Bear Down, Bear North: Alaska Stories

They Find the Drowned

they find the drowned > humpies Oncorhynchus gorbuscha A river loses strength, loses water. Scientists catch the humpies and put them into tanks and drive to the Kenai River. The humpies are released near the mouth when the reds are running. The humpies don’t know where to go—they don’t know the Kenai and they don’t follow the reds.They don’t recognize the currents of the river,or the smells,orthewaythelightrefractsintothewaterandbouncesoff the bottom.Theredsrunupwhilethedeadhumpiesfloatdown.Theydie because they have the wrong memories. outhouse A woman with long, dark hair falls asleep with throbbing shoulders from fishing all day. She sits up and rummages in the cabinets for aspirin. She can’t find the bottle and she doesn’t want to wake the others.But her daughter wakes up and tugs her shirt. The woman takes the girl’s hand and they tiptoe out the cabin door.The girl forgets and the door slams shut. They wince and wait for the others to stir,but no one does.They walktheshorttrailtotheouthouseandthegirlgoesfirst,themother standing outside. She hears a rustle and a low, throated moan. And then nothing. 126 > they find the drowned Thewomanlooksaround.Thegirltakesalongtimesothemother raps her knuckle on the door.“Shouldn’t take this long.” The rustle comes closer. She sees a large, dark creature in the woods.And then nothing. Sheknockshardonthedoor.“Areyouinthere?Answerme.”Did her daughter think this was a game? She stops knocking to listen.“I said answer me.” The rustle creeps closer. “Open this door.” The woman kicks the door in with her unlaced boot.The wood splinters from the force. “Stop,” says the girl from inside. She opens the door. Her eyes marvel at her mother. An animal bursts out of the bushes and the woman shoves the girl behind her.A grizzly charges toward them,running as if he’s goingtoknockthemover .Thewomanholdsherground.Thenhestops. Sniffs the air.Walks toward the river.The bear wades into the Kenai, crossing water to reach the mainland. When they see him climb the bank on the other side,they hurry back to the cabin. Thewomanremembersthefirstaidkithaspacketsof aspirinand swallows two tablets. She puts the girl back to bed. “Don’t do that again.” The girl,thinking of the broken door,is soon asleep. loon Gavia immer Aloondriftsdownthecurrent.Thebirdhasadaggeredbeakandwith his black, black head, red eyes, and white-striped wings, he’s easy to spot.Theloondivesdownanddisappearsandthescientisttimeshim, scanning for the breach.After a minute and eleven seconds,the loon reappears upstream, shakes the water off his head. There are loons and there are ducks.Ducks are never alone. they find the drowned > 127 storm The woman’s husband knocks on the door. They were looking for him. He has blood soaked down the front of his shirt. They hadn’t heard a gun.Maybe the axe,but there isn’t a wound.A thick,familiar smell calms them. He stumbles over the doorway and falls.Two of his buddies carry him to the boat and he’s vomiting red into the river. The woman watchestheboatleaveherandtheislandandthebloodbehind.“This isthelasttime,”shesays.Shenodsasshe’snoddedbefore,laystowels over the mess and wipes the blood with the toe of her boot.Then she dips the towels into the river,wrings them out. The woman sits on a stump near the bank. In the stillwater, the smolt move like a storm of comets.The terns swoop down with their pitchfork tails and scoop up small fish. Seagulls on the gravel bar bicker over scraps. the scientists The scientists sit in a boat and dip tubes into the river. “Turquoise,” says one,noting the color of the water. “Green,” says another. “Glacier blood.” “Crushed sky.” “Kenai Blue.” They test levels of sediment from the ice fields. life jacket The neighbors across the river have a big family. Grandma has a whip of a cast, a fluid flick of line into the water. Grandpa wears 128 > they find the drowned his white underwear to swim—his barrel of belly hanging out. The grandchildren scream and splash about in their life jackets. There are five boys and their shouts echo and amplify through the spruce, scaring away the moose and the mosquitoes,if mosquitoes could be scared away. The boys swim out past the dock and let the current carry their floating heads downriver.They stay in the shallow,where they can put their feet down and climb the bank. But if their feet miss,they can grab the net rope fixed to an orange...