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Show a probecbed pLace bo build my f i r e . As Long as bhab doesn't happen, bhen I can keep searching for my benb„" He shakes bhe snow from hLmseLf, sLides his skiis along bhe surface of bhe snow a few bimes bo d e a r them of bhe ice bhab has buLLb up whLLe he has been standing motionless at bhe edge of the clearing. On bobh sides of him bhe brees curve and blur oub of sight. He pushes off into the d e a r i n g , the two thin Lines of his passage once again forming Like a t a i l behind him. Kick gLLde reach kick gLide reach kick glide reach the rhythm returns easLLy, smooth and simpLe. He passes straight bebween bhe brees on bobh sides of him; bhey appear hazy, spotted, seen through the veiL of snow. He continues into the d e a r i n g that seems to be growing wider, unLike the previous ones that aLL dosed in on him again, always without his tent as if each one were a net cast out and drawn in around him empty. He has the feeling this time that a net has been cast out and instead of r e turning continues to saiL, sLipping away as the trees are sLipping, thinning until ahead they are gone and i t is a l l white straining to grey as he peers out into the evanescent waLL of snow. '"It is a r i v e r , " he thinks. "A Large r i v e r . " He i s standing on the edge of i t, the net stiLL opening before him. '"It must be the Penobscot." He skiies out and onto i t . The surface is aLL i c e , blown hard by the wind. Around him are scattered huge, frozen bLocks of ice* Out here the wind is much stronger and he sheLters himsLef in bhe Lee of an ice bLock, reaching for his map bo finaLLy Locabe his posibion. The wind fLickers around him like bhe curLing bongue of a gLacier. He puLLs his map from bhe inside pockeb of his parka, shieLdlng ib from bhe wind's whip as much as he can, and looks ab bhe curving bLue Line bhab is bhe Penobscob. The river fLows very near bhe edge of his map, and in bwo pLaces Leaves bhe map enbireLy as it takes a particuLarLy wide swing away from some high point, reappearing a few inches down the map as if fLowing from some eternaL ocean bhab exisbs everywhere oubside bhe confines of topographLcaL representation. Now he uiehp* that he had brought more maps, or a Larger map. But he had no way of know- 3 |