"... where the final lumbering remnants of the ice Age  the massive and awe-inspiring glaciers  calve cathedral-sized icebergs into the sea  where nature's bounty unfolds in a panoply of flora and fauna  the like of which is seen nowhere else on the planet." "From the ocean depths, plumbed by ageless cetaceans  to azure skies, where the mighty eagle soars." "This land abounds with creatures great and small, strange and majestic." "It is a land steeped in tradition  its mists redolent of the hearty souls of men who have gone to sea.:" "Tlingit and Haida Inuit and Aleut Russian and Norwegian." "Their languages and deeds  Iingering on in the names of our countless islands and passageways." "A land that has lifted its siren call to the bold and adventurous  to those willing to risk their lives for the promise of untold fortune be it from fur, fin, from the heaven- pointing spires of old-growth spruce  or from the buried treasures of gold or black energy-rich petroleum." "A land visited each year by the relentless and mysterious salmon." "Each river and stream welcoming home the king and sockeye...." "the coho and dog, pink or humpback which is smashed into cans and quick-cooked to give the colourful local folks something to do other than play cards and scratch their nuts all day." "A land where that nice old lady from Fort Lauderdale who had the stroke three cabins down was probably parked next to the thawed-out halibut you'll eat tonight while your floating hotel chugs through the Hecate Strait to deliver its precious load of geriatrics to the hungry Visa-card-accepting denizens of our northernmost and most mosquito-infested state!" "So?" "What's " redolent"?" "Having or emitting an odour." "You mean people wanna come here because of the smell?" "Pleasantly fragrant!" "Not talking about this place." "Damn right!" "Soon as they close this down, they'll turn it into a tourist attraction!" "They'll disinfect the joint, and you can get a job in one of those cases." "Like in a museum." "One of those displays." "Dioramas!" "Dioramas." "In that diorama they'll hang fake fish guts all over you, put a label underneath:" ""Typical Filipino Cannery Worker" !" "Probably pay better than this." "I'll be out on the water in my boat and every time I make a set there'll be a floating nursing home with 500 sons of bitches and their cameras capturing the moment." "And what boat is this?" "My boat." "You don't have a boat, honey." "Remember?" "Oh, yes, I do." "I'm getting it back today." "Would you like some hors d'oeuvres?" "Would you like some hors d'oeuvres?" "Thank you." "Would you like some hors d'oeuvres?" "Nice uniform." "The bride's parents wanted uniforms." "I look stupid." "You look like an angel." "I look like a little white maggot." "Would you like one?" "Thank you." "How come you don't have to wear one?" "This is the unemployed pulp mill worker's uniform." "Right." "Would you like some hors d'oeuvres?" "No, thanks." "I'll have one." "You gotta look at the big picture." "You clear-cut the trees, what do you have?" "Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of timber." "Yeah, but it's ugly." "The point is to try to get the trees down without spending a fortune." "You're thinking short-term." "My mother told me, "You don't shit in your front yard."" "Your mother said that?" "Constantly." "Look, our people cruise by an island." "They got their binoculars out, the ones that can still see." "What do we show them?" "We show them a little lndian fish camp, some totem poles maybe." "A black bear foraging for breakfast in the early morning mist." "We do not show them deforested hillsides and logging equipment, Phil." "Heavy machinery they see in New Jersey." "The timber industry has a right to make a living." "We all have to make our living." "I'm not arguing that." "Cut the trees in the lnterior." "Turn it into a parking lot." "Just quit with the chain saws when you get to where people can see." "We're trying to develop themes for each area up here:" ""The Whales' Causeway."" "" Island of the Raven People."" "" Kingdom of the Salmon." " Lumberland."" "That's us." "That's a turn-of-the-century sawmill and a gift shop." "That's history, not industry." "History is our future here, not our past." "She looks like a million bucks, doesn't she?" "Beautiful." "Would you like some more?" "No, thanks." "Could you find the girl with the shrimp and send her this way?" "It's like these kayak outfitters." "I know the jellybean colours are easy to spot if there's trouble but it spoils the ambience." "C'est la vie, say the old folks" "It goes to show you never can tell" "Thank you." "Thank you very much." "Thank you." "Today is a special day for me." "I know it's a special one for all of you too." "This is my last appearance with Randy Mason and the Pipeline." "I'll be continuing my run as a solo performer at the Golden Nugget." "Randy will be rapidly sinking back into the relative obscurity he so richly deserves." "The time we've spent together has seemed much longer than it probably was." "And with that in mind, I'd like to dedicate this next song to him." "Fellas." "Room 16" "The Palms Motel" "I can rest behind that door" "My life with you's become a living hell" "Don't wanna live like that no more" "And whatever it will take" "I will do to make this" "Final break" "Better off without you" "Better off without you" "Better off without you" "In my life" "I'll show up with a lawyer." "You threatening us with a lawyer?" "In schools now, when they teach contracts, you know who they use?" "Francine here, that's who." "She wrote the fucking book!" "It's not exactly a textbook, Louise." "I, on the other hand, am a criminal attorney." "Some of the business practices you engaged in" "That's bullshit!" "You see two dykes wander up here from Seattle, you figure:" "" Here's easy pickings" !" "When we bought these properties, which you'd run into the ground" "That's not true!" "When we bought them from you promises were made about plumbing, about dry rot." "I had a cash-flow situation." "Promises which you didn't keep!" "I gave you my boat!" "Yes, as collateral." "It's worth more than those repairs." "It's worth relatively little." "We've had it appraised." "I gave you my license." "But, Harmon, the problem is, we are not fishermen." "Exactly." "So I take my boat, I go out, I make my limit." "I give you the money." "I get my boat back." "Wait a minute." "We paid the docking fees all winter." "We had the engine overhauled." "And now that there's fish again you think you can waltz in here take our boat, Harmon, our boat, as if you still owned it?" "As if you never defaulted on any of this?" "You're worse than a fucking bank." "If we let you treat us like this, what does that say to everybody?" "" Don't take these women seriously."" "You come here." "You bust people's balls" "Your balls are busted because you put them in a vise and yanked the handle." "The screw." "What?" "The jaws of a vise are moved by a screw or a lever." "You don't call it a handle." "Thank you, Louise." "The point being, Mr. King if you are feeling pressure on your testicles, you have yourself to blame." "You're just gonna take the hit?" "You're gonna let my boat rot in the harbour?" "You misrepresented the properties to us." "You tried to swindle us into keeping your boat from being repossessed by assigning the title to us." "You gals already said you're not fishermen." "But there's no shortage of guys who are willing to work for a piece." "A share." "What?" "On a boat, you know, in nautical terms, it's called working for a "share."" "Thank you." "If we're gonna do this, we have to get our terminology right." "You think you'll get anybody in town to take my boat out and fish on my license?" "You're both fucking crazy." "Better off without you" "In my life" "Is this your truck?" "You working here?" "I gotta load this wine off." "Gotta help tear things down