Fantasy

15-Abby

We climb into Alice's truck and she drives us to the airport where we (obviously) board another plane. On board they serve us lunch and when we land we are in a moderately sized Alaskan town. We're told to walk to a small airport in the town and are ushered onto a bush plane there. It takes us to the secluded little town of Eagle, Alaska where we land on a small runway. The first thing I hear is barking dogs; there are a bunch of them chained and fenced in dog yards.

"So, which shack is Nick's?" Jessica blurts. It's pretty rude of Jessica to call these peoples' homes "shacks," but I don't say anything except to tell her Nicholas's address. We find his house and, for once, Aaron knocks before Jessica. No one answers the door, so Aaron knocks again, still no answer. Jessica rolls her eyes and stomps up the porch. She batters the door, still no answer.

"Maybe they're not home," Aaron suggests.

"Gee, ya think?" Jessica retorts.

"Excuse me; are you lost?" says an unfamiliar gruff voice. Aaron, Jessica, and I turn to see a muscular man with a black beard along with a tough-looking woman and a boy who I assume is Nicholas. He looks about a year younger than me and has brown hair with round blue eyes. They all have rifles over their shoulders and are lugging a black bear.

"Um, no, we aren't lost? We, um, just..."

"Are visiting..." I say.

"Our...grandparents," Aaron adds.

"Oh, so are you all brother and sisters?"

"Cousins, we're cousins," Jessica says.

"And, who are your grandparents?"

"Ha, um, Granny and Pop," Aaron says.

The man chuckles, "What house are they in?"

"That...white one," I say, pointing with one hand and crossing my fingers with the other.

"Ah, Henry and Sue, I didn't know they had kids. Anyway, what're you guys doin' over here?"

"Oh, they just told us to come over here so..." Aaron starts.

"You could teach us how to butcher a bear," I say, looking at the black bear.

"Well why didn't you say so?" the woman replies. "Oliver and Nick will be happy to show you. I'm gonna go start the stove. How's barbeque bear ribs sound for tonight?"

"Sounds good, Mom," Nicholas answers. Jessica makes a face. Nicholas's mom heads inside and Nicholas along with his dad drag the bear around back, motioning for us to follow. When their backs are turned Jessica scowls at me. At the back of the house is another small building, like a shed. We go inside and turn the light on. Nicholas and his dad hoist the bear onto a table and lay it belly-side up. Nicholas pulls out a hunting knife.

"What are your manners?" his dad asks.

"Oh, sorry, what are your names?" Nicholas asks us while wielding the large knife.

"I'm Abby, and that's Aaron and..."

"Jessica," Jessica says sharply.

"I'm Nicholas, but you can call me Nick. Okay, well, to butcher a bear you first have to skin it." He picks up one hind leg, "You have to cut below the middle of the pad and down the leg," Nick narrates as he cuts the hide. "Then the other leg."

"Okay, that's just disgusting!" Jessica shrieks, shielding her eyes. Aaron looks a little squeamish too. Nick's dad chuckles again.

"You know, how about you three go help Kelly in the kitchen, you can learn to butcher a bear some other day."

"Okay," Aaron nods. Jessica leads the way and I follow Aaron out, but to be honest I'm kind of disappointed. Dad, my sisters, and I have gone fishing, deer hunting, and occasionally squirrel hunting, but I've never seen a bear butchered before.

In the kitchen Nick's mother is assembling a counter full of ingredients. She has pepper, salt, lemon juice, paprika, chili powder, dry mustard, brown sugar, and a couple other things. She chops up some onions and measures out ¼ cup.

"Do you guys want to help me?" she asks.

"Sure," I answer.

"Okay, hold this," she tells me, handing me a mixing bowl. "Now, can you measure out all these ingredients?" she asks Aaron, handing him a recipe.

"I guess," he replies.

"You can help, too," she says to Jessica. Jessica comes to stand next to us.

"How are we going to get Nick's permission for the locket?" she asks mutedly while Aaron measures ingredients and dumps them into the bowl.

"I don't know," I tell her. She huffs and rolls her eyes.

"We'd better not have to eat bear ribs!"

"I'm done," Aaron announces.

"Here, you can start mixing, this will be the sauce," Mrs. Worldd says, handing me a wooden spoon. While I'm doing that she pulls out a pot that looks like a crock pot, but without knobs and a cord. She pours two cups of water into it. "Alright, that sauce looks done, here, measure out ¾ cup and dump it into the Dutch oven," she says, handing me a measuring cup and motioning to the pot. I do as I'm told and that's when Nick comes in the house with, well, bear ribs.

"Is your father done?" his mom asks.

"No, he's still got a long way to go, but he told me to bring these in to you."

"Okay, you can help them and I'll go help your dad," she says before exiting the house. Yes!

"How far have you gotten?" he asks. I hold up the Dutch oven or whatever it is to show him. He comes over and drops the ribs into the pot, then he puts it on the stovetop and turns on the burner. "This has to come to a boil before we cover it, okay?" We nod.

"Hey, Nick, um, could you do something for us?" Jessica asks.

"I guess," he shrugs.

"Could you tell this locket it's okay to open?" I say, pulling out the locket. He raises an eyebrow.

"Look, it's for a school psychology project," Aaron tries.

"But...there is no school this time of year," Nick points out.

"Right, but it's this educational camp our parents sent us to...just, please give the locket permission to open," Jessica says impatiently.

"Fine, um, you can open, locket," he says awkwardly.

"Thanks," I tell him, putting the necklace away. At that moment the contents on the stove start to boil.

"Oh, excuse me," he says, moving to the stove. He turns the heat down and puts the lid on.

"Uh-oh! I just remembered that we're supposed to be back by 6:00," Jessica gasps, looking at the clock, "Sorry, got to go." She walks out the door waving goodbye. I follow.

"Um, bye, comeback soon, goodbye Abby!" he says as we depart. The bush plane pilot told us to go to the small lodge to stay the night, so we do. They give us fish for dinner.