Episode 5: The Boy

## Content Warnings

"Frank discussion of historical child labor and depictions of injuries/death as a result of child labor and intentional harm, death by industrial fire, traumatic memories, references to a period psychiatric hospital, explosions."

## Blurb

Who speaks for the young dead lost beneath the fair earth? The Boy comes to Barlo.

## Plot Synopsis

The episode begins by speaking about a memorial to the miners of Barlo, Kentucky and the first mention of Barrow & Locke Mining Combine. It then speaks of the boys of Appalachia, boys willing to do anything for their families, this includes performing dangerous work in the mines as young as nine and ten years old. Countless boys have died in the mines over the years, and the people of the Barlo area are familiar with The Boy himself.

Roy Absher is said to have seen The Boy while sitting on his front porch at sundown. He wore work overalls and carried a lantern. When Roy asked who his father was, The Boy said “You are.” in the voice of a man. Roy lifts the lantern to reveal all the boys who had died in the mines (including Roy's own three) standing with The Boy.

Myrtle Hooper also says she met The Boy. She was cruel to her younger brother, and once when she was twelve, they went out to play and he never came home. He was later found bloody and floating in the creek.

On Myrtle’s wedding day, she took a walk by the creek and saw someone with a lantern, eventually realizing it was The Boy, who was dripping wet. It is revealed Myrtle killed her little brother for taking her candy. The Boy told Myrtle she will never have children, and the other boys reached up from the creek towards Myrtle. The water kept rising and their hands pull her into it.

She was found the next morning alive on the bank of the creek. She called off her wedding and forever had a fear of the dark. She was sent to a “private hospital” and never returned.

The episode turns to Earl Hamner. He began overseeing coal operations in Pennsylvania years prior, and had moved on to become a cruel day boss in Barlo. At his first mine, Earl was responsible for the death of a young boy by blood poisoning, and the men of the town drove him out. He was transferred to another mine. This happened several times before what happened in Avalon.

In Avalon, a devastating fire destroyed the mine and suffocated all inside. The stable boss, revealed to be Earl, had no sympathy for those killed.

On the day of the Old Number 7 disaster, Earl awoke to a light at the end of his yard that traveled around the outside of his property. The lantern, Earl sees, is held by a small boy in soot-covered overalls. He stares at Earl and tells him he has been looking for him a long time. The Boy mentions that Earl went by the name “Bobby” in Avalon, and changed his name following the fire. The other boys appear before Earl, and the man finds himself back in Avalon, remembering the fact that he left a young boy behind during the fire. Then, Earl wakes to find himself in bed.

At work, Earl ignores the picket line, haunted by his dream. The fire bell sounds.

A half hour later, Earl inspects the small structural fire that was easily put out. Edgar Avery and Pinky Avery are among the ones who went back into the mine with him to look for anyone hurt by the fire. His dream continues to haunt him as he goes to secure the entrance.

As he goes, something feels wrong and he sees a problem with the gas ventilation, causing a buildup of flammable gas. A young boy attempts to light a lantern, and Earl moves to stop him, only to see the boy is, in fact, The Boy. Earl is surrounded by boys of all ages, and they begin to murmur the names of the towns where Earl oversaw their deaths as a boss of some kind. Six in all.

With Barlo as the seventh, The Boy lights his flint, and the mine explodes.

## Relevant Characters

* Earl Hamner
* The Boy