Pathways (9780307822208) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the mining camp and then go home. Maybe the bears are in other territory today.”
    Eli scanned the horizon, suddenly all Eagle Scout. “Maybe. Just stick close to me.”
    No problem
, she thought. It was about seventy degrees out, a perfect summer day, and Bryn concentrated on the beauty all about them rather than on her handsome guide or the bears that might want to eat them. Summit Lake lay on the western border of the Denali Wilderness, and from this vantage point, they could see much of Mount McKinley—which Eli preferred to call by the Athabaskan name
Denali
, “since that president from Ohio never even laid eyes on her”—and the rest of the Alaskan Range.
    It was breathtaking—white peaks descending to dark silver-blue ravines and gullies, above green-brown tundra-covered “hills” that rivaled most of the Rocky Mountains in elevation. Bryn knew that many of the peaks were eleven to thirteen thousand feet high; Mount Foraker was over seventeen thousand; and McKinley, the queen, over twenty.
    “What does
Denali
mean?” she asked, panting, following in Eli’s footsteps.
    “High One.”
    “That’s appropriate.”
    “Highest point in North America,” he said with a note of pride.
    She stifled an
I know
. She wasn’t stupid—she had scored 1490 on her SAT. But she sensed that he hadn’t said it to be a know-it-all.He simply loved this place. What was it about him that at once drew her—as though they had been lifelong friends rather than periodic acquaintances—but also repelled her—as if she were a complete cheechako?
    “So you’re premed,” he said suddenly. “Want to be a generalist or a specialist?”
    “Don’t know. I have a few years to figure it out.”
    “I’d say,” he agreed. “What makes you want to be a doctor?”
    She mulled over his question, and the silence grew between them. Finally she said, “I think it’s because I like to get to the root of a problem and fix it. Problems with the body almost always have a good reason for occurring, and a good solution.”
    He paused, letting her catch up to him, and opened up his canteen, then offered it to her. “You thirst, and you quench it. It’s all very orderly.”
    She looked him in the eye, catching his obvious hint. “You don’t care for the orderly?”
    “I’ve found that my life isn’t all that orderly. I want it to be, but it doesn’t matter. It’s messy and mixed-up and turned around every time I think I’m on the straight and narrow.” He took a sip after her and then with the back of his hand wiped his lips. Bryn found herself staring at them a half-second too long.
    “Isn’t that aggravating?” she asked, taking a deep breath. She wouldn’t let him distract her. “Don’t you just want to make it right, make it straight, less messy again?”
    “To some extent.” He looked around, surveying the land like a one-man search party. “I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with Ben White. There’s a reason my dad has been friends with him all these years. You should get to know him too.”
    She sat down on a nearby rock, her calves suddenly aching. “Why? My dad says he’s just an old coot who’s tucked himself away from the world. A religious fanatic.”
    “That’s not how I’d describe him. Ben’s wise. Smart. Caring. He’s pretty remarkable.”
    “Because he raises bear cubs?”
    “That’s just part of the reason.” Eli shook his head. “It’s hard to explain. I’ll take you to see him. He’ll be back tomorrow. He’s out on a Fish and Game assignment.”
    “What does he have to do with our conversation?”
    Eli sat down on a neighboring boulder. “He writes a lot. He told me the trick to writing in a way that grabs readers is to note what is vivid and vital in life. And if you can take note of it and embrace it, whether you’re writing about it or reading it, you’ll enjoy it all the more.” Eli looked at her steadily. His eyes were the color of the far hills, a hazel green.