Family LettersChapter 59
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Another school day was over. It was the quiet time when most kids were either at home or trying to avoid go home for as long as possible. Bill Baker was sitting in his classroom finishing some paperwork before heading home. He had been staying at the school as later as possible over the last few weeks. There was no comfort for him at the house anymore. He was slowly making his way through the stack of essays on his desk, trying not to be too critical of their work. He knew that he was in a bad mood, but his students didn't need to suffer because of it.
When he heard the knock on the door, he sighed, even though a distraction was something that he really needed. Three sharp raps and then the door opened. His visitor wore blue pants with a gold stripe, making it clear what he did for a living. Constable Douglas Scott had been assigned the Baker case the day Bill had called to report his daughter missing. There were too many questions that bothered Doug about the case. The phone call he'd received that morning was just the icing on the cake.
Looking up at the familiar face, Bill said, "Doug, I wasn't expecting you here. Do you have any news?" He really didn't want an answer to the question, but it had become the normal greeting to the RCMP constable.
"Mr. Baker, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?" the constable asked.
Bill immediately became suspicious at his formal tone. "Of course. I'd be happy to help."
"As a routine part of my investigation, I found some rather disturbing facts," started Doug. "The first of which is the reason you left your previous place of employment." He paused for a moment to let the statement sink in. "I'd like to hear your side of the story before I add it to the official record."
"My prior employer and I had a difference in religious beliefs," he explained, picking his words carefully. "I was no longer comfortable working in that environment and I gave them my resignation."
Doug made several notes on his tablet before asking, "Would you care to explain why the college has quite a different explanation of the situation?"
Bill gave a puzzled expression as he said, "I'm not certain what you mean? What is it that they've said?"
"I contacted Upper Canada College. The administration staff hasn't been completely forthcoming with details. However, they made it clear to me that you were given the option of resigning or face criminal charges. That resigning your tenure with the college was not your decision."
Bill struggled with his emotions for a moment. Part of him wanted to admit to everything, but another part was afraid of the consequences of his actions. He had gone too far down a long road to be able to turn back now. He finally smiled at the constable before saying, "I'm not sure who you talked to, but I can assure you of this, my leaving the college was a mutual decision. I was not forced out at all."
Constable Scott stood before asking his last question. "I've been continuing my investigation since Elizabeth's disappearance. Some evidence has become available that might shed new light on things. Are you sure you have no knowledge of where your daughter went that night?"
Bill just shook his head, "No, I wish I did. I imagine there's not much chance of finding her now, is there?"
Doug made a few last notes on his tablet before answering, "Oh, you never know. Stranger things have happened." After making his way to the door he added, "I'll let you know if this leads me anywhere, and if you can think of anything else, call me." He closed the door before Bill could say anything else and walked out the side exit of the school.
As he left the school, Doug wasn't surprised to find Annie waiting for him. She couldn't wait any longer and started to ask questions. "Did he say anything? Did he admit what he did?"
"No," Doug answered. "Did you really expect him to?"
"But Beth will be home in a couple of days," she replied. "I thought you were going to arrest him."
"Unless he confesses to something," he explained, "or Beth does get home and files a report, there's nothing I can do yet. I don't have any evidence. Besides, I didn't tell him that you got a call from her," added Doug. "And I don't want you to tell anyone, either. Do I make myself clear? No one."
She looked at her boots as she answered, "Yeah, I understand." Annie had never been good at keeping secrets, and her mom was the worst one at worming them out of her. She always seemed to know when Annie needed to talk and would get it out of her somehow. "Can I tell my mom? I hate keeping secrets from her, and she always knows when I am."
"If she asks too many questions, have her call me," he answered. "I'm not telling you to keep secrets from her, just that I want to be the one to tell her. Okay?" Doug needed to keep control of his investigation. Even after working in Iqaluit for so many years, people still looked at him as an outsider at times. They would tend to resolve issues in their own way, instead of calling him in. "And if Beth calls again, ask her to call me, okay?" he added before climbing into his SUV.
Annie stood beside the car and said, "I'll tell her. If she calls. But she sounded really angry when we talked. I don't know if she will call again."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Doug said just before he pulled away.