after." "Could you give me a ride?" "Yeah, I guess." "After I...." "How far is it?" "Just into town." "Whenever you're ready." "I'm ready now." "Aren't you the singer?" "Well, I was." "You're really good." "Thanks." "I just broke up with a guy, and he's here." "And if I'm gonna keep my shit together, I need to go now." "I'll wait here." "Yeah, I'll just...." "I meant what I said before." "You're really good, singing." "Thanks." "Especially since I've never heard of you or anything." "Do you watch sports?" "Yeah, basketball." "There must be players who are really good that you've never heard of." "Nope." "No, if they're professionals and they're really good, everybody's heard of them." "Well, singing is different." "It's a matter of taste luck, whatever." "You okay?" "Couldn't be better." "Your boyfriend was the guy in the band, Randy...." "Mason." "Well, I never heard of him either." "Good." "Take a left here." "When we came up to this country 1 5 years ago Margie was 8 years old and convinced we would all be eaten by grizzlies." "So far none of us has lost anything but the occasional backpack to the bears." "And this has been for us, like for so many people before a land of opportunity, a land" "There's just a couple more things." "I thought this was your house." "See if he can survive without the fucking microwave." "You taking his stuff?" "My stuff." "My daughter's stuff." "You sure?" "Look around you." "You see everything that looks like shit?" "That looks like somebody with no taste and bad personal hygiene would have?" "That's his stuff." "Would you grab the other end of that?" "How long did you live here?" "Three weeks." "I used to gig with him in Spokane." "He had this anorexic girl singer who'd get too shaky to go on, so I'd fill in." "My booker talks me into doing a year up here." "You know, "The money's real good."" "I bump into Randy in Sitka, and we hit it off." "So you move in." "No, I told him, " Keep your distance." "I got a kid." "I'm older than you are." "I don't smoke as much dope as you do." "So don't think I'm moving in or anything."" "So how does your stuff end up in his place?" "Unforeseen circumstances." "You married?" "Live with somebody?" "Nope." "Sorry." "You work for those two?" "Franny and Zooey?" "Frankie and Lou?" "Yeah." "What'd you do before this?" "Pulp mill, till it closed." "And before that?" "This and that, like everybody." "Fisherman." "Yeah, I was." "Did you like it?" "While it lasted." "You don't go out anymore?" "Nope." "Why not?" "Unforeseen circumstances." "I should get back." "Let's move it off the truck." "The guys inside will help me." "You're gonna stay here?" "We were before." "This is my regular gig for the next month or so." "Well, I'll come see you, then." "Sing." "Great." "My kid is gonna kill me." "It went fine." "The father was gonna cater it on the ship till the bride put her foot down." "You out of here?" "Time off for good behaviour." "Saw all the groom's buddies checking you out." "Right." "I'm serious." "Bunch of preppy thugs." "You're a hard woman to please." "Catch you tomorrow." "You need a ride?" "You know what they wanna bring?" "Frankie and Lou?" "What?" "Alpacas." "For sweaters?" "For hiking trips." "They wanna take people out for a week or so and have the alpacas carry the gear." "They do it on the Amazon." "The Andes." "The Amazon's a jungle river." "It'd be too hot." "It's probably the mountain range, the Andes." "Whatever." "They get them up here, no way I'm cleaning their cages." "These are some strange people we work with." "I don't know...." "We got the lesbo trail guides, the human pincushion in the kitchen." "Rusty." "He looks like he took a staple gun to his eyebrows." "We got Eunice, the cashier:" "26 years old and still lives with her mother." "We got the handyman there, killed two people." "He what?" "Joe Gastineau?" "Mr. Dark and Moody." "He killed people?" "Got them killed." "Same thing." "Took them out on his boat, and they both drowned." "How'd you like to carry that around with you?" "I'm sorry you got stuck at work." "I just had to get out of there." "I'm used to getting home on my own." "I just like to know where it is." "Half my clothes are missing." "Well, I grabbed everything I could see." "I had a load in the dryer." "We'll get it back." "I didn't wanna move over there in the first place." "It was a dumb idea, and I'm sorry." "He wasn't that bad." "Compared to what?" "Compared to Lyle." "He Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken." "Now look, I made a mistake with Randy, and I'm sorry." "I'll help you get your stuff." "You're the mistake." "Your ladies did a really nice job with that reception." "I didn't eat, but it looked really good." "Is the boy that likes you the one with the shrimp and the hair in his eyes?" "I didn't say he likes me." "I said I thought he was good-looking." "And no, that's not him." "That's Perry." "Perry wants to be a break dancer when he grows up." "I thought that was over." "Disco hasn't made it up here yet." "Come on." "How could you think I think Perry is cute?" "You're a high school kid." "What do I know what you like?" "Right." "You don't." "Are you mad at me about Randy?" "Did you like him?" "It's hard enough to keep their names straight!" "Don't be that way!" "I feel like shit!" "I could use a little support." "That's what therapy's for." "We're gonna have to rent the VCR again." "He's back." "There's nothing we can do about it." "He'll make a feud out of this thing with his boat." "Our boat." "Doesn't he have a job?" "If the temperature in the water changes a couple of degrees it becomes slightly more or less acid." "Any little change, it can mean the salmon won't return there." "And where do they go?" "They probably just keep looking along the coast until...." "So the whole run disappears?" "It's been known to happen." "Pretty hard-wired, fish." "Not many options." "People, though, got bigger brains." "They can guess at the future, make decisions." "They just do a real lousy job of it." "I hate it when they're stranded out in the air." "Their gills are working, they have that desperate look on their face." "Well, they're drowning." "In air." "What do you think it feels like to drown?" "I don't know." "Never had the experience." "Blow it out!" "Five more!" "Four three two one." "Both hands!" "Here we go!" "Keep those knees going!" "Eight...." "Now reach and pull it down!" "Strong arms!" "Six!" "Well that's all she wrote." "They say the Chinese might buy it." "Pack it all up, ship it over." "They can have it." "Who wants a drink?" "This is the Golden Nugget Saloon, founded back in 1 881  when Port Henry was the gold-mining centre of the Northern Territory." "They say nobody eats canned salmon anymore." "Do you eat it?" "Why would I want canned when I can get fresh?" "People in Peoria are saying the exact same thing." "The only recorded bout between a domesticated wolf...." "He's in that little DeHaviland of his doing his usual rap about the wilderness and the glaciers...." "Think you're the only person up here out of a job?" "Trying to impress these two girls." "He's still got his wheels down." "I drop these people off the boat." "He's a bigtime corporate executive." "He's with his second wife and two kids from the first marriage." "Those wheels dig in." "He flips tail over head." "They got heated tents, freeze-dried gourmet dinners." "They're wearing about $4000 worth of Gore-Tex." "The Beaver's lying belly up in the channel." "The two girls are unconscious." "He's hanging upside-down, hooked in by his belt, water coming from all sides." "Two hours they lasted." "And the exec gets me on the radio, saying...." "Head-on into some other bozo in a Piper Cub whose eyes are also down on water." "It's so cold, your spit's frozen solid before it even hits the ground." "And the metal has that tinny sound when you slam the door like the thing's gonna shatter." "There