I'm scared.

I don't know what I would do if I were to lose my daddy.  Daddy is a coal miner; he works in the coal mines.  He works very hard; we don't see him until late in the afternoon; he is often covered in dust and dirt; he gets so dirty all you can see are the whites of his eyes. 

Well, anyways, the other day, there was an accident at the mines, and now daddy (and several other miners) are trapped.  They can't get out.  There are people trying to help them get out; it's been all over the news, and that's all what everyone talks about.  So daddy's been trapped for going on two days.

My name is Edith.  I'm ten.  I live with my family in a coal mining town in West Virginia; a lot of men here are coal miners; it's what links the families together.  We all have something in common.  I have my mama, my daddy, and my three little sisters (Patty, Wendy Lou, and Rachael) as well as my baby brother Caleb.  My daddy's mined coal ever since I can rightly remember; mama says he's done it for over twenty years; it's all he knows.

I think when I go to church this Sunday I will tell Pastor Dave about what's going on with my miner-daddy.  Somehow I think he already knows about the accident; I'm sure people have called him and told him about it.  I hope many people pray to God to help my daddy; he and the other trapped men are gonna need all the help (and all the prayers) that they can get!!

I wish I could stay home with mama and the little ones, but mama says education is important; I need to be in school as much as possible.  I can understand that, but I find it hard to work on my lessons or listen to the teacher when all I can think about is my poor daddy and his miner friends trapped in that collapsed mine!  There's no telling when they will get out ... or if they will even be found alive by the time the rescue people get to them!

*To be continued.*