solid and motionless looking surface. The front of the glacier was white and cerulean blue, the pure interior that was exposed when the ice broke off. In front of the glacial tongue were several floating icebergs. This glacier wasn’t a large one. The little bergs moving through this fjord might not even make it intact to the bay. They were rapidly melting under the summer sun. As they passed close, Kelly could see rivulets of water running off them.
If she had been less anxious and preoccupied, she would have been happy to be here. She would have taken photos of this spectacular scenery. As it was, the only good news she could find in this situation was that they would soon reach the end of the waterway and would have to stop.
A dull echo from their paddles resounded off the cliff walls on either side as they glided easily on the calm surface. Nivi steered them expertly around the icebergs, still humming her melody.
It was the clang of metal that first alerted Kelly to human activity at the edge of the fjord. The sound drew her attention to a smooth, sloping moraine on the north bank. As they came around a subtle curve and the entire face of the glacier came into view, the moraine also became visible in its entirety.
Kelly’s mouth fell open as she saw a campsite with several tents erected, tables set up, people milling around and a moored motorboat at the edge of the water. She practically tipped the kayak in her excitement. She spun around to look at Nivi, who nodded up and down, grinning.
Kelly felt tears of relief come to her eyes. She paddled rapidly toward shore where two people and one tail-wagging husky came to greet them. The dog kept close to a stocky, dark-featured young man, a Greenlander, Kelly guessed. But the young woman, the blonde, was somebody Kelly already knew. It was flirty Sonja Holm from the morning tour. What a wonderful stroke of luck. Not only had Nivi taken her to people who could get help, but at least one of them was an American, so there would be no more trouble with language.
“Sonja!” Kelly called, waving frantically. “Sonja!”
Sonja waved back and stepped down to the water’s edge to pull the kayak onto shore. “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” she remarked, looking perplexed. Then looking more closely, she said, “You’re a mess!”
Chapter Ten
Why don’t I think to ask these things ahead of time? Jordan wondered, looking up into the greasy guts of the yellow all-terrain vehicle her students had nicknamed Curly after one of The Three Stooges because it could take a lot of abuse. Right now, she wished Curly would live up to his name a little more literally so she could just give him a whack now and then to keep him in line. As part of the recruitment process for this summer gig, she should add some questions to the application about essential skills. Can you cook? Do you have any mechanical ability? Do you know how to play Canasta? In some ways, science could be said to be secondary to these other talents when a group of people was stuck on a glacier together for eight weeks.
She lay on her back on a piece of cardboard, tightening the last two bolts that would secure the new belt in place. Of her four students, not one of them had the mechanical ability to change a spark plug, let alone replace a broken belt. You’d think it would have been a safe bet in a group with one guy who loved backpacking and everything outdoors, one athletic lesbian, a female pilot and a native Greenlander that one of them would know how to work on engines. “I can fly a plane,” Julie had elaborated. “But I don’t work on them.” As for Malik, he was the brooding intellectual type. Not a wilderness man like his Inuit ancestors. He had never even driven a car. There wasn’t much use for cars in Greenland.
So the job was left to Jordan. She didn’t really mind. She enjoyed getting into the muck. It was satisfying to occasionally work with one’s hands instead of
If she had been less anxious and preoccupied, she would have been happy to be here. She would have taken photos of this spectacular scenery. As it was, the only good news she could find in this situation was that they would soon reach the end of the waterway and would have to stop.
A dull echo from their paddles resounded off the cliff walls on either side as they glided easily on the calm surface. Nivi steered them expertly around the icebergs, still humming her melody.
It was the clang of metal that first alerted Kelly to human activity at the edge of the fjord. The sound drew her attention to a smooth, sloping moraine on the north bank. As they came around a subtle curve and the entire face of the glacier came into view, the moraine also became visible in its entirety.
Kelly’s mouth fell open as she saw a campsite with several tents erected, tables set up, people milling around and a moored motorboat at the edge of the water. She practically tipped the kayak in her excitement. She spun around to look at Nivi, who nodded up and down, grinning.
Kelly felt tears of relief come to her eyes. She paddled rapidly toward shore where two people and one tail-wagging husky came to greet them. The dog kept close to a stocky, dark-featured young man, a Greenlander, Kelly guessed. But the young woman, the blonde, was somebody Kelly already knew. It was flirty Sonja Holm from the morning tour. What a wonderful stroke of luck. Not only had Nivi taken her to people who could get help, but at least one of them was an American, so there would be no more trouble with language.
“Sonja!” Kelly called, waving frantically. “Sonja!”
Sonja waved back and stepped down to the water’s edge to pull the kayak onto shore. “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” she remarked, looking perplexed. Then looking more closely, she said, “You’re a mess!”
Chapter Ten
Why don’t I think to ask these things ahead of time? Jordan wondered, looking up into the greasy guts of the yellow all-terrain vehicle her students had nicknamed Curly after one of The Three Stooges because it could take a lot of abuse. Right now, she wished Curly would live up to his name a little more literally so she could just give him a whack now and then to keep him in line. As part of the recruitment process for this summer gig, she should add some questions to the application about essential skills. Can you cook? Do you have any mechanical ability? Do you know how to play Canasta? In some ways, science could be said to be secondary to these other talents when a group of people was stuck on a glacier together for eight weeks.
She lay on her back on a piece of cardboard, tightening the last two bolts that would secure the new belt in place. Of her four students, not one of them had the mechanical ability to change a spark plug, let alone replace a broken belt. You’d think it would have been a safe bet in a group with one guy who loved backpacking and everything outdoors, one athletic lesbian, a female pilot and a native Greenlander that one of them would know how to work on engines. “I can fly a plane,” Julie had elaborated. “But I don’t work on them.” As for Malik, he was the brooding intellectual type. Not a wilderness man like his Inuit ancestors. He had never even driven a car. There wasn’t much use for cars in Greenland.
So the job was left to Jordan. She didn’t really mind. She enjoyed getting into the muck. It was satisfying to occasionally work with one’s hands instead of
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