The Escape Route

Down many of the coalmines in Yorkshire , Safety dictated that an alternative means of escape had to be found just in case anything ever happened to the shafts that raised and lowered miners to their work. This usually involved keeping a single route open underground to the next nearest colliery . Old George waiting by the mineshaft Spitting his chewing tobacco juice Today with his apprentice They must survey the mines escape route . 1000 yards underground In darkness as black as pitch They reach up to their helmets Turning on the headlamp switch. George prodding at the timbers That support the roof and sides His apprentice grows more nervous With every single stride . A mile down the escape route The roof is seven feet high They see a little fallen rock but manage to squeeze by . The roof is getting lower George hears the scurrying of mice Brought down the mine in bales of hay When pit ponies and the miners destiny were spliced. The apprentice is visibly shaking but only one more mile to go When a piece of falling timber Dealt his torch battery a glancing blow. George could see the boys panic and as the leader of his team He reassured his apprentice Then they shared the single beam . Suddenly they hear a crack like thunder Then the splintering of wood George pushes his apprentice but a fall of rock stands where George stood. Young boy on his hands and knee's Screaming Georges name More terrified by the second When no answers came. Now in total blackness He inhabits the world of the blind If he is to help his leader The boy must use his senses and his mind . The faintest hint of breezes He feels on his face Air sucked down the mineshaft Just might be his saving grace He crawls along the jagged floor Using his sense of touch Soon in the distance he hears machinery A sound he has never loved so much . He tastes the ever freshening air Hope inside him grows Then the tiniest speck of flickering light His tears overflow. Help, Help, he's calling As the miners come into view Two men want to hep him to the surface Burt he awaits his friends rescue. Old George didn't make it He sacrificed himself to save the boy Broken hearted the boy had a breakdown and had to leave the mines employ. The boy became a father Then a wonderful granddad but he never tired of telling the story of the best friend he ever had.