David woke up to find sick on the floor.
"Lizzie, couldn't you have got to the bathroom?" He asked weakly.
"NO! THERE'S NO BLOODY LIGHTS BECAUSE YOUR ON A BLOODY STRIKE AND THERE'S NO BLOODY STUFF.... "
"Coal." David interjected.
"DON'T YOU INTERRUPT ME!" She yelled before storming out of the house.
"What was the point in that?" Lizzie's baffled husband sighed as she returned to wipe the sick off her face.
"I'd like to see you go out in the bloody rain in a nightie!" She snorted, running upstairs to change her clothes. "Oh, my parents are coming today...no, tomorrow... No, Satur... Oh I don't bloody well know!"
'Who was it who said complicated girls were the best?' David thought miserably.
The rest of the day was a complete waste of David's life, if he was totally honest. He managed to drive off Lizzie's critical parents by hiding under the table but no one else stopped by.
Maybe no one ever visited; David was never in the house to have experienced many visitors before.
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!" Jessica screamed, snapping him out of his thought.
"Shut up, Jessica." Lizzie scolded.
"No."
"Don't talk to your mother like that!"
"Can you-"
"FINE, I'LL GO LIVE SOMEPLACE ELSE THEN!" Jessica's voice travelled down the stairs as she stalked off, reading her mother's mind.
"Darling, why-"
"David, I'm pregnant." Lizzie spat out, her bottom lip trembling.
She paled at David's expression.
"I'll.. I can give it away if you-"
"You aren't meant to have another child. You almost died giving birth to Jessie."
Without coal, the world could fall apart. Without coal, David's house wasn't what it should be. Without coal, David wasn't sure what would happen to a small baby in a dark, cold house.
A dark, cold house that was being watched.
*
David
March 17 1984
"I bet those fûcking bâstards are getting payed overtime to come and hang around hear." Jackson growled, watching the policemen patrol the street.
"They're trying to intimidate us." Albert said knowledgeably.
Albert was my best friend. I can't remember how it happened but... Time goes by and even if you can't remember, there's still that sinking feeling you get in your chest when somethings up and it just sort of disappears when I'm around him.
"Blöödy hell!" Victoria screamed, falling through the door of the pub.
"Vicky, I didn't marry you for you to come running into pubs like a fu-" Jackson was cut off by her gossip, spreading like jam.
"Jacksoooon!" She squealed .
"What?" He grumbled.
"I... Forgot... It was...something abooooouuuut....."
The pub sighed and averted their eyes.
" Arthur Scargill.... Yeah, Arthur Scargill is on the radio!"
"Oi! Cassie, tune into the Miner's channel before it gets cut off!" Jackson roared.
Arthur, what can you tell us about your plan to take down the government?
Well, if I told you that, I'd be pretty stupid... But as a little treat... WE'RE GONNA GET THOSE BLÖÖDY FOOLS BY THE BOLLOCKS AND TOSS THEM INTO THE OCEAN!!
A cheer errupted and it carried back to David's house, where Lizzie was struggling uncontrollably, bound to a chair.
"Let me give you a little taster of what happens when you don't tell us where Scargill is." He whacked her as hard as he could and blood rushed to her eye and the skin around it.
"P-please... P-please.." Lizzie trembled and winced as he touched the cut beneath her eye.
" Any details you can give us? About your husband? About your family history? About your-"
"You aren't a police man..." Lizzie accused before slapping him across the face. "Go to hell!" She cried, kicking him out the house.
YOU ARE READING
Fighting For Me- A Miner's Story
Historical FictionDavid Bowes, a young miner, is not happy with this strike. He has little to no money to feed his children with and it is starting to take its toll on the family. His wife, Lizzie, is pregnant and needs the best of care. Can he betray his fellow mine...
