Touching the Clouds: A Novel (Alaskan Skies Book #1)

Kate leaned over the Plymouth Coupe and scraped ice off the windshield. She didn’t want to go to work. She knew Jack and Kenny would be waiting for her. They’d already razzed her about the nearly disastrous hunting excursion, and she was certain Jack wasn’t done with his taunting.

Even Sidney had made a few digs, although he didn’t neglect to congratulate her on bringing the flight in safely. Mike stood up for her, applauding her levelheadedness. She liked Mike and warmed at the memory of his chivalry.

With the engine running, she walked around to the back and cleared the rear window. Mike had made her a sweet deal on the car, and Kate was grateful for a comfortable ride to work.

It was a short trip to the airfield. When Kate spotted Jack’s plane, she figured she was in for it. Stepping out of the coupe, she tried to think of a snappy comeback, but her mind was blank. She could never get ahold of a good answer when she needed it. Later she’d think of something that would put him in his place, but by then it didn’t matter. She wished he’d go to work for another outfit so she wouldn’t have to deal with his horrible moods and cutting remarks.

Kate stepped into the shop, and warm air blasted her. It felt good. Looking around, she was surprised Sidney was the only one there. She relaxed a little.

He smiled and pushed away from his desk. “You’re just the person I’m looking for.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Jack’s down with a bug.”

“Oh, too bad,” Kate said, unable to keep sarcasm out of her voice.

“Yeah, well, I was hoping you could take a run for him.”

“He’ll hate that.”

“Yep. He will.” Sidney grinned.

Acquiring one of Jack’s assignments felt a little like retribution. “What do you have?”

“There’s a guy with business in Kotzebue. He’s picking up reindeer antlers.”

“Kotzebue?” Kate had never flown that far north. The idea triggered excitement as well as anxiety. “Glad to help Jack out anytime,” she said with a smile.

“I’ll get you a map.” Sidney moved to a wooden cabinet standing against the wall behind the desk. He fingered through files, then pulled out a chart and pushed the drawer closed. “It’s a long flight.” He opened the map and spread it out on his desk. “You might have to make adjustments for weather, and the wind can get bad. You never know when a storm’s brewing out in the Bering Sea.”

Using a pencil he’d tucked behind his ear, he marked a route as he talked. “Your best bet is to head up Cook Inlet to the Skwentna River, then duck in through Rainy Pass. You can follow the Kuskokwim River to McGrath. If you need to, you can rest there. After that, head for Unalakleet.” He circled the village on the map. “It’s a good place to fuel up and stay over. You can make Kotzebue the next day.”

Kate studied the map. Kotzebue was way north. “Will there be enough daylight? Nights are getting longer and more so up north.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. October’s not bad, even up there. Just no lollygagging. At first light get into the air and set down before dark.” He returned to the map and made additional notations. “If it takes you longer, I’ve marked places you can stay.”

Kate nodded, charting Sidney’s instructions in her mind. “I’ll take extra fuel . . . just in case.”

“Good idea.” Sidney folded the map and handed it to her.

“What about my mail run?”

“I’ll get one of the other fellas to do it. Frank ought to be back tomorrow.”

“Okay. So when do I leave?”

“Right now.”

“Oh.” Unsteadiness rolled over Kate. She wasn’t prepared. “I’ll need to make a trip back to my place to get some gear.”

“No problem. I’ll tell Mr. Brinks to be here in thirty minutes?”

“Okay.” Kate headed for the door, making a mental list of the things she’d need.

“The plane will be ready when you get back,” Sidney said.

At her place, Kate stuffed clothing into a pack, then grabbed a couple of apples, a loaf of bread and peanut butter, a tin of crackers, and two cans of sardines. Mentally, she went over the survival gear she kept stowed in the plane. It ought to be adequate.

She slung the pack over her shoulder and headed into the store. Albert was stocking a shelf of canned goods. “I’ll be gone four or five days. Hope this doesn’t put you in a bind.”

“We’ll be fine.” Albert set a can of carrots on the shelf. “Where’d you say you’re going?”

“Kotzebue.”

He looked at her from beneath raised eyebrows. “Long trip. Likely winter’s already set in up there. Isolated country.”

“It’ll be a first for me, but Sidney wouldn’t ask if he didn’t think I was ready.” The idea swelled inside Kate—she was proving herself to the best in Alaska. “See you in a few days,” she said, taking a step toward the door. She stopped and impulsively planted a kiss on Albert’s cheek. “Don’t worry about me.”

He smiled kindly. “You’ll be in my prayers.”

With the engine warming, Kate stowed her provisions. When Mr. Brinks arrived, Sidney walked the tall, thin man across the field.

“Kate, I’d like you to meet James Brinks.”

