CHAPTER
2: Unpacking
Theo
stared at the pile of boxes stuffed into the single room of his log cabin. They were filled with the abundance of
supplies he had brought along to help him survive the winter. Mr. Klima had helped him carry the boxes up
to the cabin before hurrying off for the mainland, hoping to avoid becoming
caught out on the water when the worst of the weather hit. So Theo was left to himself with a room full of
boxes. They would take some time to organize,
so he began elsewhere.
He opened his large black duffle bag
and sorted through it. Clothes were the
main items inside. He wasn’t one to
worry too much about organization in most cases, but he figured it might be
useful to have some semblance of civilization out in the solitude of a remote
Alaskan island. So he removed from the
bag ten shirts, six pairs of pants, seven pairs of underwear, two pairs of long
underwear and sixteen pairs of socks (he had been mistaken when he told Mr.
Klima that he had packed fifteen pairs of socks).
He took one of the shirts, the one
nice, almost formal, shirt that he had packed, and hung it up in the small
closet in the corner of the cabin with a hanger he had brought along. When he had packed, he had questioned why he
had thrown in this one nice shirt at all, seeing as he was headed to an obscure
island off the coast of Alaska with nobody around to impress. Now, however, with the Halssons just down the
path, it turned out to be quite a useful decision. Of course, he had no intention of going out
of his way to impress these people, but if the need did arise for him to wear
some nicer clothing in their presence, then he could simply go to his closet
and find what he needed. He also hung up
another shirt in the closet, a red-and-yellow-plaid flannel shirt, not because
it was a nice shirt that needed to be hung up in a closet, but because he had
brought along a second hanger, and so with plenty of room in the closet, he
figured he ought to use everything at his disposal; he deemed that this flannel
shirt was the second-nicest he had packed.
The rest of his clothes he organized into the two-drawer dresser next to
the closet.
Having unpacked his clothes, he
removed the rest of the items packed in the duffle bag and placed them on top
of the dresser. These items included a
comb, a bottle of aspirin, a bottle of shampoo, five bars of soap, a toothbrush,
a tube of toothpaste, a pair of nail clippers, a wristwatch a pair of heavy
gloves for warmth, a pair of work gloves for decent weather, a black stocking
hat and a blue cotton scarf.
He moved on to the smaller of his
two bags, the one designated for books and related things. He took out the books he had packed and
placed them on the cabin’s wooden table one at a time. It had been obvious from the initial
assessment of this trip that books would be the primary form of entertainment
during his stay on the island. He had a
university degree in English after all, he had figured, so they were just a comfortable
way of life for him. He had packed as
many tomes as seemed reasonable. The
books included Moby Dick by Melville,
The Idiot by Dostoyevsky, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by
Twain, Don Quixote by Cervantes and The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner, as
well as Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
for something modern, Figured Dark by
Greg Rappleye for a bit of recent poetry, Essays
and Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson if he needed some philosophy, The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene in
case he wanted some science, and a copy of the Bible to keep perspective. The
Idiot and Elantris were the only
two books Theo had yet to read, but he often liked to revisit his favorite
books whenever he had the opportunity.
Along with these books, he also
brought three large-sized Moleskine notebooks and a handful of pens and pencils
(and a pencil sharpener) in case he got a sudden itch to do a lot of writing or
note taking. He had never been a very
good writer, at least not compared with some of the authors he admired most,
but he nonetheless liked writing from time to time, especially when it was in
the form of expanding on his thoughts about something he had studied. He had also brought an mp3 player and
headphones, accompanied by a large package of AAA-batteries—the only pieces of electronic
entertainment he had allowed himself.
Listening to music helped him to concentrate sometimes while he
studied. Still, he left the mp3 player
in the bag for the time being.
Before he at last went about the
task of emptying and organizing his boxes of supplies, he found the one crate
that contained matches and several butane lighters, and started a fire going in
the cast iron stove using logs and kindling from the pile of dry wood that was
left inside by those who had prepared the cabin for his arrival. Outside was also a massive pile of wood,
already chopped, under a large blue tarp.
By anyone’s estimation, it would be more than enough fuel to keep him
warm for the winter.
So with the fire going, he removed
his jacket and finally began sorting through his supplies. In the box with the matches and the lighters,
there also came six battery-powered lamps with enough 6-volt lantern batteries
to last all winter, as well as two flashlights with a plentiful supply of
D-batteries. For some reason, the ten
boxes of tea he brought along were also packed into this container.
From there, the boxes contained
primarily foods and beverages, though there were the other essential supplies
that Theo was glad to find that he had not overlooked, including towels and
washcloths, bed sheets and blankets, a heavy sleeping bag that claimed it kept a
person warm in temperatures as low as negative twenty degrees Fahrenheit (in
case of a particularly cold night), two fluffy pillows, a small set of tools,
duct tape and a full supply of toilet paper.
When he had first approached the house, he had not only noticed the huge
pile of wood behind the cabin, but the outhouse as well. At least he wouldn’t have to dig a hole in
the ground for his business. He hadn’t
brought along a spade anyway.
One crate, packed on the inside with
bags of ice, contained as many fresh fruits, vegetables and meat that had been
able to be stuffed into it. It wouldn’t
be possible to use fresh foods for the whole winter, even if he limited
himself, but he figured it would be nice to have a good variety of food for at
least part of the time. In this box,
there was lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, milk, cheese, eggs, apples, oranges, bread, bacon and steak. He would be able to
store these things outside in the ice chest he had brought.
In the department of canned and
longer lasting consumables, the many boxes held beans, soups, cream corn,
peaches, pears, applesauce, three varieties of potatoes, green beans, sauces,
sardines, tuna, noodles, gravy packets, potato chips, corn chips, four bottles
of wine, a bottle of whiskey, and a full assortment of dry herbs and spices. He would not be going hungry. All of this was made useful and convenient as
well with a full complement of pots, pans, plates, bowls, spoons, forks,
knives, a spatula and a couple of can openers.
There were also jugs with twenty
gallons of water. Theo planned to make
use of any and all rain and snow he could collect to fill his water needs,
which should provide no problem considering the rather wet climate of southern
Alaska, but he had also decided it was wise to bring along plenty of extra
water in case he ever ended up with a shortage.
At last, with everything at least
somewhat organized, placed into cupboards as much as possible, and with a good
fire in the stove and his bed made, Theo looked out the window at the quickly
approaching dark and the snow that had begun to fall. He eyed the rough path that supposedly led west
to the home of the Halssons. He was eager
to meet them and introduce himself, but it was getting late and it seemed like
a better idea to wait till first thing in the morning to show up at their front
door.
So he settled down on his bed at the
end of this long day, thinking of the months to come in this place, and soon
began drifting towards sleep.
