The Miners: Part 1

Once upon a time, there were a group of men who worked in the mines. They all knew each other and they all loved each other very much. One of them was known for being very good at his job and always making everyone's days brighter by simply smiling or waving. Another of them liked to sing. One day, he heard about an old abandoned mine deep underground that might just hold a treasure chest that had been buried so many years ago it probably never even existed. The man went straight there and found exactly what he thought it would be-a dusty box full of gold coins from far, far away.

The next thing he knew, another of his coworkers was knocking on the door. “Is everything alright?” he asked. “It seems a bit quiet down here without you.”

“I'm fine!” said the worker before going back into the room where he'd come from and shutting the door behind him. As soon as he sat down again and pulled out his notebook and pen, one more knock came at the door.

This time the worker's voice was deeper than usual. “Are you still in there? If you're not coming to lunch, I'll go looking for you.”

The miner shook his head in the dark. He hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. “Sorry, I'm coming,” he called back to the stranger. He didn't want to get up and leave the room again, but maybe he could find something that looked nice to eat while he worked.

After walking around the area for several minutes, the man eventually found a few large pieces of coal left over from construction. With these, he started heating a pot of soup with the small stove in the corner. Then he sat down next to the fire and started working on the first task of the evening.

A couple of hours later, when he was nearly done with that, another knock came at the door. “Are you still in there? I told you earlier that lunch is ready. If you aren't coming…” He trailed off and sighed before leaving. This wasn't the first time this had happened, and there wasn't any point in trying to make him stay. After a moment, a third-person knocked on the door. “Hey, are you alright in there? You seem awfully quiet lately.”

“Oh yes, sorry. I'm okay, I promise. Just finishing this last piece of work for tomorrow,” answered the worker.

There was silence on the other side of the door for a little bit and the miner waited patiently, but no footsteps followed the question. It seemed like nobody wanted to disturb him now. When nothing more was said, the man finished up on his own and headed out to the front entrance of the mines to join his friends for lunch.

The rest of the evening passed by fairly quickly. When the miners were done with their meals, they bid each other farewell outside and made their way home. There wasn't anything special about the walk back, really, though they're usually something about the air and the weather. Tonight, however, neither had much to say. The only conversation was over dinner as the miner tried to figure out how to break the news to them. It took him quite a while to actually do it.

“Guys… I've got something to tell you, but if it doesn't go well then…”

“Just spit it out already,” interrupted the youngest miner, James.

He let out a frustrated sigh. “Look, don't get mad at me. But I found some really valuable treasure today. So I need to take it somewhere safe before somebody else finds it.”

“You mean it could have been stolen or something?” James asked sceptically.

“No, I just mean it could have been lost. Somebody could come along tomorrow and get all our hard work and money and stuff. That'd be bad. Really bad,” he insisted.

“Yeah, sure,” responded one of the older men, Henry. “Why would anyone want any of your mining money anyway? It ain't worth shit.”

“Don't talk about stuff like that, you know you're wrong. It's the principle of the matter, that's all,” the younger man snapped in response. Even though he felt hurt that Henry had referred to the money as worthless, there was a small part of him, the same part that wanted to believe that he could somehow make someone happy even if he didn't own any of it himself. If he thought hard enough about it, there were a few times that night that he'd convinced himself that his life would be happier if he did.

To be continued...