The Bitch 
 

     I was snuggled down between two bitches with just the tip of my nose sticking out when the sound of the opening door awoke me. The bitch on my left was fat. She felt like an electric blanket. Her coat was black and thick.
     The bitch on my right was thin and sleek. Her coat was white with black spots. Her face was black on one side and white on the other. One of her ears was black and the other was white. She was a beautiful creature but not as comfortable to sleep with as the other old girl, especially on cold winter nights. I had Fatso for comfort but I was counting on Two Face to keep me young when I grew old.
     The floor of the house was covered with a fresh, thick layer of planer chaff. On our way home the day before, the man had stopped off at the sawmill and picked up several bags of chaff which he spread over the floor before we turned in.
     When the door opened cold air rushed in filling the house with steam. The man gave several sharp whistles and yelled out our names.
     “Come on Fall, you old so and so,” he called to me, probably envying my sleeping arrangements.
     There were four pups in the litter when I was born. The man named us after the seasons. Spring, Summer and Winter died with distemper before they were a year old.
     “Here Fan! Here Fan!”
     Fan is my mother. She's the leader.
     One of the man's friends had given Fan to him when she was just a pup. The man named the dog after his friend’s wife, Fanny. Normally he calls her Fan but I have heard him affectionately call her Fanny many times.
     “Get out here, Drover! On your feet now, boy!”
     Drover is a pure husky that the man brought back from Labrador last year. I don't like Drover at all. He's a saucy brute. I've had several skirmishes with him already. I am certain that some day I'll have to have an all-out fight with the brute. If nobody stops us, one of us will die.
     The man named Drover after a politician because he's a fighter and he can’t be trusted.
     It was a bitter cold night. The dry snow creaked under the man’s boots. I knew from experience that it was going to be difficult to haul the iron komatic shoes over the dry snow.
     The stars were shining and the moon was bright. Specks of frost were falling from the sky spreading a thin layer of dust all over the dogs, the man’s parka, the sleigh and everything else.
     There was a tight circle around the moon. The man looked into the sky and the worried expression on his face told me that he knew there was a storm on the way.
     I sniffed toward the northeast. There was a storm on the way, indeed. And it was a big one and it was not very far away.
     The man dragged the coach box out of his shed and lashed it to the komatic. There was just enough space on the sled behind the box for a person to stand. In front there was room for the driver to place one knee; or he could sit in the nose rope.

     The sight of the coach box confirmed our suspicions that someone had taken sick and had to be taken to the hospital in St. Anthony; an eighteen hour journey, if conditions were good. We knew the patient must be seriously ill or else the man would not have been called out in the middle of the night. Most illnesses were treated by the nurse at the local nursing station. Only emergencies were taken to St. Anthony.
     We were excited. Perhaps it was because we knew how close the storm was. Drover was barking at the top of his voice. The man yelled at him to shut up because he was waking up every living soul in the God damn village.
     My bitches were sticking pretty close to me. My God, I believe Fatso is in heat! Funny I hadn't noticed before. She can't be. I sniffed under her tail. No! What a relief! That’s all we need. What a fuss Drover and I would have had! The man would have probably ended up killing both of us.
     The man enjoyed teasing Fatso.
     “Better lose some of that fat, old lady or you'll be left on the trail with a heart attack one of these days,” he advised her as he hauled the harness over her head.
     As soon as we were hitched to the traces we took off for the nursing station. Fan didn't have to be told where to go.
     A woman with a black leather satchel was waiting outside the nursing station. She was bundled up in a parka and snow pants. There was a fox fur on her hood. We all smelled the fox immediately and recognized it as a wild animal. Only Drover was stupid enough to curl back his lip, bare his teeth and growl at the fox. The growl was stopped short in his throat as the man's whip caught him across the bridge of his nose, bringing blood from his top lip.
     “I’ll give you growling at the nurse!”

