Arctic Thunder by Robert Feagan Page A

attacking him. A pair of large brown eyes stared down at him from thick black-rimmed glasses perched on two chubby brown cheeks. The boy likely stood the same height as Mike, but he was twice as big around. He had a bristly shock of closely cropped black hair that accentuated the roundness of his face. When he spoke, his eyes got larger with each word.
    â€œYou could be from Fiji. There are dark dudes in Fiji. No, that’s not it. You’re the descendant of some Aboriginal king from the outback of Australia. ‘Good day, mate! Want to see my ’roo?’ I think Australia’s pretty much the coolest place in the world. Well, cool not in a temperature way, because Inuvik is one of the coolest places that way. I mean, cool in every other way. Aren’t marsupials the coolest animals on the planet? Pouches! How many animals have pouches? They say a baby kangaroo is no bigger than a worm when it’s born and it has to crawl to its mother’s pouch without falling off with all that hopping and crap. Jeez, that’s unreal!”
    â€œOkay!” Mike cried. “Stop! I mean, please stop!” He immediately felt bad when the big boy’s face clouded. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. It’s just that I’ve had a terrible morning, and, well, I can’t really even catch my breath to say anything because you’re talking so much and so fast.”
    The big boy’s eyes widened behind his glasses, and a huge grin returned to his face. “I’m Donnie Debastien.” He extended his hand.
    Mike smiled back. Hesitating, he sighed and gripped the boy’s hand, pulling and hoisting himself to his feet.
    â€œThis just hasn’t been my day,” he said, sighing.
    â€œAnd the morning isn’t even over.”
    Mike grimaced. “Thanks, Donnie. That makes me feel a whole lot better. By the way, my name’s Mike Watson.”
    Donnie blinked. “Well, look at it this way, Mike. You’ve already done battle with Monster Kiktorak and Gwen Thrasher. It doesn’t get any worse or scarier than that. From here on it’s pretty easy.”
    â€œMonster Kiktorak?”
    Donnie nodded solemnly. “Joseph Kiktorak. He’s one mean dude. Hates everybody just as much as you, so you don’t need to feel special or anything.”
    Mike started gathering the papers still scattered on the floor. “You know what, Donnie? As strange as this might seem, that actually does make me feel better. I guess that just shows how bad my day’s gone so far.
    What’s that guy’s problem, anyway?”
    Donnie tried to bend at the waist and help, but his ample belly wouldn’t let him double over. With a sigh he lowered himself to his knees and began assisting Mike. “Well, I guess Joseph’s had it pretty rough. His mom and dad split up a couple of years ago. His dad moved back to Tuktoyaktuk. That’s where he’s from. Then his mom took a job in Cambridge Bay in Nunavut. That meant Joseph had to start living with his granny. She’s really nice and all, but it just isn’t the same as having a mom or dad around. He seems to be angry at everyone and everything now. It’s kind of hard on his granny because he seems to get in some new trouble every second week.” Donnie paused for a moment, then shook his head. “You think he’d learn. I mean, he’s almost two metres tall, for Pete’s sake. How do you do bad crap and expect not to be noticed when you’re our age and that tall? Duh!”
    Mike nodded and fought the urge to laugh. Not because he found what had happened to Joseph funny. That was all pretty serious, and considering the guy wanted to kill him, it was dead serious. It was just that Donnie’s eyes got so big and he moved his arms around in such an animated fashion that he resembled a funny cartoon character. A lovable and big cartoon character. Mike figured that Donnie was