Between Two Worlds (10 page)

Marie looked up from her play. “Please, let’s stay a little longer, Mother.”

“No, we must go right away. Our supper will be ready
on the ship.” She turned to us. “Thank you, Billy Bah. Thank you, everyone. We’ll visit again.”

Marie held Sammy and kissed him. Had she heard Ally say he was her brother? I didn’t think so, but she loved him like a brother just the same.

Tooth Girl gave Marie a little walrus she’d made. In the entranceway, Mitti Peary and Marie put on their outside clothes, and Marie carefully tucked the little figure inside one of her thin wool mittens.

“I’ll see you soon!” she said, then crawled outside.

Inside the igloo, Ally gave me a smile. “Perhaps you can help me sew Marie’s
kapatak
.”

“All right.”

Tooth Girl and her brother grabbed hunks of seal meat out of the pot. The igloo filled with sounds of talking and eating, but I just sat and watched everyone while brooding. Ally was my only friend, so I had to pretend our arguments meant nothing.

It was only seven nights since the ship had become locked in the ice. I hadn’t known if I’d ever see Marie again, and now here she was, her cheerful self. We’d be together all winter and the following spring. Angulluk would hunt for the
qallunaat
, and I’d make clothing for them with the skins and furs he provided.

Mitti Peary relies on me. Marie needs me. I have a place in their world, and I’ll show them how talented I am with the needle
.

Navarana spoke to everyone, but I felt as if she were talking to me. “Well! The
qallunaat
need clothing. It is
right to give them clothes and help them survive the winter. But I want you all to be very careful.”

She looked from face to face until her eyes rested on mine. “Remember, Eqariusaq. They come to our land, take what they want, and leave. My mother was very upset when my father left. She often spoke of it. You need to remain apart.”

What does the old woman know about the
qallunaat?
She hasn’t lived in America
. But out of respect, I said, “I agree, Aana.”

“Panik, I don’t think you’re listening to me.”

“But I
am
careful.” I pushed away a sudden memory of watching my parents leave for America on Peary’s ship.

Navarana handed me a chunk of meat. The wrinkles on her forehead joined as she knit her brow. “You shouldn’t be so eager to please the
qallunaat
. It’s not that they are all bad-tempered and greedy. Some may be good. But if they want something, they will use any excuse to have it, and they will forget you when it’s convenient. It’s your husband you should be thinking about, sewing for
him
, caring for
him
. And when the time comes, for your children.”

Why did the old woman keep talking about my having a baby?

“Aana,” I said. “I don’t need to be afraid of the
qallunaat
. I have lived with Mitti Peary in her home across the ocean. She and her family have been kind to me. It’s my husband who is the greedy one. He wants the
qallunaat
’s
guns and other things, so he trades me. We have everything we need, and still he seeks more.”

“A taste for the
qallunaat
’s riches? A greed that is never satisfied? That’s no good.” The old woman’s eyes grew deep in thought. “Greed makes us confused, makes our minds like blizzards. Worse, greed separates us from each other. We are happiest when we give to others. All our people know this; you and Angulluk need to stay in the village so you can remember our ways.”

“But our lives are already bound up with the
qallunaat
. Some are friends. It’s not so simple—”

“It
is
simple! We have our lives and they have theirs!” She sucked in her wrinkled cheeks.

I wished I’d held my tongue. “You speak many truths, Aana.” Still, could one who spent her days staring at the same landscape completely understand my life?

I waited for her advice. But she was silent.

One moon passed without a visit from anyone on the
Windward
. Though I missed Duncan, I was busy. Even Angulluk knew there was no time for games. We needed to hunt and store away furs for Mitti Peary and Marie, and Angulluk and I needed new leggings, boots, and mittens. We hunted seals on the coast, and took trips to the nearby hills and valley to build traps for foxes and rabbits, and search for a herd of musk oxen. When at last Angulluk killed two seals, six rabbits, and a fox, I stayed in the village to cure their pelts and to soften them with my teeth. Two days later, I gave my aching jaws a rest and rejoined the hunt.

One of our dogs had six puppies: five black-and-brown and a runt that was all reddish brown. It was a happy time. I even began to daydream that I was pregnant.
I’ll return to Itta with a baby in my arms. Won’t my sister and all the villagers be surprised?
I would show them I had not only a child but also a skillful husband who did his share of work.

One morning a chilly wind blew through the sides of
our tent and we knew that winter had truly begun. “Go gather rocks, Eqariusaq,” Angulluk said. “We need to make our igloo.”

Hours later, on the land near our tent, he laid rocks on top of one another in a circle, and soon the walls of the igloo rose to my waist. My lazy man was doing a very good job. Inside the wall we used more stones to build a circular platform. The house was sunk a little into the earth so the platform would be level with the ground outside.
I can’t wait to put down our furs and try out our new bed. Maybe it will be a lucky bed for us
.

Angulluk grinned. He knew I was pleased. We rubbed noses. He playfully tugged a fistful of my hair. We were getting along like
nanoq
cubs in a den.

When I was crouching to loosen a stone frozen to the ground, I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Boo!”

“Marie!”

She giggled. She looked silly in her layers of dresses, sweaters, and cloak. “My mother is talking to some of the men in the village. I wanted to come along.”

What does Mitti Peary want from the hunters?
I wondered. Navarana said the
qallunaat
were greedy. But if Mitti Peary ever asked anything of my people, she always gave generous gifts in return.

