by Kim Baldwin
“I’m the only one who can go, Karla,” Toni said. “And you know it. You can’t, with your broken arm and having to see to Skeeter and Emery, and Ruth wouldn’t get very far with her swollen knee. Besides, it’s a lot easier for me to plow through this stuff than you shorties.”
Karla smiled. “If we ever organize a debating team, I’ll make you captain, Toni. You make a compelling argument. But the answer is still no. For now.” She had hunched over Skeeter, and her smile faded as she unwrapped the dressing on his leg to look at his wound. “You can help me over here, however. Will you bring the first-aid kit?”
“Look bad?” Skeeter asked.
“I’m not crazy about how you’re healing.” When Toni handed Karla the kit, she fished through it for a thermometer and put it beneath Skeeter’s tongue. “Could be early signs of infection, which isn’t unexpected. I want to see if you have a fever.”
“And if I do?”
“I’ll start you on antibiotics, though I’d rather not give you anything with your head wounds. Are you allergic to anything?”
“No.”
“Listen! Hear that?” Ruth asked.
Everyone became very still. Then Emery heard it, too. A very distant Hey! Anybody home? Pasha. Her relief almost made her dizzy.
Toni swept back the makeshift door flap and peered out. “I see her,” she told the others. “She looks okay.” Then, louder, she called, “Hey, Pasha! You had us worried sick.”
A couple of minutes later, Pasha came in, shaking loose snow from her coat. “So you all missed me, did you?”
Though she tried to appear cheerful, Emery could see by the way she moved that Pasha was near collapse and more worried than she let on. “Sit.” Emery patted Pasha’s sleeping bag. “You’ve got to be exhausted.”
“Just for a minute and then I’ll start dinner. You all must be starving. I’m sorry I was gone so long.” Pasha sat beside Emery and shed her hat, gloves, and boots, then replaced her wet wool socks with dry ones.
“We had granola bars and dried fruit,” Emery told her. “We managed fine.”
“I can cook dinner,” Ruth said, “if you tell me what you planned to fix and show me how to use the stove.”
“Not necessary, Ruth, but thanks.” Pasha looked around at them. “I wish I had better news, but I couldn’t get a signal. And I didn’t see any sign of civilization from up there, or a good way to get off this mountain.”
No one said anything for a few seconds.
“I don’t want you to be discouraged,” Pasha said, staring out at the somber faces. “I’ll go the other way along this ridge tomorrow and try again. Besides, if you know anything about the weather up here, you know it changes all the time. When the wind shifts direction they can send someone for us. I intend to work on making us more visible from the air tomorrow as well.”
“You’re the resident encyclopedia, Toni,” Ruth said. “What do you know about Alaskan volcanoes?”
“Hmm. Well, let’s see. Alaska has more than ten percent of all the world’s volcanoes. And the largest eruption of the twentieth century happened here, at Novarupta, in 1912. Way, way bigger than that eruption in Iceland a couple years ago that shut down air traffic all over.”
“I had a ticket to London the day that happened,” Emery said. “It took ten days before I could fly.”
“Anybody know how long eruptions usually last?” Ruth asked.
“Anywhere from a few hours to years. Kilauea in Hawaii has been active for twenty-five years, at least,” Toni said. “The average, unfortunately, lasts about seven weeks. But like Pasha said, the weather and wind direction change up here all the time. I bet we’re out of here pretty quick.”
“Did you say seven weeks?” Karla asked. Emery saw her glance first at Skeeter, then at her, worry in her eyes.
Emery had felt much better than expected this morning, but a couple of hours ago, her headache had begun to creep back. And she’d glimpsed Skeeter’s leg when Karla checked it. The angry red wound didn’t look good.
Toni turned to Pasha. “How long will our food last?”
“We can stretch it to three weeks, maybe four,” Pasha said. “I’m more concerned about fuel. We need to melt snow for water, and we have only two small canisters of butane and a little more wood. That’s one reason I’m scouting. If I can find a way down to the tree line, at least I can bring back more fuel if we’re stranded here very long.”