     The man used a very respectful tone whenever he spoke to the nurse. The closest he came to using her name was to address her as ‘nurse’. He always said, “Yes, ma’am or no ma’am.”
      That was also the tone of voice he used when he talked to the minister and the magistrate and the ranger.
     “Nurse, there's a storm coming up. I don't suppose the patient can wait until after tomorrow?”
     “Oh no! Absolutely not. We must get her to St. Anthony as soon as possible.”
     “All right, ma'am. But I fear we're going to have a hard time of it.”

     “There's a cabin on the way, isn't there?” Her logic escaped me at the time. It would certainly seem to make more sense to wait out the storm in the nursing station than in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere on the way to St.Anthony.

     “Yes, ma’am there’s a camp. You’ll need a sleeping bag.”

     The man spread a couple sheep skins and a feather mattress over the bottom of the coach box. An aide led the patient out by the arm and helped her in and covered up with quilts. They placed the emergency food and sleeping bags in front of the patient’s feet. The man then covered the complete load with a tarpaulin.

     The patient didn't look too serious to me. I certainly couldn't smell any death on her.
     The nurse was very pretty in spite of her bulky clothes. There were strands of blond hair sticking out from her parka hood. Her lips were pale and her cheeks were red with the cold. Her eyes were deep blue.
     I can never understand the human race. Why would such an attractive young woman devote her life to a nursing station in such an isolated part of the world? She must realize that she will never find a suitable mate as long as she stays hidden away from civilization. She will never have any pups. I guess she doesn’t have the same instincts as Fatso and Two Face.

     “Will you get in the coach box, ma’am?”

     “No, I’ll hang on behind until I get tired.”
     The nurse jumped on the komatic behind the coach box and the man positioned himself in the front to steer and yell instructions.    

     The blizzard struck when we were about one third of the way to St.Anthony. The wind was from the northeast and blew the drift directly into our faces, biting into our eyes. People and dogs kept heads down so the drift would not blind us.
     Fan had to keep bobbing her head up to get her bearings. I was just behind her and knew how she was suffering. I could hear her whines over the howling wind.
     The snow piled up under our feet. Drift banks formed across the trail and slowed us to a crawl. The man was hauling on the nose rope. The nurse was pushing from behind.
     The man shouted, “whoa!”

     We all collapsed across the traces. In a few minutes we were buried. Steam rose from a dozen snowy mounds.
     The snow piled up around the komatic and the coach box. There was not a sound from the patient under the tarpaulin.

     “We can turn around and go back, ma'am, or we can push on to the camp. What do you want to do?”
     She ploughed up to him. She was so close that her chest rubbed against his shoulder. I thought she was going to hug him. He moved back.

     “I think we'd better go to the camp.” Her voice was hoarse.
     The man probably thought she was whispering so she wouldn’t wake the patient. I heard something else.
     The man put on his rackets and walked along the traces to Fan. He knelt down in front of her, brushed the snow off her head, took her face in his hands and spoke gently.
     “Fanny, I'm going to try and help you out, old girl. I'm going to walk ahead and break the trail. You lead the team behind me.”

     Although she was tired she wagged her tail and licked his mitt. He patted her on the head.
    The man couldn't follow the trail as well as Fan could. Several times he led us off the track and we got bogged down. Finally he came back to Fan, and unsnapped her harness from the trace.
     “You go ahead and find the trail,” he told her, taking a couple of turns of her trace around his shoulders. “I'll take your place.”    

     Fan had no problem staying on the trail although it was buried under tons of snow. Sometimes she ran too far ahead of us and the man had to call her back.
     Just after daybreak he stopped us again and gave us a herring apiece. The food and the short rest restored our strength.
     All day we struggled on. In some places on the high land the trail had drifted bare and patches of ground showed through. In the valleys the man sank to his waist even with his snow shoes on.
     We arrived at the camp just after dark. There was a big snow bank where the camp should be. The man dug down to the door with a snow shoe. Before going into the camp he walked upon the roof and dug out the stove pipe.
     When he went to the coach box to help the patient out, the nurse waved him away. “I can manage her,” she said. “You bring in the bedding and the food and get the fire going.”
     The patient nimbly stepped out of the box and dashed into the camp. The smoke from the birch rind made a nice smell in the camp. While the nurse prepared the meal he went outside and fed the dogs. Some of them had already burrowed into the snow and were fast asleep.

