Ninety Degrees Out
Chapter 9

Arimina stood on a chair beside him as he stirred the stew.

“I know how to taste it for salt and pepper. Mommy likes peppers, and so do I.”

“All right, then you can taste it, and we’ll add a little chili powder to the mix.” Chay wondered if he would ever get used to a child who was so far ahead of herself. She was eighteen months younger than Armaruq and Kanti’s son and Alasie, his sister’s daughter had to be almost the same age.

“This is good!” Arimina said and sucked on the spoon Chay had given her. “I’m hungry!”

“More salt?” Chay asked her, knowing he would put more in himself, but then again, he was a salt addict.

“No, there’s enough in there. That’s a different kind of spicy than we make,” Arimina said.

“I used pickled banana peppers, and a few green chilis,” Chay said.

“We use habanera and ghost peppers. This isn’t as hot, but it tastes really good. Let’s take some up to Mommy.”

Chay opened a cupboard door and took three giant latte cups off the top shelf. He couldn’t remember who had given them to him at his house-warming party, but they were perfect for the stew now. He put butter and spoons on the tray and decided to let Arimina carry the breadbasket up. The desk would serve as a great table. He’d been guilty of eating at his computer far to often to be picky about it.

“Are you ready to eat?” Chay called as he knocked on the door. He’d heard the water running in the shower and her footsteps going back to the office. The girls could have the main bathroom, he had his own in the master suite.

“Come in, I’ll try,” Alicia answered.

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Arimina kissed her mother on the cheek, and then she stacked the bowls on the tray Chay had brought up earlier. Alicia managed to eat her whole bowl of stew and felt better after she finished it by cleaning the bowl with chunks of whole grain roll, she had buttered.

Arimina finished everything as well, which made Chay wonder when she was going to grow again. Her cheeks were a little chubby, and she looked exactly like his sister Killika used to just before she sprouted another couple of inches. He remembered how tight his clothes used to get before he grew, the worst growth spurt had been after his fifteenth birthday when he put on almost seven inches in lest than three months in the middle of his sophomore year in high school.

They sat, talking comfortably with Jazz sprawled on the floor under his desk for a few minutes before Alicia began to yawn again.

Jazz jumped to his feet and started to whine, when they all felt the distinctive tremors of another aftershock, and they froze in place. It only lasted for a few seconds, but Chay shook his head.

“That one wasn’t bad, I’m worried about Mount Redoubt. The volcano was rumbling already, before this shift happened,” Chay said

“I’m done, it’s nap time for me again. At least the nausea isn’t as bad now that I’ve eaten. I don’t think anything is going to keep me from sleeping, not even if that mountain decides to blow its top.” Alicia slid under the covers and turned onto her side, facing the door.

“Good night, Mommy,” Arimina said. “I’ll go help Mr. Chay put the bowls in the dishwasher. Then I want to read for a while.”

“Sounds good, baby. You keep helping like this, and I’ll let you have Jazz in your room at night,” Alicia said.

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t get up on the bed with her. I’ve got a bed for him we can move in there.” Chay picked up the tray and went to the door. “I’ll be back to check on you in a couple of hours.”

“Thank you, and thanks again for taking care of us.” Alicia’s eyes were already closed.

“Come on, give your mother another kiss, and we’ll let her sleep,” Chay said.

“Night Mommy,” Arimina said softly.

“Night baby.”

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Dasan Stargazer gazed at his wife as she began raking the dirt in their garden to prepare it for seeding. The astounding changing in the last day, from snow shrouded trees and barren frozen soil still had him scratching his head. The seemingly instantaneous move into tropical summer had him searching for his summer clothes.

“I’ve got the simple repair parts in the Caravan. I put an extra barrel of fuel in there as well. I’ve got enough room for Kanti and her passengers. Hopefully, there’s not too much gear for us to bring out.” He waited for Uki to make her way over to where he stood at the east end of the runway by the hangar.

His wife of almost forty years, stood on her tip toes to reach up and kiss him.

“I’m sure she’s okay. She’s got the combo gear on her plane, so even if it’s flooding on Redoubt, which I have no doubt of, both of you will get out again. I’ll make a bet it something simple you can jury rig until she can get it back to Anchorage and the AME’s there.”

“She’s a clever pilot. The winds are gong to be tricky. Did you notice they’re the wrong direction? I’ve never had to take off eastbound. Getting off the glacier with an east wind isn’t going to be easy.”

“You worry too much, Das. You are both excellent pilots. Wait till you get there to figure out what you really need to do to get everyone down.”

“Do you want to come with me?”

Uki kissed him to stop any more questions. “No. I’ll stay here and get the garden in. We’re going to need the produce. I’ll take my horse and give him a run and see if the fish traps are still where we left them before freeze-up. The creek is running free and I’m craving fresh meat, anything that isn’t smoked or jerky.”

“You have me there. It might only be January, but jerky is already getting old. We should have smoked more bacon.”

“Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Next year. I wonder if we are going to get daily thunderstorms or showers now too?” Uki wondered.

“With the winds coming in off the sound and over the mountains, it’s going to drop on the other side. Not here between the ranges. We would be wise to build a dam on the creek and give ourselves a good supply.”

“Off you go, the sun is up, and Kanti has to be in some sort of trouble up there.”

“Till I see you again, Uki,” Dasan said. He rubbed her nose with his following their long tradition.

“Till I see you again, Das.” Uki nipped his bottom lip before patting his bottom as he walked toward the big green plane parked outside his hangar.

He removed the wheel chocks and climbed into the left seat. Running through his check lists, he tested the flight controls and gently nudged the throttle up. He was glad he still had the oversized tires on, and the pontoon floats cleared his grass runway with ease. Expertly he pivoted the plane into the wind at the end of the runway and hit the brakes.

After doing his runup, he eased off the brakes and started his take off run. A minute later he lifted over the forest and turned south toward Anchorage while he made his first radio call. Asking for VFR clearance to Redoubt, air traffic control told him waypoints were still in the same places, but headings were completely off. He was welcome to navigate by landmarks but stay at 10,000 feet to clear most of the peaks.

Watching the weather radar, he knew he’d been right about where the storms would build. He had a clear shot to the mountain, and he hoped he was right. Kanti just had a minor mechanical problem.

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