“Then I suggest we not cook tonight,” Karla said. “We still have enough water left from this morning, and we need to eat the fresh stuff.”
“Probably wise,” Pasha said. “How does everybody feel about cheese sandwiches?”
No one complained about the simple fare. In fact, as in everything they’d faced so far, the group remained supportive of Pasha and Karla’s decisions. And they all put on brave and optimistic fronts, though everyone had to be thinking about a seven-week eruption. How fortunate to be stuck with such fine, decent individuals.
By eight p.m., they’d made their pit stops and had snuggled back into their sardine-can sleeping arrangement. Toni’s ability to recall so much of what she’d ever read impressed them so much they played a few rounds of a new game they created, called “inane but fascinating trivia I know,” which successfully lightened the mood.
Ruth: “A bay scallop has dozens of eyes and they’re all blue.”
Skeeter: “Turtles can breathe through their asses.”
Karla: “The words listen and silent have the same letters, and so do Santa and Satan.”
Toni: “Virginia Woolf wrote her books standing up.”
Pasha: “For four years, the U.S. had a state called Franklin, after Benjamin Franklin. It was never admitted to the union and was later incorporated into Tennessee and North Carolina.”
Emery: “In Spanish, the word esposa means both wives and handcuffs.”
They came up with enough trivia to stay amused for a couple of hours. Then, as before, Emery and Pasha stayed awake after all the others drifted off.
“Want to curl up next to me again?” Pasha whispered. She opened her arm invitingly, and Emery quickly accepted, nestling her head once more into the crook of Pasha’s shoulder.
Emery’s now-familiar sense of euphoria from their touching enveloped her once again. Her lips mere inches from Pasha’s ear, she whispered, “I can’t believe I woke up in this same position this morning. Usually I thrash around all night and end up on the other side of the bed with the sheets tangled around me.”
“Must have been pretty tired, then.”
“I guess. This is nice.” Her sexual liaisons, even with Lisa, had rarely included cuddling. She often didn’t even spend the night when she hooked up with a stranger. When women tried to fall asleep in her arms or spoon with her, she felt confined and restless. But she would very much miss curling up like this beside Pasha.
“Very nice,” Pasha said. “How are you feeling, by the way?”
“I woke up feeling great, but my headache came back this afternoon. Not as bad as yesterday, though.”
“And your side?”
“Tender. This cold isn’t doing my aching joints any favors, either. I wish I could take some of my pain meds.”
“As soon as we get you to a hospital for some tests,” Pasha said, “I’m sure they’ll be able to give you something to make you more comfortable.”
“Where’s the nearest hospital?”
“Fairbanks, I’m afraid.” Pasha stroked Emery’s back. She turned her head slightly and said softly into Emery’s ear, “I hope they don’t keep you long. I want to be alone with you.”
“Me, too.” Although surely everyone was asleep and deep in their sleeping bags, they spoke in the barest of whispers, especially when discussing anything personal. The more personal the message, in fact, the more intimate the delivery. Both she and Pasha would put their lips beside the other’s ear and almost mouth the words. Pasha’s soft exhalations against her skin had begun to drive her a little crazy, des
pite her headache. “You can probably guess how I feel about hospitals, and I don’t want anything to interfere with the rest of my trips. I wonder if this volcano will disrupt more of them.”
“Just have to wait and see, I guess. What will you do if the eruption continues and Dita cancels the trips? Leave Alaska and head to your next destination?”
Leave Alaska? Emery supposed she should have considered what she would do, but she hadn’t even thought about it until Pasha brought it up. She’d barely arrived and only gotten a taste of all she’d planned to do here. How disappointing if she had to miss the rafting, backpacking, fly-fishing, kayaking, and high-glacier dogsledding adventures she’d signed up for, not to mention more private charters with Bryson.
