by Meris Lee
“What does it mean to not bother it?” asked Elias.
“Again, depending on whom you heard it from, it’s either to let it die naturally or throw it back in the river,” said Katy. “Outsiders don’t follow this rule, and the elders think that’s why our salmon harvest is dwindling.”
“We have a lot of rules when it comes to salmon,” Andy said while lowering the great dipnet into the rushing gray water, steadying himself as the current rocked the plank he was standing on.
“Rules like keeping your fishing gear and camp in good condition,” said Katy. “Fishing only in certain streams and leave the salmon in other streams alone, taking only male salmon and only enough to feed those whose lives depend on it, eating all of the salmon including the head and the guts and feeding the bones to the dogs and using the skin to make boots, things like that. Wasting salmon like throwing skin and bones into the bushes will cause a bad hunting season that winter and no salmon run the next year.”
“The rules make a lot of sense,” said Elias.
“But other fishermen don’t follow them,” said Katy. “In Alaska, there are four groups of people constantly fighting one another for salmon: the commercial fishing companies that make billions of dollars on salmon, the out-of-state sport fishermen who want to brag about catching a Copper River king salmon, the Alaskan personal use fishermen that don’t depend on salmon to live, and then the subsistence fishermen, usually Natives like us, whose lives do depend on the salmon. You see why Steve’s not happy with Andy helping tourists compete with our salmon?”
“Here’s a big one.” Andy lifted his dipnet out of the water with some effort as a large sockeye thrashed vigorously inside it. He walked back toward the bank and picked up the baseball bat to club the salmon to death. He then dropped the salmon in the pail.
“That doesn’t look too hard,” commented Elias.
“See the white band coming down the side of Mt. Wrangell?” said Andy, pointing to the snow-covered mountain in the distance. “That’s the Copper Glacier. This river is freezing cold, and the risk is great of you falling in it and dying.”
Elias squinted to focus on the frozen river in the distance. Not long ago, she was at its mouth in the Gulf of Alaska, witnessing the mass capture of its prized salmon by the commercial fishing boats. She remembered the angry look on her shipmate Jack’s face when he told her about the salmon business and how money changed him. On the rare occasion that she had salmon for dinner back in the prison in Texas, she never thought twice about where the salmon came from. She never thought she might be taking someone else’s food away.
Katy picked up her dipnet and was about to get on the platform when Elias asked, “Can I try?”
Katy and Andy glanced at each other and, after a moment’s hesitation, shrugged. “Sure,” said Katy.
Elias took over the dipnet and walked onto the platform. She lowered the dipnet into the rushing water and was almost tipped off her feet by the force of the current dragging the net downstream.
“Be careful,” shouted Katy.
“I think I got something,” Elias shouted back. She could feel an animal beating in her net. She lifted it out of the water and sprinted across the wobbly platform back to the shore. The bright red salmon with a greenish head was almost three feet long. Elias stared at its hooked snout and sharp fangs as it struggled violently in the net.
“Nice catch,” said Katy.
“What’s going on here?” said an angry voice.
Elias turned around and saw Sergeant Wolfe stomping down the bank toward them. He was in his trooper uniform, arms akimbo, eyebrows stitched together in the middle of his forehead, the corners of his lips drooping all the way to his jaw.
“You’re not allowed to fish here,” yelled the trooper.
“You have no jurisdiction here,” said Andy. “We’re inside the national park.”
“I can report you,” Wolfe punched back, staring at Elias. “Sport fishing is not allowed here, and only a subsistence fisherman can use a dipnet. You can’t possibly have a subsistence fishing license because you haven’t lived here a year. Where are you from and what are you doing here? I will find out sooner or later. I’ve got law enforcement buddies all over the country, and I’ve been making inquiries, especially down in the southern states.”
Elias felt as if someone poured a bucket of ice water down her head, freezing her instantly, disabling her. What had he found out exactly? She couldn’t go back to Texas after such a blatant parole violation. She grew breathless just thinking about the potential punishment she would get if she were sent back to prison.
