As you walked along the pathway to the mine there were shacks scattered about, just yards in front of the fence that led into the wilderness beyond District 12. The Jackson family lived at the end of the lane, John, Sarah and their three children, Margaret, Jacob and Collin. John was a miner until an explosion took one of his legs from the knee down. The children weren't old enough to work so Sarah took a job working for the Donner's at the Sweet Shop in town, but the meager income wasn't enough to feed a family of 5.
Late one evening in the spring, John took out the small tube of sleep syrup that Lillie Mindler had made for him. He'd traded his Daddy's pocket watch for it. He gave each of the children a small amount, just enough to put each of them to sleep early that night. Enough so they'd forget the raw hunger in their bellies, and so they wouldn't hear or see what was coming. John went out back and stared up at the stars for a few minutes before getting to work. The half-dead Apple Tree out back was still sturdy enough to get the job done. He pulled out the rope from underneath the back steps and double checked the noose that he'd tied a few days earlier.
He climbed the tree until he found the branch that he wanted and meticulously began weaving the rope around it, making sure it wouldn't come loose. Once the rope was secure, he worked his way down and sat on another branch and pulled the noose over his head. He had just settled the loose rope around his neck, and taken the sleep syrup out of his pocket, when the branch he was sitting on snapped, sending him face first onto the ground.
When he finally came around, his whole body hurt and he was dizzy. He rolled over and managed to get up onto his hands and knees. The moon was high and full and the yard was eerily lit and seemed to have an oily shine where the branch had slammed into the ground next to him.
John ran his fingers over the surface when he realized two things. There was a seam of Coal right in his back yard and the coal, shale, rock and clay were preventing the Apple tree from blooming.
When Sarah came home that night John showed her what he'd found and they began to make a plan.
The next morning John went to the mine inspector, and traded a few coins for an old cracked shovel. Sarah brought home an empty crate from the sweet shop and they put their plan to work. Every morning for two weeks they woke the children just as the sun began rising and with John's direction, Jacob would dig around the apple tree, scraping a way at the hard clay and rock beneath it. Collin was in charge of spreading the debris out across the yard or scraping it under the foundation of the shack. Sarah and Maggie would take the crate and slide under the fence into the Meadow where they would use their hands to fill the crate with rich soil. Jacob and Collin would then drag the crate back under the fence and fill in the empty holes around the apple tree. The tree seemed to resist the change at first and began to wither even worse, but after one evening of fine spring rain the tree seemed to settle into the new rich soil and began to blossom.
The tree provided a small amount of fruit to eat and trade. Sarah couldn't stop working at the sweet shop, but the tree had given the Jackson family hope. As the end of the growing season came to an end, John broke the cracked shovel head off the handle and began to sharpen the edges of the metal with rocks. When fall began turning the leaves into vibrant red and orange, John took Jacob and Collin out back and showed them the seam of coal in the backyard. He explained to his sons that the coal could be dug up and used or traded.
"Isn't it illegal for anyone but the mine to dig up and sell coal?" Jacob asked.
"Yes, but you won't be 12 and able to sign up for the tressare for another few months and we'll all starve to death by then. Even if we only dig up enough to use for ourselves, it'll mean more food on the table." John explained.
And so the Jackson bootleg mine was started. That first winter the family had enough coal to keep the fire going, but only during the coldest nights. Come growing season the Apple tree began to bloom again and the girls took over the care of the tree while the male's dug away into the black hard ground beneath their feet. Maggie and Jacob still had to take out tressare, but Collin's 12th birthday came and went and John and Sarah didn't sign him up. John slowly started trading small amounts of coal to the citizens of District 12 until one night a sharp knock came on the front door.
The head peace keeper, Benjamin Derck stood there with 2 younger peace keepers Cray and Purina behind him. He nodded at them and stalked into the house and slammed the door shut.
"Something I can help you with?" John asked with a calmness that he didn't feel.
"Two years ago you lost your job and your children were signed up for tressare. Now you seem to be doing just fine and your youngest hasn't signed up for tressare at all." Benjamin barked.
John looked at Lillie "Why don't you take the children for a walk. They love to look at those cakes and cookies in the window of the bakery." Lillie nodded and quickly ushered the children out of the house.
John motioned to Ben to follow him and took him out into the backyard. "Finally got the apple tree to start growing. We've been selling and trading apples for what we need." He explained to Ben.
Ben glowered at the tree and then at John "Yeah, I hear you been trading something else." He flipped an object into the air towards John who had no choice to catch it. A small, rough piece of coal. John felt his body break out into a cold sweat. "Lot of folk around here hoard coal and trade it for food. I got 3 kids to feed, Can't hold that against a man."
Ben stepped forward and poked John in the chest "I find out your stealing or digging and then trading coal illegally I will personally assemble the firing squad." They were standing mere feet away from the hole in the ground that John had covered with old leaves and branches. John could not afford for Ben to come poking around. He lowered his head and nodded "Yes Sir."
As they walked back around the house, Ben barked at Cray "Make sure our friend here knows that we mean business." And he stomped off. Cray stood awkwardly, holding his baton, looking at John. John sighed heavily and walked into the house. He took his wooden cane and pushed a large crate of fresh apples towards Cray. "It's a week's supply of trade. I'd be mighty honored to have a peace keeper such as yourself to have it and pass on the word that John Jackson is a fair, honest man."
Cray took the apples and began to leave. When he got the front door, without turning back, he said quietly "Trade in town, not at houses and sign your youngest up for the tressare." And then he was gone.
The family had no choice but to sign up Collin for the tressare, but only once for each year, Sarah refused to even consider more than that. The apple tree kept blossoming and the little bootleg mine slowly got deeper. 4 years later, Maggie reached 20 and had taken over Sarah's job at the Sweet Shop. John had built up a small clientele of merchants who would buy the coal and often bribed the coal mine supervisors for better tools. The boys were thin but strong from digging and breaking coal. In the fall Jacob would be old enough to go work in the mines. The family had managed to stay together and somehow, stay alive.