haven't been shootings." "Can't see the front of my plane, this fog's so thick." "Harvest the resources, my ass." "A man goes out, he makes a set and he catches fish, goddamn it!" "He's not a goddamn farmer!" "There's mountain peaks all around me." "The Russians, the Japanese scooping up our crab." "But it's been the setting for many a confrontation." "Long time no see." "Smilin' Jack." "What brings you down this altitude?" "Flew some medical supply salesmen in from Cordova." "There's a thousand of them at the Convention Centre." "Where are you living these days?" "Two steps ahead of the finance company." "I'll see you later." "Jumpin' Joe Gastineau." "Friend of yours?" "Not exactly." "You gassed her up" "You're behind the wheel" "With your arm around your sweet one ln your Oldsmobile" "Barrelin' down the boulevard" "Lookin' for the heart of Saturday night" "Got paid on Friday" "Your pockets are jinglin'" "And then you see the lights You get all a-tinglin'" "'Cause you're cruisin' with a six" "Lookin' for the heart of Saturday night" "Mind if I sit?" "No, please." "Thanks." "So...." "You're terrific." "Who do I remind you of?" "Remind me of?" "Singers." "Most people go, "You remind me of Judy Collins, but your voice is deeper Emmylou Harris, but your hair is curlier."" "Screamin' Jay Hawkins." "Really?" "No, I think he usually wore a bone in his nose." "So can you make a living doing this?" "Sort of." "You make a living working for the lodge ladies?" "Sort of." "It can be nice." "One summer, I did a cruise ship in the Caribbean." "I got to take my daughter." "You take her with you?" "Pretty much, yeah." "Her father is...?" "Out of the picture." "It was his choice." "So you've sung in a lot of places?" "Thirty-six states and the territory of Puerto Rico." "How about you?" "I've been to Seattle a couple of times and Canada, along the coast." "But you must like it?" "I don't think I'd do so well down south." "You know, cities." "How come you're not married?" "Sorry." "You know...." "If you don't wanna say...." "Probably the same reason you're not married." "Because such a high percentage of men are jerks?" "Because women are scarce and winters are long?" "That's true, but...." "You're looking for someone who understands your bullshit but is still crazy about you anyway?" "That's a bit much to ask for." "No, it's not." "So have you, like, recorded songs?" "I've made demos." "And I'm not exactly up here to be discovered, or anything." "You know, at my age it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, my so-called career." "So why do you still do it?" "Almost every night it doesn't matter where I am or what song I'm singing all of a sudden, I'll hook into it." "I'll be feeling whatever it is the song is about." "And I can hear it." "I can feel it in my voice." "And I know that I'm putting it across." "Moments of grace." "Do you know what I'm saying?" "I do." "I put my kid through a lot, though." "Moving all the time." "But when I take a straight job, bank teller, waitressing, whatever I feel so defeated, I don't even want her to look at me." "Would you like to do something?" ""Something"?" "It's real pretty country here." "I could take you...." "I gotta warn you." "What's the thing with the long skinny boats?" "Kayaking." "I don't do that one." "Or anything where if the spike comes out of the cliff, you plunge to your death." "Climbing." "In general, things where you wear gear instead of clothing, I don't do." "It's good to know." "What do you...?" "When you're not working...?" "I read a lot." "A lot, yeah." "I go to the gym, punish myself on the treadmill." "If I'm with a guy, I make pathetic attempts at ingratiating myself often involving cooking and cleaning activities." "When my daughter was little, I would do stuff with her." "You don't anymore?" "No." "So if you're willing let's work on this "doing stuff" idea." "You think of stuff, and I'll think of something." "But keep trying, really." "Okay?" "I will." "You know where to find me." "Two shows nightly." "Bye." "It was called "Gold Fever."" "In 1 897, the first wave of fortune seekers swept through Port Henry on their way to Skagway, the Chilkoot Pass and the Yukon gold fields." "They were desperate men willing to perish in search of one big strike every prospector dreamed of." "It could be the entire cruise, or you may work just one leg lay over at a stop and switch to a different ship." "How much time would I spend at home?" "We like to think of our vessels as a kind of home." "Not much, huh?" "We have this job for you." "It's different." "We have this ship" "Boat." "We have this boat." "The Raven." "We had the engine overhauled, put a new gill net drum on it." "Harmon King's boat." "It's our boat now." "He gave us his license." "His entry permit." "Just to make up for some of the money he still owes us." "We want you to go out." "To go out?" "Go out and fish." "I'm not a fisherman." "Well, you used to be, right?" "I mean, you know what you're doing on a boat." "I suppose." "So you could, if you wanted to." "Yeah, if I wanted to." "We could figure out some kind of percentage deal." "We don't know if we wanna keep it." "With the season almost over, and the license so expensive" "You're not tight with Harmon, are you?" "Not especially, no." "If you could just go down to the marina, look it over." "Tell us if you need anything to make it operational." "I haven't been commercial fishing for 25 years." "Has it changed that much?" "Well, more technology, but I just...." "You're bailing us out." "It's a matter of credibility." "If we let people walk all over us" "I'll have to think about it." "Think about it." "Go down, look at the ship-- the boat figure out who you'd like to have for your crew." "You think people'd do that, knowing that it's Harmon's boat?" "You can always get somebody." "If there are any calls for me, anybody comes by asking if I'm here just say I'm not registered, okay?" "I'm trying to surprise somebody." "I don't want word to get around." "You get points for originality." "You're the first guy that's ever asked me to watch fish thrash around and die." "Well, it's" "No, I'm not complaining." "I think it's cool." "I've seen it on TV, but in person like this, it's...." "They're so beat-up looking." "Well, they stop eating when they head in." "My daughter did that for a while." "Almost had to put an IV in her." "Jesus, it's relentless, isn't it?" "They don't stop." "Well, some of them do." "They just wear out and give up." "I'd make it." "Yeah, no sweat." "I do this much at the gym every day." "I'm gonna be gone for a couple of days." "It's sort of a job, you know, a favour." "When I get back, it'd be great to see you again." "That's all?" "Your boat, Mr. Gastineau, is a very unusual property." "Look, I don't wanna sell it." "I just want a mortgage." "But in view of your past financial difficulties...." "That was San Diego." "A poor credit rating is a poor credit rating." "It's going to follow you wherever you go." "It's just out there waiting." "Waiting for the chance to fuck you over." "You personally?" "Whoever." "One second, you're skimming along the surface, not a care in the world then one thing goes wrong." "Yeah, like Rudy Bannister." "Rudy Bannister?" "He's up in the fjord longlining when the front of the glacier breaks off." "It makes this wave four or five stories high by the time it hits his boat." "It's gone." "And Sonny McCarthy." "Gets caught in the riptides, trying to short cut through Rimski Channel." "They hit the rocks." "Two guys stay onboard, two guys jump." "Sonny and the other guy stayed onboard, bought it." "Luck." "Luck, nothing." "The ocean wanted them." "Hell, I'm glad I'm not going out there no more." "It could be quick, like that deadhead that Tommy Grogan hit." "It punched through his bow and sunk him in five minutes." "Or it can sneak up on you when you're not even looking." "Like Joe