Waking up is always the hardest part. But if you get into enough of a schedule, the body will get you up and out of bed before your mind even needs to wake up. Putting on your coveralls, your boots, even eating your breakfast can be done almost instinctually.

  I usually wake up when I step out the door. The sky was grey, the sun not over the hills, but it was still casting the first couple of beams to talk with the ground and make an early morning conversation. I began to walk up the road, making sure not to step onto the grass that had been imported in. Grass is apparently too fine for people of my standing. Or so I've been told.

  Well, I've had my talk with the supervisor this week. And I didn't want to have another.

  As I walked up the street towards the sun, for the hundredth time, I thought about the absolute talent it takes to make something look the exact same, the exact same in shape and make. The tenements they provided truly were a marvel. It was the magic of industrialization I suppose.

  My partner, Giggs, made his way out of his tenement further down the street. Walking over, we began to walk together, more men joined us as we continued down towards the morning light. Almost the entire town was up and ready, some large number of men, nearly a hundred I think.

  I kept looking around.

  More things to marvel at. The second marvel was of the surrounding desert. The contrast between the town and the desert was stark, almost a line in the way it transitioned from the kept looking grass squares to the scattered gravel and sagebrush of the surrounding land. Mr. Heinrichsen, the president of the branch in Oldale, hated it. If he could have his way, he would conform the mountain to company regulation.

  I scoffed at the idea. Pretty, sloping grass lawns, and then running alongside them would be a road, meandering its way up to a summit far, far away. It wasn't right, taming something that beautiful. Looking off into the far mountains I shook my head.

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  Ridiculous.

  We walked along the small service road, making our way from the foreground of the town to the mine proper. We were pretty quiet, as usual. I suppose the sanctity of the morning wasn't to be broken. Myself personally, I usually wake up right quick. But for the majority of people, they have this fog of sleep they keep tucked around them 'till mid-morning, a mental blanket to keep their mind asleep. And it was my experience that it was best not to take that blanket off.

  It was a day of usualness and from either side of the coin, I wasn't sure how to feel about that. Work makes good things for me and my family, but work… Well. We don't talk about things that can make important people unhappy, now do we?

  We stopped by the small shack where another company employee, Russel, handed over their gear for the day. The mine was fairly new, so a lot of the basic machinery and infrastructure was yet to be installed. Some rails and carts and their basic gear, nothing especially expensive, nothing at least the company wouldn't be willing to lose.

  We walked in. Coal mining was never going to be easy, but it was mine to do. As we went down, I said a prayer asking for a safe day, a good day, a day that I could return to my family in good health. I finished, and we went to work.

  Working through the day, nothing seemed like it was going to happen, we were off in one of the smaller branches of the tunnels where they weren't able to structurally enlarge it for fear of stability, but still wanted the material out of it.

  I still got my excitement though. I saw them first, two younger men rushing up from deeper in. One was holding his hand, which was dripping blood. The other was just urging him to go faster. Then they were past, towards the town to get some help. I sighed, this didn't exactly happen often, but even once a year was too much.

  The boy would probably be out of work within the day, and depending on his situation, be in real trouble within a week, and dead within a couple of months. I went back to my work. Safety was the priority, after all I needed to come back here again tomorrow.

  The day was ending, my time in this place was done. As we walked out I looked back. It wasn’t out of any regret I was leaving. It was always contemplative. I had posted a sign by the mine. It was a bit funny, the sign posted by the mine, and at the same time uncomfortably true as I had been told by Giggs when I wrote it.

  Each day as we rise lord

  We know all too well,

  We face only one thing

  A pit filled with hell.

  To scratch out a living

  The best that we can.

  But deep in the heart

  Lies the soul of a man

  With black covered faces,

  And hard calloused hands,

  We work the dark tunnels

  Unable to stand

  To labor and toil as

  We harvest the coals

  We silently pray "Lord

  Please harvest our souls"