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.file:///D|/1011250031__13.htm (14 of 27)21-Dec-07 20:25:53 - Chapter 13"Now, this is our only entrance to Number Eighteen.After the Ring of Fire, there was no electricity forthe pumps.When we discovered that this entrance was inside the Ring of Fire, the shaft was alreadyflooded.Yesterday, we fixed the electricity."The lake is rising, and it will flood this area by winter.We want to take everything we can get beforethat happens.Our job today, if we can do it, is to start pulling out one water pump.The other pump willkeep us dry while we work.""Did they drown down there when it flooded?" Karl asked."No," Ron said."The part of that mine under us here was all mined out and the Ring of Fire was on aSunday.There shouldn't be any bodies down there, and ghosts are unlikely.This shaft is here becauseit's a low spot in the mine, the water runs here so the pumps are here."There were two pumps.At first, Yossie thought the pumps were the man sized machines standing at thebase of the hoist.As they set to work, he learned that they were just the electric motors that worked thepumps.They were nothing but large versions of the washing machine motor Yossie had already workedwith.Each sat atop a vertical pipe larger than his thigh that ran down the shaft.Gayle and Jimmy removed the wires connected to one motor.While they did that, the others rigged achain hoist to the tower over the mine shaft and took the sides off of the hoist cage.By noon, they'dundone the bolts holding the motor to its foundation and loaded the motor and its cast-iron mount in theback of the pick-up truck.Yossie and the others ate their noon meal while they waited for the truck to return.The four men fromthe forge sat together on a grassy bank looking out at the lake that was slowly rising in the valley."What I don't understand is, how do the motors pull the pump rod up and down," Thomas said, afterwashing down a mouthful."It's not push-pull rod," Fritz said."It goes round and round.""How d'ye know that?" Karl asked, between bites."The motor goes round like the washing machine motor, only bigger.""Then why is the shaft right down the middle of the pump pipe?" Thomas asked.Yossie listened with interest to their speculation.Fritz had arrived at the forge with the reputation ofbeing able to fix anything, and Yossie could see how he'd earned it.He seemed to grasp how thingsworked more quickly than most people, and when he guessed, he was usually right.By the time Yossie walked away to say the grace after meals, the conversation had turned to the stabilityof the cliffs that loomed above them.The fact that some huge blocks of stone had fallen was clear proofthat other blocks could follow.When Yossie returned, he found Thomas, Karl and Fritz looking his way."What were y'doin up inth'woods?" Karl asked."Ya always go way after we eat.At the forge, an now here."Yossie hesitated for a moment, and then decided that he had little to lose by telling the truth."I wasbentsching, praying.""You're a Jew, not a priest," Karl said."Whatcha praying for?"All three of them knew he was a Jew.He'd found that out shortly after his trip north with Thomas.Karland Fritz had guessed the truth shortly after they came to the forge, but had said nothing until Thomasmentioned it.When he finally answered, he spoke very carefully."Jews pray a short prayer before each meal and afile:///D|/1011250031__13.htm (15 of 27)21-Dec-07 20:25:53 - Chapter 13long prayer after.""Then how come ya go away for the one and not the other?""The short prayer I can just say.The long one, I have to read from a book.""I don't see no book," Karl said.Yossie hesitantly pulled his bentscher from his pocket.The slim little volume was worn from years ofdaily use.Yakov had given him the book as a bar mitzvah gift when he turned thirteen.Karl took the book and opened it, upside down, and squinted at it."I can't read this," he said handing itto Fritz."You don't know how to read," Fritz said, taking the book."These are Jewish letters."Thomas was looking over his shoulder."They're not any letters I've seen." He looked up at Yossie with apuzzled expression."Like Fritz said, it's written in Jewish letters," Yossie said."Can I have my book back?""Give Joseph his book," Ron Koch said, taking all of them by surprise."Joseph, are you Jewish?""Yes," he said."Are they giving you trouble because of it?""Not really," he said."Good," Ron said."Let's get to work then.We just turned on the other pump.We'll follow the waterdown, taking out sections of pipe while the falling water pulls fresh air into the hole."The hoist cage was tiny, hardly large enough for two men.Yossie and his companions eyed itsuspiciously."You're little.We'll go down first," Ron said.It took Yossie a moment to realize that Ron was speakingto him.After they got into the hoist, Ron rapped twice on the frame with a wrench.Immediately, the cage beganto drop into the shaft.Almost at once, Ron rapped again, and they stopped.Two black iron pipes ran down the side of the shaft.The pipe below the motor that was still workinghummed quietly, the other was silent.The hoist held them level with a joint in the pipes, and after they'dunbolted the joint, they chained the pipe to the side of the hoist."You signal to go up," Ron said."Rap on the hoist frame up high where the cable is attached.One rapmeans stop.Two raps mean down, three mean up.Use your wrench."They lifted the pipe section the short distance to the surface, and as soon as the crew on the surface hadthe pipe chained to their small hoist, Yossie and Ron went down to get another pipe segment.While they worked, Yossie considered Ron's reaction to the discovery that he was Jewish.It appearedthat the only thing that concerned him was that it might be disruptive.When Bernadette Adducci had told her parents that their tenants were Jewish, their reaction had beenmore complex.Part of the problem was undoubtedly one of communication, but there was also no doubtthat Paulette and her husband Randolph were of different opinions.Randolph had grumbled, and several times, Yossie had heard him arguing with his wife about "damnedJews." He'd returned to the unpleasant attitude that he'd shown during the first week of their stay withthe Adduccis, only then, the complaint had been "damned foreigners." Sometimes, though, it wasobvious that Randolph's real complaint was about the chronic pain in his feet, not the people around him.file:///D|/1011250031__13
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