The Haunted Igloo (13 page)

“
I guess it paid him back!”

Lise sat on the sled, ready
for the trip home. “Do you really need to pay anyone back,
Jean-Paul? Did Chinook and your other friends twist your arms to
make you stay in the igloo?”

Jean-Paul thought about
that. “I think it was partly my own fault. I wanted to join Ice
Patrol so much that I even ate raw fish and let them trap me in the
igloo.”

Lise gave him a big hug as
he curled up next to her on the sled. “I knew I could count on
you.”

Chapter 8

T
hroughout January, Chinook spent his spare time helping
Jean-Paul train Sasha to run with a sled. Days were growing longer
now, gaining about seven minutes of light a day. Then, on January
24, the sun appeared for the first time since last November. It was
a welcome sight for this darkness-weary family from the south of
Canada.

The Ardoins watched the
breathtaking sunrise, as they had watched the sunset several months
before. First, spikes of red and gold light flared up from the
horizon as the great mass of Earth’s shadow rushed into space. This
was followed by the blood-red arc of the sun, leaving the family
speechless. However, as welcome as it was, the sun did little to
banish the cold.

One morning at breakfast Jean-Paul and his
family heard a rumbling noise and went outside to investigate. On
the southern horizon was a great, moving white cloud.

“
Caribou!” said Cordell. “Hundreds of
caribou. That cloud is vapor from the warmth of their bodies in the
cold air.”

“
Wow!” exclaimed Jean-Paul.

“
They’re probably going to a feeding
ground near the mountains,” Cordell said. “They’ll find some trees
there to gnaw on. In a few more weeks they might find other food,
such as moss growing on rocks.”

“
Lichen
,” Lise said, with a laugh.
“Reindeer moss!”

Cordell put his arm around
her. “And in a few months, so I am told, the mother caribou will
all go to a special birthing place to have their
calves.”

It was the first time
they’d seen caribou so near their cabin. They watched the cloud
silently until the herd rumbled out of sight over the
horizon.

When they went back inside,
Lise said, “Isn’t the daylight fantastic! It’s one of the best
things about living here, seeing the sun for the first time in
months. Soon there will be alpine flowers, and geese honking
overhead, looking for open water and a place to nest.” Her eyes lit
up with excitement. “How I love the sound of honking
geese!”

“
Don’t forget the insects!” Cordell
said. “Swarms of mosquitos and other insects to feed thousands of
nesting birds!”

Jean-Paul sat down and
helped himself to some bannock and the last of their strawberry
jam, brought with them from Quebec. When he set the empty jar back
on the table, Lise picked it up and peered inside. “Well,” she
said, “that’s the last of the jam till our ship comes in
again.”

“
Our
air
ship!” said Jean-Paul with a
mouthful of bread. “How many weeks now, Pa?”

Cordell picked up his mug
of coffee, and took a long drink. He smacked his lips, wiped his
whiskers with the back of his hand, and held out the mug for more.
He looked at Jean-Paul.

“
The planes won’t return till this
weather breaks,” he said. “I won’t have much to trade this year
though. We’ll have to buy supplies with my government check—if it
comes with the plane. All I’ve trapped so far are a few rabbits and
that gray wolf last week. Not many, but the pelts are nice and
thick. It’s still early enough to trap. What I’d like are some
foxes.” Cordell stopped talking and looked right at
Jean-Paul.

Jean-Paul caught the glance
and guessed his father was thinking about Jean-Paul’s trap, which
still hadn’t caught anything. He had just about given up hope of
trapping an Arctic fox for his mother. His stay in the haunted
igloo, and the illness after, had prevented him from working with
the trap. Maybe his father would help reset and bait it. In the
meantime, today was Sunday, and Chinook was coming again to work
with Sasha and the sled.

Chinook had already been to
visit Jean-Paul twice. The first time had been to see the rock
collection. The next time, he brought Nanuk and Aiverk, and the
four of them gave Sasha her first lesson.

