The Gift

**THIS STOREY IS RATED PG NR (PERSONAL GUIDANCE, NORTHERN REALITY) THIS IS ABOUT KILLING FOR FOOD**

Winter is a long drawn out affair in the Arctic. The men stick gamble and play cards, they laugh at each other and drink thick, black, sweet tea well into the deep dark of the night. Everyone hopes that old man winter leaves before the firewood runs out. Dogs are used to haul wood and there is no chain saw. Firewood is cut with an axe and Swede saw; this takes time and uses muscles. The snow is sticky and makes for hard hauling for the dogs.

Water is carried in buckets from holes chopped in the ice. When the ice gets too thick, chunks of frozen water are chopped and melted by the stove in buckets. Everything is people powered. Women and kids set snares for rabbits and traps are set for rats (muskrats). We cross the river that is about a half a mile wide in front of Ft. Norman. In freeze up and break up we balance long poles across the front of us. If we fall through the ice we hope this will keep us from dropping through the frigid caverns and into the raging McKenzie River below.