Gastineau." "Fuck." "Ever a guy had the world by the balls, it's Joey." "The basketball player?" "He was headed for a full scholarship, some university in California." "Senior year, he blows out his knee." "Kiss that goodbye." "Had a jump shot that'd make you weep." "So he gets on one of Torgeson's crab boats up north back when that was a fucking gold mine." "Makes enough to put a down payment on this little gillnetter the Arctic Dawn." "Gets some friends, Lester Pope, who used to work with his father and this kid, Oley." "Jack Johannson's brother." "He'd never been out fishing." "He's like a high-school buddy." "Played hoop with Joe." "They were gonna go out with Joe and make a big score." "I was crewing on the Cape Fox then." "We hooked into this run." "We were barely moving." "It was flat calm, no tide." "We were picking fish as fast as we could to keep the net wet." "By nightfall, we were all plugged, waiting in line at the tender." "About six boats ahead of us, maybe eight behind, Joey's on the end." "It was party time." "Everybody that wasn't unloading drops anchor, and they start boat-hopping." "So about 1 , 2 in the morning, Joe gets back on his outfit." "Him and the Johannson kid, they go below to sleep it off." "And Lester racks out on deck." "It would be morning before the tender could get to them anyway." "Maybe the boat was out of the water too long." "You get cracks, things dry up." "Or they were so plugged, the water line rose up to where it'd never been before." "Whatever." "Without a sound, the boat fills like a sponge and sinks in 30 seconds." "Damn." "So Joey wakes up, it's pitch-black." "He's underwater, right?" "He's upside-down, completely disoriented." "Swims out through the galley, yells loud enough to wake me up on the Cape Fox." "We fished him out okay, but the other two, not a trace." "Lost." "Yeah, he lost his friends he lost the catch, there's no insurance on the boat." "That's gone." "And Joe...." "Joe's not the same guy." "This old house is falling down around my ears" "I'm drowning in a river  of my tears" "When all my will is gone you hold me sway" "I need you at the dimming  of the day" "You pull me like the moon pulls on the tide" "You knowjust where I keep my better side" "What days have come to keep us  far apart" "A broken promise  or a broken heart" "Now all the bonny birds have wheeled away" "I need you at the dimming  of the day" "Come the night you're only  what I want" "Come the night you could be my confidant" "I see you on the street  in company" "Why don't you come and ease your mind with me" "I'm living for the night  we steal away" "I need you at the dimming  of the day" "I need you at the dimming  of the day" "I already got you one." "How'd you guess?" "I've been keeping my eye on you." "I like your singing." "Thanks." "You really class up this joint." "I've played worse." "Jack Johannson." "I've been warned." "A lot of formerly married women took flying lessons from you." "A lot of formerly married women are suing me for alimony." "I'm thinking of getting out of the bush pilot game." "Find something more lucrative." "Let's see...." "Fast-food service?" "Camp counsellor?" "You live around here?" "No." "One-year tour of the frozen north." "Out on your own?" "No, I'm hooked up with a guy." "Musician?" "He's a fisherman." "Oh, my God!" "He shot a fish." "Shot it?" "A halibut." "It was like a gangland execution." "We could use some halibut." "When's Joe getting in?" "Joe, are you home?" "But he still works here?" "On and off." "He's out on a fishing boat now." "Fishing?" "Joe?" "Can I tell you about our specials?" "What are you buying when you get on a roller coaster?" "Not risk, because only fringe consumers want that, but the illusion of risk." "Being hurled to the edge of danger, but knowing that you never have to cross it." "Mr. Disney's innovation was to put these rides and attractions into a story context." "You imagine yourself a character in his cartoon as you floated through a plaster of Paris jungle." "The obvious next step, and this is at the core of our proposal is not bigger and better facsimiles of nature but nature itself." "Think of Alaska as one big theme park." "How'd we do?" "Got a couple boatloads." "In three days?" "They were running pretty good." "I kept a few out for the restaurant." "Oh, my God!" "That's gorgeous!" "That's great!" "Bobby!" "Jesus look at this." "You're all where I left you six years ago." "Same barstools and everything." "Hey, Harm." "Aud, you're looking good." "Somebody come in and dust you off once a week?" "How's the charter business?" "I can't complain." "I'm thinking of bringing my Glacier Bay clients here." ""See Port Henry's wax museum." "Incredibly lifelike figures posed in various stages of drunken stupor."" "Set up a round for these characters, Vic." "Just come up from Baja chitchat the clients, lay on the cerveza, harass the whales." "You like that?" "I like not freezing my nuggets off here all winter waiting to see who blows their brains out first." "You know Roscoe Karnes?" "Roscoe with the voice box?" "Blew his brains out February." "I rest my case." "Vic, I heard my brother's been coming in here." "Fucking sellout!" "He's over in the corner here, Bobby." "Jumpin' Joe, the man himself." "Hey, bro." "Heard they shut the pulp mill down." "Town smells better." "They said you were working for a couple of button nibblers at Harm's old lodge." "How you been?" "Terrific." "Just terrific." "I just took a National Geographic crew out to do a piece on the sea lion rookery before I come up." "I get a lot of repeat customers, and computerized my navigation...." "Teresa?" "Teresa and the kids are cool." "Joaquin starts kindergarten this year." "Great." "Listen, someone said that you were out fishing." "Frankie and Lou, they got a boat, they got a license." "They asked me to go out, so...." "Back in the saddle." "So to speak." "Sorry I couldn't make it for the old man." "No problem." "I had clients." "Hollywood real-estate honchos." "Yeah, well, you couldn't make it." "I didn't have a ceremony." "I did some paperwork and put up a headstone." "You got my check?" "Yeah, thanks." "I called my mom to tell her about it." "How'd she take it?" "Changed the subject." "Well, he was who he was." "Died in bed, man." "I always figured he'd freeze to death in the parking lot outside of some joint." "You know the laundromat at Wrangell?" "Where there's a shower?" "The guys coming off the boats?" "About three years ago, I was in there." "Got my soap, got my towel and back in the steam, I see this old guy." "I say, "That is one beat-to-hell human being."" "The guy looks up and it's the old man." "That's the last time I saw him." "The Old Salt." "The Old Prospector." "I tell my clients stories about the old man." "Colourful shit." "The tour guide part of the job." "How he lost those fingers, and how he, you know, survived the earthquake and all those tidal waves on that tender." "You heard them all." "The guy I was scared of when I was little" "Nobody wants to hear about him." "Nope." "I gotta ask you a favour." "Me?" "Have I ever asked you for anything?" "What is it?" "Well, I got a situation." "It's a finesse thing with a client." "I gotta pick him up at Skagway." "I need somebody to crew for me." "You always run your operation on your own." "It's just for appearances." "It's a business deal, see?" "I gotta impress the guy, so I gotta look less like a captain and more...." "Like an admiral." "Exactly." "It's a milk run, and since you're on the water again...." "I've only gone out once." "Well, I can trust you." "I mean, this deal, this business deal, it's sensitive." "Word can't get out." "When would we go?" "Day after tomorrow." "I just gotta put a couple things in motion." "I'll see if I can get off work." "You saved my ass, bro." "I appreciate it." "You and me, we're" "Practically strangers." "No, we're the Gastineau