CHAPTER 1

HEAVY EQUIPMENT WAS BEING brought in on flatbed trucksowned by Dick Geppert of 'Geppert Bro.' and this current flatbedwas being driven by John Henry Lightcap, husband to Kathleenand father to Ryan and Grace. John was responsible for securingthe equipment onto the elongated flatbed trailer, and then deliveringits contents to a specified site. Once the equipment arrived atits destination, the equipment would be driven off the rig. Thisprocess continued on throughout the day and into the evening, ifnecessary.

When all of the equipment had been delivered to the sites, itwas then that John would drive back to Geppert's storage yard.John didn't return to these specific construction sites until the jobhad been completed, unless there was no longer a need for thatpiece of equipment, or that a piece of heavy equipment had brokendown.

The equipment was often loud, and its heavy tracks vibratedthe barren earth; as each machine rumbled around a site, onecould already visualize an established housing development ormall. The drivers of these powerful mammoths are usually withintheir own world, often listening to music at full volume on theirheadphones as they level the land mass to the specifications ofthe developer. One of these drivers, a fellow by the name of JeffFischer, finally recognizes, as he works the land, far away fromany of the other equipment operators, that his bulldozer is sinkingheavily, more-so to the rear. The bulldozer is also leaning to hisleft, and this is confusing because the land has been previouslysurveyed, and is considered to be flat, and solid.

Jeff, until this point in time, had been enjoying his favoriteLed Zeppelin song, but luckily notices before it is too late that thebulldozer is slowly sinking; Jeff immediately and forcefully shifts themachine into its lowest gear and the bulldozer responds, climbingsteadily out of its descent and onto an area where it sits level. Uponthe realization that his mammoth was now on solid ground, hehalted the machine, removed his headphones, and sat motionless.As Jeff was regaining his "not a worry in the world" attitude, he stillfelt a considerable amount of anxiety, and thus he made sure thatthe machine was in neutral. He climbed down from the bulldozerand approached the hole.

When fairly close to the hole, he recognized a horribly fouland putrid stench emanating from it; acrid enough to make himimmediately and violently sick to his stomach. He swiftly turnedaway, as if hiding his face from a fistic assault, and forcefullyvomited until he was experiencing extensive dry heaves. Thinkingthat this was a previously placed sewage pipe and that the bulldozerhad somehow split it open, Jeff struggled to get his thoughtstogether. Fearing that he might be held accountable and causethe company a possible lawsuit, he straightened his torso andlooked around the area, trying to assess if his recent actions hadgained the attention of any of the other operators. Fortunately forJeff, he was in an area all by himself and the closest of the otheroperators was about eighty-five yards away. From that distance,it was probably assumed that Jeff had gotten off his rig to checksomething lying on the ground, and when he bent over, that hewas merely investigating what he had found. No one appeared tohave paid him more than the slightest bit of attention.

Jeff walked back and climbed upon his bulldozer, placed theengine into proper gear, lowered the shovel, and began to hide thedamage. With each mound of dirt that was pushed back into thehole, the stench lessened, and eventually the hole was filled. Jeffadded more dirt than what appeared necessary because he feltthat the hole may not be totally filled. Slowly but surely, he drovethe bulldozer around the outskirts of the mound, compacting theearth as he went. As Jeff got closer and closer to the center, headded more dirt and eventually the damaged area held the totalweight of the metal monster. With each pass over this area, hefelt more and more confident that the damage had been correctedand that no one would ever know that it was he who caused thissewer break.

"Whew!" impulsively gushed from Jeff's mouth as his stresslevel, and subsequently his blood pressure, lessened; these werereplaced by a "get over it" kind of laughter. He drove away from thisimmediate area feeling so much relief, much like the relief that hefelt after encountering a hostile teenager, verbally working throughthe problem with the youth, and finally after using his learnedskills to resolve the issue. You see, Jeff's full time job is as a youthcounselor at the Buck County Youth Center. However, he found itnecessary to work part time as a heavy equipment operator. Thisextra work helped pay off his college loans, plus it helped with hisnewly acquired mortgage payment.

