Sound of Surviving

14

"Hey," Emma greeted. "Mind if I join you? So, what the hell is Miner's Day, and why are you beating yourself up over it?"

"It's an annual holiday celebrating an old tradition. The nuns used to make candles and trade them with the miners for coal," Scarlet explained.

"Coal? In Maine? If they were mining for lobster, I'd understand."

"Look, I don't know, Mary Margaret said. "Now, they use it as a fundraiser. It's an amazing party -- everyone loves it."

"It doesn't seem like everyone loves it."

"It's not Miner's Day -- it's me. Last week, I had ten volunteers. This week, they all dropped out."

"You think this is about what happened with David?"

"Oh, I know it is. A few of them told me as much. I've never... been a homewrecker before."

"It's going to blow over. You made a mistake with David -- it happens. But, you don't have to do charity to try to win people's hearts back."

"I have to do something, and this is the best I can do. Love ruined my life."

"We'll help you," Nevaeh told her.

Emma's phone rang. "Sheriff Swan. Yeah, I'll be right down." She hung up and looked back at Mary Margaret. "Well, apparently, duty calls. Hang in there. And, if there's anything I can do to help, I will."

"I know," Mary Margaret said. "Thank you."

---

The citizens of Storybrooke were setting up for Miner's Day. Leroy walked past a ladder where what seemed to be 'fairy dust' fell on his head. He looked up and saw Astrid.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Astrid apologized. "It just slipped out of my hand. I..."

Leroy smiled. "No problem at all."

Astrid climbed down the ladder. "I really am so sorry. I... I was so busy trying to get the lights to work, that I didn't realize I was about to knock it off the ladder."

"Let me take a look at those lights for you." Leroy climbed up the ladder and looked at the lights. "Here's your problem -- you're overloading the transformer. You kept messing around with these lights, the whole thing could've blown up on you."

"Oh. Then I guess that makes you my hero."

"I'm nobody's hero, sister."

"Oh. You can just call me Astrid."

"I call everybody sister. I'm Leroy." He tinkered with the lights, which turned on.

"How did you do that? Are you an electrician?"

"I'm in the custodial services game." He climbed down the ladder.

"That's... Wonderful."

"No, it's not. What I really wanted to do, was sail. I even bought a boat. It's a real clunker. I was going to fix it up, sail around the world, say goodbye to this hellhole. I'm... I'm sorry, sister."

"It's okay," Astrid reassured. "You know, someone once told me, you can do anything as long as you can dream it."

"You really think?"

"Sure. Look how easily you fixed those lights. I bet you could do anything." They stood close. "I should, uh, get back to the Volunteer Center. Nice to meet you, Leroy."

---

Emma was investigating Kathryn's crashed car.

Sidney arrived on scene with a camera and asked, "You mind if I take a look, too?"