Georgina

GEORGINA - Chapter 3: The Pit Head

She awoke with a start, it was now pitch dark and she had no idea of the time.  She tried to recall if she had seen a brook or stream on her way there, she should have reconnoitred the area before it got dark.  She stumbled along the road away from the town listening for any trickle of water.  As well as needing to wash she was now getting thirsty.  As she concentrated on following the road in the darkness she suddenly recalled hearing ducks on her way there earlier in the day.  At that time she had wondered whether she might steal some eggs, before realizing they would be uncooked and she had no idea if it was safe to eat raw eggs, indeed she had no idea what raw egg looked like – the white would be runny she assumed.  It must have been somewhere near where she was now, she thought it was opposite where a large brick barn bounded the road.  Soon after a building loomed alongside the road in the darkness and she scrambled over a gate opposite, listening carefully for any sound from the nearby farmhouse where a faint glimmer of candlelight showed from an upstairs window.

It took her about a quarter of an hour to find the pond in the darkness.  She removed her shoes and dipped her toe in,  the water felt chilly and she almost lost her resolve.  Hesitating she scooped some up in her hands to drink, although cold it didn't taste very fresh.  After a moments hesitation she stripped off her trousers and shirt, sniffing at the shirt it too smelt of sweat.  She didn't think she could bring herself to slowly sink into the chilly water, she hesitated then dipped in the shirt and washed it about before wringing out as much of the water as she could then placing it by her trousers and shoes.  She had decided against washing the trousers as the thick material would surely take ages to dry. Georgina took a few steps away from the pond, took a deep breath then, before she could change her mind ran and leapt belly down into it with a tremendous splash. 

The shock of the cold water took her breath away and her arms sank into the soft mud only a couple of feet below the water.  Spluttering with the shock of the cold she gasped for air, dogs were barking frantically near the farmhouse.  She could hear bolts being drawn and a gruff voice shouted at the dogs, in panic she splashed to the far side of the pond and ran.  In the dark she didn't see a bucket and shovel and her shins struck them knocking them over with a loud clatter.  A snarling dog was closing on her as she scrambled over a quickthorn hedge.  Momentarily heedless of the little thorns tearing at her bare arms, belly and thighs she rolled onto the grass on the far side.  The dog was trying to push its way through the base of the hedge so she ran on, becoming increasingly disorientated.  The sound of the cursing farmer and his barking dogs receded and she sank  to the ground when she encountered another hedge.  Had the farmer found her clothes and shoes?  Cold, hungry and bleeding she felt light-headed and wondered if she was going insane.  Her shivering started to turn into a laugh as with a feeling of detachment she began to find it slightly amusing that she was no longer human, but a wild animal scampering like a frightened rabbit about the country side stark naked and starving! Curling up into a ball she wiped the blood from the small cuts on her belly with her finger and licked it.  Feeling dizzy she drifted into unconsciousness.

Georgina was awoken by clattering, the lowing of cows and more barking from the now distant farm.  Was the farmer sending his dogs to track her?  The first light of dawn had lightened the sky to the east, and she could now make out the roof and chimneys of the farmhouse against the sky.  She looked down at her own nudity, she now had nothing in this world apart from her wasting flesh and bones – lacking the strength for manual labour, hopefully too bruised to be alluring to the farmer should he find her.

She rolled onto her back on the damp earth, spread her arms out either side of her and sank her fingers into the soft soil as she stared at the rapidly lightening sky.  The chilly breeze gently passing over her belly and breasts changed from a discomfort to a gentle caress as her nipples hardened.  She felt she was becoming a part of the ground, sinking gently into it, her carcass rotting back into the earth ... her last thoughts before she again lost consciousness were to wonder whether the dogs would consume her or would cattle unseeingly trample her into the ground and shit over what remained of her body?

A sharp poke to her belly brought Georgina back to semi-consciousness and she tried to look up but the sun, now drying the ground and warming her body, dazzled her.  Half awake she felt something warm and moist exploring her crotch, she lifted her knees and moved them apart - immediately getting another jab in her empty belly and a gruff voice snarled "I s'pose these belong to you lass" as her clothes and shoes were dropped next to her.  Horrified she quickly snapped her knees together and curled up trying to hide her breasts, kicking away the dog which had started to lick her vagina.  "Yer look like yer’ve ‘ad a good night of it, but it seems yer boyfriend’s left yer now, so clear off from here sharpish or I'll let the dog 'ave more fun wi" yer."

