Sigh, Alaska: a short story novel

Ethan Sterling

Ethan didn't think he'd ever seen a girl get so drunk. Daphne was trying to dance like those Riverdance people, only she couldn't really dance at all, and there was no music. Her dark blonde curly hair bobbed side to side in her high ponytail. Her small figure created a long shadow from the fire and Ethan watched it move with little rhythm. At some point during the night, she had lost her glasses but seemed not to notice. Howard and Kevin were egging her on around the campfire, despite that she'd almost fallen into the fire twice, no, three times now.

"Looks like someone doesn't know how to hold their liquor," Pete commented, staring in the same direction as Ethan. Pete, Summer and Ethan sat away from the campfire, closer to the tents, and sharing a few bowls of Matanuska Thunderfuck.

"Yeah, she's pretty wasted. Watching her dance though, God, how hilarious," Ethan responded, while exhaling a deep hit of sweet fragrant smoke.

"If I had drunk half as much as her I'd be vomiting so much, the lake would be a new color in the morning," added Summer.

Howard and Summer had the great idea of getting one last good camping trip in before winter set in for good, and it was too cold to do anything outside except smoke cigarettes because you weren't allowed to smoke them inside. Ethan, Daphne, Kevin and Pete agreed to join them. They drove north towards Talkeetna but pulled off at a place called Nancy Lake. They found a campground and set up the tents and campfire quickly. It was still mid-September but it seemed a little later in the season than early fall. Ethan guessed that was part of the whole "twenty-four hours of dark" thing Alaska had going for it. The seasons had different hours than the rest of the country.

Summer reached for the dark blue glass pipe Pete handed to her, put her mouth on the end, covered the carb and flicked her Bic lighter. Watching the bowl light up as she inhaled, Summer remembered the last time she'd been camping. Exhaling with a cough, she held up her hands and prepared to tell her story.

"Man, we took Daphne out camping two weeks ago and she tried to tell us how to do everything cause her daddy took her camping all the time," Summer started, "She starts telling us that we don't need a bear proof container for the food cause if the bears want the food, they'll get it. Then we start setting up the tents and she literally pushes me, ME out of the way!" Summer gestured to herself, "I'm like twice her size. So, she sets up the tent by herself, and gets the last pole in the ground, when the tension grabs it from her and smacks her in the face! I couldn't stop laughing. The thing cut her face and I couldn't stop laughing."

"Ah, so that's where that mark on her chin came from. I wondered but I thought it was like a bad bug bite or something." said Ethan, his memory taking shape hazily in the smoke.

"She was kind of annoying the whole time. Actually, she got pretty drunk that night too. So if she wants to get drunk and Riverdance her way into the fire, I'm okay with it. Just don't make me drive her back to the hospital, okay?"

"Deal." Ethan and Pete agreed in unison.

"Argh!" Ethan looked up at the distressed sound and saw Daphne hopping around on one foot while trying to clutch the other one close to her body. "Ow! Stupid- oh fire! On my foot! Hot, hot, hot! Ouch!" She hopped over to a folding chair, sat down, and crossed her legs to get a better look at her shoe.

"Hey, are you okay?" Howard rushed over to examine her injury. Daphne looked up at him with rounded eyes.

"My foot is on fire! What do you think?" She yelled back.

Ethan thought he seemed concerned, and that was rather nice of Howard. He wasn't really sure what he thought about Howard. He seemed like a nice guy, but kind of lecherous as well, if he may borrow such an outdated word. Nevertheless, it fit. At first, Howard seemed like the boy-next-door type, as long as the boy next door is from a major city slum. Nice, charming, a hint of a baby face and smile that he knew charmed the pants off most girls. However once he got a girl in his sights, he didn't waste time hitting it and quitting it.

Ethan didn't really mind the constant one night stands and sex partners- it wasn't his life after all, but when Howard was sober, all he talked about was how much he loved his fiancé and two year old son he left back home to earn some money on a boat in Alaska. Being in Anchorage is not nearly the same thing as being out on a commercial fisher in the Aleutian's and Ethan couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman and child that Howard left behind.

Ethan wasn't perfect by any means. He had a nice childhood, good friends, and good family. Ethan fought with his parents and snuck out like any teenager. He went to the good public school, and the good public university where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science, despite getting half way through and deciding he wanted to nothing to politics or municipal management. His college girlfriend Laura had big dreams of being a Congressman's wife and while they were dating, Ethan had big dreams of being a Congressman.

During a lecture at the beginning of his third year, a snide comment from a faceless person two rows back blew his mind and he started questioning everything. It reached in him a way that no lecture, paper or debate on CSPAN ever did.

"You have to say that because they're the ones cutting your paycheck. Be interesting to see how fast your interests changed if they weren't lining your pockets with blood money."

