Coal Men

Six men are trapped in the coal mine where they were working when a portion of the roof collapses. One of the men is unconscious, his lower body covered with rubble. He is the narrator. He hears what the other men are saying and gives us their backstories while he tells us about his own life's journey. How did each of these men end up in a coal mine, and what will they do if they are rescued? Outside the mine, in a room provided by the coal company at the entrance to the mine shaft, the wives, girlfriends, mothers, fathers, children and friends of the trapped miners gather and wait to learn of their loved one's fate.Why, asks one of the young women, are there only men down there? Why, asks one of the trapped miners, are there no black men among the white men who came from all over the world to work in the anthracite mines of Northeastern Pennsylvania? Within twenty-four hours of the accident, we have some of the answers.