A Child is Born in a Miner's Town

A Child is Born in a Miner's Town

By EllenKey10
word count 396, allowed 400

Elizabeth’s man was not back from the mine yet, with busy hands she swept the dirt floor until no dust was necessary to bend down and clear. While hanging the broom in place the mine whistle blew, three-blasts warning disaster. Her body straightened rigid with fear, pale hands instantly crossed her huge belly. Looking down between bare feet water began to pool, Elizabeth was in labor.

All morning Elizabeth could not rest; she paced, kept hands busy and feet tired. Now gripped with fear that her man could be in danger labor betrayed her body and mind; she never planned to be alone.

Without warning Mary, the neighbor, forced the cabin door open while gasping for air to shout, “The mine collapsed!” Wide-eyed Mary summed the fact there was perilous trouble facing the young pregnant woman. Without moving or speaking and with an ashen face, Elizabeth stared at Mary. Blood mixed with water and dirt below Elizabeth’s near standing body. Out the door, Mary ran to the road among the chaos to gather help for this desperate need. A woman with worn hands, weathered face, and soft voice coaxed Elizabeth to her bed in the one–room cabin. Mary ran to the outside water pump while a third woman started a fire in the hearth. Water boiled and all three women were busy at work for the baby and mother to survive. These three women prayed hard, Elizabeth pushed hard and gently the weathered woman quietly talked Elizabeth through the worst day of her life.

A baby boy announced his arrival as the four women cried and prayed that their men would be all right and thanked God this small baby survived. Elizabeth exhausted, relieved, and worried tucked a handmade quilt around the wee one. Swiftly the door flung open, Elizabeth’s man rushed to her side, he brought news of twenty deaths. In this house, only the husband of the woman whom delivered the child was killed. The newly widowed woman’s composure drained, openly showing her only powerful emotion all day, she wailed as she knelt down, covering a grieving face with worn hands. How was she to survive this harsh life with none of her children old enough to work the mine? The baby’s cry reminded her of nine mouths she would have to feed on her own. Elizabeth's young family of three clung to each other.