He knew the snide remark was from some ridiculous liberal, but he couldn't help but wonder who else funded politicians decisions. It didn't take long for him to start searching out information on where the money came from and when he discovered the truth, he felt as though the floor had been pulled out from under him. Maybe these representatives started out idealistic, believing they could actually affect change, but they all became jaded after a while. If you couldn't trust your own congressman, then what the hell was he dreaming for? Ethan thought he wanted to be a leader to be trusted. But maybe no leaders should be trusted. From then on, the dream he and his girlfriend had shared seemed more farcical and less aligned with the new questions he couldn't seem to find comforting answers for.

At the end of his fall semester of his fourth year, just before graduation Ethan and Laura called it off. After graduation, Laura moved back home to North Carolina and Ethan signed up for a volunteer program in Central America.

Four months later, he was camping with strangers that were his new best friends surrounded on all sides by mountains one hundred miles north of Anchorage, Alaska. He didn't know what he would find now that he was here, but Ethan knew these mountains held more than a few secrets and stories and wanted to learn as many as he could.

"Oh your foot is not on fire you big baby. Now let me look at it." Carefully, Howard removed Daphne's shoe and peeled off her sock. He lifted her foot to his face and used the light from the fire burning behind them to view any damage. After a quick glance at her foot, Howard's eyes locked on Daphne's and he watched her face has he dragged one finger down the sole of her foot, then circled back to make small patterns.

Daphne's eyes grew bigger if that were possible. Her pupils were dilated from the dark and Howard's touch. Suddenly she giggled and tried to grab her foot back. Howard gripped it more firmly as he sucked her big toe into his mouth.

"Oh stop that!" Daphne cried. "I don't know what you're thinking but my foots are... they are just filthy dirty feets and and- you know, and sucking on my toes isn't toe sexy."

"Oh it's not?" replied Howard, grinning wickedly. He let go of her foot and grabbed her hands before pulling him towards him and giving her a deep kiss.

Daphne pushed him away but he pulled her back on to his lap and kissed her again.

"God, can you believe Howard just pounced on her like that? She's just a baby for God's sake." Ethan muttered to his friends Summer and Pete. When they didn't respond, he looked over and saw Summer had moved into her tent and seemed pretty well passed out as evidenced by leaving the zipper door wide open. Pete hadn't even bothered to leave his folding chair before passing out as well. Ethan was surprised that he didn't notice the change in conversation, but supposed it was because he was caught up in the scene in front of him.

Now that Ethan thought about it, his buzz was rolling pretty good and he knew the sleep would be pretty good too. He almost laughed to himself thinking about his prior dreams of leadership. Until he came to Alaska he'd never so much as touched the green stuff. Now it was his favorite way to relax after a long day. Or before a good meal. Or just after waking up. Ethan loved being high. It gave him a new clarity on life, when he could hold his thoughts in his head long enough to examine them. Every thought, every interaction had an extra sparkle that glimmered through the haze.

"Well. I guess that just leaves the..." Ethan trailed off as he watched the scene unfold before him. Little Daphne straddled Howard's lap and had her hands held behind her back while their mouths and tongues battled each other. Howard's other hand roamed Daphne's chest, before sliding down and grabbing hold of her small but firm buttocks. He grasped her tightly and pulled her closer, frottaging together in front of the fire. Kevin, who had been sitting across from the couple and the fire watched, eyes ablaze. Suddenly he stood up and walked slowly towards the two.

Ethan knew there was a time when he'd been shocked by this behavior. Even while harboring thoughts of being a Congressman's wife, Laura had a wild streak about her and loved getting off in public spaces. Ethan loved Laura, and even though he'd been raised to keep the bedroom in the bedroom, he did his best to oblige her. Watching Howard and Daphne in front of the fire now, it was kind of the same thing, he justified to himself. He noticed Kevin had gotten up and Ethan decided it was probably time to call it. He wanted to go to bed while his buzz was still going and he did not intend to watch the two of them go at it.

Then he noticed that Kevin wasn't going to his tent, instead stopping near Howard and Daphne and Ethan stopped his descent into his tent for just a bit longer. As Howard turned Daphne over on to her knees and started to undo the button and zipper of her jeans, Kevin kneeled before her and started making out with her as well. Before Ethan could really start to understand the dynamic happening Daphne mumbled, "What's going on?" as Kevin pushed her head down. Daphne opened her mouth to ask another question and was filled before she could say another word.

As Kevin guided Daphne into a rhythmic pace, Howard also found entry and Daphne struggled to stay upright as Howard still held her hands behind her back. Ethan shook his head and crawled into his tent. Settling down, he found his ipod and turned on a local band from his college days. He heard Daphne's moan, and what sounded like an awkward shuffle before turning up his music, and closed his eyes.

As he drifted off to sleep, Ethan wondered what it was about some people that they couldn't keep their private life private. He had no wish to watch little Daphne have sex, and he certainly didn't want to see her get tag-teamed, especially when one comes off looking so innocent and you find out their kind of a freak. She just got out of high school, didn't she? Ethan was only watching this kind of pornography when he was her age. Ethan's last thought before he officially tumbled over into slumber was that someone should teach Daphne about boundaries.

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