Suddenly the ground shook and Jennifer could hear the sound of the explosion via the phone.
Jennifer knew that Kyles parents home was pretty close
to the DelRoss Copper Mine and since both Kyle's
dad Fred and Jennifers Uncle Clem were miners who worked the evening shift in the workings
she immediately guessed what had happened
the coal gas in one of the shafts must have ignited.
Kyle was a little slower on the uptake but the dramatic new
event shut him up.He slowly turned to face the south window
of the old Mining Company House he,his parents and 13
siblings lived in to stare at the Tower House that was the
entrance to the DelRoss Mine.
Kyle just stood there speechless,staring at the surge of grit covered miners,some of whom were his brothers and uncles
racing towards the buckled tower that supported the pulleys
and cranks of the Tower House bucket that only a hour
earlier his dad had used to go down into the workings.
Suddenly there was a squawking on the phones headset and dumbly Kyle put it to his ear.
It was Jennifer,clearly just as worried as Kyle was now
and she was asking him what had happened at the 'Mine.
Obviously from the tone of her voice Jennifer already knew
what had happened at the 'Mine but Kyle told her
anyways what he saw.
Jennifer took control of the situation and told Kyle to stay put rather then heading towards the obviously hazardous Tower
House and the wailing of the Miners wives and the stressed
shouts of the DelRoss Pinkertons who were shouting through their bullhorns for the crowd to stay calm.
"I'll be there in Uncle Clem's truck" shouted Jennifer through
the phone at Kyle "stay put till I get there"
About 15 minutes later Jennifer arrived at Kyles place in Uncle
Clems truck and Kyle got in,for once keeping his yap shut and
letting Jennifer do the thinking and talking.
As Jennifer ground through the gears of the old Mining Supplies
truck she explained that her Uncle Clem had told her a
wild miners tale years earlier about his close encounter
in the DelRoss Mine Tunnel 38 with weird folk he had called
TimmyWhackers.
Uncle Clem had never been too specific on what a
'TimmyWhacker' was but Jennifer had remembered the tale.
She explained to Kyle that she'd known about the
Transform or Dare Town Curse since she was 4 years old,when her Uncle Clem had told her about it.
Jennifer had tried it on other girls,and other girls had
tried it on her just as often.
She slwly turned to Kyle and said
" The Curse is somehow connected to the TimmyWhackers"
Then she floored the wheezing old truck and a few minutes later she and Kyle stood on the desolate scarred hill
overlooking the town.
"Oh bleep" cried Kyle and Jennifer together as they
gazed apon the area around the DelRoss Mine entrance where
the fires,smoke and shouting crowds had been minutes earlier.
The fires and smoke were still there but the frenzied panicked
crowds had vanished.
Then came the metallic banging from behind the two shocked
teens and they spun around to see
a dozen or more figures in hardhats,diving suits and tails
standing there with metallic rods.
One of the strange figures had accidentally banged his rod on the hood of Uncle Clems truck,creating the noise.
One of the taller figures,clearly a leader of some sort,
barked at the other figures in some hissing language.
The other figures lowered their rods.
Then the leader pressed a clamp on his hard hat diving helmet
and both Jennifer and Kyle could smeel ammonia hissing and leaking out of the helmet as the TimmyWhacker lifted
it off her head.
Both teens gasped,as although clearly the leader was a tailed
reptile woman of some kind,she had long carrot red hair on her
scalp......