Interview Log: POI-4938-178 - 03/08/1998
Interviewer: Researcher Lawrence Horowitz
Interviewed: Mrs. Dana Walsh, 102 years old, lifetime resident of Feldspar.
Horowitz: We'd like to thank you for reaching out to us, Mrs. Walsh. I can assure you, your safety will be-
Mrs. Walsh: Oh save it. You can't help me.
Horowitz: … My organization has considerable-
Mrs. Walsh: You look at me, boy. You see how old I am? You see what this town has done to me? There 'aint nothing my neighbors can do to hurt me, and nothing you can do will help me. So save it. You just keep your end of the bargain.
Horowitz: Yes ma'am. Your great, great granddaughter has already been evacuated.
Mrs. Walsh: Good.
Horowitz: Now, as for our side of the bargain?
Mrs. Walsh:: … She's got my husbands eyes, you know. Bright and green. She's only 5 years old. I still remember things from that age… my mother's face, playing in the yard… I hope she doesn't remember a single thing about this awful place.
Horowitz: I don't believe she will. Now, about-
Mrs. Walsh: I heard you. Just tell me what you want to know.
Horowitz: … Everything. How did this all begin? What's causing it? When did your "arrangement" with HMC start? Why won't anyone talk to us?
Mrs. Walsh does not respond immediately. With some difficulty, she points at a the nearby television set. Faintly, the sounds of grating and metallic crackling are heard. Her elbow rests on a growth beneath her rib cage, roughly the size of a volleyball.
Mrs. Walsh: … The new Hallewell boy- Kiff?
Horowitz: Kirk.
Mrs. Walsh: Ugly name. I saw him on the TV, after the sentencing. He's a greedy lil sumbich, him and his father both. You know neither of 'em have ever even been to Feldspar? Not once! They just took what they wanted, and left us with barely enough to survive. It wasn't always like that.
Hawthorne Hallewell, the great Grandpappy himself, was at Cripple Creek, Klondike, and Mount Baker. First he was a panner, then a store-owner, and then he was running his own dang company. Great man. He was a ruthless damn businessman, sure, but he also had that rare kinda' stupid risk-taking that all the great old American entrepreneurs had. When he passed on, his sons Douglas and Edwin each got a half of everything. I don't just mean the company. Douglas got all the ruthless, building copper mines in Arizona while forcin' folks off their land. Edwin, you might've guessed, was the stupid risk-taker.
Edwin staked his whole fortune on this little town, all because of a few pan-fulls. Those prospectors just got lucky, though. There was barely enough gold in these hills to feed the town. Edwin bled the company near to death keeping Feldspar alive. Hell, he went down into the mines himself most weeks, like he couldn't believe we weren't sitting on the next Sierra Nevada. I think he just felt guilty.
Horowitz: Guilty? What do you mean?
Mrs. Walsh: Well, old Edwin had a daughter, Julia, and he'd promised her the world. He thought he'd be building her a golden palace out here. Instead, she wound up like one of those storybook girls, locked up in the Hallewell estate all day.
At night though, all us girls would sneak out. My mother owned the inn, so I'd swipe food from the kitchens. Maddie had her uncles old radio. Raquel would always snatch somethin' from her daddy's liqueur cabinet. Ruby and Katie… well, they just sorta' showed up. We'd meet up and head down to the river. Julia too, of course. Sweet girl. Rich as she was, she never looked down on us. We were all just a bunch of miners daughters, drinkin' and smokin', pissin' the night away like we'd never grow old. God those were good times. Those nights, we'd talk about every little thing; our dreams of heading out East, bits of news we'd get from the papers… and boys. Oh lord how we clucked on about boys. Good golly, miss Ruby thought snooping in on her older sisters made her Queen Know-It-All of sex!
Mrs. Walsh begins to laugh, then cough. Researcher Horowitz carefully hands her a nearby handkerchief, and glass of water. Mrs. Walsh waves away the water, but uses the cloth to wipe around her chin, and the ring of growths beneath her neck. She moves carefully, avoiding a series of small, multi-hued bismuth crystals that have pierced the flesh, and become half-covered in scar tissue.
I'm fine, just fine. Don't get up. Ahem. Now, Julia and Raquel, they never seemed to join in on that kinda' talk. Julia didn't surprise me, she was always shy, but Raquel? That girl spoke her mind like it was the holy word! I couldn't figure it out… of course, even if I had, back in those days you didn't talk about that kind of thing.
Horowitz: What kind of-
Mrs. Walsh: They were in love, sonny. It was plain as the nose on my face, but back then I never realized why they kept sneaking off together.
Sad to say, those days didn't last. We were all comin' up on marrying age, and in a small town like this there are certain expectations. Raquel… well, her Daddy drunk himself to death after a few months, and her auntie paired her up with the butchers son for a discount on back bacon. Mr. Hallewell brought in some city-boy tycoons son for Julia, a real pompous ass who didn't see the difference between this town and the dirt it's built on.