“Elias didn’t catch this fish. I did,” said Katy, defiantly, taking the dipnet from Elias’s hand and tossing the salmon back in the river.
Wolfe frowned. “Katy, I’ve watched you grow up. I want you to have a great life. But you choose Andy, and he’s nothing but trouble. But here’s an opportunity that could save him and do you a lot of good. Persuade your fiancé to lease his land, and you’ll be well provided for.”
“I know what’s best for me,” said Katy. “You’re not going to bully us into helping your friend O’Brien. He’s not even from Alaska. What does he know about what’s best for us?”
“O’Brien turned down many lucrative opportunities around the country and chose to come and manage one of your tribe’s business ventures. That’s character,” said Wolfe, unyielding.
“Why won’t you leave us alone?” said Andy. “We don’t all want the same lifestyle.”
“I’m looking out for Katy,” Wolfe shouted. “Nara is a lost cause but Katy… Katy, you’ve got to get smart.”
Just then a breeze blew in from the mountains, and Elias’s skin tingled as it swept across her face. An idea came to her. She shouted, “Don’t move, Sergeant. There’s a wasp on the back of your collar!”
Wolfe froze and his eyes enlarged, his frown transforming into an expression of fear. “Where?’ he hollered and turned his head toward his back so fast he spun out of control, lost his balance, and went down into the frigid river with a tremendous splash.
Elias was mortified. She hadn’t expected this outcome. Wolfe was carried downstream as his arms flailed barely above the water, his head nearly submerged. “Help! Help!” Wolfe cried frantically.
Andy took off running downstream. Elias and Katy followed. Elias detested Wolfe, but she didn’t want him to die. “What do we do?” she shouted.
Suddenly, she heard neighing and looked up to see Sam atop a towering horse. He dismounted and tied one end of a rope to a nearby tree and the other end to his waist belt. He charged into the river.
“Sam!” she screamed.
Sam swam toward Wolfe, who was being pushed farther and farther down by the current. Sam reached over Wolfe’s chest, grabbed his underarm, and began to swim toward the shore. Elias was terrified. Sam seemed to be struggling in the swift water, too.
“Help me pull them up,” Andy barked as he ran and took hold of the rope. Katy and Elias wasted no time to join him. Elias pulled as hard as she could without regard to the cutting pain the rope was causing to her hands.
Sam reached the shore and dragged the unconscious Wolfe out of the water. He tore off the trooper’s wet clothes and pushed on the stomach, and a great amount of water spewed out of the victim’s mouth. He then gave two rescue breaths and began chest compressions. “For Christ’s sake, wake up. Andy, go get the radio on my horse.”
Andy fetched the radio, handed it to Sam, and took over chest compressions. Sam called for a helicopter. Elias looked at him, who also had his eyes fixed on her, his face tense, water dripping from his hair and his chin, his wet uniform clinging to his body, his chest rising and falling rapidly with each breath, his hands shaking.
Not taking his eyes off her, he unbuttoned and removed his shirt. She felt her cheeks burn as she stared at his taut pectorals. He wiped the water off his body with his hands, and, finally lifting his gaze from her, went back to the trooper and resumed chest compres
sions.
Chapter Twelve
The paramedics came and whisked Wolfe away in the helicopter. Steve offered Sam a steam bath, and Becky put his clothes by the smoke pit to dry. When he came back out in the cold again with only a towel around his waist, Elias exhaled and realized she had practically held her breath from the minute he plunged into the water.
“Take this to him,” said Becky, shoving a wool blanket into her arms.
“I don’t…” she protested. “I can’t…”
“Look at the man. He’s freezing. Steve likes to sit naked in the cold wind after a steam bath, but I doubt our good ranger likes that. Go now.”
