New Shovel, New Helmet

A story about a new job.

Mother tucked in my shirt in my pants. I told her I’m big now. She said it’s your first day and that I should look my absolute best, so I complied. She is older and has more experience than me. She has a particular smell of her avocado and lemon shampoo and Herbertz’s cooking oil which I have happened to like by now. I use the same shampoo but I don’t have the Herbertz’s cooking oil smell, since I don’t stay long in the kitchen; only to eat breakfast and dinner, because I like to have my lunch in my room. That ways mother can listen to the radio by herself because I don’t like it. The hostess of the 2 o’clock show has a very shrill voice and she always says “Hello you all”, as “Hello y’all” like “you” and “all” are one word but clearly they are two. Mother says some people say it like that but I don’t understand why? And didn’t their English teachers tell them they were spelling it wrong? Her name is Rhonda. I don’t think I’d like to talk to her ever.

***

I got my punch card with my full name on it. Our officer told me that I should never forget to punch it when I come to work or else they’ll cut my pay. This is very rude since I do my work even if I sometimes forget to punch my card to which our officer said, “We got a talker!” and everybody laughed, which was untrue because I usually keep quiet. I don’t like to talk to people much. I don’t think they talk any sensible things most of the time. They are usually interested in knowing how the other person is and if he/she has any interesting stories to tell. Otherwise they get bored and look at someone else. Mother listens to me and we have really good conversations about engine efficiencies, city’s old railway maps and structure of universe. She doesn’t understand initially because she never studied the fundamentals of hydraulics or space-time but I draw big diagrams and explain her everything and then she understands it.

***

I’m happy because I got a brand new shovel and a brand new hat with a bright light on top. Other people’s lights aren’t as bright as mine since they’ve been working here for some time and the batteries discharge as they use their lights. In that way, the brightness of a worker’s hat is a good measure of how long he’s been working, but I think people who work here long have to get their batteries replaced and then their lights will be better lit than the ones who’ve also been working here for long but who’s batteries aren’t dead yet. Thus this model would not work.

I punch my card. I get help from Andy Reader. I read his name on his punch card. He compliments me on my new shovel and my new hat. He said that I am lucky that I got new equipments since everyone else gets the old ones which the previous retiring worker gives away. But I hardly call it luck since I am a new worker and I didn’t replace anyone, so more shovels and helmets are needed. He said I should still be happy. I told him that we are very near to the old underground railway lines, especially the south western end. He said he never heard any train sounds. I told him they are not in use now since they are old. He said what use are they then? I told him I don’t know. He didn’t say anything then.

***

The lift didn’t look like the lift we saw in the hospital. It was like a big steel cage. Our officer held a black control box with big red and green buttons on it. I quickly figured out the green button is to start the lift while the red button would be used to stop the lift. I saw through the cage the color of the soil changing like we had seen in our classroom but soon it got really dark so I couldn’t see anything. The officer told us to switch ON our helmet lights, mine was the brightest. Andy couldn’t switch ON his light. He said he’s switching it ON but it’s not getting switched ON. Officer said he can only replace it when Andy would return back to the office to which he said he can’t work in the dark and dropped the helmet. I picked up the helmet and checked it. It was only a small circuit break at the end of the battery. I didn’t see any point in throwing the helmet. I gave it back to Andy and he switched the light ON and it lit up. He said it is brighter than before. He said that he likes me. I said it was really easy.

***

It happened when I was digging the end of the tunnel 1B with Andy who was deeper in the tunnel than I was. I heard a rumble at the end of the tunnel, Andy said it’s ok, it happens all the time. He told me that there’s nothing to worry about as he hit the ground again with his shovel and a few rocks fell from the far end of the tunnel again. I looked again and Andy laughed and hit the shovel again. This time it was a big rumble. I saw Andy was under a huge rock, the light from his helmet showed his smashed in and blood all over and I knew it was not ok. I walked fast in the other direction. I thought there is no point in looking if Andy was alright because clearly I saw from the light of his helmet which was very bright that the stone was on top of his head and his head was smashed and nobody can survive without their heads, only cockroaches can.

***

Everyone was running around. Tunnels 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B had collapsed. These were all the tunnels there were. Someone yelled “Can’t reach the lift!” and then someone else yelled “The officer’s dead here!”. He lay underneath a pile of blocks at the mouth of tunnel 2A. His head wasn’t smashed like Andy, rather the rocks were on his chest and his mouth was bloody and he wasn’t moving. His helmet light was OFF so I couldn’t see much.

***

An old man did the headcount and said that we’re only 7 people remaining. He said a total of 17 came down today since he was the last to punch his card and had checked others’ cards as well. Two men started crying, another said it might take them days to reach down here and help us to which I asked how many precisely, he said to many to be alive. I asked for a compass.

***

I took out the battery from my helmet light and some copper wire and wound the wire around a small nail-like hook I took out from my shovel handle and made the nail-like hook magnetic. Then I put some water in my helmet and suspended the nail-like hook in the water so that the magnetic field of the hook aligns with the magnetic field of the earth which is +5degrees to the geographic north.

I pointed at Andy’s head and said, “That’s where we need to dig”. One of the crying man started crying even harder while the other one stopped. The older man who did our headcount asked me if I was sure and I told him about my knowledge of city’s underground maps and how I told Andy how we are near to the old underground railway lines but he can’t confirm it since his head is under a big rock now. He asked the other 5 men if I was right and none of them confirmed it. I took my shovel and went towards tunnel 1B. Soon the old man followed.

***

I got out from one of the gutter outside Danny’s Bakery because otherwise the old railway lines meet the new railway lines 18 kms. ahead north-west and I was really hungry by now. We reached the mine and people were still digging inside to look for us but we surprised them from behind. I was really happy about that. Mother hugged me real tight and I told her not to because I haven’t bathed for 3 days and just came out of the gutters now but she said it doesn’t matter.

***

I was being held up on the shoulders by the 6 members as they yelled “Jim’s our man! Jim’s our man!” They told Rhonda how I made the compass from the helmet and figured the way out to the old railway line and then to the gutter system to get us out and how lucky they felt that I joined in the same day as the mine collapsed. Mother was laughing and crying behind them. 

Rhonda asked me what was going in my head all the time we were stuck and I told her that I wanted to go back and tell mother at dinner about my new shovel and my new helmet and the punching card and Andy. She asked “ How y’all gonna celebrate now?”. I said that I will have pancakes with mother because I was really hungry. And that it’s not “y’all”, it’s “you all”.

Reviews

[Morgan Yai]

I really like the way you wrote this. It is absolutely beautiful. And this story is so simple, yet profound. Thank you for writing it. Keep up the good work!

[Anirudh Bhardwaj]

thank you :) means a lot!