footing. Leigha has a weird look on her face as she watches him across the crowd. Panic? Fear that her ex might hurt himself? Why does she still care? C’mon, Leigha, there are other dudes, other options.
I lose her in the milling crowd.
A sick grin cracks the fake grime on M.C.’s face as he turns off the light on his helmet and introduces the finale. “Now it is the
(something something something)
to please shut your lanterns off on the count of three. I’ll keep the light
(something something)
—-just one minute will feel like an eternity. Imagine what it was like for these men every day of their lives (
blah blah blah)
. Your eyes play tricks with you down here.” I shut my light off early in case I can’t pick up his count. I don’t want to be the only one standing stupidly with mine on. A. J. Fischels does the same. … Hmm. Devon fiddles with his camera, then signals to me that he is going to climb one of the boulders jutting out of the side so he can get a good angle for his photo
of total darkness
. The rest of the class spreads with their buddies to the corners of the large, spooky room, milling around in excited anticipation.
“It will be the darkest thing you have ever seen or ever will see,” Miner Carl declares.
Poof. There is a flash from Devon’s camera and then total blackness. A chunk of time gone, like coal ripped from the earth.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The lack of light immediately lowers the temperature. When the lights come back on, I am shivering under my sweater and gloves but feeling charged up. Even though the trip has not been good for me, the experience of standing in the dark was actually exciting. I am realizing that light itself is a gift, that I am lucky to live where I live, when I do. What hell those miners lived through. Everything looks different after seeing nothing at all. I think I can see this realization in the gaze of some of my classmates—even Travis Bickerstokes seems subdued, looking around in squinty brightness, whispering about the lack-of-light show.
Miner Carl lets us soak it in for a few moments, then leads us back to the top of the path, where a strategically placed gift shop beckons. Most of the souvenirs are tacky pieces of crap like I SAW THE DARK T-shirts and pieces of coal labeled FUTURE DIAMOND . Since they already gave us those magnificent lumps at the beginning of the trip, why would anyone spend money on something like that?
Devon buys two.
After we pay for our stuff, Arterberry and Prefontaine gather us up for the bus. We say a deeply heartfelt “Thank you, Miner Carl,” and start to line up in the parking lot. The mood seems calm, maybe quieted by the cool and the dark. The weather is cooperating too. The sun ducks behind long bars of cloud, effectively letterboxing the sky. A bipolar breeze alternately whips us with frozen northern air and then suddenly turns as soft and warm as a kitten.
“Does everyone have their buddy
(something something something)?”
Miss Prefontaine is asking. Yes, Devon Smiley is standing so close that he’s basically in my hip pocket. He is smiling and wearing his I SAW THE DARK mesh trucker hat. But it seems that two half sets of buddies are missing. Purple Phimmul indicates that Leigha Pennington is AWOL, and Derrick Jonker issues a similar report about Pat Chambers.
Devon nudges me with a suggestive elbow and wiggles his eyebrows beneath his dumb hat. I pick up on whispers, giggles, oohs and aahs. Planders blurts out, “No sex on game day!” Yeah, Planders, they are totally off doing it in the bottom of the mine. I had been hoping that the school’s most famous on-again, off-again romance would remain off forever. Did Pat reseduce Leigha in the thrilling darkness? Jimmy Porkrinds—who knows why?—is grinning like a happy pumpkin. Even Chuck Escapone nods his hairy head as if in silent agreement with the crowd. This is
news
.
Prefontaine crosses her arms sharply and hangs her head like a toddler in time-out.
I lose her in the milling crowd.
A sick grin cracks the fake grime on M.C.’s face as he turns off the light on his helmet and introduces the finale. “Now it is the
(something something something)
to please shut your lanterns off on the count of three. I’ll keep the light
(something something)
—-just one minute will feel like an eternity. Imagine what it was like for these men every day of their lives (
blah blah blah)
. Your eyes play tricks with you down here.” I shut my light off early in case I can’t pick up his count. I don’t want to be the only one standing stupidly with mine on. A. J. Fischels does the same. … Hmm. Devon fiddles with his camera, then signals to me that he is going to climb one of the boulders jutting out of the side so he can get a good angle for his photo
of total darkness
. The rest of the class spreads with their buddies to the corners of the large, spooky room, milling around in excited anticipation.
“It will be the darkest thing you have ever seen or ever will see,” Miner Carl declares.
Poof. There is a flash from Devon’s camera and then total blackness. A chunk of time gone, like coal ripped from the earth.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The lack of light immediately lowers the temperature. When the lights come back on, I am shivering under my sweater and gloves but feeling charged up. Even though the trip has not been good for me, the experience of standing in the dark was actually exciting. I am realizing that light itself is a gift, that I am lucky to live where I live, when I do. What hell those miners lived through. Everything looks different after seeing nothing at all. I think I can see this realization in the gaze of some of my classmates—even Travis Bickerstokes seems subdued, looking around in squinty brightness, whispering about the lack-of-light show.
Miner Carl lets us soak it in for a few moments, then leads us back to the top of the path, where a strategically placed gift shop beckons. Most of the souvenirs are tacky pieces of crap like I SAW THE DARK T-shirts and pieces of coal labeled FUTURE DIAMOND . Since they already gave us those magnificent lumps at the beginning of the trip, why would anyone spend money on something like that?
Devon buys two.
After we pay for our stuff, Arterberry and Prefontaine gather us up for the bus. We say a deeply heartfelt “Thank you, Miner Carl,” and start to line up in the parking lot. The mood seems calm, maybe quieted by the cool and the dark. The weather is cooperating too. The sun ducks behind long bars of cloud, effectively letterboxing the sky. A bipolar breeze alternately whips us with frozen northern air and then suddenly turns as soft and warm as a kitten.
“Does everyone have their buddy
(something something something)?”
Miss Prefontaine is asking. Yes, Devon Smiley is standing so close that he’s basically in my hip pocket. He is smiling and wearing his I SAW THE DARK mesh trucker hat. But it seems that two half sets of buddies are missing. Purple Phimmul indicates that Leigha Pennington is AWOL, and Derrick Jonker issues a similar report about Pat Chambers.
Devon nudges me with a suggestive elbow and wiggles his eyebrows beneath his dumb hat. I pick up on whispers, giggles, oohs and aahs. Planders blurts out, “No sex on game day!” Yeah, Planders, they are totally off doing it in the bottom of the mine. I had been hoping that the school’s most famous on-again, off-again romance would remain off forever. Did Pat reseduce Leigha in the thrilling darkness? Jimmy Porkrinds—who knows why?—is grinning like a happy pumpkin. Even Chuck Escapone nods his hairy head as if in silent agreement with the crowd. This is
news
.
Prefontaine crosses her arms sharply and hangs her head like a toddler in time-out.
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