Melt

by Ele Fountain

  She doesn’t seem to ask him anything about what happened. She seems to be telling him something. Her tone is steady and serious.

  Yutu frowns. His expression changes to one of disbelief. He looks over at me.

  I want to know what’s happening.

  Yutu’s grandmother turns to me. ‘Thank you for looking after my grandson,’ she says. ‘He was very lucky that you were there to help him. Reckless behaviour doesn’t usually end well.’

  I smile at her. I’m about to say that Yutu rescued me, too, but she’s already turned back to speak to him.

  Then she gets up and walks slowly towards the front door.

  Yutu leaps up. ‘No!’ he says. ‘Please wait.’

  Something is very wrong.

  ‘What’s going on?’ I ask.

  Before his grandmother can slip her coat on, Yutu is by her side. He seems to be pleading with her. Then he takes her gently by the arm and leads her back to her chair. She places her coat on her knees.

  ‘Please tell my grandmother what happened to you, Bea.’ There is a look of desperation in Yutu’s eyes. ‘She wants to hear about why you were out on the ice on your own. She needs to hear it from you.’

  His grandmother is looking at me. She still doesn’t smile, but there is a warmth in her eyes which wasn’t there when I first arrived. I don’t know what’s going on, but I can sense that Yutu is trying to help me. That I need to do this.

  His grandma listens in silence while I describe leaving home on Saturday morning, then arriving at the airport, where the men were waiting for my dad. She says nothing, but I notice her shake her head, almost imperceptibly, when I describe flying the plane across the tundra, by myself.

  When I’ve finished, she is staring ahead, like she’s thinking.

  ‘What you did takes courage,’ she says. ‘You didn’t give up, even though giving up might have been easier.’ She pauses. ‘You must be hungry. Let me get you something to eat, then we can talk a little more.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I say. ‘But first I would really like to call my mum. She hasn’t heard from me since yesterday morning. I need to speak to the police too, or maybe Mum will do that.’

  She nods slowly, then says something to Yutu.

  ‘I wish I knew what you were saying,’ I say quietly. I’m starting to feel so tired. Like I just want to go to sleep until it’s all over.

  His grandma gets up and walks towards the kitchen area. Halfway there, she turns to Yutu and says, ‘Tell her, then.’

  Yutu looks pale.

  ‘Tell me what?’ I say.

  ‘Bea,’ he says, then hesitates, like he’s not sure how to begin. ‘Grandma says that there’s been a message. The mayor had a phone call. It was someone who said they were from the police.’

  I feel my blood run cold.

  What could this possibly have to do with my dad?

  ‘They are looking for a girl. They have reason to believe she might be lost somewhere out on the tundra. They said that if we find her, we must keep her safe and warm until they can come and collect her. They said her father has been arrested. He was trying to leave the country with sensitive corporate information and was using his daughter as a cover. They captured him, but she escaped in a plane. She may be injured. She is likely to be very distressed. She probably doesn’t know what her father has done, and so we shouldn’t discuss it with her.’

  I feel myself shaking my head slowly.

  ‘Whoever called the mayor is lying,’ I say, breathing quickly. I try to stay calm, to think about what is going on, but my head is spinning. ‘Is this what you were talking about? Were you deciding whether or not to tell me?’

  ‘Grandma was explaining what had happened,’ says Yutu.

  ‘It’s the men who attacked my dad. Can’t you see? They’re making sure I’m trapped until they get here. They won’t want me to talk to anybody. I escaped before, and they don’t want to risk it happening again.’

  Yutu’s grandmother says something to him.

  ‘What?’ I say to Yutu. ‘Please, tell me what you’re saying.’

  ‘She said, what if you simply don’t know what your father has done, like the message said.’

  I feel a sob building inside me. I feel helpless.

  ‘I know what I saw. My dad was attacked. You believe me, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ he says. ‘She wants to figure out what’s going on. Just like you do.’

  ‘There’s nothing to figure out,’ I say. ‘Some men attacked my dad. I don’t know who they were. I don’t know why they did it. But it seems they don’t want anyone else to know either.’

  There is a loud knock at the door.

