came to her stepson: a mother bear protecting her cub. Everything about
Taylor told her not to trust him. On the other hand, Sammy and Joe were both
right: it was time she put more trust in her boy. It seemed no time since she
was helping him with his schoolwork but she had to accept he was twenty years
old now. Plenty old enough to look after himself.
'I
guess you've read your ancestor's diaries, you know he was guided by Welatok.'
'Sure,
but they fell out. Sir James mentioned that in the penultimate diary, said if
he was going to come again, he'd probably have to find another guide.'
'Yes,'
Edie said. 'I know.'
'You
do?' Fairfax looked puzzled.
'Welatok
was my great-great-great-grandfather.'
'Ha,
that right? Hey, we could include you in the doc,' Fairfax beamed. 'The
descendant of Sir James Fairfax's guide, guiding the great-great-grandson of
the great man himself.'
Edie
shook her head.
Fairfax
looked whipped. 'There'd be a fee in it for you.'
Edie
smiled blankly. Qalunaat just didn't get it. Wasn't it enough that she
sold herself? What, she should sell her ancestors now, too?
Fairfax
sucked his teeth. 'Simeonie told me all you folk got moved up here by the
Canadian government in the fifties from Quebec?'
'Uh
huh,' she said.
The
episode was still too painful to talk about much. It had happened because the
Americans were sniffing around the area after the war and the government wanted
Canadians on the land. Only people they figured might survive up there were
Inuit, so they'd persuaded nineteen families to make the twelve-hundred-mile
trip by telling them they'd be able to hunt whatever they liked and come back
home when they were done. It was only after they'd arrived, seen the barren
rock and had to find a way to survive through the first winter in
twenty-four-hour darkness and with temperatures hitting -50C that they realized
they'd been had. Most of them never got to see the families they'd left behind
again. Lot of people said the problems they had with alcohol, the suicides, you
could trace them right back to this one traumatic event.
Edie
explained that her own grandmother on her mother's side, Anna, had been one of
the original exiles, but her grandfather was a descendant of Welatok. He'd been
born in Greenland and had come across to Ellesmere to trade with the new
arrivals there.
The
following morning they set off and reached Fritjof Fiord around lunchtime. The
fiord was still very iced up and they were forced to hack out a path through
some new pressure ridges with picks. After an hour, they made their way through
onto the other side.
'My
God,' Fairfax sighed, carried away by the sight before them.
It was astonishing. The interior of the fiord stretched into the far distance:
windless, white and magical. Layer upon layer of snow had fallen over the
course of the long winter and lay packed into dense, creamy undulations,
interrupted here and there by bear, musk ox or human tracks.
The
spot Fairfax had marked, the place he reckoned most coincided with the place
his great-great-grandfather had marked out for overwintering, was a wide gravel
beach huddling beneath granite cliffs half a kilometre into the fiord, away
from the worst of the tide and sheltered by the rocks behind it. Here Edie
started the work of setting up ramp while Fairfax went off to survey the surrounding
area on foot, returning several hours later with photographs and measurements.
'You
were right about the body.' This over a supper of caribou steaks. 'Perfect
excuse to come back in the summer with a film crew.'
They
passed the remainder of the evening in their separate tents, Edie turning
stories over in her mind while Fairfax sat in his sleeping bag a few feet away,
frantically scribbling in his notebook.
The
following morning, after a breakfast of
Taylor told her not to trust him. On the other hand, Sammy and Joe were both
right: it was time she put more trust in her boy. It seemed no time since she
was helping him with his schoolwork but she had to accept he was twenty years
old now. Plenty old enough to look after himself.
'I
guess you've read your ancestor's diaries, you know he was guided by Welatok.'
'Sure,
but they fell out. Sir James mentioned that in the penultimate diary, said if
he was going to come again, he'd probably have to find another guide.'
'Yes,'
Edie said. 'I know.'
'You
do?' Fairfax looked puzzled.
'Welatok
was my great-great-great-grandfather.'
'Ha,
that right? Hey, we could include you in the doc,' Fairfax beamed. 'The
descendant of Sir James Fairfax's guide, guiding the great-great-grandson of
the great man himself.'
Edie
shook her head.
Fairfax
looked whipped. 'There'd be a fee in it for you.'
Edie
smiled blankly. Qalunaat just didn't get it. Wasn't it enough that she
sold herself? What, she should sell her ancestors now, too?
Fairfax
sucked his teeth. 'Simeonie told me all you folk got moved up here by the
Canadian government in the fifties from Quebec?'
'Uh
huh,' she said.
The
episode was still too painful to talk about much. It had happened because the
Americans were sniffing around the area after the war and the government wanted
Canadians on the land. Only people they figured might survive up there were
Inuit, so they'd persuaded nineteen families to make the twelve-hundred-mile
trip by telling them they'd be able to hunt whatever they liked and come back
home when they were done. It was only after they'd arrived, seen the barren
rock and had to find a way to survive through the first winter in
twenty-four-hour darkness and with temperatures hitting -50C that they realized
they'd been had. Most of them never got to see the families they'd left behind
again. Lot of people said the problems they had with alcohol, the suicides, you
could trace them right back to this one traumatic event.
Edie
explained that her own grandmother on her mother's side, Anna, had been one of
the original exiles, but her grandfather was a descendant of Welatok. He'd been
born in Greenland and had come across to Ellesmere to trade with the new
arrivals there.
The
following morning they set off and reached Fritjof Fiord around lunchtime. The
fiord was still very iced up and they were forced to hack out a path through
some new pressure ridges with picks. After an hour, they made their way through
onto the other side.
'My
God,' Fairfax sighed, carried away by the sight before them.
It was astonishing. The interior of the fiord stretched into the far distance:
windless, white and magical. Layer upon layer of snow had fallen over the
course of the long winter and lay packed into dense, creamy undulations,
interrupted here and there by bear, musk ox or human tracks.
The
spot Fairfax had marked, the place he reckoned most coincided with the place
his great-great-grandfather had marked out for overwintering, was a wide gravel
beach huddling beneath granite cliffs half a kilometre into the fiord, away
from the worst of the tide and sheltered by the rocks behind it. Here Edie
started the work of setting up ramp while Fairfax went off to survey the surrounding
area on foot, returning several hours later with photographs and measurements.
'You
were right about the body.' This over a supper of caribou steaks. 'Perfect
excuse to come back in the summer with a film crew.'
They
passed the remainder of the evening in their separate tents, Edie turning
stories over in her mind while Fairfax sat in his sleeping bag a few feet away,
frantically scribbling in his notebook.
The
following morning, after a breakfast of
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