     I did not intend to spend the night outside in the snow bank. When the door opened I discreetly slipped inside and made myself comfortable behind the stove.

     The man noticed me and grinned.
     “If you can't cuddle up to your girlfriends, Fall, I see you plan to cuddle up behind the stove, eh, old fellow.”

     “Fall has a girlfriend, has he?” the nurse asked.

     “Girlfriend? He has two.”

     “Two! Lucky you, Fall. Everyone should have a friend, don't you think?”
     She was talking to me but she was staring into the man's eyes as she spoke. Her stare made him uncomfortable and he turned away.
     My God, the smell. He must be stupid.
     Some people have this strange belief that they can only have one mate. He had a wife back home and that was all there was to it. Silly, I thought. But I’m not the man.
     After supper she gave the patient two little pills and a glass of water and covered her up with the bedding from the coach box. Within minutes she was snoring. Soon the snoring stopped. I had to strain my ears to make sure she was still alive.
     “She won't wake up any more tonight. I gave her enough to knock her out for a week.”

     “We'd better get a good night's rest ourselves, Nurse. It will be hard going tomorrow even if the storm blows itself out.”

     “Which bunk do you want, ma’am?”    

     “I’ll take the top one. What should I do if I get cold?”

     “You won’t get cold. I’ll keep the fire going all night.”
      He took off his seal skin boots and his socks, hung them behind the stove and slipped into his sleeping bag. Although it was warm in the cabin he did not take off his clothes. I guess he didn't think it was proper to undress in front of her.
     She stood between him and the stove and in thirty seconds peeled off every stitch of clothing she had on and stood naked before him.
     He shut his eyes and turned over to face the wall.

    I thought she was pretty earlier in the day when saw her bundled all up in winter clothes. Standing naked in the dancing candle light she was absolutely gorgeous. The hair on her mound was just a shade darker than the hair on her head. She bent over, her rear toward me, and took a couple pieces of red silk from her case.
     The outfit was not designed for warmth. I could see right through it. I did not close my eyes.
     “You'll have to help me up into my bunk,” she said. “It's okay to turn around now, I have my pyjamas on.”
     He tried to push her up into the top bunk without getting out of his sleeping bag. He was uncomfortable touching her bare flesh. He entwined his rough hands around her hips but they quickly slipped off the smooth silk and left him holding her waist, staring at her navel. Quickly he pulled his hands away but her eyes still pleaded with him to help her up. Timidly he took hold of her thighs and shoved.
     She fell.
     She wasn’t hurt because she fell on top of him. He tried to squirm out from under her but she pinned him down. Her pelvis began to rotate and grind against his.
     Shock and disbelief showed on his face. She grabbed his mouth with her own.
     “Nurse, I'm a married man.”
     “And I'm a single woman with the same needs as any other woman.”
     She wriggled into his sleeping bag with him. Bit by bit she undressed him and threw his clothes on the floor. He fought a good fight but the odds were against him. Even his body took sides with her.
     Just before the candle flickered out, I saw two tiny pieces of red silk float gently from the bunk and land softly on the man’s combination underwear on the floor.

     She was determined to keep him up all night. The more the bunk creaked the more she giggled.

     By daybreak the storm had subsided. The nurse slapped the patient’s face several times before she got her awake.
     The snow had drifted hard overnight making the going better. We made good time. We arrived at St. Anthony hospital mid afternoon. A man in a long white coat, a parka slung over his shoulders, came out of the hospital to meet the emergency.
     As soon he saw the patient the concerned expression on his face turned to anger. He put his hand her forehead and spoke to her. She said something back.

     Unable to control his emotion, he pitched into the nurse.

     “Why did you bring this woman up here through such an awful storm? Why did you put this man in such danger? I saw her on my last trip and I say now what I said then! She can wait until summer! Take her back!”
     He spun around and went back into the hospital.

End