Storming Heaven

Rosa’s children are taken to the doctor after the explosion, and Rosa waits anxiously to hear if they are okay. Mr. Davidson is most upset about Carmello, worried about his future as a baseball player. Mario yells at Rosa to go home, but Rosa wants to wait and see if her children are safe. Instead, Mr. Davidson takes Rosa home with him where Rosa observes:“The butterflies watch what we do” (169), indicating that Mr. Davidson and Rosa are having an affair, though whether it is consensual on Rosa’s part is unclear. Back at home, Rosa observes that Mario still drinks too much, causing him to break bottles and become violent.

After hearing about the explosion, Rondal returns home to visit his mother, who has moved in with Rondal’s brother Talcott and his wife Pricie. Rondal’s mother blames Rondal for Kerwin’s death since Kerwin had to work in the mines after Rondal left town. The next day, Rondal runs into Carrie and invites her to lunch. Carrie tells Rondal about Albion’s Bible study, where they also study the United Mineworkers. Rondal tells Carrie that he is organizing the Winco and Davidson miners, and C. J. and Isom are organizing the Jenkinjones miners, and he’d like Albion to organize the Felco miners.

The Baldwin-Felts guards know Rondal is back in West Virginia, and Rondal decides to do his unionizing work out in the open, reasoning “that it was easier for a man to get killed if he was operating undercover and no one knew of his presence” (174). Rondal has dinner with C. J. and his wife Violet, where he learns that Isom wants to marry C. J.’s daughter, Gladys, but C. J. won’t let them, saying Isom “thinks everything comes easy because that’s the way it’s allays been for him” (176).

One day, as Rondal is traveling by train between Davidson and Annadel, two guards beat him up on the train platform. Later, Rondal attends Doc Booker’s church along with C. J. and Isom. The preacher invites Rondal to speak, and he tells the congregation about witnessing Johnson’s death and about the importance of organizing. Many people tie a red bandana around their necks as a sign of solidarity, “an old sign of poor people standing together, the red badge of the union” (180). Later, Rondal attends the Bible study at Albion’s home and is impressed by how many people he has gathered to join the union. By spring, the majority of the miners at Jenkinjones, Felco, and Winco have organized. Rondal stays close to C. J. and Isom to avoid being beat up again, and the three of them discuss strategy. One night, they hear that the guards have shot up Winco. The men decide that it’s time to strike and call for backup tents and supplies from the union in Charleston, knowing that many men will be evicted. The next morning, Albion and the other minors arrive at the mine, pour the water out of their water bottles, and refuse to go in. The guards quickly begin evicting people from their coal company-owned homes. Ermel lets families camp out on his farmland. The strike spreads until over 12,000 people are living in tent colonies. 

Rondal calls out to the miners in Jenkinjones to join the strike. The coal company sends 12 guards to evict the families of Jenkinjones. C. J. and Isom decide that they will arrest the guards as they pass through Annadel on the train for illegal eviction and for carrying weapons. Rondal and Talcott watch from a distance as Isom, Albion, and C. J. approach the guards at the train station, but the guards say that they have warrants to arrest Isom and C. J. instead. Isom and C. J. refuse and a guard reaches for his gun, but Talcott fires at the guard instead. The guard’s gun goes off and he shoots C. J. in the stomach. Isom shoots another guard, and three more guards grab onto the caboose of a passing train. One falls on the tracks, where Talcott shoots him in the head. After the shooting has stopped, everyone realizes C. J. is dead, along with about seven guards.

The next day, Rondal and Isom hold a funeral for C. J. Violet agrees that Isom and Gladys can marry. At the funeral, Rondal sees a man standing beside the open grave. He realizes the man is his Uncle Dillon, who helped deliver him. Uncle Dillon was fond of C. J., which is why he came to the funeral, but Rondal still resents him for abandoning the family.

Rosa is staying at Mr. Davidson’s home while her children are in the hospital. She imagines that her son Francesco and her mother, who is dead, are visiting her. They help Rosa break a glass case of butterflies that Mr. Davidson has in his home. Rosa asks Francesco where the butterflies go, and he says, “To the angels,” to which Rosa replies, “My mama is with the angels” (197). Rosa insists on taking Francesco out to the river to wash his face. Francesco insists on taking Rosa somewhere, but she wants to wait for her sons to be released from the hospital. Nevertheless, Francesco takes Rosa somewhere, where she observes:“It is very clean here. Francesco comes every day and Mama makes my bed at night” (197).