PREVIOUS FICTION WINNERS

The Legend of Andrea Cerameline
Maxwell Dutschi, Sun Valley
2006 First Place Junior Youth Division

Editor’s note: This story is based on the life of the real Andrea Cerameline, who is buried in the Bonanza Cemetery.

On a rainy October afternoon in 1865, in a small town in northern Italy, a baby boy was born. It is said that at birth he weighed less than three pounds. With his small size and cap of soft brown hair, he was quickly nicknamed “Mouse.” His real name, however, was Andrea Cerameline.

At the age of five years, Andrea discovered he had a talent for being incredibly fast and agile when he became his primary school’s running champion. This might have surprised Andrea, but not his mother. She’d had her hands full since the day he learned to walk. More than walking—he had scurried first around the house, then their small yard, and finally their street, making him difficult to watch. Nonetheless, his mother loved Andrea very much. She, too, was small and quick. Watching her young son race down the street reminded her that these traits had been present in her family for many generations. On his seventh birthday, Andrea’s mother gave him her necklace hung with a charm, the piccolo del mouse, or her little mouse necklace. She had received the necklace from her father. “This necklace is for my little mouse. You may be small, but you are strong. May it help you remember to be a leader in harsh times,” she said. From that time on, he treasured this keepsake.

When he was eight years old, his mother died giving birth to a stillborn sister. Andrea was heartbroken, as was his father. They struggled on in Italy, but on Andrea’s twelfth birthday, his father informed him they were moving to America to strike it rich. Exactly one year later, after a long and sickening ship ride and treacherous journey along the wagon trail leading West, they stumbled upon Bonanza City, Idaho.

At the age of thirteen, Andrea was still small, standing only four foot eleven. But he was sturdy and strong. He looked different than the other boys in town with his curly black hair (which he covered up with his trademark beanie cap), olive eyes, and tan skin. Though small, Andrea had more muscle than might be expected on a boy his size.

Though small, Andrea was well-liked and made friends quickly. He was fair and worked hard. Indeed, despite his size, he often adopted the role of leader when in a group.

Andrea was unable to attend school since the Jordan Creek School was not built until the year after his arrival. Instead, he got a job unloading supply mules that rolled in from Challis. He was also the delivery runner for the Yankee Herald, the town’s only newspaper. Occasionally, he would pan for gold, help with the sluice box, or shovel ore for his father at the rocker box. He was always fast and did his work quickly.

When Andrea wasn’t working, he loved to go to the Thomas Barber Shop just to sit and talk to Mr. Thomas. Mr. Thomas liked to read, and he enjoyed talking to Andrea, who, though unable to attend school, still enjoyed learning. He helped Andrea improve his English, and Andrea taught him some Italian as well. Mr. Thomas had taken an immediate liking to Andrea since the first day he came to his barbershop. Additionally, Mr. Thomas was pleasantly surprised by how independent the boy was.

“I want a clean-up cut, please,” Andrea had said to Mr. Thomas the first time they had met, “and I’ll be paying with my own money!”

“Yes, sir,” Mr. Thomas had replied, taken aback by the boy’s confidence. As time passed, however, Andrea visited less often as he worked longer hours.

In 1880, the Custer Mining Company set up many gold and quartz mines in the surrounding area, and Andrea, who dreamed of working in a mineshaft, applied for a job immediately. Something about the hot, protected feel, chalky taste, and the earthy smell of the shaft suited him. He enjoyed trading his boyish, blue overalls for workmen’s trousers. By the age of fifteen, Andrea was already working in the Lucky Boy Mine. Because of his small size and quickness, the mine manager appointed him mining engineer, which meant he placed explosives in the tunnels to open up new areas within the mountain and to blow loose ore within the mineshafts. This job proved perfect for Andrea, and by the end of the year, he was considered the best explosive setter in the West.

Andrea’s reputation for quickness and courage grew around town. It was at this time he became known publicly by his childhood nickname, “Mouse.” His status greatened even more when he heaved an injured miner onto his shoulders and ran him all the way to Dr. Monroe’s office. That day, as he returned home from work, the man’s wife stopped him in the street and gave him flowers. She leaned against his narrow shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Thank you, Mouse, you saved my husband’s life.”

As he grew older, Andrea occasionally gave talks about the mines at the Bonanza Public School at Jordan Creek, where he became popular with many of the students. He was often smaller than the students who listened to his lectures. He received free drinks at the McKenzie Saloon and was even paid extra to work at neighboring mines, such as the Jordan Creek, Sunbeam, and Charles Dickens mines. Although he was born in a foreign country, he was treated as one of the regulars in town.