When the sun slowly made its way over the horizon, its light woke Rob and his dad in their tent. Their tent may not have been a traditional one, like grandfather's, but it was still set up in the traditional way. The door of their tent faced east, toward the rising sun. In addition to being tradition, it was also a handy alarm clock.
After pulling on his outer pants and coat, Rob unpacked their small camp stove and unzipped the door of their tent. He was greeted by Beth's smiling face as she held a fry pan filled with fresh bannock cakes.
Smiling, she said, "Morning. I hope you're hungry."
"I'm starving," replied Rob. "I usually eat last when it's my turn to cook breakfast." Looking at Beth cooking, Rob was surprised to see that there wasn't a fire or even a camp stove. "How are you cooking that without a stove?"
"The same way that I boiled your tea last night," she explained. He looked at the large, heavy cast iron fry pan again. He noticed that she was handling it with her bare hands, and likely heating it up from the handle.
"Well, I'm glad you're getting better control of the heat. That seems pretty hot."
"Oh yeah, I had a grease fire earlier," Beth added as she flipped the cakes over with her fingers.
"How did you put it out?" asked Rob. He knew that a grease fire had to be smothered. Anything else would usually make it worse.
"Oh, that was easy," she explained. "I just cooled it down until it went out." She pointed to their camping kettle, adding, "There's hot water for tea or coffee, but I couldn't find either in the sledge."
"How are you heating that up?" asked Rob.
Beth smiled and said, "It's sitting on a rock I heated up." Their blue, enamel coated kettle was sitting on a flat rock that was about the size of a small suitcase, steam slowly coming out of its spout.
"Cool," Rob said quietly. He pulled a plastic bag full of tea bags out his pocket and dropped three into the kettle. While it was steeping on its hot rock, he walked over to the kamotiq and pulled out some dried fruit and meat. As he was returning, both his dad and grandfather came out of their tents. He said, "Morning," to both with a smile.
Rob's grandfather poured two cups of tea. He traded a cup of tea for a bannock cake from Beth. "Morning, Beth. Did you sleep well?" he asked, while watching her cook.
"Yes, I did. Thanks," she answered. "Sis really liked that dried meat you gave me."
"I'm glad she enjoyed it."
Rob's father was standing with his tea while Beth and Anilnik talked. "Sis? You mean the other bear that Ukalik told us about?" Aariak seemed a bit nervous about there being a bear nearby, and wondered if they should start moving out sooner.
"Yeah, but she wandered off this morning," explained Beth. "I think she's heading to the coast. That's the direction that she went." Aariak sighed in relieve from her news.
They all ate lightly and packed up the camp, before continuing their journey to the coast. Unlike the day before, Beth was prepared for a rough and bumpy ride. Fortunately, the worst of it must have been behind them. The ground was relatively smooth and flat. The salty air continued to get stronger for Beth as they travelled west. After coming over a small hills that separated them from the coast, Beth was able to make out a few new odours. She could smell seal meat, unfortunately it was overpowered by the stronger, more unpleasant odour of people.
Leaning forward she said into Rob's ear, "Are we getting close?"
He turned his head, slightly, to be able to answer, "Yeah, you should be able to see the coastline ahead. We have about another fifteen or twenty minutes to go."
When the coastline came into view, Aariak stopped his ATV, pulled out a set of binoculars and started searching. Anilnik and Rob pulled their two ATV's up alongside his and stopped as well. Beth climbed off Rob's ATV and walked for a few steps to stretch her legs.
"I can't see them," Aariak said quietly.
"Who?" asked Beth.
Rob answered, "We left my uncles here hunting seals before heading inland to the lake."
"Oh, okay," replied Beth. "In that case, you're looking in the wrong direction."
"What?" said all three of them at once.
"I could smell them as soon as we came over that hill," she answered, pointing to the hill behind them with her thumb. Beth pointed into the wind and added, "Since the wind's blowing from that direction, they must be over there."
"You're telling me that you can smell them from here?" asked Aariak. It was a question, but his tone made it clear that he didn't believe her.
"Seal meat and body odour. You mean you can't smell it?"
