The Last Polar Bears Page 2

  The town of Walrus is not a bad place really. There are a few shops, and a mailing station where I can send and receive letters. We went immediately to the mailing station to see if there were any letters for me.

  I sent him five pounds and a pair of my best golfing socks. I picked up the key to our new cabin and then we went to a shop called the Freezer Centre and bought some provisions.

  Our cabin stands on a hill just outside Walrus. It was very dirty inside and seemed quite gloomy, but we soon cleaned it up and lit the stove. It has a bed, three chairs and a table, and a small shed outside for storing wood. It’s not much, but it’s home.

  Very tired. Will write to you tomorrow. Tell your mother that I forgot to pack my woolly hat. Could she send it on to Walrus Bay for me. The address is:

  The Mailing Station

  Wolf Street

  Walrus

  Walrus Bay

  Nr. The North Pole

  With love,

  Monday 21 October

  In our cabin

  Walrus Bay

  I am sorry that I have not written to you sooner. The weather has been so bad that we were stuck in the cabin for three days, and spent most of our time trying to keep the snow out. It manages to get in through the smallest gaps in the walls and so when I woke up this morning my bed was covered in snow and I had to get Roo to dig me out! We have only been here for a few days and already Roo wants to go home. She complains about her paws most of the time. I have given her a pair of socks, but she says they’re the wrong colour, and won’t wear them.

  Rather relieved when she went to bed, I’m afraid. I should like to begin the long journey up to Great Bear Ridge, but I don’t feel that Roo is ready yet. She will take more training than I thought.

  Feeling a little low tonight.

  With love,

  Tuesday 22 October

  Walrus Bay

  This morning I was woken by wolves running across my roof. It was the second time this week, and I must say I am heartily sick of it!

  Roo says if they do it again she will leave. Where she thinks she will go I have no idea. Whether we like it or not we are stuck here and there is nothing we can do to change it. I have explained to Roo the purpose of our expedition, but she has a very short attention span and an even shorter memory. I must have told her a hundred times that we are looking for the Last Polar Bears.

  Went down to Walrus this afternoon to stock up on provisions. We payed a visit to the mailing station and bought a pair of wellingtons and some blankets. Then we went down to the Last Store and came out with a lot of things that we hadn’t needed when we went in. That’s what it’s like in the Last Store. You just can’t seem to stop shopping.

  I bought an egg-timer, ajar of treacle, six Get Well cards, a stretcher, a footstool, a packet of jam labels and a puncture repair kit.

  Roo bought a very crude painting of a rabbit. Placed everything on the stretcher and dragged it back home.

  Tomorrow we will attempt to go beyond Wolf Point. Tell your mother I have plenty of clean socks and there is nothing to worry about.

  Wolves very restless tonight.

  Wednesday 23 October

  Walrus Bay

  This morning I found some wolves in my wood-shed looking for dried fish. I told them I didn’t have any and they went away, but came back later with their brothers and sisters and stole two pillowcases off the washing-line and chewed holes in my new wellingtons.

  Repaired my boots with the puncture repair kit and set off for Wolf Point just after lunch. Expedition delayed as Roo refused to go past the wolves’ shed. They were lying in there with my pillowcases, and I’m sure they had been drinking Old Sock because they were singing. What a racket! Roo was as bad though, and even if she didn’t want to go past them, that didn’t stop her from barking at them and causing a general fuss. Several wolves came out of the shed for a fight and Roo promptly ran away, leaving me to deal with them. They were so drunk by this time that they began to fight amongst themselves and I left them to it. All this is Grogman’s fault. He shouldn’t sell them drink.

  Eventually found Roo again and harnessed her up to the trolley. My wellingtons leaked the whole way up to Wolf Point. The snow up here is very slushy from where the ice-caps have melted, and I’m sure the polar bears must be further up, where the snow is firmer. I think that they have gone up to Great Bear Ridge. If they’re not there I don’t know where they will be. Turned around at three o’clock and went back down the glacier towards the cabin. Went past the wolves’ shed, but they were asleep.

  Roo made supper tonight so I am feeling rather unwell now. It was a dreadful affair that consisted of last night’s left-overs and something that had five legs and was very hard to chew.

  Tell your mother that I am fine. I am seventy-eight years old and I can look after myself.

  Thursday 24 October

  Walrus Bay

  One of my gloves is missing, so writing this is hard as I have to keep stopping to warm my hand. More trouble last night. A group of wolves arrived at my door past midnight and demanded to come in and see if we had any dried meat hidden away. I told them to go to bed, but I know that they went down to Grogman’s and bought more Old Sock. They sang all night and I don’t think I slept a wink.

  This morning I got out the map and tried to work out a new route up to Great Bear Ridge. Wolf Point is too steep for Roo to pull the trolley up. The Narrow Valley is too narrow, and Windy Corner is too windy. I found a route called the Gentle Slopes, and decided that sounded most suitable.

