Light at the end of the tunnel

The following morning, Angelo was up by 0500hrs. He didn't waste time by waiting to be served but went out to find his own water to bath. To his amazement, he came across Maya in the kitchen. Without knowing what got into him he found himself smiling.

"Hey there mystery lady", he said.

"Good morning Mr Black, did you sleep well?" she responded.

"very well indeed, and you? but you don't have to call me mister, my name is Angelo".

"were you looking for something?" she asked, completely ignoring what he just said.

"just some water to bath, I plan to go into the mine today and begin doing some research ".

"I'll send some to you right away" she said. she the turned to the stove where a huge iron pot was boikig and poured some water into an empty steel bucket. Angelo went back to his room.

He was at the gate to the mine by 0600hrs. bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready for work. he wen in and was given an escort down to the pit. He went inside and was appalled by the evident lack of cleanliness and safety measures around. He made a mental note of everything and began forming a strategy to deal with it.

Throughput the day he had one big worry. He found himself thinking about Maya. She was always there in the back of his mind no matter how much he tried dismissing her.

He left the mine around lunch, after checking most of the larger working areas and went home for lunch.

After lunch he went out for a walk around town. He avoided the bars and went out of town up the hills to get a better view of the dirty little town. The air quality began to improve as soon as he left the outskirts of the town. He found the walk relaxing.

Halfway up the hill, his attention was drawn to the sound of water in the distance. He squeezed through some shrubbery and followed the sound until he came to a clearing where he found the source of the sound. He found himself face to face with the most breathtaking waterfall he had ever set eyes on. It went up into the heavens with such brilliance and even had a rainbow high up in the sky. He fell in love instantly.

The place was devoid of any evidence of human touch and contrasted sharply with the town beneath. He found himself feeling so calm and serene.