The Haunted Igloo (11 page)

Lise laughed nervously. “To
think you were only about a quarter of a mile from that igloo. But
in the opposite direction from home.”

At the mention of Chinook
and the igloo, Jean-Paul’s eyes filled with terror. His mind cried
over and over, loud inside his own head:
How can I tell them what happened inside that igloo? No one
would believe I saw spirit wolves! I can’t tell them I was a baby!
How can I go to school and face the other boys?
Jean-Paul’s brain was afire with troublesome thoughts. When he
closed his eyes again, the darkness inside his mind was full of
green eyes, the eyes of the
torngark
. He began to shake, and his
mother fed him soup again, thinking he was cold.

“
Please try to eat some more,” she
urged. “You need warmth for the inside of your body.”

Jean-Paul opened his mouth
and felt the warm, meaty liquid on his tongue. It tasted good. When
he had finished and had fallen asleep again, Cordell helped Lise
from the chair. “You’ve had a long night,” he told her. “You’d
better get some rest.”

“
Suppose he calls for me?” She yawned.
She could hardly keep her eyes open.

“
He’ll most likely sleep for a long
time, Lise. I think the worst is over. Now you must think of
yourself and our baby.”

“
Jean-Paul’s still my baby,” Lise
said, looking over her shoulder at the sleeping boy as Cordell led
her from the room.

“
A child of ten isn’t exactly a baby
anymore,” Cordell said seriously. “I’m thinking we may have to give
him more room to grow, eh?”

“
He’s so young,” said Lise with a
sigh. “But of course you’re right.”

Cordell saw Lise to their
small room and helped her lie down. The old windup clock beside the
bed said four o’clock. Cordell removed her shoes and tucked her
under the covers.. Then he kissed her good night, though it was
nearly day.

“
Try to sleep,” he said.

Lise’s eyes were already
closed. Cordell looked down at her for a long time. Then he turned
out the lamp and went back to sit at Jean-Paul’s
bedside.

Outside, the snow had
stopped falling. It was early morning, but Cordell knew there would
be no sunrise. In a few more months it would be spring again. He
gave silent thanks that Jean-Paul had come to no real harm. Another
few minutes in that storm would have been too late.

Sasha pricked up her ears,
as though reading Cordell’s thoughts. She opened her eyes and
looked at him.

“
How I wish you could talk,” Cordell
whispered. “I wish I knew what really happened inside that
igloo.”

____________

T
he next day Jean-Paul’s temperature rose. His eyes were hot
and glassy-looking, and he didn’t know where he was. As Lise bathed
his blotchy-red face, he rolled his head from side to side saying,
“The
torngark
!
Don’t let the
torngark
get me Sasha!”

Then he coughed hard, and Lise was afraid he
was getting pneumonia.

“
He needs to be in the hospital,” she
told Cordell.

Cordell himself was plenty
worried. “Perhaps,” he said. “But the blizzard made travel
impossible for a while. We’ll just wait and see. Keep him warm and
give him lots of water and broth.” Cordell was very sad. “Now I’m
not so sure I should have asked you to move up here with
me.”

“
Oh, well, it’s all right,” Lise said.
She looked deeply into his eyes and spoke gently. Somehow she must
set aside her own feelings. She knew her husband was hurting, too.
“How could you have known something like this would
happen?”

Cordell shrugged and shook
his head. “Maybe that’s just the point, Lise. In this wild
climate
anything
can happen, as we’ve just found out. I feel more than a little
selfish, because I jumped at the chance to work here in the
Northwest Territories without giving it much thought. You and
Jean-Paul are all I have.”

Cordell hung his head. And
Lise laid a small, soft hand on his big one.

“
Dear Cordell, you must not blame
yourself. I’m a hardy soul. And somewhere deep inside, a part of me
wanted the challenge of this sort of life. We’ll make it through
the year ... and the next, if need be.” Then she smiled. “A new
baby on the way was a definite surprise, wasn’t it? It was
something neither of us considered.”

“
Some surprises are nice,” Cordell
said.