But she’d most regret losing her time with Pasha. The shift in her priorities startled her. She had focused solely on her far-flung itinerary the last couple of years. It had motivated her to push far beyond what the doctors predicted she was capable of, and provided the impetus for her every decision and choice in the last several months. In short, her journey had become her entire reason to live. But at least for now, no adventure, monument, or exotic locale could begin to compete with Pasha.
“Emery? Did you fall asleep?”
“No. Just thinking. I’m not sure what I’ll do. I hope it won’t come to that because I’m not ready to leave.”
Pasha hugged her closer. “I’m glad. You know, this whole experience, and the uncertainty it’s cast on the future, has only made me more aware how precious every moment I can spend with you is.”
“I feel the same, Pasha.”
“Hoped you’d say that. How about a real date, then, once we’re out of here and you’re well? I can cook us a nice dinner in my apartment. Candles. Wine. Soft music.”
“And then?”
“And then…” Pasha whispered seductively into her ear, “I intend to exhaust you so thoroughly and completely it may take you days to recover.”
Emery chuckled. “Well, you’ve certainly given me something much nicer to think about than our current predicament. But it’s cruel of you, too, to put those images into my head when we can’t do anything about them.”
“Only fair we suffer together. I’ve had those images in my head almost from the minute you got here.”
*
Bryson forced herself not to hurry too much as she descended the scree slope and focused on returning safely to her tent. She could almost ski down the slope on her boots, but she risked accelerating out of control. Large rocks sticking up from the scree could kill her if she fell headfirst.
The news that Karla was aboard the missing Cessna had turned her boring wait into a nightmare. Her world revolved around Karla, and if anything happened…
She lost her footing and slid thirty feet, pinwheeling her arms and grabbing at the scree to slow herself. By the time she stopped, her hands and ass were as badly abraded as her knees, and she had no water left to rinse out the sharp, gritty material that made them sting like someone had poured salt into them.
Traversing the rest of the scree field and negotiating her way back through the swampy hummocks took another two-and-a-half hours. She didn’t arrive at her riverside campsite until after midnight, her mouth so dry she could barely swallow. She gulped the second water bottle she’d left in the plane and leaned against the Cub to study the sky.
As much as Bryson itched to search for the Cessna, it would be suicidal to try to take off with so much particulate material in the air, even if her engine did start. She needed to eat, replenish her water, catch a few hours’ sleep, and hope conditions improved enough to start early in the morning.
She stripped off her torn jeans at the river and washed as much of the scree as possible from her abrasions, then hurriedly applied antibiotic ointment and pulled on a clean pair of sweats. Shaking from the cold, she built a small fire to warm herself and boil some river water.
Once she’d refilled both bottles, she dumped dried beans and rice into the rest of the water in the pot and ate the concoction in the Cub. She hadn’t seen any grizzlies, but she kept food away from her tent and washed the pot a good distance downstream.
She crawled into her sleeping bag at almost two a.m. Thoroughly spent, she worried too much about Karla to get any beneficial sleep.
Chapter Thirty-one
Next day, June 12
Pasha turned off the butane to the stove after deciding the oatmeal was palatable. She carried the pot back into the plane, where the rest still cozily snuggled into their sleeping bags drinking hot herbal tea.
“What’s it look like out there?” Toni asked. The frost-crusted plane windows made it impossible to see the status of the ashfall.
“Seems clearer than yesterday, but I still couldn’t reach anyone on the sat phone.” Pasha served them their breakfast, topping off the barely cooked oatmeal with dried fruit, brown sugar, and a splash of soy milk. “Hey, I meant to tell you, great job finding one of the tires yesterday. And pretty nifty job making these.” She held up one of the six wooden spoons Toni had carved with her jackknife from a slat off a food crate.
“Wish I could do more,” Toni replied.
