Harriet Beamer Strikes Gold Read Online Free Page B

you to have fun.”
    “I know.” Harriet patted Henry’s cheek. “I know. And hey, it worked. I’m going to a gold mine with her today.”
    Henry leaned down and kissed his mother’s cheek, leaving a small, chocolate crumb. “I’m proud of you, Mom. I know that was hard.”
    “You know something, Henry? Making friends on the road—on the bus or train—was easy. But here? It’s different for some reason.”
    Henry looked into Harriet’s eyes. “Maybe because on the road you can’t just get up and leave. Catch the next bus.”
    “Henry, dear,” she said walking toward her room, “don’t go getting all Sigmund Freud with me. I’m much too old for that.”
    “Just saying, Mom. I’m just saying.”
    “Okay, now you better get back to work or whatever you call it. Writing, I suppose.”
    Henry folded his arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “What? What does what mean, dear?”
    “Writing is work. Just because I don’t swing a hammer like Dad doesn’t mean I don’t work.”
    Harriet clicked her tongue and snorted a breath from her nose. “Oh, Henry, don’t be that way. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
    “Right, well, just for the record, writing is hard work. Maybe even harder in some ways than what Dad did.”
    Harriet almost let go a burst of laughter but thought better of it. “I know, dear. Now, you go on. Florence is picking me up in just a few minutes.”
    “You mean you’re not taking the scooter?”
    “Ha, ha, very funny. Not this time, and don’t make fun of my Vespa. It’s pretty handy. It might come in handy someday, even for you.”
    “Okay, okay. Have fun.”

Chapter Three
    H ARRIET AND F LORENCE ENJOYED THEIR TOUR OF THE Empire Gold Mine, even if it was a little tiring. “I don’t think I walked around that much even when I was making my trip across the country,” Harriet said on the ride home. “But it was fascinating—and such pretty grounds. Lunch was good too.”
    “Yes, the mine owners had quite the life back then.”
    “And the gardens. Just gorgeous. Reminded me a little of a place back home—Longwood Gardens.”
    Florence turned the car onto Main Street.
    “I guess I must have known there is a lot that goes into getting gold from rock, but all that science and stuff and those poor miners traveling so far into the earth …” Harriet shivered. “Gives me the willies.”
    “And what about the mules?” Florence said with a quick thump on the steering wheel. “They spend practically their whole life miles below the earth’s surface. Seems pathetic.”
    “Yeah, I’ll say. I could never put my Humphrey down there. He’d be scared out of his mind.”
    “There are other types of mines,” Florence said. “Above-ground mines. They’re called placer gold mines.”
    “Placer?” Harriet was intrigued.
    “Yep. That’s when the gold is deposited above the ground in gravel beds and creeks. It’s a lot easier to mine a placer lot than dig under the mountain.”
    “So the gold is just lying around? Who deposits it?”
    Florence laughed and nodded. “Yes, it’s just lying around, and Mother Nature deposits it. The gold has weathered loose from the rock it was embedded in and then floats downstream—in a matter of speaking. There’s a lot of geology behind a placer mine. The miners dredge it out with machines that separate the gold from the rock.”
    “Wow, that does sound easy. And you can find chunks of gold?”
    “Not always chunks. Small bits and pieces, some larger stuff, I would imagine. It takes time. But it can be done. I guess some people actually make a good bit of money doing it. Some folks even still pan for gold in the streams around here.”
    “Wowie zowie, imagine that. Finding gold. And you can keep it?”
    “Long as you have proper right to it.”
    By now Harriet’s imagination was running rampant as she watched the view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains whiz by. She imagined herself wearing a mining helmet with a little light on