Covering her front with the small bundle of clothes Georgina sheepishly muttered "Thank you, sir" as she scurried away towards ther road.  Just before reaching the road she hesitated and looked back to see the somewhat amused farmer stood where she had left him, watching her from a couple of fields away.  She ducked down hidden from the road by a hedge and turned her back on the farmer again and hurriedly dressed, before following the hedge to a gate and regaining the road.  As the morning sun continued to warm her chilled body she reflected that she was now far filthier than the night before although a quick sniff under her arms reassured her that she no longer smelt anything like as bad.

As she headed back towards the colliery that the old man had pointed out the day before her hunger pangs led her to inspect the hedgerows and trees for anything which might be edible.  All she could find were tiny green unripe blackberries here and there, in desperation she picked some and cautiously nibbled them, they were hard and unpleasantly bitter.  Georgina neared the pit village clutching her empty belly and, not having seen anything else edible, she determinedly picked more of the tiny hard green fruit and chewed and swallowed them.  The road led between mean rows of small squat cottages, far more squalid than any she had seen before.  Each cottage had an unpainted front door of rough planks alongside which was a small window no more than 2 foot square, tight under the low eaves was an even smaller window no more than eight foot above the ground.  Infants mostly dressed in tattered rags, but some naked, played on the street of rough uneven stones alongside a shallow stinking open channel choked at intervals with turds and vegetable peelings.  Georgina wondered why she had bothered at all about her own hygiene.  She reflected that the rows of cottages her father had erected were like palaces compared with these hovels, and at least he had kept the open sewers out of sight behind them.  Turning a corner she realised there was no "behind" to these hovels as the back of each one was another separate dwelling with a door leading onto a narrow lane separating it from the next row.  She looked into the open door of a cottage and saw a hunched woman with bare calves and twisted feet staring back at her with dull eyes in a grey lined face.  Georgina couldn't even guess at her age, there were no signs of grey in her lank mousy hair and her deformed body and worn face were as likely the results of toil as of age.

With trepidation she approached what she assumed was the colliery office, a low brick shed with two windows too dirty to allow her to see inside.  The door was slightly ajar and a squat dark haired man stepped out and stared at her before she had a chance to knock on it.  In silence he looked Georgina up and down, she felt self conscious of her bedraggled state and tried to think how to address him.  After about a minute of scrutinising her from head to toe he said "You look a fair lass, what brings you to this place?"

"I was wondering, I mean could you... I need work" she stammered, transfixed by his dark stare. 

"You've never worked in a pit before, have you?  Been sacked from a mill for laziness or something have you?  Now you've tried to dress like a pit woman but it doesn't work, you're too frail and too tall." he said then continued to stare at her, she had expected him to dismiss her but he still seemed to be expecting a reply.

Suddenly she could no longer contain her desperation "I'm starving, I have nothing, I've nowhere to go, please can you give me any work, anything at all!"

Startled by a loud clattering behind her she looked round and saw short woman with thick bare arms operating a windlass at the head of the pit, with another woman who had her back to her.  Seeing the heavy bucket of coal that emerged from the shaft Georgina realised she would probably not be strong enough to turn the handle once never mind the hundreds of times those women had just done.  She realised the man could tell what she was thinking as he slowly shook his head "Don't worry lass, you could probably do a child's work.  The law says we can no longer employ women and children below ground" he paused, then continued "but we pay the hewers for what they produce and let them pay whoever they want to hurry the coal for them from their wages.  Benjamin Hopkins lost the lass who hurried for him a couple of days ago and's making do with a couple of kids for now, said he can't afford another one but his productivity's down so he might change his mind if you're cheap enough."

"Yes, anything" Georgina replied, suddenly uncertain how much she needed to be paid to afford food and lodgings.

"He'll be finishing after six so hang about and I'll see if he'll talk to you then, but I can't promise anything.  There's probably plenty of stronger lasses than you looking for work if he thinks about it" and the man disappeared into his office then shortly afterwards came back out and walked straight past her to the pit head carrying a ledger.

No one seemed to take any notice of Georgina as she loitered around the pit head.  Unsure of the exact time of day she decided to stay nearby until the miners started coming to the surface at the end of their shift.  Beyond the shaft she saw bent figures sorting the coal emptied from the baskets as they were brought to the surface, most appeared to be women although two were men, looking somewhat lame and crippled.  Without pausing from their work two of them looked up at her suspiciously as she wandered nearer to them.

