Arctic Thunder by Robert Feagan

Author:Robert Feagan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000, JUV032000
ISBN: 9781770704558
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2010-08-20T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

Li fe seemed pretty good. Donnie and Mike were at the gym pretty much every day after school. Mike could drive the Polaris on his own now, and on days they didn’t shoot the lacrosse ball around, the two friends drove out onto the river or had fun zipping up and around a steep hill near town called Old Baldy. The days were longer, the sun was stronger, and the air was warmer.

Victor took Mike and Donnie to his camp several times on weekends. The camp was about sixty-six kilometres northwest of Inuvik. Like Reindeer Station, it was about a two-hour trip each way by snowmobile, and they were lucky enough to stay overnight on a couple of occasions. The camp was at the confluence of the Axel Channel and the Mackenzie River on the delta side. Victor had an eight-metre-by-eight-metre house there with a loft. For heat there was a two-hundred-litre stove. Mike loved the feeling of waking up, warm and toasty in his sleeping bag, his breath visible in the chilly air of the house. Victor would start a fire in the stove, and the warm, smoky smell would rapidly spread throughout the cabin.

Victor explained to Mike how the connection between the land and the Inuvialuit and Gwich’in people was so strong and important. Most people had jobs in town now, but any time they could spend at camp or on the land were the happiest moments in their lives.

Mike was beginning to understand. Victor was one of the nicest people he knew. And when they went to the camp, he saw Victor change. His smile was bigger, he was more relaxed, and he seemed to have an understanding of everything around him. The strange thing was that Mike felt as if he was starting to experience the same things. Every time he went to the camp he experienced an inner peace or calm he couldn’t explain. All his problems seemed a little smaller, every dream was a little closer, and every smile appeared a little warmer. Some of his happiest moments were talking with Victor and Donnie around the stove, or standing beside their snowmobiles when they took a break on the trip to or from Inuvik.

It had been a slow process, but the guys at school were treating him like one of the gang now, too. He still spent most of his time with Donnie, but he hung out a bit with Tommy, Mitchell, and Bobby Vittrekwa. It was spring, and the local hockey league had started playoffs. Most of the guys played, and Mike and Donnie went to the arena to watch.

One of the big semifinal games was on, and Mike and Donnie didn’t want to miss it. Tyler Snowshoe and Tommy were on the same team. They were two of the best players in town, and everyone figured they were the favourites to win the league championship. In most small towns everybody turned out for sporting events, and Inuvik was no exception. The

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