The Haunted Igloo (7 page)

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 of
your training will be done.”

Chinook came out of the
igloo. He went behind it to get Amarok and the sled. Jean-Paul
wondered if Amarok would like Sasha.

Chinook’s huge husky was
very friendly. He barked once at Sasha, then came up to sniff.
Sasha backed off a little, then stood still while Amarok got her
scent. Then the large brown dog was satisfied. He would always
remember who Sasha was.

“
Let’s go!” Chinook yelled.

Jean-Paul could hardly wait for all the
secrets to be told.

“
Where are we going?” he
asked.

Chinook thumped him on the
shoulder as Jean-Paul climbed onto the sled. “We can’t tell you
where we’re going,” he said. “You’ll find out soon
enough.”

Aiverk and Nanuk laughed as
they trotted along beside the sled. But when Amarok pulled faster,
they both jumped up to ride with Jean-Paul. Chinook yelled to
Amarok in
Inuktitut
, “
Ouk
!
Ouk
!
” (Turn right.) And, “
Rra
!
Rra
!
” (Turn
left.) The big husky pushed all his power into his harness and
swung off to one direction, then another. Jean-Paul hung on tight
to keep from getting thrown off the sled. Sasha ran along with
Amarok, and he was glad she was able to keep up.

Jean-Paul buried his nose
in the warm robe. A strong wind had arisen, and sometimes it tried
to tip over the sled. For once Jean-Paul was glad he had worn the
itchy wool underwear. It was a very dark night, without the moon or
stars to guide the way. As far as the eye could see rose great dark
shadows of snow-sculptures and ridges.

Several minutes of fast
sledding brought them to a stop beside an igloo, and Jean-Paul
wondered if Chinook’s dog had taken them around in circles. The
igloo seemed strangely familiar in the darkness.

“
Where are we?” Jean-Paul sat up and
pushed the robe away from his face. A blade of icy air slashed his
skin and worked its way inside his hood. He shivered violently and
covered his nose.

Chinook came around to the
side of the sled as Nanuk and Aiverk climbed down. Jean-Paul, too,
got off the sled and looked around. It was too dark to see, but the
huge igloo’s form stood out clearly. Suddenly, Jean-Paul knew! He
tried to see Chinook’s face, but couldn’t. Sasha whined, and
Jean-Paul reached down to pet her.

When Chinook spoke, the
wind tried to snatch his words away. “Everyone sit down on the sled
so we can begin.”

Jean-Paul backed against
the sled and sat down. Nanuk and Aiverk sat on each side of him,
and Chinook stood before them, a dark blob in the night. Chinook
said, “To get into Ice Patrol, you have to do two things,
Jean-Paul. Are you ready?”

Jean-Paul glanced at the
haunted igloo. A terrible fear fell upon him. He wanted to go home,
but he couldn’t tell them that. He told himself that whatever they
wanted him to do couldn’t be so bad. Choking back a lump in his
throat, he said, “Yes ... I guess I’m ready.”

Jean-Paul heard Nanuk and
Aiverk snicker.

“
Hold out your hands.” In the
darkness, Jean-Paul saw Chinook holding something.

“
Wh–what is it?”

“
It’s food,” Chinook said. “If you
want to be in our club, you have to keep up your
energy.”

“
Well, it’s almost supper time,”
Jean-Paul admitted.

“
Take off your mitten,” Chinook told
him.

Jean-Paul pulled off a
mitten. His hand became instantly cold. He held it out to Chinook,
and Chinook laid something icy in his hand. Jean-Paul jerked his
hand away at the last minute, dropping the object on the snow
beside the sled.

Chinook grumbled and picked
up the item. “Come on now, Jean-Paul! We don’t have all night. Take
it
now!
”

“
What is it—?” Jean-Paul reached out.
When Chinook put the thing in his hand again, Jean-Paul closed his
eyes. It felt like a piece of bait. He gripped it in his freezing
hand. He sniffed, and smelled a familiar odor.

“
It’s only a fish!” Aiverk
laughed.

Jean-Paul almost dropped it
again. “Is it alive? I won’t eat a live fish!”

Nanuk and Aiverk doubled
over with laughter. Nanuk said, “He thinks we want him to eat a
live fish, Chinook! How dumb can one person get? Even
Inuits
kill the fish
before eating it!”

“
You have to eat some if you want to
join the club,” said Aiverk.

Jean-Paul gave the fish
back to Chinook. “I’m not eating raw fish, Chinook! My cousins in
Quebec like it raw, but not me. My stomach hurts just thinking
about it.”

But Chinook wouldn’t take
the fish. “You said you wanted to join the club. And eating raw
fish is one of the things you must do. The fins and scales have
been removed. But watch out for bones.”

