May Day Mine

Copyright

Published by

HARMONY INK PRESS

5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886  USA

publisher@harmonyinkpress.com • http://harmonyinkpress.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

May Day Mine

© 2015 Verity Croker.

Cover Art

© 2015 Bree Archer.

http://www.breearcher.com

Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Harmony Ink Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or publisher@harmonyinkpress.com.

ISBN: 978-1-63216-717-0

Library Edition ISBN: 978-1-63216-718-7

Digital ISBN: 978-1-63216-719-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014951645

First Edition January 2015

Library Edition April 2015

Printed in the United States of America

This paper meets the requirements of

ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

To all those who helped me and believed in me—you know who you are!

PART ONE

MAY DAY

I AM marching in the May Day Parade with Guy by my side, holding up a placard together. Guy’s not handsome like Finbar, but then again look how burned I got with Fin. Maybe handsome just isn’t enough. But Guy is friendly and funny and has the kindest eyes. He’s a little bit chubby too, despite all his hard work on the boat, but it doesn’t seem to bother him. It doesn’t bother me either. He looks across at me and smiles. On my other side is Dana, Guy’s sister, and I’m holding her hand. She is the most awesome-looking girl I’ve ever met. Her long brown hair shines, swinging in the sun, and her dark eyes sparkle when she looks at me. Her multiple earrings make a slight tinkling sound that I can hear even through the noise of the crowd.

There are lots of familiar faces in the crowd, but some new ones as well. There are gaps in the parade too, as many miners and their families have left the town searching for a new life. I don’t blame them—after what happened, it is totally understandable.

As I walk along, placard held high, the sun is warm on my face, and my thoughts start to drift back over the last year. So much has happened since May Day one year ago….

TUESDAY, MAY 1

MUM PUFFED up some pillows behind her head and settled back to relax with her magazine. Her long dark hair fanned out and tickled my nose, so I shifted a bit farther away. She usually keeps her hair up or tied in a ponytail during the day, but at night lets it all fall freely down her back. It is quite long—for a mother’s hair, anyway. It falls nearly to her waist, like a long black rippling sheet. Most of my friends’ mothers have quite short hair, and I like the way Mum looks a bit different to the others. Dad reckoned Mum’s hair was the first thing he noticed about her. I wondered what the first thing was that boys noticed about me. Probably nothing. They were usually too busy looking at my then best friend, Amy.

I was lying next to Mum, on Dad’s pillow, though I didn’t really like the way it smelled of old sweat. I was trying not to think about it. Mum’s hair smelled like sweet apples, which sort of counteracted Dad’s pillow. Just.

A rumbling boom echoed in the still night. The house shook. Bits of plaster fluttered down from the ceiling. Mum’s perfume bottles rattled on the dressing table, and a tube of hand cream toppled from her bedside table and landed on the floor. Jake ran in from his bedroom, rubbing his eyes.

What was that, Mum?

I don’t know, Jake. They promised they wouldn’t do any blasting on May Day.

Dad had leapt out of the shower and raced in, blue-and-white striped towel wrapped around his waist. I noticed he was just starting to get a slight bulge of fat around his middle, but then again he was getting older. Water was glistening all over his body, and his hair was soaking wet. He was dripping water onto the carpet, but Mum didn’t seem to be aware of that.

What the hell? No firing on May Day, Anzac Day, Good Friday or… or Christmas. That’s what they agreed to, said Dad, agitated.

Dad had always been active in the union and knew everything that was supposed to happen at the mine—and not supposed to happen.

Must be an earthquake or something, then, said Mum.

Didn’t seem like one. I’m going up to the mine. See what’s going on.

Don’t go. Dry yourself off and come to bed. Jodi will hop out, won’t you, Jode? We’ve all had a long day. If it’s anything important, we’ll find out tomorrow.

No, I’m going up. I’ve just got a gut feeling things aren’t good. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Don’t wait up for me….

Mum smiled. I’m already in bed. How could I wait up for you?

Dad ignored her, quickly pulling on some old jeans and a sweater. He jammed his feet into a pair of UGG boots. Dad has two pairs of UGG boots: good inside ones that are supposed to stay new-looking, and ones for outside that can get dirty. He was in such a hurry that night he’d pulled on his good ones, but I didn’t think he looked in the mood to be told that. So I kept my mouth firmly shut.

Dad rushed over and planted a quick kiss on Mum’s lips. They always did that. Sometimes it was a bit embarrassing, but it did make me feel that they still loved each other deep down, even though they fought a lot. Looked like they did, anyhow. I hoped they did. I couldn’t have borne it if they split up like Amy’s mother and father had. Amy had had a terrible time and was only just getting used to it then, two years after the event.