Now, as if reading
Jean-Paul’s mind, his father said, “How’s the training coming? Is
the dog learning anything?”

Jean-Paul swallowed the
last of his bite. “She’s doing okay. But I expected her to be
pulling a sled by this time without help from me or
Chinook.”

Cordell leaned back in his
chair. “You must remember she’s still just a pup. Right now she
thinks it’s a game.”

Jean-Paul laughed. “You
should have seen what she did to Chinook the first time he put the
harness on her. He was holding the lead when she decided to run
off. And poor old Chinook lost his balance on the snow and went
sliding along on his belly! It was the funniest thing I ever
saw!”

His father grunted. “Maybe
someone should tell her she needs a sled behind her before she
runs, eh?” Jean-Paul burst out laughing.

“
She ran about a mile!” he said,
coming up for air. “And Chinook had to let go so she wouldn’t drag
him all the way to Great Bear Lake on his belly. She’s a strong
dog, Pa! A really strong dog, and you know she was the runt of the
litter. She might not be big, but she’s strong. I’ll bet she could
run for six days without stopping once!”

Before Jean-Paul could say
more, the huskies began howling. Lise filled a kettle with water
and set it on the stove to heat. She went over and opened the door,
saying, “Let me guess. Why, of course, it’s someone named
Chinook!”

Jean-Paul stuffed another bite of bannock
into his mouth and ran over to greet his friend.

Chinook stomped into the
cabin with Sasha following happily, carrying her bushy tail curled
high above her back. There even appeared to be a smile on her face.
Lise closed the door behind Chinook, who stood grinning from ear to
ear. He pushed back his fur hood and unfastened his parka. “Are you
eating again, Jean-Paul?”

Lise sighed. “It’s all he
ever does, Chinook. I suspect one of these days he’ll be bigger
than his father. Do you think he’ll grow that big?”

Chinook looked at Cordell.
“Even my own father will never be that big. But I think
he
has stopped growing.”
The boy laughed. “With the way Jean-Paul eats, if he doesn’t grow
tall, he will just get very
wide
.”

“
Just like you,
Blubbermouth
!”

“
Jean-Paul!” said his
mother.

But Chinook knew the name
was all in fun. He laughed so hard that his face turned as red as a
fresh caribou steak. “I love it!” he cried. “I love it! Now
Jean-Paul’s acting like my other insulting friends! Blubbermouth!
That’s the perfect name for Aiverk! I can’t wait to call him that!”
He continued laughing until tears ran down his face and he could
not get his breath. Sasha nudged the boy’s hand and sniffed his
parka.

Jean-Paul grinned and
pulled on his boots. He watched Sasha from the corner of his
eye.
Chinook sure has a way with
dogs,
he thought.
Look at her sniffing and licking around on him. Maybe he
carries a salmon in his pocket.

It was true that Sasha was
happy to see Chinook, salmon or not. Right now she stood on her
hind legs, her front paws on the boy’s chest, eagerly licking his
cheek. Chinook petted the dog’s muzzle. “Maybe you won’t like me so
much when we get done today.
Today
I’m going to hitch you up with Amarok! That one
will teach you what’s what, unless you want to sit on your fine
tail the rest of your life!”

A few minutes later, the
boys harnessed Sasha behind Amarok. With Jean-Paul on the sled and
Chinook steering from behind with the gee pole, Chinook yelled,
“
Hah
!
Hah
!
” Amarok had been impatient. Understanding the command, he
leaned into his own harness and strained, forgetting the smaller
husky trailing behind.

At first Sasha was confused
by the signals Chinook gave Amarok. Chinook shouted in
Inuktitut,
and Sasha went
sliding on her hind legs as Amarok pulled sharply around. After a
moment she regained her footing and was soon running in the right
direction, following Amarok’s lead.

“
Good girl!” Jean-Paul yelled.
“
Hah
!
Go, Sasha,
hah
!”

Chinook stood on the
runners. He yelled into Jean-Paul’s ear, “We don’t have to worry
anymore! That’s one smart dog!”