The girls started to drift apart after that. The last time I saw Julia was just before the wedding, and she looked a frightful mess. Her husband-to-be had promised to bring in machines from the city. Automation and deep-drills. I didn't understand most of it, but I sure understood what she told me last "It's to keep the town alive." she said. "We need gold to keep this town alive."
Julia and Raquel both got pregnant 'round the same time. That wasn't so odd, small town like this. I had my first just a month before! Things really got strange when they gave birth on the same day. Same hour too. It could have been down to the second, but no one at Raquel's home owned a watch. Both those babies had pale skin, dark eyes, and perfect yellow tufts of hair. This caused a bit of a ruckus, given both girls and their husbands had black hair. Suddenly, every blonde fella' in town was suddenly getting a sideways eye.
The next day, folk started getting real sick. Fevers, pains, and the growths of course. Nobody knew what it was, but it spread fast. We're not a big town, but it was the first time I'd ever seen the inn empty at noontime. For days and days, the streets were deserted except for the stay fella stumbling around like a drunkard, coughing and tossing up their lunch. Ten died in the first week. We burned them a half-mile out of town.
Raquel, Julia, and their families were the only ones not getting sick. You add that to the odd babies, and no one getting paid since no one could work the mines… everyone started getting a bit crazy. Especially Mr. Peterson. After his wife passed on, he'd just spend all day wandering about quoting bible verses, saying signs of the devil come in twos. "Twins born of different mothers" he'd shout. "A biblical plague, born of greed!" The worse things got, the more people listened.
At least Julia was safe in that big ol' house. Miss Raquel… well, with the baby lookin' as it did… I'm not sure if her husband threw her out, or if she just left. I do know she was staying with her auntie. They didn't have much. I remember, she came in asking for food once. My mother wouldn't even give her milk for the baby. I had to sneak it to her out the back door. I'm glad I did it, I am… but I wish that wasn't my last memory of her. I want to remember Raquel as she was, back when we'd meet by the river. I want to close my eyes, and see her all young and proud, not.. god, she looked so small that day. She looked so scared…
That was the first, and only time I'd ever actually seen one of the twins. Raquel had it, all bundled up in her arms. It looked like any other babe, no different from my own… until I saw it's eyes. I don't know if I can describe them… they weren't fully wrong, really, they just didn't catch the light right. No shine. It was almost like looking at a paper drawing. Just two little white circles, with a single black dot… they were so dark… like la mine shaft, stretching on down forever…
Horowitz: … Mrs. Walsh?
Mrs. Walsh: …
Horowitz: Mrs. Walsh, are you alright?
Mrs. Walsh: After a… a few months went by…
Mrs. Walsh falls into another coughing fit. When she doubles over, and Researcher Horowitz helps steady her with incredible difficulty. At the time of this interview, Mrs. Walsh's weighed 154kg (340lbs); 1/3rd biomass, 2/3rds heavy metals.
Horowitz: Mrs. Walsh, I think it would be best if you returned to bed. We can continue this at a later date.
Mrs. Walsh: No. Someone… someone needs to hear this damn it…
The town kept getting worse. Then, one night, I heard people shouting outside my window. Someone screamed. My mama came in, told me to stay in bed, and locked my door with a latch. A big iron latch. I didn't see what happened. I just got told. I wasn't- … I wasn't there…
A few houses got lit on fire. Some people were killed. Mr. Hallewell died in town square. They beat him to death. Julia, Raquel… their husbands, their mothers, even some of their friends… people say it was an accident; just some drunk, scared people who got too caught up in things. Nobody even talked about it the next day; acted like it never happened.
Horowitz: …That's it? There was no investigation? No fallout?
Mrs. Walsh: …
Horowitz: Er, pardon my phrasing.
Mrs. Walsh: It was a different time, son. The law didn't stretch out this far. Someone did notice, though. Douglas Hallewell. He showed up a month later, looking for his family. We told him that the sickness got them, and it was the worst lie we ever told. He brought in doctors. He wanted to know what killed his brother. Instead, he found what was growing inside of us.
So that's three of your questions answered, son. Your last question should need askin' by now. Your "organization" is just tellin' us the same stuff we heard from Douglass Hallewell. "We're here to help". "The tumors need to be removed". "It's not about the gold." Bullshit. It's all bullshit. You're just another bunch of-
Horowitz: What about the babies?
Mrs. Walsh: … What?
Horowitz: You told me what happened to Edwin, Julia, Raquel, but you never mentioned the twins. What happened to them?
Mrs. Walsh: …
Horowitz: Mrs. Walsh? … Mrs. Walsh, do you need-
Mrs. Walsh: We-… they buried them. They took 'em into the mountain, into one of the old dry mine shafts and buried them.
Horowitz: I see. So, you believe-
Mrs. Walsh: 'Aint nothing to do with belief, boy. I know it. We're cursed. Towns like these aren't meant to keep on living. We're supposed to come and go with the gold. For what we did, by god, I think we're going to live forever…
Horowitz: … Thank you for your time Mrs. Walsh. I think we should stop there.
Addendum: Mrs. Walsh was discovered dead in her home the next day. A previously undocumented tumor was found pressing on her medulla. This growth contained .05 grams of 24-karat gold.