River
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River - 32 free porn video
Chapter 32 - Moose Hunting
So far: Mark has an interesting first few days at school, showing his
teacher that he is not a slow student, and helps others in the class.
He makes a friend at lunch, which leads to an after-school fracas the
following day.
------ ----- ------
River woke up at 2, and then went to wake Mark. She expected more of a
battle getting her brother out of bed early, but actually found him
quick to get moving and dressed. While River never used a flashlight
to get to the river Mark needed one to see clearly.
They both got into the river, and for about a half hour River communed
with the river while Mark just charged his sleepy body up. After that,
River got the computer, and for the next few hours Mark narrated his
story, storing it on a memory stick. They sat underwater, and
communicated through the river. The laptop never got wet, and River
noticed that it even registered as recharging while in the water.
River had a little homework of her own to do after, and finished it as
Mark watched the otters cavort in the early dawn light.
----- ------- -----
Mark handed Mrs. Cutler the stick when he got off the bus, and then
headed out to the playground to keep an eye on things. The Grade 8
boys, with a few of the Grade 7s, were playing baseball in one corner
of the play area, and asked Mark to join in. Mark knew he was well
ahead of any of the boys physically, so he politely refused, but did
volunteer to be umpire. Normally disputes about balls and strikes, or
whether or not a boy was out on base caused games to degenerate into
arguing matches, but with an umpire none of this happened. The boys
quickly learned that Mark was extremely fair, and was calling the game
without favorites.
When the bell rang, the boys broke up and ran for class, with Mark
trotting along with them. He enjoyed the game, and found that he could
concentrate on a pitch or hit, and still take a look around the
schoolyard between plays to make sure there was no trouble anywhere.
In class, Mrs. Cutler had printed out sets of the 16 pages that Mark
had narrated in the morning, more than three times as much as she
expected. It was again time to do reading, as on the first day, so she
had the poorer readers in the class take turns reading a few lines
each of Mark's story, and was amazed at how the story interested them,
and caused them to work on the words. The better readers in the class
were reading ahead, and the students who had finished reading aloud
were actually continuing to follow along, something the poor readers
never did. The teacher was amazed at how the students had taken in the
story, and the interest it was causing.
At lunch, Chester had a sandwich, and Mark went to sit with him. Then
several of the boys from the baseball game joined them, and soon
Chester was making friends with boys a year or two older than him. The
boy had a good sense of humor, and soon had the other boys laughing at
his jokes.
-------- ------ -----
River found her third day of school largely uneventful. In her science
class her teacher started a section on the flora and fauna of the
area. River objected to learning from the book, and wondered why they
weren't out in the real world, looking at plants and animals instead
of pictures.
"We really don't have the time to go outside," the teacher explained.
"Few animals will be around, and it would be inefficient."
"It is a beautiful day, and I bet we will see at least 10 different
species of bird, and 10 different kinds of animal. And we will be able
to identify at least 25 plants, all without leaving the school
grounds," River challenged.
The teacher decided to take the girl up on her bet. "All right," she
said. "But if we don't see that many items, then I expect a 10-page
essay from you on the flora and fauna of the Canadian Shield."
The class went out, and even though the period was nearly a quarter
over, River started to point things out. Squirrels and chipmunks were
the first animals, followed by field mice and a mole. They saw nine
different animals before the end of the class, as well as more than a
dozen different types of bird. River pointed out many different
plants, from the basics like trees and grass to different wildflowers
and herbs growing along the riverbank.
"The bell is about to ring, River," the teacher said. "You have
reached your target of plants and birds, but I think you fell short on
animals. But it was a good effort, and I think everyone learned a lot
more than they would have if we had stayed in class. No essay is
required."
"But the tenth animal just showed up," River said. Many of the
students were pointing. Night was standing at the edge of the river,
not 30 feet away from the students. The teacher turned, and then
gasped at the sight of the wolf.
"Please, everyone head back to the school. Now!" she said. She was
clearly afraid.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Newton," River said. "That is a friend of mine. He
will come back for the other two periods with the other classes. It
wouldn't be fair for them to have to just take the lesson from the
book. He won't get this close when I am not around, but he will show
up so the kids can see a real wolf."
"Your friend?" the teacher stammered. "I apologize. You seem to know
much more about the flora and fauna of this area than I do, and I've
been teaching it for five years."
----- ------- -------
Alison was preparing for the meeting that evening that should see the
Ojibwe Credit Union formed. The people of Moose Portage had heard
about the meeting, and were sending several elders to attend, as were
the elders of Stone Ledge. Both reserves hoped that the credit union
would open branches on their reserves.
Alison was unsure if that could happen. Both reserves were as large as
the river reserve, but none of them had the investments that had been
saved here. Having a branch in each reserve would probably be a money-
losing proposition. The retail end of banking is not very lucrative,
particularly with credit unions, which refuse to charge high fees to
their users.