Instead of answering, Aariak lifted the binoculars again and started to look in the direction that Beth had pointed. It took a while to find what he was looking for, but he finally found them. He handed his binoculars to Rob and said, "It looks like they'll need your help, Ukalik You'll have to go get them."
Rob lifted the binoculars to his eyes and searched in the direction Beth had pointed. "I don't see them, where are they?"
Aariak said, "Look directly into the wind at the shoreline."
"I am, but I don't see them."
"Now look at the sheet of ice a few hundred meters off shore."
Rob refocused the binoculars before saying "Oh shit!" He handed his dad's binoculars back to him as he said, "Show Beth how to drive my ATV and you can catch up." Beth was just about to ask a question when Rob disappeared. She was looking right at him and then, he was gone. She thought she saw something a few hundred meters away, but it was gone before she could make out what it was.
She turned to Aariak and asked, "Where did he go?"
He handed her the binoculars and said, "Look into the wind at the shoreline, where the open water is the narrowest."
Beth focused the glasses on the spot that Aariak had told her to, but didn't see anything. She was just about to ask what she should be seeing when Rob popped into view. He stood there for a moment and she wondered what he was waiting for. If he was a teleporter, why didn't he just pop out onto the ice? Why wait at the shoreline? Before she could ask anyone, Rob disappeared and reappeared on the ice, beside the three people and all their gear. They hugged for a brief moment before Rob and one of the others disappeared from the floating sheet of ice, only to reappear at the shoreline.
"Come on, we need to get moving, and fast," explained Aariak.
Anilnik was standing between his ATV and Rob's when he asked, "Have you ever used one of these before, Beth?"
"Once," she answered as she walked closer, "but it was electric, not ethanol." The controls looked similar to a friend's ATV she had tried at her cottage one summer. It shouldn't be too difficult to figure out.
"Well, other than the smell, they're almost the same. I'll stay behind you, and Aariak will be in front. Just follow in his path."
After stalling the motor a few times, Beth was able to get it moving properly. Aariak led the three of them toward the shoreline, over the rock and ice covered ground, with Beth following him, and Anilnik behind her. After making their way to the shoreline as quickly as possible, they found Rob sitting in a snowdrift with an energy drink. He finished his drink before putting the empty bottle down beside another in the snow. Aariak and Anilnik ignored the three men standing near by. They both went to Rob to see if he was okay.
"Are you alright?" asked Aariak.
"Dad, I'm fine. I'm just a bit tired." he answered. "I'll be okay in a few minutes. It just takes a lot out of me, that's all." Rob noticed that Beth was walking closer. Picking up his empty energy drink bottles, he pulled himself to his feet. She smiled at his attempt to look strong in front of a girl, but it was obvious that he was still a little weak after exerting himself like that. Beth had never met anyone who could teleport before, but had read about them. She had read that they could make a huge amount of money by joining some sort of group or union, and provide it as a service to companies wanting to ship people or material.
Instead of mentioning anything about him looking tired, Beth asked, "If you can teleport, why do you ride an ATV?"
"Because my range is only about a kilometre, on a good day," he explained. "I burn through calories like crazy when I hop like that, too, so it's not really a good way to travel. But in an emergency I can cover a lot of ground a lot faster than riding." Rob and Beth walked over to the group of men standing a short distance away. They were all talking Inuktitut with each other, but changed to English as soon as Beth got closer.
"We found her at Long Lake," Aariak informed the others. "She had been travelling with a bear and its mother."
Rob interrupted their conversation to introduce everyone, "Beth, this is my Uncle Nauja, Uncle Jack and Uncle Taliriktug. They were hunting seals in an inlet north of here while we went to Long Lake."
She smiled and said, "Your dad has a lot of brothers."
"Actually, I'm an uncle by marriage, and Talik is an honorary uncle," Jack explained.
Talik stepped closer to Rob, "I've known Ukalik since he was a first able to walk." He gave Rob a brief hug with one arm before saying, "But I'm glad he was here today."
"What happened? Why were you out there?" she asked while looking at the ice flow with all their gear on it.
"The ice started to break up last night and we got stuck out there," said Nauja
"We knew that the others would be coming to meet us, so we just waited," added Jack. "It was a large sheet of ice, so we knew that we weren't in any danger."
Beth looked at Rob and smiled before asking, "Are you going to get all that gear too?"