“I can use your help after breakfast. If we can find a way to tap enough fuel from the tank to ignite the tire, it’ll make a good signal fire. We can also take a couple of our tents and lay them over the top of the fuselage. The orange will be a lot easier to spot from the air than what we’ve got now.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“How are you doing this morning?” Pasha asked Skeeter as she handed him his portion.
“Jonesing for a cig, but hanging in there.”
Karla laid her hand on his forehead. “I think your fever’s up. I want to get a look at your leg when you’re done eating. Ruth, you up to helping me?”
“Sure. Blood doesn’t bother me. My kids were always getting banged up riding their bikes or skateboards and climbing trees.”
“I feel top notch this morning,” Emery said. “Sure I can’t do something?”
“Yes. Rest,” Karla said. “No matter how you feel, you have to stay prone as much as possible.”
Emery gave her a thumbs-up but didn’t look too happy about it. Pasha imagined after spending so many months confined to a hospital bed, she found it more difficult than most to remain inactive very long. But thankfully Emery had awakened without a headache and her puncture wound showed no sign of infection.
She and Toni spread the tents over the top of the plane and secured them with bits of wire and duct tape, which took a good hour and a half. Then they placed the tire on a piece of metal away from the plane and managed to siphon enough aviation fuel into one of the bear-proof containers to set the rubber afire if they heard an approaching aircraft.
Emery emerged for a bathroom break as they finished.
“I’m going to take off a layer or two,” Toni said before heading back inside. “All this work has heated me up.”
Emery and Pasha stood side by side, gazing out over the valley.
“You know, I know we’re in this dire predicament, but I still appreciate this view. I just can’t get over how big everything is here,” Emery remarked. “And how primitive. Unchanged for thousands of years. I almost expect to see a mastodon or saber-toothed tiger.”
“On one of Chaz’s trips a client found a snail fossil more than three-hundred-million-years old.”
“Can you keep ’em?” Emery asked.
“Plants and invertebrate fossils, yes, if you collect them on public lands. But, by law, you’re supposed to leave any vertebrate fossils or native artifacts where they lie unless you have a special permit. The North Slope is the best place to go fossil hunting. Maybe you can get Bryson to take you up there.”
“That’d be way cool.”
“I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
“I know this will sound kind of crazy,” Emery said, turning to face her. “But I’m really beginning to think that your…special abilities are respons
ible. It’s not a coincidence that two nights in a row, my raging headache begins to subside as soon as I cuddle up next to you and only comes back when we’re separated for hours. The sense of happiness and calm I get from your touch apparently has healing qualities.”
“For real?”
Emery nodded. “Even back in Bettles, my old injuries bothered me a lot less if we were in close contact.”
“I certainly hope you’re right,” Pasha said. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.” She caressed Emery’s cheek. “You should have several doses a day.”
Emery grinned. “I won’t mind filling that prescription.”
“Regardless of how you’re feeling, you shouldn’t stay out here too long. And I should get going if I plan to explore the other side of the ridge and be back in time for dinner.” Pasha almost laughed out loud at Emery’s childish pout of disappointment. “Scoot. Do your business, and get back inside. I mean it. Or no cuddling for you tonight.”
“Although I’m pretty sure that’s an empty threat, I won’t argue. The sooner you get going, the sooner you get back.”
Pasha retrieved her long probing pole and started away from the plane, but she hadn’t made it twenty feet before Karla’s voice stopped her. “Hey, wait a sec!”
“What’s up?”
“Skeeter remembered he had a map of the area, and Toni found it under the snow in the cockpit. Thought it might help you figure out where we are.” Karla handed her the topographic chart, wet but still legible.
Pasha tucked it into her coat pocket. “Thanks.”
“The infection in Skeeter’s leg is worse, despite the antibiotics,” Karla said, “and his fever’s up to a hundred and one. I hope to hell we can get out of here soon.”
“You and me both. Wish me luck.”
“Be careful. And Pash? You’re doing a great job keeping it all together and looking out for us. Dita will be very proud.”