Lise kept bathing her son’s
hot cheeks.

Sometimes Jean-Paul didn’t
know his parents at all, but pushed them away with his hands and
moaned about the
torngark
. Once he screamed, a long,
bloodcurdling scream.

“
Torngark
!
What
is
that
word?” Lise asked Cordell. “Have you heard it? What can it mean?
Jean-Paul’s terrified.”

Cordell shook his head.
“Beats me.”

He left the room and
returned with a small book. “I’ve looked in the language guide the
missionaries gave me. But that word isn’t here.”

The next day Jean-Paul’s
fever was lower. The wind had risen again during the night. Cordell
didn’t want to risk taking Jean-Paul out. “If the fever isn’t
completely gone by morning, I’ll try to get him to the
hospital.”

That afternoon, Cordell
opened the door to find Chinook and another boy. In Chinook’s hand
was a small, brown package. Cordell invited them in and Chinook
bent down and scratched Sasha’s ear as she came to
sniff.

“
She’s a nice husky,” he said to
Cordell. “Jean-Paul’s a lucky boy.”

Cordell grinned. “Yes, he’s
a lucky boy in more ways than one.” He looked at the other boy.
“Have we met?”

“
Oh,” said Chinook quickly, “and this
is Nanuk. He goes to school with Jean-Paul and me.” Cordell shook
Nanuk’s hand.

“
We came to see Jean-Paul, Monsieur
Ardoin. Do you think he will see us? Is he better?”

“
Jean-Paul’s a very sick boy. He has a
fever.” Cordell stopped as Chinook and Nanuk exchanged worried
glances. “But he’s going to be fine. He’s asleep right now. Maybe
you should come back in a day or so. I’ll tell him you came
by.”

Nanuk’s dark eyes darted
around the room. Chinook was nervous, too. He kept glancing up at
Cordell, then back down.

“
We came to say we’re sorry,” Chinook
said at last. “My father, Taguk, he gave me a long talk.” Then
Chinook’s face brightened. “I brought something for
Jean-Paul.”

Cordell took the package
Chinook held out. “Eh? What is this?” He turned the package over in
his hands.

“
If Jean-Paul’s too sick to open it,
then it’s all right for you to do it,” said Chinook with a big
grin.

Cordell opened the package
and removed a small white object. He studied it closely. “Why, it’s
a polar bear! Jean-Paul will like this for sure.”

Chinook was pleased,
beaming from ear to ear. “My old grandfather, Kiakshuk, taught me
to carve a walrus tusk,” he said proudly. “It was hard work to cut
out
nanuk
—polar
bear.” He glanced at his friend, Nanuk, and Nanuk smiled bashfully
because his name meant polar bear.

Cordell examined every inch
of the ivory statue. “Yes,” he agreed, “it certainly looks as
though it took a lot of time and skill. I’ll thank you for
Jean-Paul. When he’s well, he’ll say
nakomik
!
”

Nanuk grinned and whispered
to Chinook, “Jean-Paul’s father would make a good
Inuit!
”

“
A good Eskimo!” Chinook said, with a
laugh. Cordell laughed, too.

“
By the way,” said Cordell, “maybe you
boys can tell me what
torngark
means. Jean-Paul keeps mumbling about
torngark
.” He looked
hopefully from one boy to the other.

Nanuk’s smile vanished. He
looked sideways at Chinook. Chinook glanced sideways at Nanuk in
return. Then Chinook spoke, seeing that Nanuk wouldn’t.
“
Torngark
means
evil spirit.”

“
So!” said Cordell, raising his heavy,
dark brows.

“
Jean-Paul had a very bad time in the
igloo! Did you know he’s afraid of the dark?” He could have bitten
his tongue. Jean-Paul wouldn’t like for him to say he was afraid of
anything.

The boys looked at each
other. They turned, ready to leave. Neither of them said anything
to Cordell.

“
Thanks for coming.” Cordell’s words
were met with silence.

