Ice Walker by James Raffan

Author:James Raffan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2020-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

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The young ones have grown. Sivu is 88 pounds and Kingu is nearly 110 pounds and to their muscle and bone tissue has been added a small amount of fat. Their coats are thick and full, and that is a good thing. Underfur, almost as dense as their mother’s, will trap water against their skin and allow it to warm and remain there like a diver’s wet suit. The colder water that passes by as they swim will slide over the longer guard hairs. And the exertion of their young muscles will produce heat, as long as they have food resources available to make those muscles work. Grown or not, they must swim or drown.

Nanu cannot force them to nurse but does her best, allowing them all the time they can to eat. Sivu seems to understand and fills herself to capacity, but Kingu seems more interested in worrying a gull that is picking at the remains of their last seal. Twilight falls and the sky clears. The air is warm. To the gentle chiming of jostling candle ice, Nanu slips into the water and circles back to encourage the cubs to follow. In no time, the floe edge is far behind. The darkness that lies ahead contains only water. Regulating her speed, Nanu stays just far enough ahead of the cubs to keep them motivated.

After three hours in the water, they have slowed and the cubs are starting to call when she gets too far ahead. Kingu, who seems to be in a world of his own, is swimming parallel to his mother on a path that is diverging to the south. But he seems strong and is keeping up. Sivu is falling behind, grasping Nanu’s rump with her little forepaws to try to hitch a ride. She is hungry and exhausted. It’s not the icy water that tires her. Her new coat provides some body heat as does her exertion. It is the absence of her mother’s energy-loaded milk.

This is the longest she and Kingu have gone without nursing in their lives. If only they could rest. Three hours in the water turn into four, then five and six. Nanu looks to her left to see where Kingu is and spots a strange rainbow-coloured reflection of the night sky on the water around him.

Kingu is tiring and heading for his mother. His face is still white but his back is now streaked black, and he is leaving threads of oil in the water as he makes his way toward them. He, too, is cold and getting colder. The sight, the smell, the sound of her approaching cub is unlike anything Nanu has seen. By the time she is able to sniff land, she has two sodden cubs taking turns clinging to her back for even a moment of warmth.

After eleven hours of swimming, Nanu’s feet touch the tidal mud in several feet of water. The last obstacle is not the walk to shore, however––it is a wall of landfast ice that has remained on shore while the rest of the ice was blown out to sea.

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