“Good morning,” Kate said.

Removing one of his heavy gloves, he grasped her outstretched hand. “I appreciate you taking me on such short notice. Need to get this done before winter sets in.”

“Not a problem. Glad to do it.”

Sidney passed the man’s bag to Kate. “Have a good flight.”

“Thanks.” Kate set the satchel in the back of the plane and turned to Mr. Brinks. “Climb in and we’ll be on our way. You can sit up front with me if you like.”

He moved forward and folded himself into the front passenger seat. His long legs barely fit. “It’ll be nice to see where we’re going. Better view from up here.”

Kate latched the door, then moved to the cockpit and settled into her place up front. After a final check of the instruments, she referred to the map once more. Her hands shook slightly. Maybe Sidney believed in her, but she still had qualms. Relax. It’s just another flight.

“Have you made this run before?” Mr. Brinks asked.

Kate was tempted to lie. Instead she looked straight at him and said, “No. This is my first time. But I’ve been doing a lot of flying for Sidney. I’m very experienced. We’ll be fine.”

“Oh, I’m not worried.” He leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. “Just curious is all.”

“The weather’s good.” At least it is here, Kate thought, hoping a storm wasn’t building in the Bering Sea. The last reports had been fine, but in Alaska you could never count on the weather. “Do you have any other questions?”

“No. I’ve made this trip before. Though I must say your company is an improvement over Jack’s.” He grinned and a deep dimple appeared in his right cheek. “You can call me James.”

“Okay, James, you ready?”

“I am.” He settled deeper into his seat, which pushed his legs almost up against his flat stomach.

Her nervousness abating a little, Kate felt excitement build. Kotzebue was part of the “real” Alaska she’d been dying to see.

While she taxied toward the runway, her mind wandered to her mail run and then to Paul. She’d miss seeing him this week. She didn’t understand why, but thoughts of him popped into her mind at will. He was intriguing. And not bad looking either. She forced her mind back to her present task.

Once in the air, Kate’s instincts took over and her butterflies disappeared. Taking one more look at the map, she headed up Cook Inlet. With a glance at James, she shouted over the engine, “Sidney said you were buying reindeer antlers?”

“Uh huh.”

“What do you do with them?”

“I buy pieces of antlers and ship them to a buyer in China.”

“What does he do with them?”

James gave her a discomfited look, then said, “Well . . . they’re used to . . . they’re supposed to increase . . . sexual urges.”

“Oh.” Kate felt the heat of embarrassment creep up her neck and into her face. She kept her eyes forward and didn’t say anything more.

As Sidney had suggested, she followed the Skwentna River and then made her way through a pass and over a succession of mountains. The weather held, but the mountain ranges created their own winds. The Bellanca shuddered as it was tossed and pitched by unseen currents. James seemed unperturbed.

All in all, the day passed pleasantly. Fall sunshine warmed the interior of the plane and cast golden hues over the landscape.

Alaska’s diversity thrilled Kate. In just a few hours she’d flown over the steel gray waters of Cook Inlet and had cast a shadow over a montage of forests. Some were deep green, while others looked like tapestries of yellow and orange, the last of the fall leaves still clinging to trees. Silver rivers served as highways, and mountains, some broad and buried in snow, reached into the heavens while others rolled like waves across broad expanses of burnished tundra. The solitude was staggering.

An occasional gold mining camp or homesteader’s cabin emerged from the wilderness. Kate wondered what it would be like to winter in a tiny cabin, cut off from the world. She decided she’d rather not know.

With mountain ranges ahead and behind, Kate tried to rein in worrisome thoughts of what could happen if the plane went down. She’d be like the proverbial needle in a haystack. She glanced at James. His arms were folded over his chest and his mouth was slack in sleep. He wasn’t worried; why should she be?

Still, when the Eskimo village of Unalakleet came into view, she felt a rush of relief. In the growing gloom of dusk, it huddled on the shore of the Bering Sea like a beacon of hope in a wasteland.

James sat up and ran his fingers through his hair. Gazing down at the village, he said, “Good, I need to get out and walk. I’m beginning to feel like a pretzel.”

“We’re just in time. Sun’s setting.” A pale yellow ball rested on the edge of the sea. The sky glowed gold, pink, and plum. The ocean was a deep purple.

“Amazing—God’s handprint,” James said.

Kate could only nod agreement, unable to speak past the lump in her throat, overwhelmed by the power and presence of God’s spectacular display.

Once the plane was on the ground, there was still a good deal of work to be done before Kate could find a place to lay her head for the night. “It’s awfully cold,” she told James. “I’d better drain the oil.”

“I’ll tie her down for you.”