  Yutu rushes over to my chair. ‘Go to one of the rooms at the back,’ he whispers. I stare at him, confused. ‘Go, quickly,’ he says, steering me towards two open doors hidden in the shadows. I pick one which leads to a bedroom, as his grandmother goes to answer the door.

  I hear conversation, and a man’s voice. After a few minutes I hear the door open and close again.

  ‘Bea,’ Yutu calls.

  I walk towards the sitting room and wait in the shadows.

  ‘Who was that?’ I ask.

  ‘It was someone from the village. They wanted to see if I’d come home. It would be best if no one knew you were here—for now.’

  I move slowly from the shadows, towards Yutu.

  I realize that I’m trembling.

  ‘He must have heard me,’ I say quietly. ‘He must know I’m here.’

  ‘Maybe not,’ Yutu says. ‘The walls are very thick.’

  I sit on the nearest chair and close my eyes. I feel a tear roll down my cheek. I’m too tired to brush it away.

  Yutu picks up the stool and sits with me. I can hear his grandma moving about by the stove.

  ‘You’ve never met my dad,’ I say, ‘you don’t know what he’s like. But you know me. A little bit, anyway. My dad would never steal. Not secrets, not anything. You don’t have to believe me, but please don’t try to stop me from helping him. Why would someone do this?’

  ‘Can I ask you a question?’ Yutu says quietly. ‘What does a geologist who works for an oil company do?’

  I close my eyes. This doesn’t feel like the right time to explain petroleum geology.

  ‘Your dad was on a work trip,’ he adds. ‘Maybe if I know more about what he does, we can find a clue to what’s going on, to who might have wanted your dad to disappear.’

  ‘Is your grandma going to tell the mayor I’m here?’ I ask.

  ‘She’s making soup. A good sign. But you can never rush Grandma.’

  I take a deep breath. ‘He finds new oil and gas reserves. He helps companies work out how to get to it.’

  ‘So it’s an important job?’ he asks.

  ‘Every oil company wants him to work for them.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I guess because he’s really good. He makes them a lot of money.’

  He thinks for a minute. Then looks at me, his eyes bright.

  ‘What if—’ he begins. ‘What if those men were trying to kidnap your dad?’

  I look at him, confused. ‘But why?’

  ‘If he’s so valuable to his company, then maybe they’d pay a ransom for his release.’

  ‘Then why would they say he’s stealing company secrets? It doesn’t make sense.’

  Yutu nods. ‘You’re right. Is there anything else, anything at all, which you think might be a clue, might be important?’

  His grandma is still preparing something by the stove, but I can tell she is listening.

  ‘Well,’ I try to think. I’m so tired. ‘Dad has been working really hard for the last couple of weeks, on some big project. He seemed pretty stressed. He doesn’t normally get stressed about anything.’ I pause for a moment. ‘I guess it was unusual for him to take me on a work trip. He’s never done that before. But I wasn’t having the best time at school. Maybe he thought it would do me some good.’

  I think back to
when we landed. I force myself to replay what I saw when I looked through the window. Then I remember what I heard. ‘My dad said something about lying,’ I say.

  ‘To you?’ Yutu asked.

  ‘No, I heard him say it to one of the men. They were shouting at him. Then when I was inside the aeroplane, Dad came out of the building. He yelled at me to go, to take off. He would never have told me to do that if I would have been safer on the ground.’

  Yutu’s grandmother wipes her hands, then goes to her bedroom.

  A few moments later she returns with something in her hand. She passes it to me. It’s her phone. It’s one of the old ones which only does dialling and texting.

  ‘If we’re going to sort this out, I think it’s time to call your mum,’ she says.

  I clutch the phone, my heart thumping again. I try to remember our new number. I tap it in and after a few seconds, it starts to ring.

  ‘Hello?’ Mum sounds anxious.

  ‘Mum, it’s Bea,’ I say.

  There is a short silence.

  ‘Bea, darling, are you OK? I’ve been so worried.’ She knows something is wrong.

  ‘I’m OK, Mum. I’m fine. But, Mum, something’s happened.’ I swallow, preparing to tell her about the men at the airport.

  Before I can begin, Mum says, ‘I know that Dad’s in trouble, Bea. We can help him.’

