Lights Out

My father was a miner, and all of my brothers were pitmen, working deep underground to dig for coal. They always came out with panda eyes. The whites of their eyes were permanently stained black. I was the last to get in the tin bath and always came out dirtier than when I got in!

I was not as accustomed to darkness. I remember a time when I was stark in a dark tunnel in the car. It was black, dark and deep. I couldn’t get out until a rescue vehicle came along. I felt so scared that I was shaking.