– Oh my God, you don’t recognize me?
– Mister Josef, is that you?
– Yes it’s me, God forbid me!
– Well, what on earth are you doing full of mud under the bridge?
– What should I do? I had something to drink and I lost my hat, I was looking for it … I bent giving him my hand and drew him outside, obviously without hat. We greeted and went each on his way.
Wasting so much time, the water grew in huge quantities, becoming true torrents. To get at the embarkation place I had to climb up to “Poderei”. The lamp faded again. I was looking for other lights, of my workmates, that were heading to the same place. I was passing near Alexander, Lipan and Sovre’s houses, which were built on a hammock lip, which made the road lower than the houses. They were in the same shift as me. Alexander’s house was all lighted. I was heading with my eyes at the ground looking to avoid as much as I could, water. Reaching, in the end, the car, it seemed that people were grouped and were whispering among themselves. All this grouping and crew discussions had a lugubrious atmosphere. I said hello and asked: “What are they whispering about?” They stared at me, after that one of them asks me:
– Through were did you come at the car?
– Over “Poderei”, at Alexander, “Sovre” and others, places.
– Was there any light at Alexander?
– There was. And what if?
– But, didn’t you ask yourself why was there light at Alexander, if he’s the driver for a week? Did you take a look at their nut tree?
– Who cares to look at a nut tree when one’s heading for the shift?
– There was where Alexander hung himself …
Then I realized that if I had drawn myself up, I would have stared up, I could see him hanged. With no other words with the feeling of a huge despair, of losing a man, a very good mate and mine digger, but whom did not bear the “discharging” shock. It seemed that also the car was sick, it was hardly getting up to the mine. In the car I was snooze following the road with its curves, in my own imagination, to the mine. The engine was turned up to maximum; there were the last hundred meters before stopping.

The first signs of a rainy morning, the first blink of light “greeted” the workers that start again another turn. I got off the car and I was walking at the head entrance when I met the foreman.
– Good day!
– God help us, he answers, continuing:
– I would like to ask you to come in my office.
– When?
– It will be good if you would come now.
He left; also, extremely sad (who wouldn’t be sad to lose a man like Alexander?).
– Boy, what I am telling you I would have to turn it into an excusable cover for the existing administration, but I cannot pretend for anyone’s sake, especially now when, you know what happened with Alexander and I don’t want to feel guilty of others wheeling and dealing. So, the news is very unpleasant. You were also “given off” and I believe it won’t be long and we will meet again, but not in the mine. They will turn off the mines, those that don’t know what they’re doing and how much harm they are bringing, but all this have no point now. You make your liquidation and give it to me. God help you!
And he left, leaving me in his office with my liquidation file. I was hesitating. I didn’t quite know which way to go and tacking a look in the office I see a guy that was looking like me but he was with the hair grey. Then I thought to my self that I would like to look like him in my old age. With an incommensurable regret I realized the “old man” was I, the nigh teen years old one.
This was my young mate confession, the one with grey hair. I believe there are not other type of comments left and still, to get to be the grave digger of a mine diggers generation; maybe some should be ashamed of this catastrophe and don’t you believe that they have the right to breath easily after this type of “action.
It’s not fair that only the mine diggers pay for all, while others adjudge in their own accounts the COUNTRY. I have never understood what kind of people are those that start to destroy, not only that they don’t have anything to replace with where they demolished, but they don’t even think to ask themselves: “How these two things would look together. What they destroy, they may consider that others should make or replace.”

– Mister Buia, it is unbelievable what kind of power the actual governors had assumed. Besides that, all the experiments they make are on us, but nobody asks for our opinion ever, even more, we are being handled unkind. I had the feeling that if we had been the direct enemy of this government, of this country, I may be wrong, but the international discourse would have protected us much better, and probably we would have had a better living. The big mystery that grew over had a strange surface, a strange interpretation. We have over eight million employees that do their job daily. Almost all the assets and commonwealth buildings had been sold, probably for money, I read that with an assessment of 78%, and they paid for it, so the money should be in there. The stupid question: “Where is it, besides the money, there are dollars that come for every month from different sources?” This should be a question for an attorney. If it’s like this, he should ask himself.
– My gentlemen, I think that, even if we know these things or if we knew them, we still won’t ease our daily living.
– Yes, it is true, but it hurts when you see that for a life time you witnessed the “Socialism Development” and they gave you a paper of a billion from which you receive 3-5 thousands/year, and some cut pieces from your work, from your body’s sweat, from your own life for the simple reason that they and their precursors kept some papers. And now you, the one that has worked for an entire life, from your accomplishments they are being allocated pieces, for those that not for few times don’t even know what work means. They didn’t have to blow their health to build fortunes for others. And you, old cheep, for whom not even the retiring pension would give in time so that they could put it aside for others. We wanted this! One of Buia’s guests ended.
– I still believe it would be better if we take care of our business, especially that nobody can be proud of having a shameless converted to some decent thoughts.
– You are right, Mister, one of the guests joined him, true born citizen. Mister Buia, I see, and I think that this is how it should be, that the accommodations, in fact the specific houses, shouldn’t have more than one architecture, in which the years they were built in reflect. It is impossible for a house that was built over fifty years ago to look as one that was recently built.