  ‘Really? You know what happened?’

  ‘There’s someone here with me now—from the police.’

  That’s what she meant by ‘we’.

  ‘They will come and get you,’ she says, ‘then we can sort everything out.’

  Someone takes the phone.

  ‘Bea?’ It’s a man’s voice. ‘I need you to stay calm and stay where you are. Bea, can you hear me?’

  I press the red button to end the call. I sit very still, the phone resting in my hand.

  ‘What happened?’ Yutu says.

  ‘There was a man there with Mum. Mum said they needed to speak to me. That something serious had happened. It sounds like the same message that your mayor got. They took the phone from her, to talk to me, so I hung up.’

  I close my eyes. There is no question now. I’m trapped.

  Soup

  I am curled up in a chair, my knees tucked towards my chin. I feel weak with hunger. My body aches from hours on the snowmobile. Yutu’s grandma carries two bowls over from the stove, steam snaking round her face. All I can manage is to uncurl my legs and take the bowl which she offers. She passes the other to Yutu, perched on his stool.

  ‘Time to eat,’ she says. ‘Whatever you are feeling now, will be a little bit better when you have some food in your stomach.’

  She passes me a spoon.

  ‘Thank you—’

  ‘My name is Miki. When you’ve finished, then we can talk about how to get you home.’

  I lift a spoonful of soup to my mouth. Golden pools of fat shimmer on the top. It’s rich and warm.

  Miki sits down next to me, her hands in her lap. Silently, peacefully, she watches me and Yutu as we eat. I feel no pressure to fill the silence. Each spoonful of soup melts a little of my panic, thaws the chill from hours spent outside.

  As I wait for the soup to cool, I look around the room, at the amber-coloured wood on the walls and floor, at the stove and sink in the corner, the old chest beneath the window. It’s peaceful, like Miki. There is a kind of harmony between the objects. Each has a purpose, a place. There is a sense of calm, of homeliness.

  Miki brings a small bowl of the berry mix to share, then settles down, with a cup of her sweet-smelling tea.

  ‘Was the soup good?’ she asks.

  ‘It was delicious,’ I say.

  She nods, unsurprised by my answer.

  ‘Now I think we can talk.’ Miki takes a few sips of tea, and leans forwards in her chair, towards me and Yutu. ‘We are far from big towns and cities here, Bea. Separated by snow and ice or by rivers and mountains. All year round there are planes, but only for deliveries or emergencies. In summer and autumn, you can travel the coast by boat. In winter you can travel on the sea ice.’ She sighs. ‘But now, it’s spring. I’m afraid you can’t do either of those. The ice isn’t solid, but it hasn’t melted either. To reach the nearest big town you would have to travel overland. From there you can take the sleeper train anywhere you want.’

  ‘But isn’t that what we were doing all the way back from the cabin—travelling overland?’

  ‘Yes, but you would be going further, and Yutu has only travelled the route once before.’

  Yutu sits up straight on his stool, like something’s bitten him.

  ‘You’d let me take Bea?’ he says, his eyes wide. ‘Along the south-coast route?’

  ‘I haven’t forgiven you for running away,’ says Miki.

  ‘I didn’t run away—’

  ‘I haven’t forgiven you, but you and Bea are a good team. A good team can make up for inexperience. Sometimes.’

  ‘I promise I wouldn’t do anything reckless, just exactly what you say.’ Yutu’s words tumble out, until Miki raises her hand, a faint smile on her lips.

  ‘Yutu, going overland is hard. It’s dangerous. There will be no one to help you if there is a problem.’ She pauses. ‘And it’s not my decision alone. Bea must choose.’

  I don’t think I’ve missed anything, but so far I’ve only heard one option. ‘If I don’t go overland, then what would I do?’

  Miki turns to me. ‘You would have to wait for a delivery plane. It will probably be a couple of weeks before the next one. Then maybe you could hitch a flight back.’

  I look from Miki to Yutu. For me the choice is clear.

  ‘Overland.’

  The skin around Miki’s eyes crinkles as she smiles back. ‘I trust you, Bea. When you talk about what happened to your father, you speak from your heart,’ she says. Her expression is steady and serene. ‘I believe helping you is the right thing to do.’

