Looking after Luui: A Greenland Missing Persons short story (Greenland Missing Persons Short Stories Book 1) by Christoffer Petersen

Author:Christoffer Petersen [Petersen, Christoffer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aarluuk Press for Arctic Noir, Action Thrillers and Greenland Crime
Published: 2021-03-09T06:00:00+00:00

I should have realised Luui had big expectations for the day when she woke me by bouncing on the bed. I cracked open my eyes, then tried to focus on the furry animal with pointed ears – Luui, in a full set of furs complete with a dog-eared hood – gripping a toothbrush between its teeth, while sloshing long-life milk from a bowl of oats in its hands.

“Luui?”

“Wake up, pretty lady,” she cried. “We’re going fishing.”

I dropped my head back onto the pillow and groaned. Just when I thought I was going to survive looking after Luui, the five-year-old shaman upped the ante.

“Wake up!”

“I’m up,” I said.

“Up. Up. Up!”

Luui spilled more milk and toothpaste onto the duvet as she dragged it off my body. I reached for it once, felt Luui’s determined tug, and let go. My fingers were healing, but they weren’t ready for a tug-of-war with a furry five-year-old. I followed the duvet off the mattress, held up my hands, and then surrendered as Luui pushed me into the kitchen to eat breakfast.

“You made this?” I said, rubbing my eyes at the small apocalyptic breakfast on the fold-up kitchen table. I wiped more milk from the chair before sitting on it. The mug of tea Luui thrust into my hands was, however, warm and welcome. I drank it as she arranged more oats, sugar, and milk in front of me. I nodded, that I was ready, then took a welcome breath of relief as Luui bounded into the bathroom to finish brushing her teeth.

She returned like a weather front, pushing warm, fast air in front of her, hurrying me through my tea, a bowl of oats, and into a set of furs she had laid out in the living room. I stalled her for five more minutes with a bathroom visit, nodding when she said she would sort out the travel arrangements. She said it in English, and I should have wondered about it, but didn’t.

My mistake.

When I finally stepped out of Tuukula’s cabin, blinking in the strong sun glaring off the ice, I paused at the bared teeth and ominous growl of another furry beast – this one more menacing than the last.

“Luui,” I said, as I stared at the massive sledge dog standing in front of the door. It looked all too familiar.

“Aap?”

“Isn’t that…”

“Cargo.” She nodded. “Big, bad dog.”

“Yes.” That’s exactly what I remembered.

“He likes fish.” Luui shrugged, as if that was the end of the conversation.

“Where are we going, Luui?”

“On the ice.” Luui turned her back to the cabin and pointed straight ahead, tracing a long dark line of shadow like a path in the ice with her finger. “Three kilometres.”

“Three…”

“To the fishing hole.” Luui dropped her hand, then jogged back to me. She gave Cargo a wide berth, holding up her finger as he growled, before reaching inside the front pocket of her sealskin smock. She pulled out the aviator glasses from the pickup and pressed them into my hand. “Very sunny,” she said, before tapping the white bone glasses with the thin slits she wore.

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