brothers, man." "Half brothers." "Right." "Listen, I gotta run, bro." "I'm on a schedule here." "I'm at the south marina." "The Orca Princess." "Sunday morning, 7 sharp, we catch the tide." "It'll be a blast." "Good evening." "I'm Donna De Angelo, and this is the Golden Nugget." "Well, I see some familiar faces out there." "Welcome back." "There's the tide." "Is it with you?" "Are you plowing into it?" "ls it slack?" "Where's the moon in its cycle?" "There's wind." "It can jump on you when you're ducking in and out of the islands." "There's the size of the channel the configuration of the bottom...." "You still know all this stuff?" "Yeah, as much as you can know it." "This isn't what I expected." "What did you expect?" "I don't know." "Some guys, they live alone, it can get...." "I had the Health Department over this morning." "They sprayed the walls down." "You listen to a lot of different stuff." "That's good." "See a whole wall of the, you know, Butthole Surfers, it...." "You read books." "So you're either a nice, quiet guy who lives alone, or you're a serial killer." "I mean, my track record for consciously choosing men is so horrendous that I...." "If I ever hooked up with somebody good, it would be pure luck." "I'm being careful, okay?" "Me too." ""'The Water Baby.'" "The midwife knew at first look it wasn't a normal delivery." "The newborn was cold as it struggled and gasped--"" "A little louder." ""The midwife knew at first look it wasn't a normal delivery." "The newborn was cold as it struggled and gasped in her arms wet and cold with a bluish pallor that didn't change once she cleared its throat with her finger." "It fought for air but didn't open its mouth." "The mother, sweat-soaked in her bed sheets the father, video camera dropping away from his apprehensive face her assistant, on the phone to the life-support unit all seemed to move in a heavy slow motion, as if underwater." "The midwife was halfway down the hall with the baby before she noticed them." "A tiny, half-moon slit below each ear lined with a deep crimson membrane." "Gills."" "I never slept with a drummer." "Is that good?" "Probably." "It probably indicates some level of self-respect I've never fallen below." "So ex-fishermen rate higher than drummers." "Certain types of fungus rate higher than drummers." "And what brings this up?" "I don't know if my daughter's a virgin or not." "Is she going out with a drummer?" "No, I was just...." "I don't know." "Just thinking." "Well, have you asked her?" "I don't wanna know that badly." "If I ask her if she needs underwear, she considers it invasive." "She's been a major baby-sitter since she was 1 3." "She wants her own money, her own room." "Independent." "You don't have any children, do you?" "No." "But you were married." "I knew that." "It's a good thing you didn't have kids to fight over." "So?" "When's the last time you were involved with someone?" "About a year ago." "Someone from the pulp mill?" "An aerobics instructor." "Not Corky." "You know her?" "Yeah, she works at my gym." "So?" "Who dumped who?" "She thought I was too downbeat." "She used that word?" "Among others." "Well, she's a real spark plug, that Corky." "I have to tell you something." "I'm allergic to wool." "Like in a carpet, even a blend." "So in blankets and clothing" "I can get rid of whatever." "No, you don't have to." "If you see me itching...." "Well, no, it's no big deal." "I bought new sheets." "In case you came over." "Really?" "So maybe this is a terrible idea." "Veto it if you want." "Some guy?" "He's really nice." "They're all nice till you say they're scum and shouldn't be allowed walking the streets." "This'll be fun." "It's like a nature thing." "Oh, please." "You don't like him, you don't have to deal with him again." "It's my business." "Then why do I have to go?" "Consider it a favour to me." "It's important he know you're more than a rumour." "I'd rather stay a rumour." "Anyhow, you already know him." "You work with him." "Joe Gastineau." "Is there some problem with him?" "He seems really nice." "Is there something I should know about?" "He's fine." "He's not the guy you like out there?" "Honey." "Honey, he's my age." "He's older." "What did you think could happen?" "Nothing did happen, did it?" "Give me a break!" "Maybe this is good." "Maybe it's a sign." "We don't usually like the same type guys." "If I knew you were interested in him...." "But I didn't, did I?" "You can be mad at me, but not that mad." "Okay?" "This isn't a willful boyfriend-swiping type of thing." "It's something different." "If you do this for me, I'll love you forever." "She's a good kid." "She's funny." "Really?" "In a morbid kind of way." "So do you find her attractive?" "I never thought about it much." "Well, she's a kid." "Will I sleep with you or with her?" "It's up to you." "You two know each other." "I'm gonna go down below and get things squared away." "Some coincidence, huh?" "So you like boats?" "I don't know." "Never been on them much." "Well, we're gonna cruise up north a ways and maybe see some whales, seals sea lions." "My mother hates boats." "Anything you do outdoors that's fun, she hates it." "And she's allergic to wool." "She told me." "You allergic to anything?" "My mother's boyfriends." "It's terrific down there." "Yeah, Bobby's got a real nice operation going." "I love boats." "Hey, Joey." "Terrific." "You made it." "Bobby, this is Donna De Angelo and her daughter, Noelle." "They're coming along for the first leg of the trip." "Great." "We'll take the scenic route." "Well, the first night, maybe you slap some water on your face..." "Well, the first night, maybe you slap some water on your face take your clothes off, crawl under the sheets." "Seems like minutes before they yank you out of bed." "You pick the money fish out of the web, ice them down, make another set." "The next night, you maybe take your jacket off and sleep with your boots on, on top of the rack." "Third night, you might not make it below." "By the end of the week, you look for someplace safe to lean on and close your eyes for a few minutes." "I've slept on fish." "Sounds like hell." "Well, people get hooked on it." "God knows why." "It's the thing itself, you know?" "You go out, you find the fish." "You pull them out of the ocean." "You're right there with it." "Everything else is secondhand." "People work in canneries." "People sell real estate, T-shirts." "What if you couldn't sing anymore?" "What if you had to work, like, you know, in a record store?" "So you liked it." "And it was dangerous." "And you got off on it." "Yeah, I guess I did." "Noelle is studying to be a nuclear physicist." "Very funny." "You could." "You're smart enough." "She's been in a new school every year." "But she's a good writer." "How would you know?" "I've read your stories." "When I was 1 2." "You still write, don't you?" "The weather service says we got a gale coming." "We're not gonna make it to the narrows." "Is that bad?" "If we put in back here, the mountains will knock down a lot of the wind." "It's not a good anchorage." "You've been in there?" "No." "Well, if we stay out here, we're gonna get hammered." "How's the kid?" "Do you want some water?" "Rinse out your mouth?" "We could try another one of those pills." "No, I'll be all right." "What are these cuts?" "These" "They're just cuts!" ""Just cuts"?" "How did they get there?" "Maybe I got them at work." "People don't get cuts" "We'll pull into this inlet and drop anchor." "When it calms down, I'll throw on a couple of steaks." "Are you all right?" "" Frosh Phenom Cans 30 in Overtime Upset."" ""Soph Sensation Leads the Saint K-Cagers to the State Finals."" "He's got those scars on his knees." "Jumpin' Joe Gastineau." "The " Houdini of the Hardwood," the " Beethoven of the Bank Shot."" "So he was good?" "John Wooden sent one of his scouts to look at him." "Is that someone I should know?" "In