He just shook his head and answered, "No, I can't. I could get some of the gear, but the ATV's weigh too much for me to move. And without the ATV's, we don't have any room for the additional gear."
"But don't you need your gear? And what about your meat?" asked Beth. She knew that a lot of people didn't just hunt for recreation. Hunting, for many people in the north, was a means of putting food on their dinner table, as well as being a tradition going back hundreds or thousands of years. She might not like the idea of hunting bears, but understood the need for it in a harsh climate.
"There's not much we can do about that," answered Aariak. "Rob's granddad and I are planning on staying here, while the rest of you go back to town and see if you can get help."
It seemed like a lot of work for questionable results. Six of them would have to ride three machines back to town and hope that someone came up with a solution in what time was available. All their gear was still out there, and it was still moving. At some point they wouldn't be able to reach it, or the ice might break up by the time they returned with equipment to retrieve their things.
Beth wanted to help, but couldn't think of a way. She took a few steps closer to the water and looked out, hoping to think of an answer. Her emotions had been on a roller coaster ride ever since waking up beside that frozen lake. After so many days of being angry with her father, Beth felt sad and helpless at the water's edge. These people had offered her help without any questions, or expecting anything in return. She wanted to help them more than anything, but just didn't know how. Standing near the water, Beth noticed that the air temperature was dropping. She wondered if that might be an answer to their problem.
"I have an idea, but I need everyone to stand back a bit," she said without turning to face the others. She didn't need to look, as she felt their body heat move as they were stepping back, giving her more room. The water was so cold it was teetering on the edge of freezing anyway. All Beth needed to do was to drop the temperature a few more degrees to turn it into ice. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She could sense the water's heat, almost sensed its molecules vibrating. In her mind, she tried to calm its vibrations, tried to cool the water even more than it already was, and push it over the edge so it would freeze.
Taking a step forward, Beth placed her bare foot onto solid sea ice. She had done it! Another step and she placed her other foot onto solid ice again. Opening her eyes, Beth looked at all their gear in the distance and continued to walk slowly. Each footfall landed on solid ice. After almost a dozen steps, she turned and looked at the men standing on shore, "I think I can freeze it hard enough to get your ATV's if you want to try."
"The air is too cold for us to get any closer," said Nauja. "We'll follow after you get further out."
Beth turned again and looked at the scene she was creating. Sea ice was all she could see on either side of her for more than ten meters. If the water was frozen for ten meters out, she hoped that it was ten meters thick, as well. It would be solid enough to easily hold the weight of the men, their machines and all their gear. It was an odd image as she walked across her ice. With each step forward, the sea water would freeze further out, building a bridge of ice. Continuing to walk slowly, Beth made sure that the ice was frozen completely. After almost twenty minutes she was standing beside all their gear, waiting for them to follow behind her. Nauja, Talik and Jack quickly gathered their equipment and started the ATV's engines. Once they gathered on Beth's ice bridge, they went across, one by one, until Beth and Talik were alone.
"Would you like a ride back to shore?" he asked with a smile. Beth climbed onto Talik's ATV and held onto his waist while they rode the short distance to shore. After getting to shore and killing the engine, Talik turned to Beth and hugged her tightly around the waist. If she was a little shorter and lighter, he might have attempted to pick her up as well. "Thank you so much for that. I was worried that we would lose everything."
After briefly returning the hug, Beth smiled and said, "I'm happy that I could help."
Rob stepped beside Beth, grinning. "I should have warned you. Talik is a hugger," he said. "If there's any reason to hug someone, he'll take it as an invitation."
"Hey!!" Talik protested.
"It's alright," Beth replied. "I don't mind." The appreciation of these men filled her with a warmth that she hadn't felt for a long time. She had always thought that people in town were cold and distant to her, but these men were different. Beth wondered if their different attitude was caused by her changes, or if she had just never allowed anyone to get close to her. Her thoughts soon led to Annie, and how she had been such a good friend, even from the very beginning. Annie had been looking forward to seeing Beth during her changes, and help her deal with MORFS. She still didn't even know what Beth looked like. Their short phone call yesterday would have given her a few clues.
Dani
- 08.04.2020
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