Looped rings and triangle emblem design

The wheel at Carrow Hollow stopped again this morning, and the whole valley came up the lane in its coats to stand at the pit gates. Mr Pryce from the office read the names off a card, then folded the card twice and put it in his waistcoat as if it were a receipt. Mam asked me to say she is keeping the kettle warm for you, though she has not said your name since November.

I have the lamp you left on the hook by the back door. I trim the wick every night and fill it from the can, the way you showed me, though I cannot make it throw the light as far as you did. The shadows the ropes make on the wall are the same shape they were when you were ten and sat under the headframe counting the cage wheels: rings over a triangle, one turning inside another. You said then the pit was a sum that always came out even. I thought you were being clever. I am beginning to think you were only frightened.

Second shift go down Monday. Dai Brennan has asked for the broken hour and I have told him to wait for the inspectors. The notch at the top of the winding frame has cracked again, the one the men call the thumb, and nobody will say it was ever mended properly.

Write when the post comes through. Tell me the sea is flat and the ships are not made of coal.

Yours, Nia