CHAPTER 2

MYCOBACTERIUM LEPROUS seeks the cool places in the hostbody, particularly the skin and the surface nerves. This makes ita very visible disease, starting with patches on the skin; it mayalso damage nerves in the face, arms and legs. No one likes beingdisabled, let alone having crooked hands, lumpy, swollen faces, orsores on their hands and feet. It is this visible disability or deformitythat leads to much of the fear and stigma from which affectedpeople suffer. This lends itself to feelings of fear and shame, whichmay mean that those who suffer then neglect to come for treatmentat the onset of the disease, and only come when they already havenerve damage. Damaged nerves result not only in paralysis, butalso in loss of sensation. Multi-drug therapy treatment cannotreverse nerve damage. Loss of sensation in hands, feet and eyesmeans that everyday activities are fraught with danger; burns gounrecognized, wounds untended, and stones in shoes and grit inthe eyes both go undetected and untreated. The end result can bethe loss of sight, fingers and feet.

The vast majority of humans that resided in the original Edisoncommunity were healthy and tested negative with regards to leprosy,and they were narrowly sighted when asked to be compassionatetoward those that had this horrific disease.

Little was known about leprosy some 120 years ago. Whilemost people have a natural immunity to the disease, those that dodevelop leprosy can be cured with modern treatment modalities.Life-long care of anesthetic limbs is one of the greatest challengesfaced by people affected by leprosy, and neglect can cause damageso severe as to cause paralysis, such as clawed fingers or theinability to blink, resulting in corneal ulcers, and if untreated,blindness.

Worldwide, there are millions of people affected by leprosy,with over 800,000 new cases detected each year and over onemillion are on active treatment. A further two to three millionpeople are estimated to be living with a disability incurred throughleprosy.

Within the members of the governing body of the Edisoncommunity, judgment appeared to be easy when it came to decisionsregarding those that had what they viewed as this diabolical,disabling disease. The governing body, and the townspeople ofEdison, often gathered for town meetings, and when those afflictedwith leprosy was the topic of conversation, the consensus of opinionwas that these lepers would most probably prefer death, ratherthan a lifetime of pain and suffering. The community continuallysearched for a way to rid themselves of their leper colony.

The members of the community realized that it was the fault ofthe leper colony that they were afflicted with this horrible disease. Aconsideration was given to displace the colony to a desolate locationto live out the remainder of their lives; for it was quite evident thatnone in the colony would purposely procreate the continuanceof their pain-filled existence. This decision not to procreate theirkind was evidenced by the fact that every one of their unplannedoffspring has always been inflicted with this disabling disease, andits horrific appearance. The community of Edison, and their closeneighboring areas, were well aware that all within the colony sawprocreation as a means of bringing inevitable, unwanted pain andsuffering to a newborn.

There was considerable thought given to exiling the colony to afar off wooded area where they could live out the remainder of theirlives together; a location, similar to a commune, a concept whichwas prevalent during the 1960s. The community finally decidedto move the leper colony deep into an isolated, remote woodedsection of Edison. It was here that the colony lived for many years,though their seclusion continually weighed on the governing bodyof Edison and Doylestown.

Eventually, the leper colony took its toll on the communitymembers that were not afflicted and an official town meetingwas scheduled. At this meeting, the discussion centered upon theprojected cost factor relating to the care of those living within thecolony; the care that included costly items such as housing withcentral heating and air, waste management, a water supply, food,clothing, medical coverage, eye and dental maintenance, and othernecessities.

Communication came from those living within the town ofEdison, and also from others living in the surrounding communitiesof Bucks County. It was evident that something had to be done,and a decision had to be made during this meeting. Options wereconsidered, but were quickly abandoned, mainly due to the factthat continual care would be a cost that was not affordable; alongwith the cost for daily care came the fear related to the potentialspread of the disease.

These considerations weighed heavily upon the governing bodyof the community, and the eventual decision to exile the colony.However, not to a wooded area as it had in the past, but exiledto live the remainder of their lives deep within the black bowels ofthe earth.

Knowing that the lepers would be devastated if given theinformation that the Edison community had made the final decisionto exile them into the deepest recesses of the earth's bowels, itseemed obvious that some means of communication had to becreated. Several ideas of how to get the lepers within the earth,without a struggle, brought no viable solution. Considerable timepassed and just when the meeting was about to break up, asolution was found, and was agreed upon by the majority. Thecommunity began the formal planning of the lepers' demise, thatis, their proposed burial site.

CHAPTER 3

OFF BY ITSELF, FAR away from any resemblance of a community,within a thickly forested area, their search led them to an uninhabitedplace that appeared to be the answer. Laborers from the areaworked at least eight hours per day, digging an extended tunnelthat gradually descended, further and further toward the earth'score. Realizing that it was necessary to thoroughly confuse thelepers, once they were manipulated into these depths, the laborerswere given plans to construct intersecting passageways to and fromthe far end of the initial passageway. A week passed, then two,and then a month, and the monumental feat continued.

