Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own it.
Vacation for Rent
V.
It wasn't much of a sight, the two buildings in front of me. One was a small office and the other was a larger metal structure. Charlie had left the three of us outside on the front bench while he went into the office. There wasn't much around, so I was still trying to figure out where we were.
"Okay… so what is this place?" I tried.
"You still haven't figured it out?" Alice asked.
"It's not like I have much to guess from," I informed her, motioning toward the two structures. Two other families strolled up at that time, heading for the office.
"Should we tell her, or should we let Charlie surprise her?" Alice asked, leaning forward to speak to Edward, who was on my other side. He didn't have to answer. Charlie made his way through the office door, finding his way toward our bench with four blue admission tickets in hand. He handed one to each of us, and I studied it.
"Underground copper mines?" I asked in disbelief. What was so exciting about copper mines?
"Yep," Charlie announced triumphantly.
"I hope you're not claustrophobic," Edward whispered to me with a grin. I stared back at him with wide eyes.
"Let's get a move on!" Charlie exclaimed as he walked toward the metal building, leaving us behind. Alice leapt up and chased after him, and Edward pulled my reluctant body off the bench.
Charlie went through the doorway, followed by Alice. I caught the door as it began to close, and the wind was knocked out of me. It was much heavier than it looked. I struggled against it, but Edward relieved my efforts when he opened it for me, making it seem as if it were made of paper. Inside, many visitors were seated among the many rows of benches. We took a seat at an empty bench at the back of the room, furthest from the large film screen that made up most of the front wall.
"Hello, there! My name is Joel, and I'll be your tour guide this afternoon," announced a voice at the front of the room. It came from an older man with a bushy gray beard and dirty overalls. He had a hardhat, a tool belt, and enormous hands.
"First thing's first. I would like for all of you to watch the safety video, and then we'll get ready to go down into the mines!" When he finished the introduction, the lights dimmed, and the screen came to life. Basically, it just told us what we were going to be doing. Take a hardhat, ride the shaft that takes you underground, then board the mine train. It seemed like a simple assessment. Just before the safety film ended, there was a quick reminder about not feeding the bats. Wait, bats? Great.
"What's the matter?" Edward whispered to me as the lights came back on.
"I'm just not very excited about dealing with your cousins," I teased halfheartedly.
"Alright," Joel began. "Please take a hat from that table," – he pointed to a corner of the room – "and adjust it by twisting the plastic piece in the back. Keep in mind that it needs to be snug. Then please follow me out this door to the shaft."
We all followed instructions, twisting the piece of the adjustable hardhat until it felt like it was going to crush my skull, and we followed him to see what looked like an age-old, rusted elevator that was to descend into the shaft that was in the floor. My eyes found their way down to the other end of the room where another elevator was.
"This group has 25 people, that means we'd like 12 people in one shaft and 13 in the other. Now if we were back in the day when this mine was still operating, all 25 would try to squeeze into one," Joel explained. Our party of four flocked to one of the shafts, and another employee took a head count. I secretly hoped we were the one with twelve. I didn't want to push our luck. Sadly, the woman with the walkie-talkie mouthed thirteen. She pushed a few buttons on a key pad, and the doors creaked open.
"I need you guys to make your way to the very back and squeeze everyone in. Be sure to fill in all the empty spaces," the woman said, her voice ringing with authority. We all did as we were told.
"Oh, no. They're making sardines out of us," a man told his son, who seemed to be about seven or eight. We all squeezed in, everyone touching. I clung to Edward, pressing my body into his, the chill of his skin piercing mine. He wrapped his arms around me.
"This shaft will take you down two miles," the woman explained. "It goes up to fifteen miles an hour, but it won't seem that fast," she finished with a smile. "Have a great time!" And with that, she closed the doors to the shaft. It was dark, very dark. Pitch black. We had no source of light.
"Mommy," I heard a young girl whine. Up until then I was fine, but when I heard the fear in the little girl's voice, a tremor of my own terror found its way through my body. Edward pulled me closer, as if it were possible, and I felt the shaft move beneath my feet.
