Deep River Burning Read Free Page B

about the unfulfilled dreams her mother had locked away in the closed hope chest in her heart, but she didn’t want to have regrets like her mother. She didn’t want to wonder about what could have been.
    Downstairs, her mother had finished putting dinner on the table while her father was talking to the mayor, who occasionally joined their family for dinner. This particular night, her mom and dad and the mayor were having an intense discussion that she initially ignored, but their conversation became heated enough that it distracted her attention away from her thoughts of the future. Denver sat down to dinner, gave a halfhearted smile to her mother, and listened intently to the conversation. It didn’t take long for her to realize what was happening.
    “As of this time, we don’t know how it started or how we are going to put it out,” said Mayor Joseph Laredo.
    “I suppose we ought to call a town meeting as soon as possible,” Denver’s father replied.
    “That’s a good idea. You are the head of town council, Ted. People respect you and will listen to you.”
    “I appreciate that, Joe, but it won’t be easy to explain that an underground mine fire has been burning at one end of town for who knows how long. There are many mine tunnels under Adena, and if the fire spreads, the town could expect serious problems. Water supplies could become toxic, mine subsidence is a probability, and plant life and crops would die from the roots up. The tree in Hewitt’s back yard is already dead and taking on a sickly white shade, like a birch tree, but gray. The fire is consuming the coal vein under their house and compromising the Hewitt family’s health and safety. And to think the Hewitts have lived in that house for over twenty years.”
    The conversation at dinner continued to shed light on the history of mining in Adena. Denver excused herself from the table and went outside through the backdoor. She kicked off her shoes and mindfully placed each foot onto the grass one at a time. She had never thought about it before, what lies beneath. She paid too much attention to the surface of things. She spent too much time worried about her own future when the future of Adena seemed to be poised at the edge of a burning cliff.
    A few days later, a man and a woman from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection arrived to examine the area looking for clues as to how the fire had started, how long it had been burning, and where it was heading. A map of the mines indicated that the underground mine structure was quite vast allowing for the possibility of significant damage to Adena if the fire could not be stopped. The DEP investigators combed the area near the Hewitt home for answers. Following a section of trees that appeared to be dying to the north of the original smoke hole, they came to a clearing in the trees where a pit bearing the remains of a bonfire or burned garbage was located. There were several logs placed in a circle around the pit and the ground was littered with cigarette butts and a few smashed beer cans sticking out beneath the dirt and leaves. The pit didn’t appear deep enough to be responsible for starting the mine fire. Just to make certain, the investigators ordered the pit to be emptied of its charred remains. The pit was deeper than was originally suspected, and once the remaining ash was dusted from the strangely stinking hole down to the earth’s surface, the thoughts that first ignited in the minds of the investigators began to take shape.
    “A coal vein is very close to the surface on the one side of the pit. If the fire itself didn’t start it burning, then the heat alone would have done it,” the woman from the DEP explained to Ted and Mayor Laredo. Ted’s worst fears were confirmed and the bonfire was the likely cause.
    News of the mine fire made its way through Adena, but there wasn’t much fear to be found. Signs of the fire were barely visible and the Hewitts were chided for