A tremendous amount of earth was being removed; with eachpassing day, the passageway extended deeper and deeper, footby foot, until it became evident that the laborers began to fear fortheir lives. Some of these laborers were extremely cocky, but theextreme depth also made them fearful of a cave-in. The laborerswere assured by the engineers that the depth was safe and thatthe work could go on. The inability of the engineers to convincethe laborers was the reason that precautions were finally taken,and these took on the form of the supports, such as those that hadbeen erected in mine shafts of the Old West.

The pace of the work slowed as wooden beams and plankswere installed to prevent a possible collapse. The work was time-consumingand quite rigorous: to fully understand, and to identifywith the plight of the laborer, one would only have to use theirmusculature to the point of exhaustion. One of the laborers woulduse a pick axe to tear into the earth and another would use ashovel to load the moistened, weighted earth and variety of smallrocks into whatever was available at that time. The rocks thatwere larger, and considered to be boulders, were not moved tothe surface, instead they were merely unearthed and hand rolledto the farthest area of construction; the farthest point from theentrance, and completely out of the way. As the passagewaygained in length, depth, and height; the rocks that were unearthedand could be lifted were clumsily carried to a location, close tothat of the boulders.

Eventually, wheel driven containers were brought to the site andthese measured approximately three feet by four feet, and were fourfeet in depth, with a rounded bottom. At each end of its length,and close the top, there were swivels that allowed its contents tobe rotated from one side to the other, discarding it in a designatedspot. Initially, these containers were pushed up the tunnel's gradualincline and once upon the surface, they were wheeled about fiftyfeet and then dumped. This process continued until the work loadwas too heavy to push it to the earth's surface.

It was at this point that the precautions came into play, wherethe beams and planks were installed over-head, and on the earthenwalls. These precautions were deemed necessary due to the factthat the work was being done so far into the earth. Because of thelength of the trek, the wheels were often heavily greased and holeswere driven into and through the topmost area of each dumpster.The metal hole was approximately two inches in diameter, andcovering the metal surrounding the hole was a constant lubricatedmaterial. This material allowed the rope to slide, in and out, withoutcausing it any wear or damage.

One end of the rope was securely attached at the earth's surfaceand the other end, when extended to its full length, was in excessof 250 feet. This heavy, thickened rope was then laced throughthe holes and taken to the furthest depth. When the dumpsterwas three-quarters of the way filled with earth and small rocks,and stones, the laborers found it difficult to understand, "that witheach load removed, their workload was increasing." The laborerssaw it as, "with each load removed, the end to this dangerous jobwould come closer to an end." While this mentality made sense,the laborers found the idea, "that with each load removed, theworkload was increased," to be ludicrous. However, with a thoroughexplanation, they realized that with each workload removed, theywere gradually going deeper and deeper into the earth. This meantthat each time the dumpster was filled; the decline would increase,causing the laborers to use more physical exertion to move eachload from its starting position to the surface.

As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, thepassage gradually extended, until the construction began on themaze of deliberate, but useless passageways. Eventually, the mazeof short, intricate, and complicated walkways was completed, andit exited to a lower area where another passageway extended tothe entrance way of the intended burial room.

As the passageway lengthened, the workload became close tounbearable, so more laborers had to be brought in to assist thosethat pushed, and those that pulled the heavy loads. To lessen thestruggle for the laborers known as the pullers, these men remainedupon the surface and after knotting a separate length of heavy ropeto the front of the dumpster, they would line up, one behind theother, and pull as if in a contested tug of war.

These powerful individuals pulled steadily, hand over fist; beingof great help to the laborers below that were pushing. Using themusculature of their shoulders, chest and back, along with theirown set of muscular legs, these chosen men used their shoulders,arms and hands to steer the dumpster along the temporarily litpassage. At the farthest area of the tunnel that was below wherethe dumpster and the pushers were situated, there stood two burly,muscle-bound men that had a firm grip on the farthest section ofrope. The rope, also tied securely to a tree upon the earth's surface,extended downward from the surface, through the drilled holes inthe dumpster, and then was held securely by the two burly men.This rope, when held quite taut, was used to help guide the pathof the dumpster as it ascended the passageway, heading in thedirection of the earth's surface.