Feeling self conscious she turned her back on them and looked instead at a pair of dejected scrawny horses, attached to a rotating beam, walking slowly round a capstan watched by a small boy dressed only in an oversized shirt black with coal dust.   The capstan powered a cable which ran to a pully which in turn turned a chain leading down another shaft.  However Georgina couldn't see any way that was helping to raise the coal,  which seemed to be entirely the task of the women on the windlass.

The sun was sinking lower in the sky to the west, behind the whisps of grey smoke issuing from a third shaft, when Georgina noticed more activity at the pit-head.  The bucket had been unhooked from its chains and the iron spreader bar was now being winched to the surface bringing up pairs of miners sat on it face to face clasping each other.  She wondered how to recognise Benjamin Hopkins and looked around for the manager she had spoken to earlier.  He was stood in the doorway of his office noting the miners as they filed past.  Many of the men wore just a filthy pair of trousers, some also had clogs, shirts or jackets and caps.  Looking back at the pit head she watched as a couple of filthy small children, barely covered by the tattered rags they wore, were brought to the surface, there was no way of telling if they were boys or girls.  They loitered about the pit-head waiting until a man and woman came up next, they ran to the woman who wore a pair of trousers torn to shreds around her crotch, a somewhat cleaner chemise and a piece of cloth tied around her head.  It was a tediously slow process bringing to the surface many more men, women and a couple more children.   Georgina was trying to look without obviously staring at the bald tops of the heads of several of the woman when one of the men who had already passed her called to her "You there, the tall lass, is it you looking for work?"

She quickly replied "Yes, Mr Hopkins?" as she hurried towards him, unnerved at the way he was looking her up and down.

"Mr Thomas says you should hurry for me, not that I can really afford more help" he mumbled staring critically at her. 

"Please, let me try" Georgina replied, almost in crying in desperation, still uncertain what hurrying involved.  "Can I just try, you needn't pay me if I fail.." she hesitated realising she might well collapse weak from hunger the next day.  Unable to control herself she suddenly burst into tears.

"Right. Let's get you entered in the book then" said the collier pushing her towards Mr Thomas’s office.

"Name?" demanded the manager, Georgina hesitated.  "On the run are you?" he quizzed her.

Uncertainly she quietly replied "Georgina, Georgina Smith', after a pause adding "Sir."  However looking over his shoulder she noticed he had written down "George Smith, Hurrier" in the book in untidy spidery writing.

"You start work at five" he said turning back to her and dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

"A bell rings a bit before we start" explained Benjamin, "Where're you sleeping?" he added.

Almost crying with hunger she replied "I don’t know', reluctantly adding in a quiet voice "I’m so hungry!'

Grabbing her slender wrist he dragged her to the fourth cottage in a squalid row and called in through the open door "Mary, can I have a quarter of my stew now?"  After a minute or two a tired looking lank haired woman emerged carrying a cracked bowl holding a small amount of greyish mash which Benjamin offered to Georgina as he said to the woman "She's a new hurrier I'm trying, Anywhere she can sleep till we get paid on Friday?"

"Not here unless she can pay now, what happens if she don't work out?" the woman said eying Georgina critically.  But then, perhaps taking pity on the silent girl hungrily scooping the boiled potato and turnip mash mash into her mouth with her hands, added "Alight Ben, just for tonight she can sleep with the girls, but you pay her rent Friday whether she's still here or not."

"You'll lose nothing anyway" muttered Ben ungratefully "She can eat a bit more of my share of the stew if  she gets hungry before then and there's space on the floor."

Georgina hurriedly swallowed the tasteless mush so she could add "Thank you so much, I'll be no trouble..."

"You will be trouble if the girls find out I've let you stay a night without paying first, so you keep yer mouth shut lass" cut in the woman.

Georgina was led to the dark back half of the small upstairs room where five women slept on the floor.  It was separated from the front of the room, which was occupied by Mary’s family, by filthy blankets hung from the rafters.  Mary and her husband slept on a bedstead by the window where she had a chair and a small chest of drawers, otherwise the only other pieces of furniture in the whole room were a few rickety stools, apart from the bedding on which its other unwashed occupants slept.  Georgina curled up on the bare wooden boards in the space not taken up by the straw filled sacking used as mattresses by the other women, four of whom stripped off their ragged coal dust laden clothes rolling them up to use as pillows, lying down exhausted, stark naked on top of  their blankets spread over the coarse mattresses.  For a while Georgina heard Mary’s children talking as she rolled about uncomfortably on the hard floorboards trying to ignore the stink of sweat and other even less pleasant unidentified smells, then a bit later hearing the men come in downstairs talking amongst themselves before she finally fell asleep.