Black Diamonds

“A thousand dollars. Ever had a thousand dollars at one time?”

“Never.”

“You’d like this, wouldn’t you?”

“I certainly wouldn’t refuse it.”

“Then quit beating around the proverbial bush and tell me what you can do for me.”

“End the strike.”

“When and how?”

“Soon. And with both sides bringing about the end.”

“You can do this?”

“I’ve no doubt about it. A little money now, and a little later, is all that’s required.”

“When can you make this happen?”

“Tomorrow night should be a good beginning.”

Brewster tossed the packet of money at Jim’s feet. Jim glanced at it, his face stony with resentment; feeling like a dog who had just been thrown a scrap of meat.

“Go on, take it,” said Brewster. “Let me see what you can do with it. I’m beginning to like you, Gentleman Jim.”

Jim leaned down, picked up the money, and put it in his coat pocket. “I won’t disappoint you,” he said, smiling.

Brewster went to the other side of the room to a large desk. He sat down and turned on a lamp. “Come over here.”

Jim walked leisurely to the front of the desk. Brewster shoved a black object towards him. It was mounted on a shiny brass pedestal. Jim then saw it was a large lump of coal.

Brewster smiled. “Watch,” he said, and slowly turned the piece of coal around in the lamp light. One side of it looked exactly like a finely cut diamond. Jim stared in amazement, his mouth slightly open. The coal even sparkled like a diamond.

“What do you think?” asked Brewster, grinning proudly.

“Shines like nothing I’ve ever seen,” answered Jim. “Is it fake?”

“Hell, no, it’s real. Ten years ago an old miner, who worked in the coal field here, brought it to me. Never seen anything like it since—neither has anyone else.”

Brewster’s face took on a child-like quality as he stared at his black diamond. “Sometimes, before I go to bed, I sit here and stare at it. And I remember these black rocks are better than diamonds; worth more than diamonds. Coal runs the world, not diamonds. It runs the furnaces of the factories, the boilers of the office buildings, the trains. It heats millions of homes. Yes, these little black beauties are worth more than any diamond on earth.”

“And make men like you very, very rich,” said Jim.

Brewster looked at Jim a moment. “You dream much, Gentleman Jim?”

Jim gave a quick grunt. “I’m afraid when you’re on the road, you don’t have much time for dreaming. Unless it’s about food and a warm place to sleep.”

“I dream about being rich. Richer than the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, or anyone else in this goddamn world.”

“That’s going to take quite a lot of money, sir.”

“It’ll happen. I’ll make it happen.”