Walking to Live

Karana and I were walking along the snow and ice searching for home. We had gone out looking for food but a huge snow storm happened and we could see nothing. We are wearing heavy coats but my face is not protected and numb. Karana has started building us a house to hide and stay warm in. I don't understand how he can see in this blazing snow but I try to help. We make our house in the ground with a 3foot deep hole and an igloo for the top. We share our rations and melt snow for water to drink. It is night now, the only thing I am scared of is the polar bears that come at night. When I wake up Karana is already awake making us an early breakfast of meat. Our rations are low and the snow is not as hard as it should be. We decide to start early but when we look outside it's still dark, from the stars Karana says “It must be around 4:30”. Too early to start our journey. To waste time I decide to go through our backpack to see what we have, Karana has strong rope, a knife, an animal skin, flint and steel, a photo of his best friends, a blanket, and a pan; I have a thin chain rope, a notebook, a book, flint and steel, some meat, a bowl, some things for burning fire, a bandage, a shovel, a mashedy, and a tarp. All of this stuff comes in handy but it won't last us. We start our journey at 7 when things lighten up. As we walk we talk about my dogs and how Karana is willing to pay me for one when the mother has birth. I'm still thinking it through in my head but I say “ya, sure” to give him something to look forward to. Karana speaks about his grandfather and how he wants to be like him, train his dogs all that can be trained, and keep them in good health so they live for as long as they can. Then suddenly he stops, I don't understand why until I realized what he had just said and how it led up to current events. Karanas new baby sister, the 1st girl of his family had died from poor feeding and the cold, she did not live as long as she could. Tears start falling down Karanas face so I go over to comfort him, he pushes me away then looks back at me with anger in his eyes and punches me in the gut. It takes me a moment to realize what had just happened, I was on the cold ground, stomach aching and back sore from my hard hit to the ground. Karana eyes had changed from anger to sadness of all sorts, he no longer acted strong and brave as men did, he fell to the ground in a ball and crys, tears now making a puddle at the bottom of his right eye facing away from me. I don't know what to do, so I go over and put him on his feet, he says he just wants to sit for a bit and I don't reject that, from what I have learned u dont mess with Karana when he is sad or frustrated. So we just sit, we sit so long my legs start to ache and my body wants to run, but I sit still. We sat from 9ish to 12ish, never have I sat for this long I think I broke a record. Karana is ready to go again, he talks about how his dogs will be the strongest and fastest dogs I will know. I tell him to think again about my dogs, he thinks and goes “when my dogs are ready we will challenge you and win!” I don't say anything, just walk along, Karana expecting a comeback and not getting one, continues talking about how our parents must be looking for us right now and how they probably think we were eaten by the wolves or slaughtered by the polar bears, and comes up with all these crazy stories about us dying by animals. It's night now, dark and freezing with gusts of wind. We have to make a new camp, this time we make a fire so it's easier to see and when we finish moving it to the bottom of our pit. I make meat stew as Karana cleans and plays with stuff in our bags. We have to eat out of the pot cause we don't have bowls, Karana says that I make better soup then his mom while stuffing his mouth with soup getting the ground all colorful. I say “thanks” and look at him in that way that girls can say silently “slow down”; He stops eating and pulls out something from his bag, something I hadn't noticed before, he hands it to me with a smile of satisfaction and says “open it”. I don't know what to expect so I unravel the string and unfold the thin animal skin, when I see it I don't know what to say. It's a brand new pair of nice warm mukluks, the kind I've only seen Karana wear. When i look at him he's all smiles “I made them myself” he says. I smile, give him a hug, then put them on. They fit perfect and make my feet amazingly warm. “ I was going to give them to you for your birthday but I couldn't wait, and sooner or later Totuk was going to take them for himself” Karana says, putting his foot next to mine showing how they are the same. Totuk, Karanas older brother has been taking Karanas things lately so i understood. As we go to bed I think about how hard Karana must have worked on these just to give them to me. He knows how fast I go through shoes but he made them anyway. As we drift to sleep I dream about the tribe. When I wake up the colors of the moon shine as I step outside to feel the gusts of snow hit my face. I wake Karana so he can see the masterpiece the world gave us...a slight sign of hope. When it is light we step outside only to see white with a tint of a blue sky. We move forward for 1 hour to slip and fall on a smooth wet surface. “We have found our way!” Shouts Karana. The Great river of Zire, this shall guide us home. I clasp Karana’s hand as we walk on to the frozen River that will lead us back to life.