Kate grabbed a bucket and tapped the oil. She’d reheat it in the morning before taking off. James helped her drape a tarp over the engine and secure it, and the weary travelers headed toward the settlement, hoping for a hot meal and warm beds.

By morning, the weather had deteriorated. Clouds hung low over the sea, their underbellies distended just above the bay. A sharp wind whipped water into whitecaps and sifted frozen ground into icy clouds that whispered over the snow.

With freezing air blasting from the west, Kate used a firepot to warm the engine, then heated the oil and poured it into the pan. Fighting the winds, she and James set off, heading north along Norton Sound toward Kotzebue.

She studied the frozen, empty landscape. Back home, in Washington, there were windfall apples, just-ripened pumpkins, and dew shimmering in the mornings. “Winter comes early here,” she said.

“It does.”

Clouds swirled and winds buffeted the craft. Kate dropped to a lower altitude.

“You think we’re in for a storm?” James asked.

“Don’t think so. Hope not.” Just then the village of Candle appeared, tiny and alone. “We’re not far from Kotzebue now.”

“Look at that,” James said, gazing out the window at the frozen ground.

Kate looked but didn’t see anything until a white shadow distinguished itself from the frozen tundra. “Is that a bear?”

“Yep. Polar bear.”

Kate had never seen one before. Hoping for a better look, she made a wide turn, dropped closer to the ground, and flew over the animal. The bear kept moving, its broad paws seeming to skim over the snow.

“He’s waiting for the sea to freeze up so he can get back to his hunting grounds.”

“He’s huge.”

“Yeah, and dangerous. You don’t want to face off with one.”

The bear stopped, stood on his back legs, and peered at them, then dropped to the ground and loped off, heading for the shoreline.

“A friend of mine, in Kotzebue, said he had one track him. Nearly caught him by surprise.” James shook his head. “Tom was just fast enough. Now he’s got a bearskin hanging on his wall.”

After one last look at the animal, Kate pulled back on the stick and left it behind. “I’d hate to have one sneak up on me.”

The wilderness on one side and the Bering Sea on the other, Kotzebue seemed to sit on the edge of the world. Smoke, barely visible against a white backdrop, trailed into the sky from tin pipes protruding from rooftops.

Kate set down on a small airstrip at the edge of town. James helped put the plane to bed.

“See you at 10:00 tomorrow,” he said. He pulled his hood nearly closed around his face and tramped toward the village.

Kate headed for a shack standing on one side of the runway. Smoke rose from a flue in the roof and drifted around the cabin, dressing it in a diaphanous vapor that faded in the arctic air. She’d been told someone would meet her there.

When Kate stepped inside, she was surprised to find that the cabin looked lived in. A small native woman with a round face and dark eyes sat in a chair beside a barrel stove.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kate said, stepping back. “I thought—”

“No. No. You come in.” The woman smiled and motioned for Kate to step forward.

Kate moved inside and closed the door. “Is this the airfield office?”

“Yes. My husband, he helps here, but he’s at the store. So I am waiting for you.”

A baby slept in a sling draped across the woman’s chest. With a mewling sound, it yawned and stretched out chubby arms, its hands clenched. The woman lifted the nearly naked infant and held it up in front of her. “You hungry?”

Kate didn’t know if she was talking to the baby or to her.

The woman turned her almond-shaped eyes on Kate. “You hungry?”

“Oh. Yes. A little.”

“Good. Then you come to my house. I’ll feed you. You can sleep there too.”

Kate had assumed she’d stay at a roadhouse. “I don’t want to impose.”

The woman smiled. “No trouble for me. You come to dinner.” She tucked the baby back into its pack, then turned her attention to Kate. “I’m Nena Turchik. This is Mary.” She gave the baby a pat.

“Kate Evans. I’m glad to meet you.”

Nena crossed to the door and stepped outside. “Come on,” she said and hurried toward town. Although she wore a heavy coat over a mid-calf dress and mukluks, she moved swiftly.

Kate followed, each step crunching through a thin layer of snow. The air felt frigid and burned her cheeks and lungs.

Nena walked down a snow-covered street, then stopped in front of a small store. “This is it.” She stepped inside and held the door open.

Kate moved into what looked like a mercantile and was instantly enveloped in warmth and an unusual mix of odors— oats, apples, and the distinctive smell of whale oil. A man who was nearly as short as Nena stood at a counter, sorting through a stack of papers. To his right there was a living area with a sofa and two cushioned chairs. Beyond that was a small kitchen with a rough-hewn table and chairs.

He looked at Nena, then Kate, his brown eyes smiling from beneath the ridge of a knit hat. “Good. You’re here. Sidney said you were coming.”

“He told you? How?”

The man chuckled. “You don’t know about Mukluk radio?”

