Hatter Island: Chapter 2

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.