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Authors: Katherine Kirkpatrick
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tremendous boom! The
Windward
rocked violently. Black smoke surrounded the ship and then parted into two clouds.
The iceberg stood, immovable.
All was silent, except for the whistling of the wind.
“That iceberg won’t be going anywhere until next summer,” Angulluk said. “Why such a mournful face? Do you really care what happens to them?”
I felt a lump in my throat.
“Even if the ship sinks, the
qallunaat
can get to land by rowboat,” Angulluk said. “It’s only a matter of time, anyway, until the ice freezes over. Then they can walk here.”
Winter is coming on fast. Walking to the ship would make visits so much easier. Perhaps I’ll see Duncan in passing soon
. Now that Angulluk and I were off the
Windward
, it was unlikely that he’d trade me to a sailor.
As we left for the village, the clouds drifted from the ship and hovered like flocks of gray birds over the icy harbor.
I went down to the beach every day to check on the ship. More floes had drifted together. Five days after the attempt to blow apart the iceberg, the harbor froze over into a hilly mass. I ventured onto the ice a short way, andit began to splinter with a cracking sound; I’d have to wait to see Duncan.
Meanwhile, our group from Itta were busy among the people of this shore. Angulluk and several other men left to hunt musk oxen, taking Bag of Bones.
Most days, Ally and I took our work to grandmother Navarana’s igloo while the men were away. As we chewed hides and stitched, she made delicious soups out of bones, scraps, and salty seaweed and used a walrus rib to pull out the tasty morsels. She was good company, smarter than an old fox who’d survived many seasons of hunting. She scolded us, but also praised my sewing. There was room in her igloo for us all: Ally and Sammy and me; Navarana’s daughter, Mikihoq, a small, quiet woman with thinning hair and big eyes; and Mikihoq’s two children, Tooth Girl (Akitsinnguaq), and her brother, Magtaaq, who was about two winters old. His red nose always seemed to be dripping, so I named him Runny Nose. Mikihoq seldom spoke to me and I knew she didn’t like me, but her children were friendly.
Everyone loved Sammy, Navarana especially. No doubt she’d never seen blue eyes like his on a baby of our people; and she liked his mischievous grin. One day as we chewed seal hides to soften them for sewing, Sammy pulled himself up on the frame of the sleeping platform and stood. He’d done this before, but now Sammy discovered if he held on to the platform with his two chubby hands, he could take a step.
“Look! He’s nearly walking!” the old woman said.
“He learns fast,” Ally boasted.
Tooth Girl, playing with her ivory animals, looked up and clapped her hands. Her mother, who was breast-feeding Runny Nose, also smiled.
I went on chewing my pelt. As if reading my thoughts, the old woman said, “Eqariusaq, you never know what will come. Perhaps soon you will have a baby of your own.”
“No, Aana,” I said.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. After many seasons—I am blessed with nothing.”
“Wait and see. You are young and healthy. You have many seasons for children to come to you.”
“Maybe.”
I wondered if my sister, Nuljalik, had become pregnant. How I wished I could talk to her. How was life for her now that winter was here? Was she getting enough to eat? Perhaps our seasons without much food were why my people did not often conceive. And I suspected the cold had something to do with it. Like most women, I rarely had a time of bleeding. Luckily, Angulluk was so lazy, he was glad that he didn’t have children to feed.
That day, Sammy waddled back and forth, delighted with himself. Soon he held on to the platform with only one little hand.
“Your baby has blue eyes,” the old woman said to Ally. “You and Eqariusaq spend time with the
qallunaat
, don’tyou? That is why Mikihoq is afraid to become friendly with you. Do the women of your own village avoid you,
Windward
rocked violently. Black smoke surrounded the ship and then parted into two clouds.
The iceberg stood, immovable.
All was silent, except for the whistling of the wind.
“That iceberg won’t be going anywhere until next summer,” Angulluk said. “Why such a mournful face? Do you really care what happens to them?”
I felt a lump in my throat.
“Even if the ship sinks, the
qallunaat
can get to land by rowboat,” Angulluk said. “It’s only a matter of time, anyway, until the ice freezes over. Then they can walk here.”
Winter is coming on fast. Walking to the ship would make visits so much easier. Perhaps I’ll see Duncan in passing soon
. Now that Angulluk and I were off the
Windward
, it was unlikely that he’d trade me to a sailor.
As we left for the village, the clouds drifted from the ship and hovered like flocks of gray birds over the icy harbor.
I went down to the beach every day to check on the ship. More floes had drifted together. Five days after the attempt to blow apart the iceberg, the harbor froze over into a hilly mass. I ventured onto the ice a short way, andit began to splinter with a cracking sound; I’d have to wait to see Duncan.
Meanwhile, our group from Itta were busy among the people of this shore. Angulluk and several other men left to hunt musk oxen, taking Bag of Bones.
Most days, Ally and I took our work to grandmother Navarana’s igloo while the men were away. As we chewed hides and stitched, she made delicious soups out of bones, scraps, and salty seaweed and used a walrus rib to pull out the tasty morsels. She was good company, smarter than an old fox who’d survived many seasons of hunting. She scolded us, but also praised my sewing. There was room in her igloo for us all: Ally and Sammy and me; Navarana’s daughter, Mikihoq, a small, quiet woman with thinning hair and big eyes; and Mikihoq’s two children, Tooth Girl (Akitsinnguaq), and her brother, Magtaaq, who was about two winters old. His red nose always seemed to be dripping, so I named him Runny Nose. Mikihoq seldom spoke to me and I knew she didn’t like me, but her children were friendly.
Everyone loved Sammy, Navarana especially. No doubt she’d never seen blue eyes like his on a baby of our people; and she liked his mischievous grin. One day as we chewed seal hides to soften them for sewing, Sammy pulled himself up on the frame of the sleeping platform and stood. He’d done this before, but now Sammy discovered if he held on to the platform with his two chubby hands, he could take a step.
“Look! He’s nearly walking!” the old woman said.
“He learns fast,” Ally boasted.
Tooth Girl, playing with her ivory animals, looked up and clapped her hands. Her mother, who was breast-feeding Runny Nose, also smiled.
I went on chewing my pelt. As if reading my thoughts, the old woman said, “Eqariusaq, you never know what will come. Perhaps soon you will have a baby of your own.”
“No, Aana,” I said.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. After many seasons—I am blessed with nothing.”
“Wait and see. You are young and healthy. You have many seasons for children to come to you.”
“Maybe.”
I wondered if my sister, Nuljalik, had become pregnant. How I wished I could talk to her. How was life for her now that winter was here? Was she getting enough to eat? Perhaps our seasons without much food were why my people did not often conceive. And I suspected the cold had something to do with it. Like most women, I rarely had a time of bleeding. Luckily, Angulluk was so lazy, he was glad that he didn’t have children to feed.
That day, Sammy waddled back and forth, delighted with himself. Soon he held on to the platform with only one little hand.
“Your baby has blue eyes,” the old woman said to Ally. “You and Eqariusaq spend time with the
qallunaat
, don’tyou? That is why Mikihoq is afraid to become friendly with you. Do the women of your own village avoid you,
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