"What about part-time branches on alternate days? That would cut
costs," Dale suggested.
"That still wouldn't work. Branches could be set up on a desk at each
band office, and perhaps an ATM outside. But the labor costs would
still be too high. You would have to have someone going to four
different reserves of that size to break even."
"Then do four," Dale said. "Mornings in one, then afternoons in
another. And two different locations the next day. Like River says, it
is a service, so you serve people. Just having an ATM on the reserves
would be huge for the people."
"That might actually work," Alison said. "Not something we could do in
the first year, but maybe after a year we could look at it as an
expansion. Thanks honey, now at least I can offer something for those
people at the meeting. Everything else seems to be under control. Oh,
I have to run that idea by Nick. He is good for seeing the faults in
some of my harebrained schemes."
"By the way," Dale said. "I was at the store yesterday talking to
Connie. I've worked out the materials needed to make your office and
the teller station. I will get to work on it tomorrow if the meeting
passes everything."
"Oh thanks love," Alison said. "But this is supposed to be your
holiday."
"I had the best holiday of my life on the weekend, hunting with my
son," Dale said. "Yesterday I was totally bored until I went to the
store. Plus, I really want to be able to give my guys a paycheck every
week that they can cash in town without having to pay a commission."
---- ------ -----
The entire Waters family was at the high school gym that night for the
meeting. Alison was on stage with elders from the three reservations,
as well as Nick and a half dozen invited businessmen. Even the town
mayor was there. To River's surprise the Mayor was a 60-year-old woman
who worked as a cleaner at the hospital. She was friendly, smart and
well-spoken, and she welcomed Alison and all the others to the town,
claiming that it was past time for a financial institution to come to
the town.
Alison spoke most of the time, with Nick adding bits here and there.
The first big moment came an hour into the meeting when a vote was
held to see if there was any interest in forming a credit union. Every
hand in the place was raised.
Then came the hard part. A board needed to be formed. Alison and Nick
were not eligible as employees, and at first no one was willing to
volunteer. Then members of the First Nations started to volunteer, and
soon there were four from the local band, and two others, one from
each of the other bands.
Then there was another pause, broken when the mayor volunteered.
Nelson Churchill raised his hand, and River thought he was
volunteering, but instead he nominated his wife, who accepted. Once
people realized that they could nominate others, the remaining four
slots were filled quickly. People felt pride in being nominated by
others, and generally accepted, and Alison was happy with the quality
of members selected.
The final step came when the new board took to the stage, and Nick
swore them in. Alison asked them to approve borrowing $75,000 from the
reserve, at prime rate, which would allow for construction of the
offices and purchase of an ATM machine. Alison noted that the ATM
machines cost $10,000 each, and if the other reserves hope to have
branches set up in the future, each band would need to come up with at
least $12,000 to cover the costs.
----- ----- -----
The next day River pretty much led the science class, taking the
students out again. This time they went to the river, and the entire
class stood on the bank. River had various species of fish come by and
leap out of the water, allowing the students to see and recognize
them. She even had males and females of each species make the jump.
After a short quiz, where River would have a fish jump, and the
students had to identify it, beavers came by and two worked diligently
to chop down a cedar sapling, and then swim off pushing the tree
upriver. Finally, a group of otters came by and the class was
entertained for the last ten minutes of the period watching them
cavort and play in the bank.
"Tomorrow I could bring a bear and a moose," River said, "but I think
they would cause too much commotion coming through the town."
"No bear," Mrs. Newton said. "A moose might be a bit too much as
well."
"Well, how about a deer?" River said.
"Yes please," called out several students. "And a fawn too?" one
asked.
"Too late in the year to see a fawn, I think," River said. "But we
could have a mother and two young deer I know come in. It is hunting
season, so they are a bit skittish right now, but most hunters know
enough to leave a doe and her young alone. I will see what I can do."
----- ------ -----
The next morning River was at the river with Mark, and the two were
narrating more of Mark's story for reading class. They didn't need it
yet, Mr. Cutler still had more than 10 pages to read in class. But
Mark wanted to finish up the story, and knew that some of the better
readers in the class had already finished the first part.
As dawn neared River got a tingle from the river, and stood up. The
largest moose she had ever seen had come up to drink from the river.
River stood in awe as she looked at it. The antlers were wider than
she was tall. It stood nearly eight feet tall, and had to splay its
gangly legs to drink. As it tried to stand erect again, River thought
she sensed pain.
...she asked.
...the animal replied, not at all surprised
that she could communicate with it.
River said....
...the moose replied....
the girl said. The moose thought for a
few seconds, and then almost fell into the water: it was so clumsy in
entering.
...it said.
...it said.
"Noooo," River said aloud. "You are too beautiful to die."
the moose said....
River answered....
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