“Did you see the child?” “You saw them go up the slope, didn’t you?” The slope. That’s all I heard ‘tween all that screamin’. My feet took off for the slope on their own, wrenchin’ my body away from the nails o’ the women. When I came to, I was at the entry to the mines. Or what it used to be. The hole in the earth the men used to climb down by rope every day wasn’t there no more. All that was there was a mound o’ dirt, and women clawin’ through it, screamin their husband’s name. I sank to the ground and started sobbin’ again. I don’t know how long I stayed there with ‘em, screamin’ at the ground, before some women came and dragged us down the slope, back into the village.
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