“Is anyone out there?” I sat on top of one of the three peaks surrounding the little village of Kenilworth. Looking down I fumbled these words over and over in my mind along with the events of the past few weeks. This small coal mining town sits at the base of a 12,000 foot mountain in eastern Utah. It is just one of three peaks that serve as the backdrop for this little place in the world, that for nearly sixteen years I called home.

As a thirteen-year-old boy I was thrust into manhood at the death of my father, I wondered if I was the only kid in the world to wonder who I am. Where did I come from, and where am I going to when this life is over?

Six months before my daddy died from a terrible heart condition, the head of the union ran off with all of the union money to Brazil. There was over sixty thousand dollars, and in 1960, that was a huge sum of money.

Because the union was bankrupt, there was no money left in the fund, and daddy died owing over ten thousand dollars in doctor and hospital bills.

My momma did not have any marketable skills, and she tried to do a little waitressing and cooking, but it was just not enough.

I was a short fat kid, the baby of the family. I was spoiled and had never had to pull my weight until the day that Bill Jackson the mine superintendent made me an offer too good to be true.

My daddy had been the head shot fire for the mine. He was the one who drilled and placed the charges, and then blew the face to open up the coal seams. As a kid growing up, he taught me how to use and handle dynamite. I was not as good as he was, but better than most men at it.

Bill came to me on a Friday evening and said, “Son, I want to make a proposal to you and your mom. I want to have you come to the mine and work from four PM until midnight, Monday through Friday. You will not receive one red cent from your labors; however you will be paid the same as your father, five hundred dollars a month. The company will use it to pay off the hospital debt and thus protecting your mother and father’s reputations.”