  In the afternoon we went to see my new friend Jackson, the snow poet. Jackson makes the most fantastic snow sculptures I have ever seen. At the moment he is working on a giant moose made entirely from snow and nothing else. When I arrived he was working on the antlers. Jackson has been here for a long time. He lives very simply and I often wonder how he manages at all. Nobody pays him to make the snow sculptures.

  Jackson told me that the snow has begun to melt at Blue Whale Bay. He said he had been there on Monday and the sculpture of an albatross he made the week before had melted into the sea.

  Before I left he gave me one of his snow poems as a present. It was printed on a block of ice. Jackson has written hundreds of poems about the snow, but this one I found very sad.

  It went:

  I gave him two dried fish and a tin of toffees, then we said goodbye and went home.

  I cooked tonight.

  Tell your mother I forgot to take my books back to the library and could she do it, please. It is snowing. The wolves are very quiet tonight.

  Sweet dreams, Child.

  Friday 25 October

  Walrus Bay

  Very restless tonight. Roo will not sleep in her basket and keeps getting into my bed in the middle of the night. I wouldn’t mind so much if she didn’t fidget and poke me with her paws. Got up at five o’clock and made some tea whilst Roo slept on in comfort.

  This morning went down to the mailing station to see if any letters had arrived for me. Got a letter from your Uncle Freddie asking for his golf trolley back. I am still using the trolley to carry all our equipment, so he can’t have it back yet.

  Sent him a telegram:

  TROLLEY ACCIDENTALLY EATEN BY WOLVES.

  Stopped off at the Freezer Centre and bought ajar of toffees to keep my strength up. Of late I have found I’ve been getting far too tired. It must be the cold.

  Ate the toffees and felt refreshed. When I got back it was eleven o’clock, and Roo was still in bed. How can I head an expedition when my lead dog won’t get up in the morning?

  This afternoon there was an avalanche and a lot of snow fell from Wolf Point down into the valley. It is too dangerous to attempt to get up to Bear Ridge at the moment. The snow is melting more every day and this was the third avalanche this week.

  As I write this letter to you Roo is cooking the dinner. The wolves have just gone past my window and one of them threw a snowball. The stove is throwing out a cheerful li
ght and we are warm and safe. Do not worry about us, Child. Although Roo and I have never been on an expedition before, we know what we are doing.

  Tell your mother that I am eating three times a day and always wear my scarf outside. I’m afraid I shall have to stop now, Child, as Roo says dinner is ready.

  Saturday 26 October

  Walrus Bay

  How the wind howled last night! I thought it would blow the roof off our cabin. I did not sleep well. Melted some snow and made a pot of tea. It is very cold today and I fear that I am running out of time. I need to get up to Bear Ridge soon.

  After breakfast I decided to pay Jackson a visit, to see how he was getting along with his snow moose sculpture. He was not very happy when I found him. The snow moose had melted. It looked more like a mousse than a moose. Only the antlers remained and they were melting too. I gave Jackson some oranges and a teapot to cheer him up, but as I made my way back down the hill, I’m sure I heard him weeping.

  After a lunch of smoked cheese I took Roo to practise dragging the trolley, in preparation for our expedition. I played a little golf to keep my spirits up. I find that if I hit a good shot in the direction we are walking, the distance we walk to find my golf ball distracts us from noticing how far we have walked. I had to paint the balls red, so that they would show up against the snow. I’ve only got three golf-clubs with me: a driver for those long shots across the snow valleys, a five-iron for those medium shots across crevasses, and my putter for those delicate shots across the ice.

  Roo does not like me playing golf. She does not watch me hit the ball and neither does she help me find it.

  I had just played a particularly difficult shot over a small glacier (it was only thirty metres high, which is quite small for a glacier), when she decided she wanted to go home. She took off down the hill, dragging my trolley behind her and managed to tip it over. Golf balls, tent-pegs, tins of food, my driver and my beloved putter all came spilling out of the golf-bag and shot down a very deep ravine.

  They are lost for ever.

  Perhaps, a thousand years from now, they will be found, frozen solid into the ice, and scientists will argue over what they are.

  I am very angry with Roo tonight and have not spoken to her all evening. Wind only howling a little.

  No sign of the wolves.

  My love to your mother.

  Monday 28 October

  Walrus Bay

  I haven’t been able to write to you for a few days as we have had a terrible snowstorm. It lasted for two days, and I have been cooped up in here with Roo, unable to get out. I read to her from a book called David Copperfield, but she said it had no pictures of rabbits in it, so it was of no interest to her.

  She spent most of the time staring out the window, though there was nothing to see, only the whirling snow.

  We ran very short on fuel during the storm, so I had to burn some of our possessions to keep warm.

  I burnt two chairs, two legs off the table, and Roo’s basket. If the blizzard hadn’t stopped I would have started on the floorboards.

  Roo was very upset about her basket. She said she was going to keep things in it. I said it was a pity she hadn’t slept in it.