  I don’t know what time it is. Not long after we ate soup, but I’m so tired. Layers of blanket and thick caribou skin press gently against me. I feel my eyes closing. Thoughts buzz nearby, vying for attention, but they can’t take hold.

  I hear something. At first, I think I’m dreaming, then I realize it’s Yutu’s voice.

  I open my eyes. He’s standing by the door.

  He leans over and passes me a small scrap of paper.

  ‘This was in the pocket of your dad’s trousers. I didn’t want to throw it away.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I murmur. I close my hand around the piece of paper. Whatever it is can wait until the morning.

  Share

  I stare at the honey-coloured ceiling glowing in the morning light. At the pattern of swirling knots and wavy lines. Miki’s bed is empty, the covers pulled up neatly. The herby smell of her tea drifts into the room. I want to lie here for a minute longer. My nose and cheeks are cold. I’m glad I slept in my clothes. It won’t feel so cold when I push the warm covers away.

  There is something in my hand. A small piece of paper. I half-remember Yutu giving it to me before I fell asleep. I sit up, and unfold the scrap, smoothing it flat in the palm of my hand. Written in black biro, are the words Tell Bea—Hester. It’s Dad’s handwriting, but I have no idea what he would want to tell me about Hester.

  ‘Bea, would you like some breakfast?’ Yutu calls from the other side of the bedroom door. I fold up the paper and slip it into my pocket.

  ‘Coming,’ I answer.

  Miki is pottering by the stove.

  ‘Sleep well?’ she asks.

  ‘I think I slept well,’ I say. ‘The caribou skin was so warm. I like the smell.’

  Miki smiles. I realize she is looking at my clothes. I’m wearing a jumper, two fleeces and several pairs of socks.

  She walks over to the old wooden chest on the floor by her chair. She pokes around inside and then passes me a pair of slippers. ‘Ilupirquk,’ she says. ‘Handmade. Put them on.’

  I look at the shape, the beauti
ful stitches.

  I tug them on. The soft leather moves with my foot, almost like a sock. I look up at Miki. ‘They’re beautiful.’

  ‘My mother taught me to sew. Her mother taught her.’

  ‘I see my grandparents once a year,’ I say. ‘We are always in a different country. What else do you make? May I see?’

  Miki goes back to the chest and takes out some mittens.

  ‘Sealskin,’ she says, passing them to me. ‘Nothing goes to waste. The blubber we use to light lamps, the bones for needles, and the rest we eat.’

  I slip my hands inside.

  ‘How do you make them so soft?’ I ask.

  ‘We scrape the leather,’ says Miki. ‘People used to chew the leather too, to soften it.’

  I pass them back to Miki. ‘Naormeek,’ I say.

  She stares at me, beaming. ‘You speak our language?’

  I laugh. ‘No, no. I just worked out the word for thank you from listening to you and Yutu. I like learning languages.’

  ‘You spoke it perfectly,’ Miki says.

  She slips on her coat and heads towards the door. ‘I’m going to the cold store,’ she says to no one in particular. A few moments later she returns, clutching a small package.

  Kneeling on the floor by my chair, she peels away several paper layers. Inside lies a block of something reddish-brown. Using a sharp knife, Miki shaves a thin slice and passes it to me.

  ‘Is that caribou?’ Yutu asks. ‘I thought we didn’t have any?’

  ‘Just a little bit saved,’ Miki says. ‘I thought Bea might like to try it.’

  ‘It’s raw.’ Yutu adds, ‘It has quite a strong flavour.’

  It has a salty, earthy taste. I like it. ‘Mmm,’ I say.

  Miki’s face crinkles in delight.

  Yutu shakes his head and smiles. ‘Only for special visitors,’ he says.

  Miki cuts a slice for Yutu and for herself.

  ‘You’re jealous. Normally you have all the best pieces to yourself. It’s good for you to share. Do you have brothers or sisters, Bea?’ she asks.

  ‘No, just Mum and Dad and Hester.’

  ‘Hester?’

  ‘My cat.’

  She nods. ‘Yutu has no brother or sister. But at least you have your mother and father. He just has an old woman for company.’