basketball, it's like God sending the angel Gabriel to check out your moves." "Joey graduated, they retired his number, retired his locker bronzed all his old jockstraps stuck them in the trophy case." "High school." "The game's changed." "Now I'd just be another guy." "Right." "This tofu burger, how does she like it?" "Mealy, medium-mealy or black and crispy?" "I don't think she's very hungry." "When this was a territory, it would've been a hanging offense to eat bean curd." "She is picky about food." "If I scramble her an egg, she makes me feel like a criminal." "If your own kid can't make you feel like shit, what's the point?" "No meat?" "No meat, no fish, no dairy." "Food Nazi." "I could scrape the green stuff off the anchor chain, heat that up for her." "Listen." "You hear anything?" "No." "Nobody comes back here." "I thought I heard a motor." "Listen, Joe, we got a problem." "I should've asked." "They're terrific." "But this guy I'm meeting...." "Guys, actually." "What's going on?" "It's complicated." "Tell me." "I was in a situation." "I invested in some real estate." "It didn't turn out well." "There was a cash-flow squeeze." "I had these clients." "They owned an organic food business." "I took them from Baja to Glacier Bay." "They're high the whole time, but nice." "And at the end, we got along pretty good, and they gave me a bonus." "It's a pound of hash, right?" "It's primo stuff." "They said if I wanted, if I was that kind of guy, how easy it would be to...." "Christ." "They connected me with someone." "I brought up a couple of loads over the last few years." "It's a piece of cake." "The money gets me out of a jam." "It's just hash." "It's not crack or heroin." "You carrying drugs onboard?" "No, Joe." "I'm not." "That's the problem." "The last time I'm up, off of Cape Caution a Canadian patrol boat comes racing after me." "I dump the whole batch." "Hundreds of thousands of dollars." "I get nervous, and it's fish food." "They had me confused with some other boat." "Somebody reported them running too close to a pod of humpbacks." "These guys, Joey, I don't know that much about them, but they don't fuck around." "They think I sold it on the side, that I'm holding out." "We arrange a meet in Baja." "I get nervous again." "I smell a setup, I don't show." "I come up here, my home turf." "I contact them, arrange another meeting, tell them we'll work it out." "That's where we're headed?" "I got it all worked out." "A payment schedule." "A mortgage on the boat, the house." "They'd rather get their money back, right?" "These are businessmen." "What am I supposed to do?" "I told Teresa, Joey." "She left me." "She took the kids, went across to Tijuana to her sister's." "You gotta help me out of this." "You don't tell me shit." "I gotta have somebody backing me up!" "Just for them to see I got somebody behind me, I got family!" "I mean, who else can I trust?" "But the women...." "We go by Tenakee Springs tomorrow." "We drop them off there." "They were gonna fly back anyway." "Have a plane pick them up there." "Stay up here." "I'll figure out something to tell them." "You're saving my ass on this." "You don't deserve it." "I don't know." "I just feel funny." "Not as funny as I'll feel sleeping in the same bed with you." "Come on." "You used to all the time." "It wasn't that long ago." "It was that long ago." "It was in another lifetime." "It could be kind of fun." "If we weren't trying to impress some guy, we wouldn't even be here." "What do you mean, "we"?" "You know what I mean." "There's no room, but come on in." "How you feeling?" "A little better." "Good." "The wind's gone down, so it should be pretty calm." "Tomorrow, we're gonna swing over to Tenakee and drop you off there." "What's that?" "A little town" "No, that upstairs." "Somebody come onboard?" "What's happening?" "All right, follow me." "Whatever happens, follow me." "Swim for shore!" "They're up here, getting off the front!" "Keep swimming." "Keep going." "Keep going!" "We've gotta get to the woods." "Come on." "Go up." "Up." "Up here." "Come on." "What the fuck is going on?" "!" "Somebody shot Bobby." "What?" "Who shot him?" "Why?" "What?" "Who shot him?" "Why?" "I don't know." "He told me he was in trouble just now." "What'll we do?" "Take your clothes off." "What?" "Get them off or you'll freeze." "Hurry up!" "We have to get help!" "There's nobody here!" "Now help Noelle!" "I'm cold." "If they come after us we're gonna have to move, so put your shoes back on." "I don't have any." "I don't believe this is fucking happening!" "The night's short now." "We'll be all right." "Turn around." "Get your shirt off." "Scrunch down, scrunch down." "Rub her, rub her!" "I can't breathe." "I can't move." "It's okay." "They're coming in." "Here." "Get on my back." "Come on." "Get the clothes." "Hurry up!" "The boats are gone." "Both of them." "Think they'll come back?" "There's no way to know." "Look, I'm sorry." "I didn't have any idea till last night that something was wrong." "You think they killed him?" "Where are we?" "It's a little inlet on the back side of Kuleshov Island." "What's that?" "Like up Shit Creek without a paddle?" "Yeah, pretty much." "Now, I think we should head towards the channel while it's still light, and hope we run into a stream." "We'll be okay for a few days without food, but water's...." "Here, try this." "What are you gonna use?" "Don't worry." "I'll just be careful where I step." "This is not happening to us." "It could be worse." "It's not that cold yet." "And I've got my knife." "Christ, wait a minute." "We can have a fire." "I'm not sure." "Smoke" "I'm not gonna let her freeze like that." "Not again." "For white folks to leave the mainland, they usually had some kind of scheme." "People used to raise foxes for the pelts, you know." "It was a big deal for a while." "Watch yourself." "Why come out here?" "Well, land was available, I guess." "They would hunt and fish and try to grow some things." "Over here!" "Somebody lived here." "Tomorrow, they'll miss us." "Noelle won't be in class." "Nobody will miss me in school." "They'll miss you at your job." "And Joe." "And I'm supposed to sing at the Nugget." "It'll be a few days before people start calling around for us." "Bobby wasn't keeping radio contact, so nobody knows he cut in over here." "How long does it take to starve?" "I don't know." "Depends on, you know, what shape you're in, and what else you're doing." "You remember that fast that I did in Idaho?" "How long was that?" "You cheated." "I did not." "I had some tomato juice." "Then it isn't a fast." "Well, I'm starving now." "How long will it take us to get to the channel?" "A couple days." "Maybe more." "Days?" "I think we should hang here where we've got shelter for a while make sure those guys don't come back." "Then we can start a signal fire on the shore." "Do people come here to fish?" "Nobody does anything on Kuleshov." "What about this stuff?" "No, I don't think so." "That batch there, what you've got, that's good." "And you can look under the rocks for crabs." "When are we gonna light the signal fire?" "I think we could risk it tomorrow." "Then we find a place that doesn't go under when the tide comes in." ""'My Diary."'" "So are we gonna eat that thing too?" "Sea cucumber." "Lots of protein." "Can you hand me some of that algae?" "Sea lettuce." "Thank you." "These limpets taste like rubber." "Frankie steams them in white wine and ginger, on a bed of saffron couscous." "It's one of the appetizers." "I memorized them." "If we're here for a while, I'll rig something for cooking." "Sorry." "Here." "Chew this real slow." "" My name is Anne Marie Hoak, and this is my diary." "Papa and Mother and I have come here to make a go at the fox farming trade." "If this pans out, says Papa, next year I can go back to finish with school." "I offered to get on at the cannery to help out when we were in town but Papa