Clutching the blanket nervously in her arms, Elias sauntered over to Sam, who seemed to want to linger by the warm steam bath. That relaxed her a little, seeing that he was just like any other human who could use a little creature comfort.
“Here you go,” she said as she presented him the blanket.
“Much appreciated,” he said as he wrapped himself in the blanket. “Where are Andy and Katy?”
“They went with Steve to gather blueberries. Steve said something about a stew of blueberries and fish heads to help you restore your spirit.”
“Blueberries and fish heads?” Sam grumbled. “I’d better leave before they come back.”
“That’d be rude,” Elias blurted and then regretted it when she saw the frown on Sam’s face. But someone had to tell this stiff neck, heroic or otherwise, that he was ill-mannered. “Steve would be hurt if you take off without saying thanks after he offered you a steam bath, and Andy was so worried about you he eagerly volunteered to help Steve with the medicinal stew. You can’t just leave them. It would be ungrateful of you, and Katy would think you’re still the same old stuck-up East Coast snob.”
Sam’s frown vanished, and he was now looking at Elias with a raised eyebrow. “Is that what you think of me, too?”
Elias was speechless. She wasn’t prepared to tell Sam what she thought of him since she couldn’t even describe to herself how she felt about him. It was complicated.
Elias was saved when Steve appeared with a cup of hot tea. He was all smiles. “Good, you look much more alive now. Come and have some fresh salmon while I make this stew of blueberries and fish heads. Come, come.’
Elias and Sam gave each other a quick glance and followed Steve to the tent. After taking a few bites of boiled salmon in broth, Sam asked Steve where Andy and Katy were.
“Well,” replied Steve. “I thought today, so sunny, was going to be a good day, but it’s been one thing after another. Andy got a thick splinter through his thumb when he tripped and was trying to hold on to a tree. Katy took him to the ranger station to get first aid. They told me to tell you, Elias, to ride with Sam back to the station.”
Sam nearly choked. “Excuse me?” Sam stammered.
“Oh, you’re fine,” said Becky. “The salmon is a little hot.”
Elias glared at Sam and quipped, “He was not apologizing for spitting your food all over the place, Becky. He’s shocked because I have to burden him for a few miles. It’s an inconvenience, you see.”
Sam took in a breath and replied, in a calm and controlled voice now, “Quite the contrary. It would be my pleasure to escort you. As a national park ranger, I welcome any opportunity to serve and guide a fellow citizen through wild country.”
“All right,” said Steve as he approached Sam with another bowl. “Blueberries and fish heads stew. Eat it. It’s good for you.”
Sam and Elias exchanged another glance. Sam took over the bowl and tipped its content between his lips. Elias suppressed a giggle when she saw him trying hard not to show his disgust.
“Well?” said Steve.
“It’s…hearty,” replied Sam, putting the bowl down on the table.
“Go on,” said Becky. “Finish it.”
“I will have this to go,” said Sam. “I have an empty thermos on my horse. I have to get back to the station and write up the incident.”
“But your clothes are still wet,” said Becky.
Sam walked over to his clothes and touched them. “They’re dry enough.”
He removed the blanket and the towel from his body and began to put on his pants. Elias turned her look away at the sight of his muscular thighs. Her heart pounded, and there was that flutter in her stomach again. Whatever in the world was wrong with her?
“Ready to go?’ Sam asked, and she stood up as well to thank Steve and Becky for their hospitality.
Becky filled Sam’s thermos with the stew and Steve took a good minute to shake Sam’s hand and say goodbye.
Sam helped Elias up on the horse before he mounted it himself, behind her. Through her thin shirt, she could feel the still damp uniform and the heat of his body under it. His arms encircled her as he took the rein, and she felt dizzy as they took off. They were silent until they reached Nabesna Road, where she saw the slanting light of the afternoon sun turn the bare, rocky mountain peaks gold and the forest a captivating shade of copper. She couldn’t help but declare, “I’ve never been anywhere as beautiful as here.’