When the session was over,
the boys sat on the side of the sled and talked. Chinook said, “I
almost forgot to tell you. Taguk is mending his
kayak
. When the ice leaves the river,
we’ll all go
kayaking
.”

Jean-Paul had gone in his
father’s canoe several times the summer before, but had never been
in a
kayak
. He
said, “I can hardly wait!” He paused a moment. “I remember how the
ice sounded last year when it broke up. It crashed against the
shore and sounded like great cannon shots.” In his mind’s eye,
Jean-Paul could see the groaning ice floes as they wrenched free
and crashed, sometimes piling up against each other on the land.
“
Kayaking
sounds
like great fun, Chinook! Dangerous, but fun!”

____________

T
he following week Jean-Paul spent a night in Chinook’s igloo.
This was his first night to sleep in an igloo since the time in the
haunted one. He looked around at the fire flickering on the wall
and at the personal belongings that made this particular igloo
home: the sleeping ledge piled high with polar bear furs, wet
clothes drying beside the fire, Arnayak’s cooking utensils, and her
sewing. Above all, the warmth and scent of human bodies reminded
him he was not alone. There were no evil spirits here tonight, only
his friends. Jean-Paul was too excited to be afraid. Early the next
morning, Aiverk and Nanuk would come, and the four would go spear
fishing through the ice.

Chinook’s father was on a
hunting trip with other Inuit men, but the old grandfather,
Kiakshuk, was there.

Before bedtime Chinook
said, “Grandfather will tell us a story now. Grandfathers are great
storytellers. Kiakshuk knows many stories. I’ll ask him to speak
slowly so I can repeat the words for my friend.”

Kiakshuk called the baby, Lichen, to him,
and took her into his lap. Jean-Paul was warm and comfortable. He
felt happy sharing the evening with his new friends.

Kiakshuk told a story about
a man called
Net-ser-su-it-su-ar-suk
,
who could not catch seals like other Inuit
men.

Soon, Lichen fell asleep on
Kiakshuk’s lap. Jean-Paul was sleepy, too. But he listened to a few
other stories. The one he liked best was a prayer for good seal
hunting, sung to a goddess named
Nuliajuk
.

After the storytelling,
Arnayak took Lichen from Kiakshuk’s arms and tucked her beneath a
bearskin. Jean-Paul, Chinook, and Kiakshuk also went to bed,
Jean-Paul curling up next to his friend in the thick animal
hides.

Sometime during the night, Jean-Paul dreamed
he speared his first fish.

____________

I
n
mid-February Jean-Paul found a fox in his trap. Sasha moved close
to the trapped animal. She whined, then touched its tail with a
paw. She jumped back and barked at it.

Jean-Paul walked around the
trap, looking at the fox from all angles. It was a terrible sight.
The dead fox’s eyes were open and glassy. They stared right up at
him over the long, pointy nose. Small ears stood up sharply, a tip
of black tongue stuck out between tightly clenched teeth. The coat
was thick and creamy. After tanning, it would be soft and shiny.
There would even be a nice brush-tail trophy for Jean-Paul’s
room.

Suddenly, Jean-Paul did not
feel excited, for there was a look of suffering in the fox’s beady,
black eyes.

“
Oh, Sasha,” he whispered, as if the
fox might still hear. “I killed a poor little fox that never did
anything to me ... and made its foot hurt like mine
does.”

Sasha sniffed some more at the fox and sat
back down to look at it.

Jean-Paul whistled for the
dog. “Well, come on. I have to go tell Pa.”

A short time later,
Jean-Paul went to his father, who sat at his desk studying a small
chunk of greenish ore with a magnifying glass. “What’s that?”
Jean-Paul asked. “Gold?”

Cordell laid down the glass
and turned to Jean-Paul. “Not gold, I’m sorry to say. This is a
chunk of copper ore. It came from Yukon Territory, near an old
mining town.” Cordell shook his bushy head and laughed softly. “If
there’s more where this came from—!”