By 1880, the town of Bonanza had a population of fifteen hundred people and many buildings. Unfortunately, due to the growth, new taxes were being placed on the land and the people who had been there since the town was founded in 1876. Because of the increased taxes, many original settlers were being forced to leave. Eventually, a meeting was held at Cal Clawson’s house, the town’s county representative, to discuss the growing problem. Finally, the citizens came to a conclusion: they needed to ask Custer Mining Company, their main employer, for a raise.

“Surely they’ll help us,” said one man. “We’ve worked for them since they began.”

When Custer Mining Company officials were informed their entire work force wanted a raise, however, they were not thrilled. Instead they decided to make a deal. To maintain their rich profit, they wanted five new tunnels built in a mere seven days. The task was impossible. It would take five days to simply shovel out the new ore and at least forty-five explosives set just to open the space.

The next day, news of the infeasible task spread. Most of the town’s people packed and started to leave in order to travel to other mines or towns or to return to their old homes. Sadly, even Mr. Thomas, the barber, informed everyone he would be moving to Challis to start a long-tom-building business. While the townspeople were preparing to leave, they heard a loud, dull thud coming from the mountains. They stood frozen in position as they listened closely. Again, they heard a deep, booming thud. Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

Just then a young boy came running down the street yelling, “The Mouse is in the mine! He is setting the explosives!”

Immediately, everyone dropped their things and raced up to the Lucky Boy Mine. The miners grabbed picks, shovels, gas headlights, anything they could find to work. When they arrived at the shaft opening, there was Andrea, covered from head to toe in thick dust, wearing his blue trousers, dirty white shirt, and his favorite beanie cap. His piccolo del mouse charm glinted against his sooty skin. He was holding two things—a digging pick and a stick of dynamite.

“Let’s go, boys!” he blurted out in his scrappy English. “We’ve got work to do!”

It was a night to remember. Everyone participated: the men shoveled, the women brought lanterns, and the children carried water and food to the exhausted miners. In fifteen straight hours of work, Andrea completed the record-breaking feat of placing every single explosive. While racing through the tunnels, he became so covered in soot the miners said he really did look like a “mouse” as he scurried around, squeezing into tight nooks and crannies.

In six days, Andrea and the other miners cleared out all the ore, and the Custer Mining Company, though angry at being caught by their promise, was forced to give all the workers raises.

Andrea became a legend. He was considered the very heart and soul of the town. Later, during the 1897 fire in Custer, he was the first to run for buckets of water. True to his beloved mother’s wishes, the Mouse, though small in stature, had become a true leader among men.

On July 8, 1910, Andrea woke early. Strangely, it had snowed the night before. He got up and started a fire in his wood-burning stove. As he brewed his morning cup of coffee, he found himself thinking of his mother. He still missed her after all these years. Holding the hot cup between his small hands, he realized he had dreamed of her the night before, but try as he might, he could not remember the dream clearly. As he sat trying to retrieve the dream, there was a knock on his door. He opened it and found a small brown-haired boy shivering on his porch. The boy spoke no English, but he handed Andrea a note from the mine manager. One of the miners was sick, and, though it was his day off, the manager wanted the Mouse to work the Sunbeam shaft. Andrea, always one to help, scribbled “yes” on the bottom of the brown paper and handed it back to the boy. He watched as the little fellow ran off. He was quick and nimble and reminded Andrea of himself at that age.

The world seemed strange that morning, and Andrea felt strange, too. He could not find his favorite beanie, though he always hung it from a peg by the door. The road to the mine was deserted, and the birds, no doubt shaken by the cold, were not singing as usual. It was odd to see his footprints in the snow while green leaves hung from the aspen trees. Stranger yet, while setting out his dynamite, his shaft got plugged with ice and snow. Andrea was trapped by the remnants of a winter storm—in the middle of July. Before he could get out, his explosive charge blew with Andrea still inside. The Mouse had finally been caught underground.

All the miners were given the day off. In two days’ time, his funeral was arranged, and every person in Bonanza went to his funeral.

“We all loved him very much,” said the pastor as he finished his eulogy. “Andrea was a small man with a huge heart. His legend will be passed down from generation to generation by the ancestors of Bonanza.”

And so it is said that on the first snow day of the year, if you listen hard enough, you can still hear dull thuds rumble up in the rugged Sawtooth Mountains while Andrea, the Mouse, completes his work.

Maxwell Durtschi lives in Sun Valley.