“Yes, this is amazing earth,” Sam whispered, and his voice caused a slight vibration through her as she tilted her head to feel his breath warming the air around her ear.
“Back in school,” she said, “we were taught things happened by chance, and then they just evolved. Do you believe that all this wonder around us happened by chance?”
“What do you believe?”
“I’m not religious, but I think God made this. Everything seems so well planned out. The mountains receive the snow, the snow turns into rivers, the rivers bring salmon, and the salmon feed the people, and the people live to admire, and protect, the mountains.”
He chuckled, and it delighted her. “So, you believe this is God’s country.”
“I do.”
“Then we finally have something we both agree on.”
She chuckled, too. “I’m sorry I call you rude and a snob back there.”
“I probably deserve it.”
“I see you didn’t have the heart to refuse the stew as you did my cake.”
“Perhaps your lecture had some effect on me.”
“Lecture? I’m not qualified to lecture you. You went to law school, and I barely passed the GED.”
“Who told you about me?”
“Katy did,” she replied. “So how did you become a ranger all the way out here?”
“That’s a long story, and I don’t know you well enough to divulge my life’s history.”
“Ouch, and here I thought we were finally friends.”
“I apologize for giving you the wrong impressions,” he said, his voice aloof.
Now, that hurt, and Elias’s disappointment was so great it almost turned into rage. But she said nothing, not wanting him to detect her vulnerabilities.
“How did Sergeant Wolfe end up in the river?” he asked.
“He was bothering us, and so I tricked him.”
“What?”
“I told him there was a wasp on him and he flipped out, lost his balance and fell in.”
“You lied?”
“He was bothering us. I didn’t know he was going to fall in the water.” Elias raised her voice. “I feel bad about it, okay?”
“Are you always this impulsive? You don’t think before you act?”
She couldn’t hide her anger anymore. “Stop the horse.”
Sam pulled back on the rein, and the horse whinnied. She hopped off and started walking. He quickly followed. “What are you doing?”
“I’ll walk back to the station,” she said. “You go on with your ranger duties.”
“I can’t leave you out here alone. There are grizzlies and wolves in these mountains, and it’s another eight miles to the station. You won’t make it back by dark.”
She didn’t want to give in, and so she walked on.
He dismounted and grabbed her arm. “Don’t be a child.”
She pulled he
r arm out of his grasp. She was mad. “Impulsive? Liar? Child?” she shouted. She wanted nothing more than to rid herself of the label of an immature, hell-raising juvenile.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Like you said, I’m rude. Please, let me take you back to the station. It’s not safe out here.”
Elias felt her nose burn, but she pushed back her tears. She didn’t want to look even more childish to him. No, she should not walk alone, but she wasn’t ready to get back on the horse with him.
“Think what Katy would do when she finds out you are out here alone,” he said. “She’s going to come for you, and this road is treacherous at night. You don’t want anything to happen to her.”
Elias sighed. No, she didn’t want Katy to come for her. She remembered all the potholes and narrow river crossings, and she could not subject her friend to the danger of a deadly car wreck. She relented, and let Sam help her back on the horse. Sam took his place on the horse behind her again, and a sigh of relief escaped from his lips. They started back down the road and didn’t speak another word to each other.
Chapter Thirteen
In the days following the trip to the fish camp, Elias focused on her work and asked for overtime. The exchange with Sam on the ride back to Slana still pained her a great deal, and she feared she would remain childish in others’ eyes despite her best efforts to prove them wrong.
As the temperature grew warmer, more tourists arrived. Elias enjoyed people-watching in the morning when the hikers and ice-climbers started out in droves. Many tourists dined at the Kennecott Hotel, and she loved seeing the look of satisfaction on their faces after they tasted dishes she prepared. Perhaps cooking was her purpose in life, to bring an hour of joy to strangers by way of their stomachs. Surely that must count for something, and if this was a good deed, couldn’t this have redeemed her for all her errors in the past?
