Encroaching ice invisibly circumscribed her kayak. Her ill husband and son lay shivering at home, perhaps already dead. She fought her fatigue while considering this, the ice slowly mooring her idle paddle.
Greasy guillemots speckled the sky. It would not hail and the birds would not take refuge in their rookery within striking distance. Inland, the reindeer had been appropriated by the CCCP. Even though no officials represented that expanse of barren tundra, the Chachki tribes feared rumors of draconian punishment for stealing from the Party. So Galgan-nga and Mother set from shore to spear a seal, but nothing was found at the sea.
Hunger everywhere. Salty waves lapped onto the kayak deck, trying to lick her warm flesh. The gurgling of Mother's stomach could be heard. She had been fainting from exhaustion all day. Diving guillemots cascaded into the sea, plundering gullet-by-gullet of silvery fish to regurgitate to their children. 'It is unfair to be a woman and not a bird,' thought Galgan-nga as her vessel bobbed atop the gray depths.
The glassy portal returned her gaze at every glance. One face she cast gave way to a ripple, then to a walrus. The nodular eyes, the weeping tusks, the cavernous mouth: She had seen many walruses, but never one so far from shore. They were both aliens here. The two omens, blank-faced, just stared. Remembering her husband and son, she drove the spear into the walrus' mustache, killing it instantly.
The corpulent walrus floated, its lifeless blubber buoyant like clouds in the salt water. Galgan-nga quickly found the walrus ill and unsuitable for food, spotting rotten purple lesions all over its hide. She released the corpse into the sea and the guillemots soon flocked to feast. The harpoon must have hooked into the eye socket, for it would not come loose. Spearless, she picked up her oar to row home.
She sobbed and sobbed, receiving no consolation. Behind her, Mother lay face down in the arctic sea, preserved by the cold and salt. Galgan-nga rowed home with her sweet Mother, not a seal, not a walrus, in tow.
No comments:
Post a Comment