White Heat Read Online Free PDF Page B

difficult to handle. Swinging open the door into the
store's snow porch, she banged her boots against the boot- scraper, glanced out
of habit at the announcements board (nothing about Wagner) and went inside.
        The
Northern Store was officially a co-operative, owned by the inhabitants of
Autisaq, every one of whom had a right to a share of the profits, if ever there
were any. It was managed by Mike and Etok Nungaq.
        Mike
was an affable, steady sort of guy. He had an interest in geology, which he
cultivated whenever geologists from the south came into town. As a thankyou for
some favour, an American geologist had left him a laptop a couple of summers
back and Mike was now the person anyone came to when they had computer
problems. Not that many did. Some of the younger generation had games consoles,
but few in the community had bothered with computers and there were only three
in public use connected to the internet: one in the mayor's office, one in the
nursing station and one in the library at the school.
        When
he wasn't digging out rocks and fiddling with computers, Mike Nungaq lived for
gossip, though rarely the malicious kind. Mike just liked to know who was doing
what, with whom, and when. There was something in his makeup that meant he
couldn't help himself. If you needed to know what was really going on in town,
you just had to ask Mike.
        Mike's
wife, Etok, disapproved of her husband's chattering. Around Autisaq, Etok was
known as Uismuitissaliaqungak, the Person with Crooked Teeth who is as
Scary as a Mother Bear. People watched themselves around her. She looked
harmless enough but at the slightest hint of gossip, Etok's eyes would freeze
over and she'd bare a set of fangs that wouldn't have disgraced a walrus. But
despite her best efforts to quash them, rumour and innuendo persisted, fanning
out through the aisles of the Northern Store to the farthest reaches of the
settlement, often transforming in the process from harmless titbit to
outrageous slander and loathsome smear.
        It
was Edie's habit to pass by the cash till to say hi to Mike before she began
her shopping, but today she knew he'd want to know about the Wagner affair and
she didn't feel like talking about it, so she took herself directly to the
third aisle at the back of the store where the plastics were kept, between the
cleaning products and the snowmobile maintenance section. They didn't have the
extra-wide Saran Wrap Edie had seen advertised, so she picked up a packet of
the regular stuff plus some plastic sacks and was walking back up the aisle
when Pauloosie Allakarialak's mother,
        Nancy,
appeared. Nancy Allakarialak was a cheerful woman, regretful at having brought
her son into the world with foetal alcohol syndrome, and keen to make amends.
She took a great interest in Pauloosie's education and was usually eager to
discuss his progress with Edie. Today, though, she only smiled faintly and
edged her way past down the aisle.
        It
was a bad sign. Word had obviously already got around that a qalunaat had died on Edie's watch.
        Edie
slapped the roll of plastic bags and the Saran Wrap on the cash desk. Etok was
standing with her back to the desk, sorting the mail. She looked around,
registered Edie then slipped through the door at the back to the store. Mike
Nungaq watched his wife go then sidled along the desk to the till.
        'Hey,
Edie. Nice day out.' He met her eyes and smiled. As he handed over her change,
his fingers lingered over her hand.
        'I'm
shunned already.'
        'Oh
no,' Mike said. 'That thing yesterday? Folks a bit unsettled by it is all. Once
the council of Elders have met, everything'll settle right down.'
        She
nodded and smiled back, appreciative of his attempt to reassure her. She
wondered if the council of Elders would see things the same way. They had the
right to revoke her guiding licence and Simeonie, at least, had the motivation
to do it. He'd been