The Haunted Igloo by Bonnie Turner Read Free Book Online Page B

opened
again and Aiverk and Nanuk appeared. “We’re ready!” yelled Aiverk.
“Let’s go!”
    “ I’m ready if Jean-Paul is.” Chinook
stood up and turned to Jean-Paul. “We have to go to my apudyak first. I have to
get my sled and Amarok. Is it too far for you to walk?”
    Jean-Paul was embarrassed.
He wondered if Chinook really cared if it was too far for him to
walk, or if he was just making another joke about his foot. The
Inuit village wasn’t that far from school.
    “ I can walk,” he said.
    Jean-Paul knew where
Chinook lived, but he had never been inside the igloo. During the
summer months, Chinook’s family usually lived in wooden shelters
made from driftwood, or trees that grew along the river. Unlike
most Inuits around those parts, Chinook’s family did not follow the
trails of large game during the cold months. Instead, Chinook’s
father, Taguk, hunted seals on the ice. Those who tracked land
animals often built apudyaks along the way, as needed. Winter snow was welcome,
for snow houses were snug and warm.
    The first time Jean-Paul
had seen Chinook’s large round snow house, he had been amazed to
see a window built right into the side of it. It had been night,
and the light from the whale-oil lamps had shown yellow through
that small window. Cordell had said, “Sometimes Eskimos build
window panes of thin sheets of ice or seal gut.” Jean-Paul often
thought it might be fun to live in an igloo.
    They began walking. Jean-Paul tried to keep
up with the boys. Sasha had no trouble tagging along. Jean-Paul was
beginning to relax, and the more he relaxed, the more he
talked.
    Nanuk said, “You must start
early to train your dog, Jean-Paul Okalerk .”
    “ I wish you wouldn’t call me that,
Nanuk. If I’m going to be in the Ice Patrol, I should have a better
name.”
    Chinook had walked on ahead
in the darkness as they left the lights of the village behind. Now
he stopped and waited for Jean-Paul and the other two. When they
reached him, Aiverk spoke. “Jean-Paul wants another name, Chinook.
What name do you suggest?”
    Jean-Paul could not see
Chinook’s face, but when the Inuit lad spoke, it made Jean-Paul
very happy.
    “ What’s wrong with calling him
Jean-Paul? If Mother and Father Ardoin thought he should be
Jean-Paul, then that’s what we should call him. Unless he doesn’t
like the name and wants another.”
    “ It was Grandfather Ardoin’s name,”
Jean-Paul admitted. “I’m very proud of it.”
    Chinook laughed. “And I’m
also proud of my name, even if it does mean a strong, hot
wind!”
    Everyone laughed at that as they continued
walking.
    When they neared Chinook’s
igloo, Jean-Paul saw the small window glowing yellowish. And the
closer they got, the more peculiar he thought the igloo looked.
Harpoons— kakivoks —had been stuck into the top of it, so they would always be
handy.
    Jean-Paul had seen men and boys spearing
through holes in the ice. First, a hole was cut out of the ice.
Then the hunter waited for a fish or seal to come to the hole for
air. He held a harpoon ready to strike. Inuits and Indians had to
be expert marksmen. There was only one chance to throw the weapon,
and it had to be a good shot. If it missed the mark, the fish would
quickly swim away.
    Chinook didn’t invite his
friends inside. “Too many bodies in there right now,” he said. “But
I have to get something.”
    He called Nanuk and Aiverk
to one side and spoke so Jean-Paul couldn’t hear. But the three
were laughing, and Jean-Paul wondered if they were laughing at him
again. Then, Aiverk and Nanuk stayed with Jean-Paul while Chinook
went inside.
    Nanuk said to Jean-Paul
while they were waiting, “You should put a harness on Sasha, so she
can become used to it. Just let her drag it around for a while.
Then, when you’re ready, pick up the other end and tie it to the
sled. When she tries to get loose, the sled will slide across the
snow. She’ll think she has done something wonderful, and most