“Can I help you build your igloo?” Marie asked.

I showed her how to scrape moss from boulders with one of Angulluk’s knives and where to add these stones to
a pile. When Marie staggered forward with a rock, Angulluk quickly stepped over to lift it from her.
“Qujanaq,”
she thanked him. She could now speak our language without much effort.

Angulluk laughed. “You’re welcome,” he said in English. We’d all changed from our time on the ship, and one of the most surprising changes was that Angulluk seemed to like Marie.

He turned to me. “Why don’t you show Marie the puppies?”

“Puppies!” Marie said.

I explained that the mother dog and puppies were in the ruins of an abandoned igloo, in the area where most villagers kept their dogs.

Marie begged, “Take me to see them!”

At the igloo with the puppies, the mother dog turned with a growl.

“Marie!” I pulled her away. “Don’t touch. There is no such thing as a pet in our land.”

“I’m going to help you name them.”

“We don’t name our dogs.”

“The spotted is Patches. The little one is Cinnamon.”

“The runt doesn’t always survive.”

“Oh, Cinnamon will live.” Marie was sure, just like Peary. “May I keep her?”

“No, sled dogs aren’t pets.”

She pouted. We returned to find Mitti Peary sitting on a pile of stones, talking to Angulluk. He continued to
build the walls of our igloo, which now rose as high as my hood top; he’d even started the entrance tunnel.

“Woman, find me a stone for our roof,” he said. Was he trying to send me away from their conversation?

“I’ve already looked. There aren’t any.” The large, flat stones near the village had long since been taken for that purpose.

The Fat One bristled. “I’ll have to do it myself, then, you stupid seal.”

He stomped off and I fixed my eyes on Mitti Peary. She looked away, as if she could hear my thoughts.
I care about you and Marie. I’ll gladly make your clothes. But don’t ask for too much. If it’s meat you want, you’ll need to find it elsewhere
.

When Angulluk could not find a stone for the roof, we used a heavy walrus hide, weighing the skin down with rocks so fierce winds wouldn’t blow it away. Tooth Girl and Runny Nose slipped in and out of the new igloo with Marie until the sky faded into a blue twilight. Though it was early afternoon, the air grew colder and our breath formed clouds.

Mitti Peary nodded kindly at me. “Good-bye, Billy Bah.” Then to Angulluk, “We’ll talk again soon,” she said as she walked away.

I tugged Angulluk’s arm. “What did you promise her?”

In the second before he turned, refusing to look at me, I detected a pained look in his eyes. What was it? Shame. Somehow, Mitti Peary had gotten the upper hand.

Just as Angulluk and I spread our skins on our sleeping platform, Bag of Bones arrived.

Even before he poked his head into the entranceway, I could smell his dirty, wet furs.
“Hainang,”
he said cheerfully.

“We’re busy,” I snapped. Was he looking for handouts? All villagers were welcome to take from anyone’s meat rack. But no able hunter took without good reason.

As it happened, he wanted Angulluk to give him a few of our puppies, as a start to his first dog team.

“I’ll think it over,” Angulluk replied.

Bag of Bones beamed.

Bag of Bones is working his way into our lives
, I thought as he scampered off. Perhaps it was a good thing. Giving him dogs meant that he would be obligated to do some hunting for us.

“We should have offered Qaorlutoq a place to sleep,” Angulluk said.

“He knows how to take care of himself,” I replied. “He’s used to the cold and he can feed himself. I remember when he ate nothing but birds’ eggs. Now he traps rabbits and foxes.”

“And he’s learning to hunt seals,” Angulluk said. “He’s more skillful than most boys.” He paused. “I’m going to get him a rifle and teach him to shoot.”

“Oh? Is that what you were talking about with Mitti Peary?”

“Partly. She asked me to find Peary. I said I’d try, and for company I’d take Qaorlutoq. He’d go, if he had his own rifle.”

“But no one can get to the fort,” I said. Massive snowbanks kept us from going north, where Peary made his home in a fort abandoned by white men who had starved to death.

“I tried to explain. She still doesn’t understand. She thinks we could trek on the sea ice, then go inland. I suppose it’s possible.”

I playfully poked him in the ribs, but he didn’t poke me back, a bad sign. “You and I have done enough for Mitti Peary. Stay here and let some of the others go look for her husband.”

“Mitti Peary can’t find anyone willing to go. Aside from the dangers of the ice, the hunters fear spirits of the white men who died. They think Peary and his men might also be dead.”

“Do you think Peary’s dead?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re only thinking of going because you’re greedy,” I said with disgust. “You have no sense at all.”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “Woman, I need bullets.”

I’d heard that one before! He should learn to hunt without using so many bullets.

“You stupid man. Peary is a long way away. The snow beyond the shore could be very deep. And you’ll never get anywhere unless there’s a full moon and clear skies.”

“Exactly.” He looked smug. “We won’t get very far.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Mitti Peary said she’d pay me to
search
for her husband. She didn’t say I had to
find
him.”

“What! You’re even greedier than I thought. I just may tell Mitti Peary that you’re fooling her. You’re no good. I’m ashamed of you.” I drew back. “Someday I’ll leave you.” In the past I’d often threatened to divorce him, but I hadn’t suggested it lately; I was as surprised by my words as he was.