When your grandmother, Sarah, was very young her mother died in a train wreck. Your great grandfather, Tom Chavez, was a drifter and couldn't take care of Sarah very well so she was passed back and forth between different relatives. She would live for a while in Portland, Oregon with her grandmother, Jane, and then when Jane got tired of her she would be sent to one of several aunts and uncles. One summer when Sarah was about eight years old she was very excited. Her father had got remarried and they had a small home in Good Springs, Nevada. She had just received a letter from her father saying they had an extra room and they wanted her to come home to live with them.

Jane loved Sarah but she was very old and it was difficult taking care of an eight year old girl. She was glad that her son was finally settling down and taking responsibility for his daughter. Sarah was very happy to be leaving. She loved her grandmother, but she missed her father and longed to be with him. She was a little scared to meet her new step mother, she prayed to God they would get along. Considering the life Sarah had lived, she was remarkably stable, a little sad, but very smart.

When the train pulled into Las Vegas Sarah looked out the window with great anticipation. Her father was tall, lean and very muscular. It usually wasn't hard to pick him out in a crowd. When the train came to a stop Sarah got her things together and got in line to get off the train. As she climbed down the stairs she looked around for her father but saw nothing. After a while she sat down on a bench to wait. It had been a long night so she was tired. Before long she laid down and fell asleep and began to dream.

She was playing hop-scotch on the sidewalk in front of a big house in the city. She looked toward the house and her mother was sitting in a rocking chair knitting. There was a rose garden in front of the house and the scent of the beautiful yellow roses permeated the air. As she was playing a car drove up and parked in front of the house. The door opened and her well dressed father jumped out and smiled at her. She dropped her chalk and ran over to him. He picked her up, swung her around and gave her a big hug. After he put her down her mother walked down the walkway towards them. Her mom and dad embraced and kissed passionately. Sarah was the happiest child on earth.

"Wake up Sarah, it's time to go to your new home," Tom said.

Sarah opened her eyes to see her father's kind smile. "Daddy!" she said as she threw her arms around him.

"I'm sorry I was late honey but we got a flat tire on the way into town. I hope you weren't scared."

"I was a little bit. I thought maybe you’d forgot me."

Sarah starred at the woman standing behind her father. Tom seeing this said, "Oh, Sarah, this is your step mother, Agnus."

"Hi Sarah, I am glad you made it here safely, now come along we've got a long trip back to Good Springs."

Tom went inside the station, got Sarah's luggage and loaded it onto the truck. It was a 1931 Ford that belonged to the Good Springs Mining Company and Tom felt very lucky to have the use of it. Several hours later they arrived at Sarah's new home. It was a very small shack, sparsely decorated but quite adequate. Actually, for the first time in her life Sarah had her own room. When Sarah went to bed that night she felt good. She didn't really know Agnus yet but so far she seemed alright.

For the next several weeks Tom and Sarah did everything together. Tom showed her the mine, took her to the Colorado River, let her ride a mule around the mining camp whenever she wanted to, but most of all just spent time with her and got reacquainted. After a while Sarah got tired of the competition and began to become jealous. She started to be abusive to Sarah and was constantly on her back about one thing or another.

One Friday night there was a church social scheduled. Sarah had been looking forward to going to the social all week. Friday afternoon she had been working on the dress she was going to wear when Agnus walked in.

"I thought I told you to mop the kitchen floor," Agnus barked.

"I will in just a minute," Sarah said.

Agnus walked over to Sarah and ripped the dress out of her hand causing it to tear down the middle. "Put that dress down and get in there and do your chores girl!" Agnus screamed.

"Look what you did! You're so mean! I hate you!" Sarah yelled.

Agnus' face tightened and then she raised her hand and slapped Sarah across the face. "Don't you talk to me like that little girl! I'll take the belt to you. You’re a spoiled little brat!"

Sarah stormed out of the house and ran down the street. At first she was going to run away but then she realized that would be exactly what Agnus would want. She loved her father and didn't want anything or anybody to keep them apart. Somehow she would have to just stay clear of Agnus. That night Agnus went to the social and Sarah stayed at home. Tom had to stay and watch the mine since everyone else was going to the social.

After dinner Agnus decided to go see her father at the mine. She walked out of town and down the road that led to the headquarters of Good Springs Mining Company. The camp was deserted except for an elderly security guard on duty near its entrance. He nodded at Sarah as she went by as he had seen her a hundred times before. Sarah began to wander around looking for her father. After searching all around she decided he must be in the mine. She grabbed a hard hat with a light and started down into the shaft. She was a little scared going down the metal stairs that led into the darkness of the mine, but she had been down there before with her father so she felt confident she wouldn't have any trouble.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs she started walking down the short, narrow tunnel towards where the men usually worked. It was damp and she could hear water dripping down the walls beside her. She saw a big puddle of water that had accumulated behind the staircase. Before long she began to smell a strange odor and she began to feel sick. Suddenly she heard a noise up ahead. It sounded like someone coughing. She knew it must be her father as everyone else had gone to the social. She picked up her pace toward the noise. She too began to cough as the gas became stronger and stronger. At times she thought she was going to faint as she breathed in the toxic fumes.

