was life inside the frozen shell.
He tore off her outerparka. Really it was a light anorak made of canvas, and underneath she had on a vest. When the parka was off he realized that she was not only a young woman but that she was pregnant.
This realization stopped him and he settled back on his haunches to think of it. There were so many strange things here. She was where she couldnât possibly be, riding a snowmachine that had run out of gas, with no supplies, coming from nowhere and going nowhere.
She couldnât be.
And yet she was.
And she was pregnant and nearly dead.
He chipped some pieces of fat off the deer carcass and added them to the lamp.He did it several times while he thought on what to do. Soon the lamp was full of fat and he remembered the dream, remembered the woman trying to save the children from starvation.
He took his finger and dipped it in the fat of the lamp and wiped it across the blue lips. There was no indication from the woman-girl at all. He did it again, and again, until some of the fat had worked into her mouth and then he saw the jaw move. Not a swallowing, not a chewing, but a ripple in the jaw muscle.
She was coming back.
Soon the pain would hit her. When somebody has gotten close to death by freezing and he comes back, Russel knew, there is terrible pain. Sometimes it was possible to relieve the pain by rubbing snow on the frozen parts but when it was the whole body nothing helped.
The pain had to be. It was considered by someâby Oogrukâto be the same pain as birth. To have been close to death and come back could not be done without the pain of birth.
Russel sat back again, then cut some meat and held it over the flame. After the pain would come hunger. She would want to eat. As he wanted to eat.
The meat softened with the flame and when it had taken on some warmth he atepart of it. Doing so made him think of the dogs and he considered cutting them food but decided to let them sleep for a time first. They had run long and were probably too tired to eat.
Instead he ate some more meat and watched the woman-girl he had rescued. He did not think anything, left his mind blank. There was nothing to think. Just the storm outside and the girl-woman who had almost died but who had come back.
He was extremely tired and as soon as the shelterâdrummed into noise by the wind and blown snowâhad warned and the meat had reached his stomach he couldnât hold his eyes open.
He slept sitting upâor didnât sleep so much as close his eyesâand ceased to be in the tent.
His mind slid sideways into the dream.
13
The Dream
T he storm had cleared but it had taken days, many days. Too many days.
The man got the dogs up, up out of stiffness and the frozen positions they had taken in ice. One got up and fell over, too far gone to live. The man used his spear and the quick thrust to the back of the head to kill the dog. Its feet were frozen and it would have been in agony if he had tried to keep it alive. When it was dead he threw the carcass on the sled to feed the other dogs later.
Then he made them go. They did not want to leave, they were stiff with cold, but he whipped them and made them go.
Across the strange dreamgrass anddreamsnow they moved, the bone and ivory sled starting slow and pulling hard. He stopped and urinated on the runners, using a piece of hide with hair on it to smooth the new ice, and the sled pulled much easier.
And now, where the land had been open and barren, there was much game for the man. He passed herds of caribou, once another mammoth which had died and was frozen, with giant wolves tearing at it.
The wolves watched him pass. Two of them made a small sweep toward the sled and the manâthere were times when they would have killed and eaten both the man and the dogsâbut there was much easy meat on the mammoth. They turned away without making an open threat but it wouldnât have mattered.
The man almost did not see
He tore off her outerparka. Really it was a light anorak made of canvas, and underneath she had on a vest. When the parka was off he realized that she was not only a young woman but that she was pregnant.
This realization stopped him and he settled back on his haunches to think of it. There were so many strange things here. She was where she couldnât possibly be, riding a snowmachine that had run out of gas, with no supplies, coming from nowhere and going nowhere.
She couldnât be.
And yet she was.
And she was pregnant and nearly dead.
He chipped some pieces of fat off the deer carcass and added them to the lamp.He did it several times while he thought on what to do. Soon the lamp was full of fat and he remembered the dream, remembered the woman trying to save the children from starvation.
He took his finger and dipped it in the fat of the lamp and wiped it across the blue lips. There was no indication from the woman-girl at all. He did it again, and again, until some of the fat had worked into her mouth and then he saw the jaw move. Not a swallowing, not a chewing, but a ripple in the jaw muscle.
She was coming back.
Soon the pain would hit her. When somebody has gotten close to death by freezing and he comes back, Russel knew, there is terrible pain. Sometimes it was possible to relieve the pain by rubbing snow on the frozen parts but when it was the whole body nothing helped.
The pain had to be. It was considered by someâby Oogrukâto be the same pain as birth. To have been close to death and come back could not be done without the pain of birth.
Russel sat back again, then cut some meat and held it over the flame. After the pain would come hunger. She would want to eat. As he wanted to eat.
The meat softened with the flame and when it had taken on some warmth he atepart of it. Doing so made him think of the dogs and he considered cutting them food but decided to let them sleep for a time first. They had run long and were probably too tired to eat.
Instead he ate some more meat and watched the woman-girl he had rescued. He did not think anything, left his mind blank. There was nothing to think. Just the storm outside and the girl-woman who had almost died but who had come back.
He was extremely tired and as soon as the shelterâdrummed into noise by the wind and blown snowâhad warned and the meat had reached his stomach he couldnât hold his eyes open.
He slept sitting upâor didnât sleep so much as close his eyesâand ceased to be in the tent.
His mind slid sideways into the dream.
13
The Dream
T he storm had cleared but it had taken days, many days. Too many days.
The man got the dogs up, up out of stiffness and the frozen positions they had taken in ice. One got up and fell over, too far gone to live. The man used his spear and the quick thrust to the back of the head to kill the dog. Its feet were frozen and it would have been in agony if he had tried to keep it alive. When it was dead he threw the carcass on the sled to feed the other dogs later.
Then he made them go. They did not want to leave, they were stiff with cold, but he whipped them and made them go.
Across the strange dreamgrass anddreamsnow they moved, the bone and ivory sled starting slow and pulling hard. He stopped and urinated on the runners, using a piece of hide with hair on it to smooth the new ice, and the sled pulled much easier.
And now, where the land had been open and barren, there was much game for the man. He passed herds of caribou, once another mammoth which had died and was frozen, with giant wolves tearing at it.
The wolves watched him pass. Two of them made a small sweep toward the sled and the manâthere were times when they would have killed and eaten both the man and the dogsâbut there was much easy meat on the mammoth. They turned away without making an open threat but it wouldnât have mattered.
The man almost did not see
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