Read Online Wilderness by Roddy Doyle - Free Book Online Page A

the
     lakeside seemed to shake.
    â€œIs there much water?” said Johnny.
    He pointed at the ice.
    Kalle nodded.
    There were branches and sticks poking out of the
    ice. They marked the safe path across the lake, where
    the ice was thickest. It was like a race now, like the
    skiing they’d seen on telly. The dogs went right
    between the sticks. Sometimes they skidded, but it
    didn’t slow down or confuse them.
    Aki went past them, on the snowmobile. He hit one of the marker branches but it didn’t snap or fall. It
     sprang back to the upright position.
    â€œThe ice must be thick,” said Tom.
    He had to say it loud. The sky seemed to swallow
    up his voice.
    â€œYeah,” said Johnny.
    They were safe, but it was still exciting. Ice melted;
    ice broke. Some messers might have changed the
    positions of the sticks and sent the sled the wrong and
     dangerous way.
    They sailed over the ice.
    They went past a house. It was suddenly there, at
    the edge of the lake, like a story house. It was wood
    and painted green. It seemed to move beside them,
    and then they left it behind.
    Johnny looked back, but the house was gone,
    hidden by the trees. He was cold. His face was very
    cold. He hadn’t moved in hours. He saw Aki ahead of
    them. The snowmobile went over a hump and into the
    trees. Aki was off the lake. Johnny couldn’t see him
    now. Just before the dogs reached the lakeside, he saw
    a wide gap in the trees, and he could see the sun. He
    could see half the sun, like the top half of a big red
    eye, staring at him.
    â€œIs that the sun or the moon?” said Tom.
    â€œSun,” said Johnny.
    â€œHow do you know?” said Tom.
    â€œShut up,” said Johnny.
    The dogs climbed the bank. One of them slipped
    but was held up by the others and the harness. They
    dragged the sled up, off the ice. They were in among
    the trees again, and the wind was off their faces. But
    they were still cold, that shivery feeling that takes
    ages to go away. The light had changed. It was darker
    here. The trees closed in above them, and the light
    was cut into long lines that got thinner, until the sled
    went deeper into the trees, and they left the light
     behind.
    Then they saw the fire.
    The dogs headed for it. They swerved among the
    trees, but always, when the turn was finished, the fire
    was in front of them.
    They came out of the trees, to a small clearing with
    a frozen stream and snow-hidden bushes and silver
    light that seemed solid enough to climb.
    Aki was sitting at the fire, on a log. He waved as
    Kalle called over the boys’ heads, and the dogs
    stopped. The sled stopped completely. Two of the
    dogs lay down. The boys started to climb off the sled.
    â€œWait,” said Aki.
    Kalle walked past them and tied a strap to one of
    the small trees that grew beside the stream.
    â€œOK,” said Aki.
    They got off the sled and stood up. They were stiff.
    â€œOh, me poor bones,” said Johnny.
    Tom began to jump up and down.
    â€œGood idea,” said Aki.
    But they stopped, because Aki was cutting wood
    and that was much more interesting. He was slicing
    the top of a branch, again and again, making it look
    like a pineapple or a mad haircut.
    â€œBurns better, I guess,” he said. “See?”
    He held the branch close to the fire, and the cut
    pieces of the branch lit quickly. The boys watched the
    flame spread up through the branch.
    â€œCool,” said Tom.
    He wanted to take his knife out; it was hidden in
    one of his pockets. But he knew his mother would
    have gone mad if she’d seen it.
    The air was full of panting dogs and excited people.
    Aki and Kalle helped everyone to tie their sleds. The
    dogs all sat or lay in the snow. They curled up and let
    themselves sink in. They hid their noses under their
    tails.
    Tom and Johnny took off their gloves and put their
    hands out, over the flames. They sat down on a log.