Below Freezing
At seventy five below zero, breathing hurts. The burning sensation inside your chest feels like the membraneous tissue has become a solid mass. Whipping snow stung my face, huddled inside the wolf trimmed parka. The hair of the wolf is used because it does not freeze. Head down, I followed the others to the snow covered Jamesway hut, modelled after the Inuit igloo, standing alone like a huge Arctic monument beside the taxistrip. Great Whale River was barely a stopping place in the fifties. Where once the howls of huskies blended with the roaring wind, now is heard the raucous chattering of snowmobiles.
It was interesting returning to this arctic clime after forty years. The only thing which had not changed was the bitterness of the extreme low temperature which still made the chest feel it was on fire.
"Bill, you old sonofabitch" said Zendo, the cypher clerk from the radar site. "You said you'd come back, and here you are. Can't believe it."
"Zend! Still here after forty years. And hardly any grey in that mop of yours. How the hell are you?"
"If I was any better, someone would probably want me to pay for it. But I got lucky. You must have heard about my ticker problem. Apparently the bloody cold weather saved me. I was out in a gale calibrating the receiver when I got this terrific burning in my chest. Never could understand how you can feel like your on fire when the this icy bitch gets you. The guys came to check on me, and if it had been much longer they say that would have been it. The supply plane was leaving for Churchill and Skeeter came with me."
"So what did they do?"
"Once I got thawed out, and completed the tests, they sent me to Sunnybrook in Toronto."
"Well you sure look good to me."
"Like I said. I got lucky. They gave me the heart of a nineteen year old kid who lost control when his bike hit a soft shoulder, and he was a complete right off."
"Man still coming up smelling like roses. So this young heart...has it improved your sex life any?"
"Still as good as ever," he said, punching me on the arm.
Read other blogs by William James Johnson by clicking here, www.noozoon.blogspot.com
It was interesting returning to this arctic clime after forty years. The only thing which had not changed was the bitterness of the extreme low temperature which still made the chest feel it was on fire.
"Bill, you old sonofabitch" said Zendo, the cypher clerk from the radar site. "You said you'd come back, and here you are. Can't believe it."
"Zend! Still here after forty years. And hardly any grey in that mop of yours. How the hell are you?"
"If I was any better, someone would probably want me to pay for it. But I got lucky. You must have heard about my ticker problem. Apparently the bloody cold weather saved me. I was out in a gale calibrating the receiver when I got this terrific burning in my chest. Never could understand how you can feel like your on fire when the this icy bitch gets you. The guys came to check on me, and if it had been much longer they say that would have been it. The supply plane was leaving for Churchill and Skeeter came with me."
"So what did they do?"
"Once I got thawed out, and completed the tests, they sent me to Sunnybrook in Toronto."
"Well you sure look good to me."
"Like I said. I got lucky. They gave me the heart of a nineteen year old kid who lost control when his bike hit a soft shoulder, and he was a complete right off."
"Man still coming up smelling like roses. So this young heart...has it improved your sex life any?"
"Still as good as ever," he said, punching me on the arm.
Read other blogs by William James Johnson by clicking here, www.noozoon.blogspot.com
posted by William Johnson | 9:21 a.m.
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