Chinook looked beyond
Cordell to the bedroom door, his face suddenly startled. Cordell
turned to see his wife standing in the doorway.

He motioned to her. “Come
see what Chinook and Nanuk brought Jean-Paul.” But Lise turned away
and went back to her son’s room.

Cordell looked at the bear
in his hand. “Well, I’ll give this to Jean-Paul, Chinook. I think
he’ll be glad to have it.” He then shook hands with both
boys.

The savage arctic wind
burst into the room as he opened the door to let them out. He
watched the darkness swallow them up, then turned and went to
Jean-Paul’s room. Lise looked up as he entered, but said nothing as
she washed Jean-Paul’s hot, red face with a cool cloth. Cordell
held out the carving. She glanced at it, then turned her head
away.

“
A polar bear,” she said grimly, “to
remind poor Jean-Paul of his ordeal in that terrible igloo in this
terrible country. Just what he needs!”

A heavy silence hung
between the two. Finally, Cordell placed the statue on Jean-Paul’s
table, where he could see it when his fever was gone.

Chapter 7

J
ean-Paul’s health improved day by day. His temperature fell to
normal. His nose, cheeks, and lips lost their raw, blistery look.
His hunger returned, also. He had lost weight while he was sick,
but as days passed, his body filled out until it was once more
Jean-Paul-size.

Jean-Paul’s mother was
happier, too. “It’s as if we are raising nine boys,” she told
Cordell, “instead of one. If Jean-Paul keeps eating this way, we
won’t have enough food to last till spring.”

His father agreed. “Poking
food into his mouth is the only thing Jean-Paul remembers how to
do!”

But there was one thing
Jean-Paul would not or could not do: he no longer spoke to anyone.
And, by not talking, of course, he couldn’t go to
school.

“
He’s had a great shock,” said Lise,
feeling pity for Jean-Paul. “As you said before, he’ll talk when
he’s ready.”

This time Cordell didn’t
agree. “It’s time he faced his lessons and his schoolmates! Does he
expect Father Cortier to come here?”

Jean-Paul spent too much
time with his own thoughts. But
no
one
knew how he felt.
No one
knew what was in his heart and
mind.
No one
knew
how his stomach twisted and squirmed at the thought of facing
Chinook and Aiverk and Nanuk. He thought Sasha was the only one who
accepted his silence and returned it with her own quiet
love.

The first thing Jean-Paul
did when he saw Chinook’s carving of the polar bear was to hurl it
across the room. But he wasn’t angry with Chinook. It was only that
he was deeply ashamed for having proven to the boys what they had
known all along: Jean-Paul Ardoin was nothing but a big sissy. He
had come out of the igloo before the time was up, and had then been
dumb enough to get lost in a snowstorm. But what hurt the most was
how close he had come to having Chinook for a friend. Every time he
saw that polar bear, he would be reminded of that.

Chinook came often to
visit, to the point of being a pest. But Jean-Paul was stubborn and
wouldn’t leave his room. How could he be sure that Chinook wouldn’t
make fun of him if given a chance? In the meantime, he watched
through a crack in the door as Chinook visited with Jean-Paul’s
parents and petted Jean-Paul’s dog. Whenever they could, Chinook
and the other boys brought Jean-Paul’s homework and “cheers” from
Father Cortier and the rest of the children. Jean-Paul did not
thank them, although he worked the lessons silently after they
left.

“
Jean-Paul’s acting like a spoiled
brat!” said Cordell. “After Christmas he’s going back to school
whether he likes it or not.”

“
He’ll cheer up when it gets light
again,” said Lise with a sigh.

Chinook came to visit a few
days before Christmas.

“
Jean-Paul’s not seeing boys named
‘Chinook’ these days,” Cordell said. “But I’ll tell you what. After
Christmas maybe he’ll let you help train the pup to pull a
sled.”

“
I’d like that,” Chinook said, his
face lighting up again. Chinook’s dark eyes smiled when his mouth
did, crinkling at the corners. “I’m making something special for
Jean-Paul’s Christmas,
Monsieur
Ardoin.”