  In the end I had to tell her the story of the ice-cream on Bear Ridge to cheer her up. Once upon a time, I told her, the snow was so pure and clean that it tasted better than the finest ice-cream money could buy. But as the air got dirtier from all the chemicals and fumes, the snow lost its taste. The last of the world’s ice-cream lies up on Bear Ridge. Piles of it. And that’s why we are going up to Bear Ridge. To get ice-cream for Roo. Roo loves to hear this story, though she has heard it many times, and I must admit that I have added bits – the fabulous chocolate mint chip, for instance, that can only be found in the shade, or the delicious strawberry split, found only at sunset. These are my own inventions.

  Roo felt much better after this, and seemed keen to get up to Bear Ridge as soon as possible, to find ice-cream.

  Dug our way out this afternoon and went down to Walrus to stock up on provisions. Spent a long time searching for the shops, as everything lay buried deep beneath the snow. Eventually found the mailing station after Roo fell down the chimney. Must have walked right across the roof. Roo wasn’t hurt. However, she is now a black dog, rather than a yellow one. Everyone in the mailing station was much amused by this and someone even called her the Father Christmas dog, which got even more laughter. Roo went and lay beneath the counter and wouldn’t come out.

  I bought potatoes, porridge, oats, dried fish, tent-pegs and new wellingtons, and then discovered that the mailing clerk had a parcel for me. Your father had sent me my old one-iron, which I, in my haste to pack, had forgotten. I was extremely cheered by this and bought Roo a yellow ball, a scarf with flowers on it and a packet of roasted peanuts as a celebration. My one-iron is my favourite golf-club. It is not only good for long shots and putting, but is also an excellent ice-pick and walking-stick rolled into one. I am sure that with my one-iron I will now definitely make it to Bear Ridge and find the polar bears.

  We walked past Grogman’s on our way home, and I’m afraid it rather ruined our good cheer. There were several wolves hanging around outside drinking Old Sock, and as we went past they sang a very rude song about us. It went something like this, but I’ve taken the rudest bits out, as your mother wouldn’t like it:

  There was an old man and a little dog,

  Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Sock,

  He was too mean to give us grog,

  Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Sock!

  A poor brave wolf went to his door,

  Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Sock,

  The old man booted him to the floor,

  Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Sock!

  This is, of course, complete nonsense. I have never booted anything to the floor, let alone a wolf.

  Snowballs were then thrown at us, but I ordered Roo to ignore them, and we got back home without further incident.

  A fine meal of roast potatoes this evening. Roo did not eat much. I am sure that she has her own food hidden away somewhere in here. She is very careful with her money, and although I only give her five pence a week (which I think is plenty enough for a small dog), I am certain that she has more money than I do, and possibly more food.

  Wolves got back very late from Grogman’s, and sang another sixteen verses of the song on my roof.

  Must go to sleep now. Very tired. Sleep well, Child.

  Tuesday 29 October

  Walrus Bay

  Woken this morning by wolves in my cabin. They had one of my pillowcases, and they wanted to trade it for some of my dried fish. After realizing that I was not going to be bullied into parting with any of our provisions, they stole two gramophone records and a pair of braces, and fled. What use these will be to them I have no idea, for they have no record-player, and no trousers to hold up.

  Later on, Roo and I went to look for driftwood at Blue Whale Bay. Whilst we were gathering wood on the beach, some seagulls fell out of the sky, frozen solid. I packed them side by side, like a row of sardines, into my golf-bag, and took them home. I laid them by the stove, and a couple of hours later they had thawed out and come back to life. They were confused at first and flew round my cabin, knocking over books and smashing plates

  and trying to fly through the windows to get outside. Eventually they calmed down, sat in a huddle on the floor and began to preen themselves. After they had thoroughly rearranged their feathers they became hungry, and waddled about the cabin looking for food. They were very hungry. They found the dried fish and ate the lot. They didn’t like porridge oats, so they left that, but they finished off the rest of the potatoes and the beans. They found Roo’s roasted peanuts, fought over them, and then polished them off. One even tried to eat the packet.

  So now, as I write this to you, they are sleeping at last. Roo has just made some porridge, and I think after we have eaten we shall have an early night. We have no choice really, as one of the seagulls h
as broken my lantern, and it is getting too dark to see.

  Good night, Child.

  Wednesday 30 October

  Walrus Bay

  The seagulls went on their way this morning. They left behind a terrible mess. Broken plates and dishes strewn across the floor, and everything covered in white feathers and bird poo.

  Roo found the whole incident most distressing and said that I should have left them where I’d found them. We spent the morning tidying up after them. I can always tell when Roo is in a bad mood, because she constantly follows me with her broom and asks me to move. No matter where I went, that was where she wanted to sweep next.

  She followed me all around the cabin, pushing a big pile of feathers and broken plates around with her broom. She wasn’t picking it up, she was just pushing it from one side of the room to the other.

  I decided to get out my one-iron and go golfing along the snow fairway. It is a difficult course to play. There are two crevasses on each side of the course, and if you hit your ball into them, it is lost for ever. At the end of the snow fairway there is a red flag that marks where the hole is. You have to get your ball into the hole in as few strokes as possible. Unfortunately there is nobody I can play golf with here. Roo does not like golf and Jackson does not see the point of whacking a ball about in the snow. So I play on my own.