says there's too much trash working there." "He was a logger, but fell while he was topping, and now has headaches and dizziness that prevent him from many of the trades other men pursue." "This way, he says, we can live in the great outdoors and operate our own business which is every man's true desire." "Mother doesn't care for it." "We have transported a dozen breeding pairs of blue pelt foxes and put them in their pens." "They're lovely to look at, but nervous and I need to mind my fingers when I'm near them." "When the vixens are ready to bear, we'll separate them to be with their litter." "Papa is building a fish trap in the stream as he hopes to catch the returning chum for fox food." "I expect it will be a hard life, but work is scarce back in town and Papa's spirit was getting low." "Mother goes on about how she'll miss female company and that I will have to be her special friend." "Papa thinks he's been a disappointment to her." "And sometimes she doesn't do much to hide it." "I'll be lonely here, I can tell, but it should be a great adventure like Caddie in Caddie Woodlawn." "I'll try to be a faithful writer, dear diary and tell you my innermost thoughts."" "Read some more." "Tomorrow night." "We may not be here tomorrow." "I found it." "I'll read it when I want to." "We'll have something to look forward to." "Like a soap opera." "Sounds like we're moving in." "There's no telling how long it's gonna be." "We're gonna be all right, aren't we?" "We're gonna be fine." "Lester!" "Lester!" "Oley!" "Help!" "Help, somebody, please!" "Somebody help me!" "Help me." "Who the fuck is that?" "Lester and Oley." "They're on the boat." "What boat?" "Are you okay?" "What's the matter?" "You can't always save people." "We need to feed this a couple of times a day." "When the sky's like this, it won't be easy to spot." "But on a clear day...." "So what if it rains?" "Well, if it rains or the tide comes in too high, we'll start from scratch." "Then we hope that somebody sees this." "Somebody who doesn't wanna kill us." "It's a possibility." "Jeez, you two are a perfect match." "Doom and Gloom." "There's no use pretending." "Yes, there is!" "We're on a camping trip." "We're on a survival school camping trip." "This is what they call "quality time," isn't it?" "This is what they mean." "No distractions, no media stuff." "We just get to know each other." "We gnaw the bark off a few trees." "People pay money to come on trips like this." "If you assume that bad shit's gonna happen, bad shit happens." "I just don't see the point." "The fish go in through here then they can't turn around and get out." "Well, that's the idea, anyway." "This wire's kind of brittle, though." "Where'd you learn all this stuff?" "My old man taught me." "You did lots of stuff with him?" "When he had something to do and needed somebody to swear at, he took me along." "My father's a composer." "My real father." "Really?" "How long did you live with him?" "I didn't." "She split up with him, you know, before...." "Bobby was your half brother?" "Did you ever live together?" "Nope." "We'd see each other around." "He was a lot younger." "Different friends, a different life." "I've got two half sisters and a half brother." "What are they like?" "I never met them." "They're pretty little still." "I saw them in a picture." "He was in People magazine, my father." "So you don't visit?" "She doesn't want me to." "You just write letters and phone calls?" "No." "You don't think we're gonna get rescued, do you?" ""The house is small but cozy now that we have cleaned it up and made it our own." "I have my own room, and at night I hear the owls calling back in the woods and our foxes yipping when something wild comes by." "There are blueberries everywhere." "My fingers are stained purple with them." "Mother insists I'll be attacked by bears if I stray too far from the house." "Papa's headaches are better, and I help him clear the fish trap and prepare the food for the animals." "It is unpleasant, sticky work, but must be done." "I've gotten stronger handling the skiff." "Mom chides Papa for making a boy of me." "But I don't mind." "The days it doesn't rain are God's glory." "Most of our vixens are close to giving birth." "Some days, I'll go for hours without speaking, and feel I'm changing perhaps possessed by the soul of some long-dead Indian girl or perhaps the spirit of a she-wolf." "This morning, I snuck up on Papa felling a spruce for the fireplace and watched him for a long time without him seeing me." "Perhaps I shall learn to become invisible." "I made blueberry pancakes." "Mother says if she eats any more fish, she'll grow fins and swim back to town." "At night, she has me kneel with her to pray."" "You gonna read us some more?" ""The terrible birthing has begun." "We think one of the vixens ate her litter." "The kits, the ones that survived are lovely once their eyes are open." "Papa told me not to handle them, but when he is gone, I do." "Their heads are squarish and fluffy."" "Fox babies." "Isn't that enough?" "Don't want the bears to dig him out." "Sorry you had to see this." "Killing somebody for money." "By the middle of winter up here, people kill each other because they're bored." "Bobby took a risk, didn't work out for him, and that's all." ""Winter has locked us in its icy embrace." "The pelts of the animals are thick and bluish, our home is blanketed with snow." "Papa calls it 'Limbo, ' because it isn't heaven and it's too cold to be hell." "Mother wondered about purgatory, but he said no." "Purgatory has an end to it." "'Don't torture me so, ' said Mother." "The salmon we dried up has run out." "The kits are eating solid food now, and it's hard to keep up with them." "Papa went to the other side of the island and shot two sea lions." "He could only bring one back without tipping over in the skiff." "I had to help him with the crosscut saw breaking it down to pieces that we keep in the shed." "Papa said it's just meat, but I tried not to look at what I was doing." "When Papa rowed back, the other sea lion had been gotten to by a bear." "We put a piece of the frozen meat in each of the pens and the foxes fight over it and gnaw at it and the outside melts from the heat of their little tongues." "Mother won't deal with them anymore." "She has grown silent with the shorter, darker days and only now and again will she break out into one of her Bible songs." "She asks me to join her, but we don't harmonize well. "" "" I have a dream about Fox." "He is a young man who comes to me on snowshoes, dressed in the blue pelts." "His skin and hair are dark, but his eyes are ice blue." "All the others here are paired, he says:" "Papa and Mother." "The sires and the vixens." "But I am alone and he can't let that continue." "Sometimes in the dream he stays with us, but usually he picks me up and carries me to his own island." "Papa says if we can get the animals through the winter, they're a gold mine." "He says fortunes have been started on less." "He says if he keeps having his dizziness I'll have to go hunting with him the next time." "The burns from where Mother hit him with the bacon grease are only pink now healing, though the hair doesn't grow on that part of his jaw." "I'm sewing a sampler."" "Don't worry about it burning." "Just flip it over after a minute." "Did you put the trap back?" "Good." "Good day for planes." "Nobody's coming." "Don't be negative." "In two weeks, how many planes have we seen?" "Zero." "We heard that one." "There'd be more if they were looking here." