Читать книгу Alaska Highway Two-Step - Caroline Woodward - Страница 13

Sadie Brown licks my face and whimpers and nudges at me. I am on the Persian carpet, the one some prince gave to you-know-who after seeing her dance in some tent in the Moroccan desert. I now have the opportunity to study the pattern closely and I find it pleasing to the eye. Little lions and fish and birds. Gold and turquoise and a deep, dark red.

“I’m okay, S.B.,” I manage, finally.

The phone rings and I am momentarily confused as the ringing in my ears competes for attention. I stick out my tongue and touch the bitten part with my finger. My elbows must have taken the brunt of this tumble because they are fiery with pain. I can’t take much more of this. I get up on my hands and knees and trundle over to the phone while S.B. howls pitifully.

“Stop it! It’s the phone!” I say this to her every time the phone rings more than twice and I’ve been saying this for nine years to no avail.

“Hello?” I say in a rickety voice I barely recognize.

“May I speak with Mercy Brown please?” A brisk, pleasant-­sounding woman’s voice.

“This is she,” I say, automatically reaching for my pen and notepad and discreetly clearing my throat.

“Lona Garrison of Great Northwest Expeditions here. I’m replacing Bronwen Williams who’s on leave for three months. She suggested I get in touch with you about a feature issue for the magazine. It’s about the Alaska Highway, Dawson Creek to Fairbanks, which we’d like to send you up to cover.”

“Well, that sounds interesting! What’s the deadline?” I try to sound brisk and pleasant myself. I feel like whooping with unrestrained glee!

“First of August. Can you manage that? We’d want you to drive down from Fairbanks to Dawson Creek and to take the BC Ferries boat up, connecting with an Alaska State Ferry in Prince Rupert, docking in Haines, Alaska. We booked passage a year ago, so it’s confirmed from Port Hardy for June first.”

“Sounds fine!” I chirp. “It’s been a while since I hit the road for a good, long stretch. I’m looking forward to going up that far north. I’ve only been up as far as Prince Rupert.”

“Good to hear. You’ll recall our Spring issue was entirely devoted to the anniversary of the building of the Alaska Highway. It generated so much interest that we decided to follow up with more northern feature issues. So, we’d like you to give us a variety of human settlements, from isolated cabins to the big cities, any wild river stories you can deliver and...oh, okay, Ed wants me to tell you he really likes the hot springs article you just filed and he says there are some nifty hot springs up there too. Does this resemble hard work yet?” She sounds nice. I’m glad they have somebody good to fill Bronwen’s shoes.

“It sounds like the ideal assignment, thank you very much!”

“Thank you for taking this on, Mercy. We know you’ll do a great job. ‘A fine photojournalist in one energetic package’ is how Bronwen described you! I’ll send your press pass, the contract and supporting materials by courier today. Feel free to call us, if you have any questions at all. Bye now.”

I must remember to thank Bronwen for recommending me for this. Heck, I’ll wire her some flowers. This is big-time for me. Great Northwest Expeditions pays just one rung below National Geographic. Two assignments from them in one year! At last, a decent stretch of well-paid work instead of having to slave over short newspaper pieces that take me nearly as much time to research as full-length articles. I’m lucky to break even on those if I value my time at all, and I do.

I don’t want to sit on the divan where I hallucinated Aunt Ginger. I flop into the big olive-green mohair armchair, switch on the lamp beside me and sink into the most comfortable chair in the world.

“Sadie B., we are living in interesting times, old thing,” I say, scratching behind her ears with my left hand. I stick out my tongue to see if I can still locate my bite mark. At this rate of self-inflicted physical abuse, I am likely to drown in my evening bath. Fear of bathtubs. Drainophobic? Hydrophobic? Mercy, get a grip.

I’ll have to make a list for this trip. Yes, that’s what I’ll do. Nothing like a nice tidy list to settle a person down.

Van

tune-up, oil change

rotate tires, decide on spares (check specials at shops)

stove fixed and hooked up

ditto for fridge

wire mesh to protect headlights

new exhaust and muffler system

Total est. $650-$750

Work Gear

tape recorder, tapes, batteries

camera and bulk film

all the usual/notebooks/pens

maps, The Milepost guide to the Alaska Highway, compass

laptop, etc.

sketch book, pencils, charcoals

Food Supplies

40 kg kibble

30 tins of S.B.’s canned food

2 extra insulin

90 needles

90 dog biscuits

30 noodle dinners

30 herbs’n’butter rice pkg.

10 kg 7-grain cereal

5 kg powdered milk

2 kg demerara sugar

5 pkg. coffee

Earl Grey, mint, rosehip tea bags

24 tins mushroom soup

24 tins salmon

24 tins sardines

24 cans 2% milk

12 packs of rye crisp

popcorn

spices, engevita yeast, oyster sauce

dried soup mix (bulk)

1 pkg parmesan cheese

12 cans garbanzos

12 cans kidney beans

12 cans each green & yellow beans

olive oil, salad oil

apple cider & red wine vinegar

Clothing Supplies

blue suit

black suit

yellow rain gear

sweats and jeans

windbreaker

socks, underwear

swimming gear

2 cotton sundresses

old black sweater

plaid bush shirt

several T-shirts

one snazzy outfit

slippers, runners, bush boots, sandals, beige pumps, black pumps

Miscellaneous

health food store mosquito dope

make sure S.B.’s rabies shot still good re: U.S. border crossing

dry clean sleeping bag

hold mail May 15-July 15

pay Corey to mow lawn l/week

call Terry, Mike, Hope, Faith, George, Dr. Swanson

binoculars

kayak & gear

extra windshield fluid

vitamins

2 bottles of Chardonnay, 1 Irish Mist

10 bottles of no-name mineral water (large)

check condition of plates, bowls, etc. take the good pots & pans

S.B.’s travel bowls, leash, long line, basket, kitty litter

There! I always feel better after a good stint of list-making. As long as I can tick off my lists, I have the most comforting illusion that everything is under control. I’ll have enough food to eat a monotonous but nourishing diet even if a bridge on the highway washes out and I have to wait for a crew to replace it. I’ll buy fresh veggies and fruit en route and, I hope, some salmon and halibut.

Now I’ll tempt the Fates and run a nice bath with my special no-cruelty-to-little-bunny-eyes bath oil. Better put some nice bath and shower stuff on the list too. Nothing like a bit of pampering in a motel bathtub after a long stretch of driving and camping.

I’m just drifting off to sleep when I remember the rhododendron painting bee. I sit up straight. Will I delay my most lucrative and exciting freelance assignment to host the Rosemont Painting Club? Will the rhododendrons appear in good time and spare me the stress of making this decision? Will a spell of hot spring weather solve all my problems? We’ll have to see. It’s not on my list. Not to worry. There’s not a thing I can do about it. Good night.

good night little worr y wart

?...