the threat of the Moloch. Jeremiah's only escape was, at times, to meet the other youth of his age at the outskirts of the settlement. The winter months had set in, and his mother couldn't or didn't want to understand his leaving the house on such a cold night. He simply shrugged his shoulders when asked, and quietly mumbled answers to her queries. Then he put on his heavy coat, said a cursory goodnight to his mother, and pushed off. Jeremiah left with the trail of Miz' Jezebel's words with the usual warning of the temptation of sin and its consequences. As he put his booted feet outside he felt the flowing cold of the crosswinds. The winds had gathered in the cold of the winter; the chilly blow of cold gusts brought the nip of frost in the air. Aeolus, the demon of the winds had risen, rode the crosswinds, and spread his icy veil of a frosty curse; the flurry of the cold draughts shivered the very bones of Jeremiah despite the warmth of his coat. As the demon winged in the cold air stream that blew over the hollow his fierce voice called out over the sound of the cold air stream, "Wind of the winds! Rushing and mighty. Heavy of thy wings sweeping past." Outside in the frost of the evening Jeremiah bundled against the cold winds as his words cursed the winter coldness, "Damn, hits'a' mighty cold. Cud freeze th' devil himself." Before starting on his way, he rubbed himself as a gesture of warming his body against the cold biting weather; then his footfalls hurriedly trod the cold hard ground as he made his way towards the appointed place. There under the branches of a stunted fir, near the colliery, the group of youths gathered; each greeted one another with the usual "Howdy" and with a few words complaining of the miserable weather. There were about twelve huddled there that night, stamping out the numbness of cold from their feet. Their numbers did not matter, sometimes there were more and other times less. Jeremiah, toughened by his work at the pit, was accepted by the strength of his body and his presence was welcomed, "Don' matter no how if he waz a bit crazy like. He bein' gud t' 'ave around, lots ov fun," as the youths reckoned it, and they discarded his strangeness in talking to unseen creatures. The grinning devil, together with his evil demon servants, was there at the beginning of their meetings, offering them the pleasures of his tempting delights. The first sin offered was mild in the taste of tobacco as the youths rolled their hand-mades with inept fingers, and inhaled the pleasure of the smoking... and coughed miserably in their first attempt. That cold winter's night was somewhat special in the eyes of Satan as another delight of sin was tried. The temptation was there as one of the youth called out, "Got me a couple of jars frum th' still up in th' bend of em' hills way yonder. Best brew they got. Y'all go t' chip in wid' a bit of coin." Their cold breaths smoked from their mouths as they swallowed a gulp of the liquor; the fiery liquid flowed into their bodies adding necessary warmth. Each took a swallow from the jar and passed it, with a hesitant laugh, to the youth sided near. A few of them, including Jeremiah, felt a bit lifted by the liquid fire, and they fooled around with a few high jinks such as clodhopping to the rhythm of their braying slurring voices.
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