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Bobby probably told people at the dock that we were headed in a different direction." "He thought people were after him." "People were after him." "Stupid." "Trying to impress your boyfriend, drag us out on a boat" "I'm cold, I'm hungry, I'm dirty and I'm scared shitless, just like you are." "I'm trying to help us get through this." "I shouldn't be here!" "I shouldn't be in this state!" "Nobody is to blame for this!" "Yeah, right." "When you are of age, you're free to fuck up your own life but until that time, I'm afraid it's my job to do it for you." "You could help me with this." "He's not my father!" "Thank God!" "What's that mean?" "He would've gone off picking berries." "That's the last we would've seen of him." "That's not true!" "How do you know?" "You were in the same room with him twice!" "You wouldn't let him!" "If he thinks of you once a year, I'd be surprised." "Every Christmas." "He sent me a bike" "He sent me a watch, a dollhouse" "I sent the bike!" "I sent the watch!" "All of it." "When you were little, I figured you have the Easter Bunny, you have Santa Claus." "You should have a father in California that sends you stuff." "I hated that dollhouse." "I know you did, sweetheart." "But you wouldn't let me exchange it because it was from him." ""I was the one who found them." "It was time to clean the scat from the pens so I had the buckets and the shovels." "And then there was blood everywhere in the snow." "All of them torn and smashed, even my little kits." "A bear, says Papa." "Though when has a bear gone into a half a dozen pens without breaking the gates?" "Mother says nothing." "But she's only a black spot these days and refused to celebrate Christmas." "I dreamed that Fox came and was angry for what we let happen that he held me down on the snow, and I felt his hot breath on my face felt it bitter in my throat and felt his ice eyes cutting into me." "I wish I wish he would come soon." "Mother sleeps with me now, and it is cramped and tense." "You would think that another body under the covers would bring warmth but I awake feeling drained, like she's pulled all the heat from me." "I'm doing the cooking now, and my eyes are always red from the smoke." "The wood is too big for the cook stove but the ax has gone missing, and we can't break it down." "Mother says hell is a cold place." "Maybe I'm the soul not of a she-wolf but of a soaring bird that flies south every winter." "And my heart is so sick because I'm not supposed to be here in this cold this dark, this wet." "Maybe I'm like the air in this house the air that doesn't move when Papa and Mother pass in silence." "Dead smoky air that smells of wool and old bacon." "We threw the animals on the rocks for the tide to deal with." "Papa cried."" "They're coming!" "They're coming!" "Careful!" "You folks picked a hell of a place for a clambake." "We've been stranded." "Any more of you?" "No, it's just us." "We were on Bobby's boat, and he was murdered." "I'm not sure who did it." "We jumped off at night." "A couple fellows came looking, then we hid." "Then they pulled anchor." "Damn." "How long you been here?" "A week and a half." "We've been living in an old house, holing up there at night." "And I was hoping you people could help me." "My radio's shot." "I'm low on fuel and heading into bad weather." "Your radio's gone?" "Crapped out on me a half-hour ago." "Not even static." "I'll have to turn this thing around, try to get out of here, send help." "Would you take my daughter?" "She's sick." "I'd love to, but I can't handle the weight." "She barely weighs a thing." "I've barely got a fighting chance as it is." "Sorry, ladies." "Here." "You wanna help me with this thing?" "I got a first-aid kit in here." "No food, though." "I'm real sorry to hear about Bobby, man." "I used to party with him up in Haines." "What's the story, Jack?" "What's what story?" "Who sent you?" "Just one more night out here, honey." "And then they'll come back and get us." "Couple of guys, Mr. Smith and Mr. Brown." "Never seen them before, but I don't think they're here to save the whales." "They laid some money on me to see if I could spot three people in the boonies." "And if you saw them?" "Just go back and tell them where." "So why'd you land?" "I'm on the level about the radio, Joe." "I hoped to find some fishermen with a shortwave and a cooler full of brew." "If I'd have known the deal about Bobby, I'd have turned them in." "You have to trust me on that one." "Hang in there, ladies." "I'll be back with the cavalry tomorrow." "We're gonna make it." "Last I heard, he was flying out of Anchorage kicking square halibut out of a cargo plane." "What's that?" "Marijuana bales." "You fly over a spot on the water." "Somebody signals you with lights or a code over the radio." "You dump them, and people down below fish them out, take them to the next stage." "He's a drug dealer." "He's whatever pays best, or what he can get away with." "He hit on me a couple of times at the bar." "He seemed like a nice guy." "I'm not saying people don't like him." "I'm just saying I don't trust him." "You think he might tell those men?" "I don't know." "I don't believe him about the radio." "And we've got some personal history." "Like what?" "His brother drowned on a fishing boat, and it was my fault." "He wouldn't do that to us." "He's not a killer." "How do you know?" "I've looked in his eyes." "I can tell some things about a person." "Look, we don't have any choice!" "You're sick." "It's getting colder." "We can't stay here!" "Nobody's gonna show up for a while if it keeps up like this." "Not in a plane, not in a boat." "It's got to stop sometime." "Sooner or later." "Humour me, okay?" "All right, it was worse yesterday and the day before." "The signal fire's probably out." "As soon as it clears, we'll get it going." "It's blank." "What is?" "It's blank." "Look, after the first few entries...." "The foxes haven't even had their babies yet." ""We won't bury her on the island." "She made me promise." "She whispered it, and she hissed it in my ear one night when she laid hard beside me in bed." "'Promise me.'" "She wouldn't listen to anything else." "We had come back from looking for deer, Papa and me." "Signs at the salt lick, but nothing to shoot at." "I was putting his rifle back where he hid it in the shed roof when I heard him cry out." "He wouldn't...." "He wouldn't let me in at first though I hollered and struck at the door." "He opened up when he'd got her down on the table but I still saw the black mark around her neck where the cord was." "The fire had gone out so our breath was showing, Papa and me." "White long sighs of grief." "And her mouth open and hair crispy to the touch." "We wrapped her in her afghan and then I I got the fire going while Papa just sat." "Nothing to say." "Later, we found the note and she told how the animals were Satan's handmaidens and how their sharp little eyes would not give her peace." "So she killed them and then threw the ax in the woods." "'We have looked into ourselves,' she wrote 'and what is there condemns us.'" "We'll take her off the island come first thaw." "If Fox comes padding through the trees he will find us gone."" "That's it?" "That's it." "The last entry." "Poor thing." "Who?" "Little Anne Marie there." "Her mother didn't love her enough to stick around." "She was crazy." "But still...." "She left her daughter." "I would never do that." "No matter what." "I kind of look forward to her being sick." "It's the only time she lets me hold her anymore." "It's some kind of fever." "It's in her lungs." "We have to get her out of here." "You really think he might bring people back to kill us?" "I hope I'm wrong." "If...." "When we get back, I still have some dates up north." "I'd only be gone for" "She could stay with me." "And so could you." "You're not sick of us?" "You're not sick of me?" "There's nobody I'd rather be stranded in desperate circumstances with." "We should take our time with the furniture moving part." "You know, she pretends not to but she gets her hopes up for me." "When it doesn't work" "I'll take care of her." "There it is." "Looks bigger." "Room for all of us." "Or those men." "To hell with it." "I'm not staying here."