In Fond Remembrance of Me by Howard Norman Page B

man in our village, I found out what really happened.
    Noah and his family were starving. By the time their ark had drifted up here, they had eaten many animals, but still there were a lot left. First, the ark drifted far north of Hudson Bay—far, far north, up where walrus live. One day the ark bumped up against an ice floe. Noah looked out and saw walrus on the ice. He somehow
managed to kill a walrus. He somehow managed to get more walrus on his boat, too. The Bible says two, two of each animal, but by the time Noah got here, his family was so hungry, he forgot all about two. He got as many walrus on the ark as he could. He got a few seals on the boat. Seagulls, too.
    It was said that all the people drowned where Noah had come from—all of them! But up around here, there were many of us, many people.
    The ark drifted into Hudson Bay. People saw it floating out there. They were curious. Some people quickly got into kayaks and paddled out.
    â€œHey, what kind of boat is this?” one hunter asked.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Noah said.
    â€œWhat’s it made of?”
    â€œWood.”
    â€œWe get wood that washes up after a storm. Driftwood.”
    â€œAre you going to kill us?” Noah said.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhat is the best way to leave this place?”
    â€œGo back to where you came from.”
    â€œI can’t do that.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œI have to wait until God calls down and says it’s okay.”
    â€œWho is that?”
    â€œWho controls things here?”
    â€œMany things-many spirits—different ones. Important ones.”
    â€œNot me—the one who controls things for me is back home.”
    â€œYou’re wrong.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œYes. If you live here—the important spirits control you.”

    â€œNot me.”
    â€œYou’re wrong.”
    Then Noah threw some big handfuls of animal dung down at the people in their kayaks. They paddled off. The ark drifted out on Hudson Bay all night.
    The next day people paddled out to the ark again.
    â€œHey, what’s falling from the sky?” Noah said.
    â€œSnow.”
    â€œI don’t like it. It’s cold.”
    â€œHa-ha-ha-ha-ha!” the villagers all laughed up from their kayaks.
    Noah threw big handfuls of dung down on them and they paddled away.
    The next day, some hunters paddled out to the ark again.
    â€œWhat’s that animal taste like—is it good?” one hunter said.
    â€œWhich one?” said Noah.
    â€œThe one that has the long neck and spots.”
    â€œThere’s two of them,” said Noah.
    â€œLet us have one. We’ll tell you how it tastes, good or bad.”
    â€œNo,” said Noah.
    â€œIf you visit a village you should give something. You have a lot of food-animals there. Give us one.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œSoon it will be snowing harder. Soon snow will cover everything. Soon ice will gather tightly around your boat.”
    â€œHow do I get out of here?”
    â€œYou have to live here all winter.”
    Hearing this put Noah in a bad way. He looked angry. He shouted. He threw more handfuls of dung, but the people had
backed up their kayaks already. “Come to our village and we will let you live with us all winter. Are you alone?”
    â€œNo, I have a wife. I have a son. I have a daughter.”
    â€œWe’ll find someone to marry each of those.”
    â€œGo away.”
    The hunters paddled back in the snowfall over the water. When it was snowing its hardest, that is when a woolly elephant came out and was walking around. Woolly mammoths were around, then, and this one was walking along the shore. Then the ice locked in the ark.
    Ice locked in the ark and a woolly mammoth walked out to the ark. Everyone in the village saw this.
    Some hunters got spears, ran out, and tried to cut off the woolly mammoth. They closed in on it. The woolly mammoth had three choices: it could keep walking fast