“Oh, yes. I do.” Kate had listened to the radio station. Its broadcasts could be heard all across the territory, even in the remotest regions. The people of Alaska depended on it.

“Mukluk radio makes sure everybody knows the news.” He stepped from behind the counter. “I’m Joe. It’s good that you’re here.”

“Thank you.”

Handing the baby to Joe, Nena picked up a small boy as he toddled out of a back room. She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Hello, my little Nick.” He put his pudgy arms around her neck.

Another boy emerged. “Mama, can we get candy now?”

“After dinner, Peter.” Nena turned to Kate. “It’s Halloween. You want to come with us when we go treating?”

“I’d forgotten about Halloween. Yes, I’d like to go,” Kate said, although she would have preferred staying indoors where it was warm. However, she knew how important first impressions were and didn’t want to alienate the Turchiks.

Kate joined the Eskimo family for a meal of fish pie and was surprised that she enjoyed every bite. “This is very good. Thank you.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“I thought we might . . . well, I’ve read a lot of books and . . . I kind of expected something like whale blubber or—”

“You like some?” Nena stood.

Kate was taken aback. “Oh no. I just thought that—”

“I have some. But most people from the outside don’t like it.”

“Well, I’ve never tasted it, but . . .” Kate didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to offend her new friends.

Joe laughed. “You don’t have to eat our traditional foods. Outsiders are not used to it. We understand.”

Kate nodded in relief.

Nena picked up the dish of fish pie. “You want more?”

“No, thank you. I’ve already eaten too much. I’m full up to here.” Kate held her hand at chest level.

After the table had been cleared and the dishes done, Nena bundled up the two older children. Peter wore a cowboy hat under his hood and Nick wore a bird-like mask over his face. “We will go out for Halloween now.” She smiled, her eyes becoming half moons. “There will be candy and fruit. And lots of fun.” She moved toward the door.

Cold air nipped at Kate’s cheeks when she stepped outside. Her eyes watered and she pulled her hood mostly closed around her face. Nena held a lantern aloft and walked behind the children, who scampered ahead. The cold seemed to have no effect on Nena or the boys.

The dark streets were alive with children dressed in costumes and fur-lined coats, and parents following their excited youngsters. Kate saw more than one child wearing a witch’s hat, and one little boy sported an eye patch. All the children wore smiles, their dark eyes sparkling in the lantern light.

The festive mood was infectious, and soon Kate forgot about the cold and found herself having fun right along with the children. Each time they went to a house they were rewarded with gifts of hard candy or dried fruit. Nena kindly introduced Kate to everyone they encountered.

The children headed down an alley, and Nena fell into step beside Kate. “Do you like Anchorage? Is it very big?”

“I do like it, but it’s a town like any other. Bigger than Kotzebue, though.”

“Is there a Sears store?”

“You’ve never been to Anchorage?”

“No.”

“They don’t have a Sears store, but there are other department stores.”

“What are they like?”

“Some are like your place. And there are shoe stores—”

“They sell only shoes?”

“Yes.” Kate smiled, charmed by Nena’s naïveté. “And there are jewelry and clothing stores too.”

“Maybe one day I can go to Anchorage,” Nena said wistfully.

“I can take you.”

Nena shrugged. “I don’t fly.”

“Why not?”

“Birds fly, not people.” She pursed her lips and glanced at the dark sky. Nena held her lantern higher and peered down the alley. It cast shadows across the snow and onto the houses.

Kate remembered the bear she’d seen earlier. “Do bears come into town?”

“Sometimes.”

A prickle of fear moved up Kate’s spine. She gazed down the dark street, praying a bear hadn’t found its way into Kotzebue on this night. As she and Nena followed Peter and Nick, she couldn’t keep from looking into the shadows.

After visiting every house in town, Kate and the Turchiks returned home. The boys dumped out their bags of goodies on the table and sorted through to find their favorite treats. Each was allowed two pieces of candy before hustling off to bed.

“Good night,” Joe said, taking the baby and following the older youngsters into the back of the house.

Nena and Kate made up a bed on the floor. “I wish I had something better for you,” Nena said.

“This is just fine.” Kate climbed beneath heavy blankets, feeling warm and content. It had been a good day.

“I’m glad you came,” Nena said. “You are a brave lady.”

Kate pushed up on one elbow. “I hope I can come back soon.”

“Me too. Goodnight.” Nena stepped out of the room and closed the door.

Kate rested her head on the pillow and stared at the ceiling. Here in the midst of a frozen wasteland, she felt content. Her eyes grew heavy. I belong here, in Alaska. She snuggled deeper beneath her blankets, thinking life was nearly perfect. Then a picture of Richard came to mind. She needed to write to him and tell him that she would never return to Washington or an ordinary life.