Finally she saw her father on the ground struggling to get up. She rushed over to him and helped him to his feet. Together they staggered back towards the mouth of the mine. Unfortunately Sarah too was overcome by the poisonous gas and finally they both collapsed and lay silently on the earth near death. Suddenly there was a breath of fresh air from mouth of the mine. Sarah opened her eyes and looked at her father's limp body. "No! she screamed. . . . I am not going to let you die." She grabbed the rocks on the wall of the mine shaft and pulled herself up. Then she leaned over Tom's body and began slapping his face.

"Wake up Daddy. Wake up."

Tom struggled to open his eyes. He smiled faintly at seeing Sarah there over him. Then he realized what had happened and tried desperately to get up. Together somehow father and daughter started slowly making there way toward the light at the end of the mine shaft. Luckily for both of them the security guard came looking for Sarah. He was worried about her and feared she had entered the shaft.

"Sarah, you down there," he yelled.

Sarah perked up at hearing his voice. "Yes, down here! We need help!"

Pete came down the metal stairs and carefully made his way toward's Sarah's voice. When he arrived he began to gag at the stench of the poisonous gas.

"Let's get the hell out of here. One spark and this place could blow."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked.

"This methane gas could ignite at any minute and this place will be a fiery hell hole!"

The threesome picked up there pace and finally reached the metal stairs. By this time Sarah was too weak to make it up the stairs so Pete carried her up and then went down get Tom. When he got to the bottom of the mine he leaned over and tried to pull Tom over his shoulders. This was a real strain for a sixty year old man with a bad knee and lungs full of methane gas. Sarah looked on from above with great fear and anxiety.

As Pete slowly brought Tom up the stairs his heart began to beat faster and faster. He became dizzy and started to stumble. Sarah jumped up at seeing Pete's distress and started to go down to help him but it was too late. Pete fell and he and Tom tumbled down the stairs. As they fell Pete lost his hard hat and it crashed against the steel stairwell creating a spark. Suddenly the mine exploded into a fiery inferno and Sarah had to quickly retreat to avoid the torrid flames.

A massive stream of black smoke began to flood out of the mine. Sarah screamed in terror and realized she had to do something fast. She looked around and saw the water tub used for the mules that worked in the mine. She ran over to it and jumped in, drenching her body. Then she grabbed two saddle blankets and held them under the water until they were saturated. After that she ran back into the mine, holding one of the wet blankets around her body. She quickly descended down the hot metal staircase. The smoke was so thick she could barely see. When she got to the bottom of the pit she saw Pete and Tom huddled against the side of the mine shaft in a pool of water. They were both unconscious, but somehow not seriously burned.

Sarah shook them and tried to pull them out up she got no response. There was no way she was going to get them out of the mine so she wrapped one of the wet blankets around each of them and then ran back up the stairs to get help. Just as she cleared the mine there was another explosion. Fire shot out of the mouth of the mine high into the air and Sarah's heart sank. "No!" she screamed as she fell to her knees and began to cry.

Just then she heard voices. She looked up and several men were approaching. "Sarah, what happened," one of the men said.

"Dad and Pete are at the bottom of the stairs! You've got to save them!"

The men began running toward the mine as fast as they could. They ran into a shack and came out with heavy coats and gas masks. Quickly the descended into the fiery pit. Sarah ran back to the mouth of the mine and waited anxiously. She couldn't stand the thought of losing her father. He had to be alive. She knelt down and put her face in her hands and prayed.

After what seemed an eternity she heard a familiar voice.

"Sarah, are you all right?" Tom said.

She looked up and tears of joy began flowing down her cheeks.

"Daddy, you're alive! Oh Daddy, I was so scared," she said and then stood up and embraced her father.

"I know honey, so was I."

"Oh Daddy, I love you."

"I know, you're a brave little girl. You saved my life."

"I had too, I couldn't live without you. Please don't ever leave me Daddy."

"I won't honey, never again."

Sarah looked up and saw Agnus watching them. Then Agnus ran over and put her arms around Tom.

"You okay Tom, she said."

"Yeah, thanks to Sarah."

After that day Agnus treated Sarah a little better. She realized Sarah was there to stay and she couldn't compete with Tom's love for her. After a few years Tom and Agnus got a divorce and Sarah and Tom moved to Bakersfield where Tom became a short order cook. Agnus wasn't the last stepmother Sarah had to put up with but she didn't care as long as she was with her father.