One Good Punch
SECTION ANEWS and OPINION
Coal-Mine Fires Continue to Smolder
People keep dying, so my phone never stops ringing. I've made notes in the computer for fourteen obituaries tonight, and I haven't written up a single one. Most I've ever done in a shift is fifteen, and it's only 9:23, so there's plenty more to come."Scranton Observer. . . . Yeah, we got time. . . . He was a high school valedictorian, and then he worked in the mines? . . . Which Legion post? . . . In Jessup? . . . Mercy Hospital; family by his side. Okay. Talk to you later."I've been doing this job for five months now, and this is the busiest night I've ever had. Officially, I'm an editorial assistant, which used to be called a copy boy and generally means gofer.I'm a backup phone-answerer for the news department, but mostly I talk to the funeral directors and get information for the next day's obituaries--the dead person's name, age, where they were born, where they lived, surviving relatives, employment history, etc. Also the stuff that makes these things interesting--their hobbies, organizations they belonged to, their World War II-era nicknames (already today I've had Babe, ...
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