Page 29 - With Hilda Mleczko, Glace Bay

ISSUE : Issue 54

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1990/6/1

tients. Or he could have something covered up. He wouldn't tell me. Like I remember he came on once--the only time he couldn't cover it up--he came to the door like a white-turbaned Indian. He had a great big bandage around his head. And I went as white as the bandages. "Not to worry," he said, "not to worry. It's only a scratch." That scratch was caused by a coupling link that flew off an air hose at full pres? sure, and Henry was hit between the eyes, right on the bridge of his nose. Now if it'd gone either way, he'd have had an eye knocked out. He was very lucky. So after? wards- -there was no damage done to his head. He said he had hard bones. And afterwards, he was shaving himself one day, and he was doing this and doing this. He said, "I'm going to have this dumb mark erased"--the mark from where he'd been hit. Now, all the miners, when they get cuts, when they heal, they have tattoo marks on them. Because the coal dust goes in the cuts, and it seals up--it's like a tattoo. Well, I was wondering why all the fuss, because he had had those marks all over his body, more or less. So I said, "Well, why are you worried about it, Hen? ry?" He said, "Look." He said, "I'm branded. It's two letters--an 'I' and a 'T.'" Well when I looked, there it was, a complete "I" and a "T." So he said, "I'm going back and have it opened and cleaned out." pit term for train. They knew that there had been a man trapped under coal, on the coal floor. And of course Henry ran, and he saw his brother's squashed lunch can and his pit cap, and he knew it was his broth? er. So he dug and he dug and he dug. And he held most of the weight--while they were scratching their heads and saying, "How are we going to take him out?"--he sort of bur? rowed underneath and took the weight of a big slab of stone that was digging into him here, and took the weight on his own back. 'Cause he said that the hardest thing he ever had to do was go and tell his sister- in-law-- 'cause he had to take Eddie's clothes home--the hardest thing he ever had to do was to tell his sister-in-law. Be? cause she thought Henry was telling her that her husband was dead. But he wasn't, he was injured.... Ooo, poor man. But he was all right. So he went back to Dr. Green. And he opened it up and cleaned it out, and Henry went happy home. But when it healed, there was the "l-T" again on his head. He said, "It's still there. I'm going back to the doctor again." Went back to Dr. Green again, and he did the same thing. Took the stitches out, and scrubbed at him real hard. And he went home. Healed again. And it was still there. So he went back to the doctor the third time. When Dr. Green saw him walking in the door he said, "Oh, no, not you!" He said, "Henry, I've done all I can. Now," he said, "you live with it 'I-T.' And be thank? ful there's not an 'S-H' in front of it!" That's the truth--God's truth--that's what the man said. So I mean, that was only a little thing. But his brother got buried under a pile of stone and coal. They wrapped the wires to stop the rake-- that's the train--the rake-- Jacques-Cartier Motel kitchenette units available / telephones in all rooms P. O. Box 555, Sydney, N. S. 81P 6H4 (902) 539-4375 or 539-4378 or 539-4379 SYDNEY - GLACE BAY HIGHWAY FRANCAIS 2 Kilometres de I'Aeroport ENGLISH BELLE ISLE LINCOLN MERCURY ~ SENIOR SERVICE ~ • Any Make Car Care Plan for Senior Citizens FREE Leaner Gar on Overnight Repairs FREE Pick Up and Delivery of Your Car FREE Tow to Our Service Department FREE 20% Off on Ford Parts FREE 20% Off on Repairs Done Here FREE Life Insurance on Car Loans FREE I. D. Card BELLE ISLE LINCOLN MERCURY SALES LTD. 195 Prince St., Sydney "At the Tracks" 539-9292 1990 MERCURY TOPAZ MERCURY 1990 GRAND MARQUIS

Cape Breton's Magazine