Wish You Well(77)

better lawyer than I ever was a ballplayer. Two mitts, for you and Lou. And me too, if

you'll put up with my feeble athletic skills from time to time."

Oz said he would be proud to, and he hugged the gloves tight to his chest. Then they ate

heartily of the pie and drank down the cider. Afterward Oz put on his suit, which fit very

nicely; he looked almost like a tiny lawyer. Louisa had wisely tucked extra material

under the hems to allow for the boy's growth, which seemed now to occur daily. So

dressed, Oz took his baseball gloves and his whistle and went to show his mother. A little

while later Lou heard strange sounds coming from Amanda's bedroom. When she went to

check, she saw Oz standing on a stool, a sheet around his shoulders, a baseball glove on

his head like a crown, and brandishing a long stick.

"And the great Oz the brave, and not cowardly lion anymore, killed all the dragons and

saved all the moms and they all lived happily ever after in Virginia." He took off his

crown of oiled leather and gave a series of sweeping bows. "Thank you, my loyal

subjects, no trouble a'-tall."

Oz sat next to his mother, lifted a book off the night-stand, and opened it to a place

marked by a slip of paper. "Okay, Mom," said Oz, "this is the scary part, but just so you

know, the witch doesn't eat the children." He inched close to her, draped one of her arms

around his waist, and with big eyes started to read the scary part.

Lou went back to me kitchen, sat at the table in her Chop bag dress, which also well

suited her, and read the brilliant words of Whitman by the glow of reliable kerosene. It

became so late that Cotton stayed, and slept curled up in front of the coal fire. And

another fine day had passed on the mountain.



CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

WITHOUT EITHER LOUISA OR EUGENE KNOWING, Lou took a lantern and a match and she

and Oz rode Sue down to the mine. Lou jumped down, but Oz sat on me horse and stared

at the mouth of that cave as though it were the direct portal to hell. "I'm not going in

there," he declared

"Then wait out here," said his sister.

"Why do you want to go in there? After what happened to Diamond? The mountain

might fall in on you. And I bet it'd hurt bad."

"I want to know what the men Diamond saw were up to."

Lou lit the lantern and went in. Oz waited near the entrance, pacing nervously, and then

he ran in, quickly catching up to his sister.

"I thought you weren't coming," Lou said.

"I thought you might get scared," Oz answered, even as he clutched at her shirt.

They moved along, shivering from the cool air and their tender nerves. Lou looked

around and saw what appeared to be new support beams along the walls and ceiling of

the shaft. On the walls she also saw various markings in what looked to be white paint. A

loud hissing sound reached out to them from up ahead.

"A snake?" asked Oz.

"If it is, it's about the size of the Empire State Building. Come on." They hurried ahead

and the hissing sound grew louder with each step. They turned one corner, and the sound

became even louder, like steam escaping. They cleared one more turn, ran forward, edged

around a final bend in the rock, and stopped. The men wore hard hats and carried batterypowered lights, and their faces were covered with masks. In the floor of the mine was a

hole, with a large metal pipe inserted in it. A machine that looked like a pump was

attached by hoses to the pipe and was making the hissing sound they had heard. The

masked men were standing around the hole, but didn't see the children. Lou and Oz

backed up slowly and then turned and ran. Right into Judd Wheeler. Then they dodged

around him and kept right on running.

A minute later Lou and Oz burst out of the mine. Lou stopped next to Sue and scrambled

on, but Oz, apparently unwilling to trust his survival to something as slow as a horse,

flew by sister and mare like a rocket. Lou punched Sue in the ribs with her shoes and

took off after her brother. She didn't gain any ground on the boy, however, as Oz was

suddenly faster than a car.

Cotton, Louisa, Lou, and Oz were having a powwow around the kitchen table.

"You crazy to go in that mine," said Louisa angrily.

"Then we wouldn't have seen those men," replied Lou.

Louisa struggled with this and then said, "G'on now. Me and Cotton need to talk."

After Lou and Oz left, she looked at Cotton.

"So what you think?" she asked.

"From how Lou described it, I think they were looking for natural gas instead of oil. And

found it."

"What should we do?"

"They're on your property without your permission, and they know that we know. I think

they'll come to you."

"I ain't selling my land, Cotton."