The Pole by Eric Walters

speak their language?”
    Three people—a man, woman, and child—came up to us, smiling, laughing. The man and Matt hugged. He then hugged the woman as well, andfinally picked up the child and tossed him playfully into the air.
    As they talked, my attention was caught by the dogs, a dozen or more on leather leads pegged to the ground. They were beautiful animals. Long silver-and-black coats and blue eyes! The dogs had blue eyes! Some of them were curled up together, sleeping.Two were having a tug-of-war with a bone. One dog stood, straining at his lead, his tail wagging, staring right at me with those beautiful blue eyes. He was tied up by himself, off to the side, and was probably lonely. I reached into my pants pocket and pulled out a piece of biscuit. He’d like that. I edged over closer and extended my hand toward him and—
    â€œDanny!” Matt screamed, and I spun around. “What are you doing?”
    I showed him the little piece of biscuit. “I was just goin’ to give the dog a little treat, that’s all.”
    â€œToss it to him.”
    I lobbed the biscuit to the dog and he grabbed it, his jaws snapping together loudly.
    â€œIf you want to keep those fingers, you’d better keep them away from the dogs.”
    Instinctively I backed off a half-step, even though I was well out of reach.
    â€œThese aren’t pets.”
    â€œBut he looks friendly,” I said, trying to defend myself.
    â€œSome of them are friendly. Others aren’t. You notice how that dog is tied off by itself?”
    I nodded.
    â€œIt’s probably not with the other dogs because it isn’t so friendly. Sledge dogs can be unpredictable and wild. Come, I want you to meet these people.”
    I walked back over to join Matt. He introduced me, telling them my name and saying theirs. The names were strange-sounding and I knew I’d never be able to remember them.
    While I couldn’t understand the words that they were speaking, one thing was easy to understand: Matt was genuinely liked by these people, and he seemed to like them back. He gave them each a second hug and then we walked away.
    â€œEverybody is very friendly,” I said.
    â€œMost hospitable people in the world. It feels good to be amongst them again. I’ve missed their kind souls. If you want, I could help teach you to speak Inuktitut.”
    â€œWould you?”
    â€œWe can start right now. Here’s your first word. Say ai .”
    â€œAi.”
    â€œGood. Say it again.”
    â€œAi.”
    Matt smiled. “Now say that to them,” he said, as two men came walking toward us.
    â€œBut … what does it mean?” I questioned.
    â€œIt means hello. Go ahead.”
    I turned around and looked at the men who continued to walk toward us. I felt nervous but I had to try. “Ai,” I called out, and I waved, too, just in case I’d said it wrong.
    They both burst into big smiles and waved and started talking excitedly. Of course I had no idea what they were talking about. Matt gave them both a pat on the back and they walked away.
    â€œDo you see how happy they are when you make an effort to speak their language?”
    â€œI was wondering,” I said. “I keep hearing people say something when they see you.”
    He gave me a confused look.
    â€œIt sounds sort of like maktak kabla or something like that,” I said.
    Matt’s face lit up and he laughed. “You mean maktak kabloona .”
    â€œThat’s it.What does that mean?”
    He smiled. “It means black white man. They see me as being from away, a white man, but they can clearly see that I’m black.” He paused. “I’m impressed you could pick that out. You have a very good ear for languages, so I’m sure you’ll learn to speak Inuktitut very quickly. And you’ll have many people to help you.”
    â€œHow many Eskimos are coming with us?” I asked.
    Matt shook