As we descended, the screech of the moving shaft filled the tiny room, blocking out all other sounds. I had a hard time even hearing myself think. I twisted Edward's shirt in my hands, trying to get a hold of myself. My heart raced as I thought about the descending shaft, worried that the breaks wouldn't kick in and we would all end up dead, a pile of mush two miles below ground… well, everyone dead aside from the two obvious exceptions.
It took me awhile to realize how cold I was. I thought it was just because the world's most beautiful ice sculpture just so happened to be sculpted around me. But then we finally came to an abrupt stop, and I dug my fingers into Edward to keep from falling over into the stranger beside me. His hands steadied me.
The doors opened, and dim light flooded in. I had to look around to make sure we all lived, and it was obvious by the curious looks on all the other faces that I wasn't the only one that had to do so. Slowly, one by one, people began to laugh off their previous fear. Among them I could pick out Alice's giggles, Edward's chuckles, and a hearty laugh that belonged to Charlie.
"Welcome!" Joel shouted, swinging his head around one of the doors to the shaft. I jumped at his loud, exuberant greeting. "Please make your way to the mine cars. Four people in each cart, please," he finished. My legs didn't want to move at first, but Edward nearly pulled me over to the mine train.
As soon as everyone was seated, Edward sitting next to me, Alice across from me, and Charlie across from Edward, the mine train took us deeper into the mine. The cold air bit at my face, and it was then that I realized it wasn't Edward that was making me cold in the shaft. It was so cold here underground that I could see my breath come out in puffs under the faint lighting. I put my head down and closed my eyes, trying to keep my face out of the cold air.
When we rolled to a stop, we were brought down a tunnel and directed up a steep spiral staircase. Edward insisted he follow me, guessing I would get dizzy and lose my balance. Sure enough, he was right, discreetly catching me from behind when it was called for. I made a mental note to never put a spiral staircase in my home.
After the stupid staircase escapade, we finally found a large cavern where lights dimly lit the area here and there. It was obvious to me that we were now in the belly of the mine.
"This, ladies and gentlemen," Joel called over everyone, "is where all of the painstaking labor happened back in the day of this copper mine. Now, as you may have guessed, the workers didn't have the luxury of these strategically placed electric lights. If we were here when it was still in operation, it would look much like this…"
The large cavern was submerged into darkness. Reflexively, my arms found Edward's waist. Some children could be heard making worried whimpers, and glancing around in the total darkness, seeing completely nothing but black, I couldn't blame them.
Joel's voice broke the anxiety. "Watch out for the vampires," he joked. The adults laughed, but Edward's and Alice's laughs were dark. Then the lights came back on. "See? Vampire," Joel said as he pointed toward a lone bat in one of the high corners. I looked up at Edward who just shook his head in amusement. Alice seemed insulted.
The rest of the tour was cold. There was no other way to describe it. I counted down the moments to when we could return to the surface and I could thaw out.
When we had finally returned to our campsite to retire for the night, Charlie wolfed down a lunchable and climbed up into his bed. "I'm bushed," he said, making himself comfortable under the covers. "Driving takes a lot out you. You guys should get to sleep, too. Eat something and get some rest. See you guys in the morning."
"'Night," I called to him. Edward took a lunchable out of the refrigerator and handed it to me, while Alice pulled out my bed. She yanked my pillows out of the cabinet and threw them on the bed, and then climbed up into her bunk. I rolled my eyes at her charade, but she seemed to be enjoying it. I ate in silence, unaware I was so hungry.
After I had pajamas on, I washed my face and brushed my teeth. I came out of the bathroom and Edward was ready to tuck me in.
"You don't have to tuck me in," I whispered.
"I want to," he insisted. I rolled my eyes and complied. He kissed me on the forehead. "Goodnight, sweetheart. Get some sleep. We're all in for a treat tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" I asked, afraid of what he meant by that.
He made himself comfortable in his bunk. "Tomorrow," he repeated.
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A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys! I was missing the motivation to write, but decided it was something I needed to do. So, this chapter is based off of the underground iron mines in Soudan, Minnesota. It was pretty awesome. Review and keep reading! Much love!