Mum and I stayed curled up in her and Dad’s bed for a while longer. We were flicking through some of her latest magazines. Mum and her workmates at Shazeen’s Nailz and Hair took turns buying their favorite women’s magazines. When they finished reading them, they took them in to work to share with each other and their customers. It saved them all a lot of money, and the customers liked it too. Better to read up-to-date magazines than the faded, torn old ones down at Dr. Moriarty’s. I mean, who really cared what Britney Spears or Katie Holmes did three years ago, even if you were trying to fill in the long wait until you got to see the doctor? He wasn’t even that popular—it was just that he was the only doctor in town.

It had been a long day, with an early start that morning for the May Day parade in the main street. Mum and Dad thought it was great the way the kids in our town got enthused about the parade every year. Although it probably had a lot to do with the skate park being the meeting place for the march. The skate park was always a popular meeting spot any day of the week. Not that I could skate that well, but it was fun watching the others, and once we had hooked up with who we were going to meet, off we went to where we really intended going. Meanwhile, our parents thought we were safely at the skate park. They would never come looking there to check up on us.

I loved walking along the street, holding a placard, and calling out, We’re workers, united, we’ll never be defeated! I was stoked that day too, because Amy and I got to walk just behind Finbar, and I could check him out closely from the back without being too obvious. His bum looked really cute in those faded jeans, and his shoulders were flexing under his white T-shirt as he carried his placard high. The sun was shining on the golden hairs on his arms. Luckily it was a warm, sunny day or he would have been covered up in that big, old black coat he loves to wear. I could clearly hear his deep voice too, calling out the workers’ mantra. I don’t think he even knew we were there.

It was fair enough that I went in the marches. Though I was still at school, I had a part-time job at the news agency on Saturday mornings, and sometimes I worked all week in the vacations. I loved stacking all the greeting cards in their special slots according to their category. The boss kept telling me to stop wasting time reading the messages inside the cards, but that was the best part. The cards might have looked good on the outside, but it was the message inside that really counted. Some of them were just so schmaltzy, they made me cringe with embarrassment. Maybe I could get a job one day writing messages for cards. I was sure I could do better than most of the ones I read.

I MUST have started drifting off to sleep, as I suddenly became aware of Mum digging me in the ribs. The magazine had slipped out of my hand and onto the floor.

Pick it up, Jodi, and off to bed with you.

"Mum, you keep forgetting I’m fifteen! In fact, it’s only six months ’til I’m sixteen! It’s too early for me to go to bed."

I leaned over the side of the bed, stretching to reach the fallen magazine. I retrieved it and started flicking through it again. Mum hadn’t sounded too convincing, so I stayed in bed with her awhile longer. Maybe she felt like some company with Dad still out. Finally, after a few loud, obvious yawns, she said, Off with you now. You’ve got to go to school, and I’ve got work tomorrow. Vacation’s over.

ACTUALLY, WE’D had a great vacation, better than most. I only had to work a few days at the news agency, but that gave me a bit of extra spending money, which I was more than happy about. Mum had had a few days off too and took Jake and me into town, shopping. I had bought a new gray skirt. It was really cool. It was a bit long, but Mum said she’d help me take it up. We went to the movies, had lunch in an outdoor café, and wandered up and down the mall. We even had a milkshake down by the marina, which is quite an expensive place. Mum said we could lash out because we were on vacation.

Jake, surprisingly, didn’t act up all day, barely whinging while Mum and I tried on heaps of clothes. I knew the only reason he behaved himself was because Mum had promised him he could spend some time in the computer shop after lunch—and he would never jeopardize that rare opportunity. Not that I minded the computer shop myself. I really wanted a tablet, but that sort of money was out of my reach. I showed Mum a few I liked, hoping she would keep my hints in mind when it came time for my sixteenth birthday. I knew it was still a fair while away, but I didn’t think it hurt to drop in a few helpful birthday present clues well in advance so Mum could think about it and discuss it with Dad. I really wanted a tablet so I could be more independent and not only have computer access at home or school.

Mum smiled and said, We’ll think about it, Jodi. Your birthday is a way off yet, and you might want something different by then.

I couldn’t really see that happening. A tablet was what I really wanted.

Mum was a different person on her days off—she became quite relaxed. She got a bit tense having to go to work all the time. Shazeen’s Nailz and Hair was in a plain single-story cream-brick building, which hardly looked the place to go to look glamorous. But they sure did turn out glamorous clients. I’ve seen women going in looking like something else, and coming out looking like someone else.

Shazeen’s did piercing, waxing, tinting, manicures, and pedicures, and even had a solarium. Not that solariums were so popular anymore because of skin cancer. They were actually talking about removing the solarium altogether, as it was just taking up too much space. It would give them more room for a massage table or something like that. Mum said she would like to be trained in how to give massages properly. Dad thought that would be great, because then she could do free massages on him, especially while she was training. Mum wished Dad would give her massages. Dad rubbed her shoulders every now and then but said his hands hurt if he did it for too long. He