Jean-Paul was beginning to suspect the boys
had made special rules just for him.

Aiverk laughed and punched
Jean-Paul lightly on the shoulder. “Wait till you hear what comes
next!”

Jean-Paul was nervous and
scared. He didn’t care what came next. He didn’t care if he joined
their old club or not. All he wanted was to go home.

“
Eat the fish before Sasha gets it,”
Nanuk said. “You’re the biggest baby!”

Suddenly, Jean-Paul was
very angry. No one could call him a baby and get away with it. “I’m
not a baby, Nanuk! I’m almost as old as you and Aiverk, so you
can’t call me a baby unless you call yourselves babies,
too!”

“
Then you’d better get busy and eat
the fish,” Chinook said. “We can’t take you home until you do. This
and the
other
thing.” The other two boys laughed loudly.

Jean-Paul knew he didn’t
have a choice. He felt the fish. It was not large, and he made up
his mind to eat some, even if it choked him blue in the
face.

He brought the fish to his
mouth once, then brought it down again. Warmth from his hand had
thawed the fish a little. His stomach groaned. Waves of sickness
rose inside his chest. A bitter, acid taste came into his throat.
He closed his eyes tightly and, before he could change his mind,
sank his teeth into the fish and ripped out a small bite. His blood
pounded inside his ears as he sat for a moment with the mouthful of
raw fish.

“
We eat raw fish all the time,”
Chinook said. “It isn’t that bad. We eat other meat raw, too. It
helps keep us warm in this cold weather. If you want to be like us,
you have to be strong.”

Jean-Paul could not speak with his mouth
full. For one awful moment he wanted to spit out the bite. He
tested for bones with his tongue, then began chewing. The icy flesh
came apart easily between his teeth. He swallowed. It slipped
softly down his throat. Why, there was nothing to eating raw fish.
When he had finished, he gave the rest to Sasha.

“
You didn’t say I had to eat it all,”
he told them, wiping his mouth and pulling his mitten back on. His
fingers ached and burned from the cold.

“
He did it!” exclaimed Nanuk. “I
didn’t think he would, but he did!”

Chinook slapped Jean-Paul
on the back. “That’s number one! If you pass the next test, you’ll
be a member of Ice Patrol and will get to go with us when we
ice-fish or hunt. You’ll learn our secret codes and
messages.”

“
Yes,” said Aiverk. “Only very brave
boys can be members of Ice Patrol. And you were brave to eat the
raw fish when you never did it before.”

Jean-Paul’s whole body felt
chilled to the bone, warm clothes or not. At that moment he didn’t
care if he passed any more tests or not. But something told him
they wouldn’t let him go home yet. He thought the cold he felt was
more from fear than anything else. He was sure his new friends had
planned something much worse than raw fish.

“
Wh–what do I have to do now?” he
asked.

“
You’re going to do what all of us had
to do once,” came the answer from Chinook. “You must spend two
hours alone in the haunted
apudyak
.”

Jean-Paul stared at the
large, dark shape in front of him. “Is this where you have your
meetings?”

“
No,” said Nanuk, “we just come here
sometimes to play. It’s fun sliding down the side of the
apudyak
on our
bellies.”

“
But
you
have to sit inside the
apudyak
for two hours,”
said Aiverk, “listening to the
torngark
moaning, and talking to the
crazy old man.”

“
I don’t think they’ll get you.”
Chinook laughed. “But you never can tell!”

Jean-Paul shrank back
against the sled. “I—I don’t think I’d better. No! I won’t go
inside there! You can’t make me go in there!”

“
I thought you wanted to be in our
club,” said Nanuk. “Does this mean you don’t?”

“
No,” Jean-Paul replied, “that’s not
it. I just…” He looked toward Nanuk, but could see only the outline
of his face. “I mean ... well…”

“
If you’ve changed your mind,” said
Chinook with a sigh, Athen we’d better take you home.”

“
No! I really do want to join,
Chinook! But you’re trying to make me do things I don’t like to
do!”

“
Aw, let’s take him home,” Nanuk said
with disgust. “Jean-Paul’s just a big baby, like we thought. He’s
afraid of
torngark
.”

“
Yeah, let’s take him back right
away,” agreed Aiverk. “We can’t have babies in our
club.”

“
I’m not! I’m not a baby!” Jean-Paul
shouted. “I’m not afraid of any old igloo or
torngark
,
either!”

The wind moaned, and
Jean-Paul thought he heard laughter. Amarok gave an impatient yelp,
then howled. His voice rose, ending in several short, high-pitched
yips. Sasha answered, and her howl drifted away to nowhere.
Jean-Paul’s knees shook, from the stabbing cold and from fear.
Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Jean-Paul knew the laughter had not
come from a human. It was something from inside the igloo.
Something or someone inside there was laughing.