|
By: Jim Fitzpatrick |
|
Email: jim@nunica.com |
|
Local Farmer in Polkton Township writes for the Coopersville Observer. |
|
Along Brandy Creek By Jim Fitzpatrick
The Coopersville Observer May 23, 2011- - No. 110 |
|
The old man stepped into the small hunting cabin leaving the door open behind him, exposing the view of snowcapped mountains surrounding Red Lake and its parallel beaches stretching to the south. An early dawn fogbank kept the far end of the narrow three mile long body of water hidden from view. A pot of boiled coffee simmered on the woodstove just inside the door, heavy white ceramic cups hung from the cross-member above from which Bill snatched his favorite and filled with the streaming brew.
He seated himself opposite the young fellow who had awakened earlier to fire the stove and prepare the coffee. The red and white checked oilcloth-covered tabletop highlighted their elbow-resting, coffee-cup-holding presence within the ancient gloom of the weathered cabin. Old Bill briefly ignored his steaming cup as he looked into the bright blue eyes of the younger man across from him, in reality the eyes of a young and innocent boy only months off the farm that had traveled to the far north in search of adventure. “Jimmy”, he said, “if I make it through this year, I’ll surely live to be a hundred”!
Bill and his partner Morris arrived in Alaska as young men many years before. They were both now well into their eighties and owners of a long established guiding business on Kodiak Island. Their stories of the years past were endless and fascinating, a lasting influence on the young men that worked for them. Bill didn’t quite make it to 100; but at 94 years old, after a long and busy fall season, he passed away in the winter at Olga Bay. After some years of following in the footsteps of Bill and Morris, that young fellow that worked for them returned to the farm to work the land. And now, in his own mind, he often repeats to himself those famous words of old Bill. |
