"Hey we gotta go outside and get food Kallik, we need to start soon!" Yuka spoke sternly to Kallik who was still bundled up in his furs. "Go away Yuka. Just. Let. Me. Sleep." said Kallik angrily under his warm covering hiding from the cold world outside.
"You know Kumaglak will kill you if you sleep in again right? It is not that cold outside anyways."
Kallik threw his blankets off him and sat up quickly and said, "Not cold?! It's freezing! I wish I was the chief, I never see Kumaglak out here fishing in the cold...kinda bullshit man."
Yuka smiled and asked, "You gonna say that to his face?" Kallik turned and looked at Yuka upset, "Alright man, I get it. I'll get dressed...and it is too cold."
Once outside and on the ice with kayaks and poles in hand Yuka turned to Kallik and asked him, "Do you wanna go South or North today? We had good fish..." Kallik interrupted, "I don't give a shit man, I'm cold and I just wanna start a fire to stay warm."
"Okay kid...so North or South? Asked Yuka. "South, it is warmer down there." Said Kallik
Yuka looked at Kallik and laugh as he told him, "Life is not fair, there is a saying that goes 'You can't have a cake that you can eat' or something like that. It's about life." Kallik look at Yuka confused and ask, "What is wrong with you old man? What does that even mean? 'You can't have a cake that you can eat.' Are you high?" Yuka paused and said, "Put the kayaks in the water." Kallik turned to Yuka who had a serious look in his eye. "Okay cake man, whatever you say."
Into the water, Yuka and Kallik go, with Kallik complaining about the cold the whole trip.
"Fourteen fish! Fourteen fish Kallik! That's a pretty good day!" Yuka exclaimed. "Well yeah, fourteen fish in negative fourteen degrees...really great day," Kallik said sarcastically. "Kid seriously, you would start a fire in that kayak of yours to keep you warm if you could." Yuka scoffed.
Kallik smiled, "I might just do that! I might just do that to keep myself warm Yuka!"
"No, don't do it. Do be stupid, you'll burn a hole in it and sink it and I'll have to save your ass kid." Yuka said in the most serious voice Kallik had ever heard.
Kallik ignored the tone and shouted back, "But think Yuka, I'll catch fish, stay warm, impress Kumaglak with my genius, and maybe Yura will think I'm smart!"
Before Yuka could respond he saw Kallik trying to spark a spare oar to keep himself warm.
"KALLIK!! Don't you do that shit! Kid, I swear I'll let you drown!" Shouted Yuka across the water at Kallik who was still sending sparks out of his kayak.
"I got it! I got it! I can fish and stay warm! Yuka look!" Kallik was pointing to the obvious fire coming from the middle of Kallik's kayak. Yuka stared in disbelieve and hurried his own kayak over to prepare to save Kallik from his almost certain sinking.
After an hour of fishing, with fire in one kayak with a happy and warm Kallik and the other kayak with an upset and cold Yuka, the men decided it is time to head back to the village.
"Look Yuka, just admit I found a way to make fishing better and I'll forgive you for being so mean to me all these years." Laughed Kallik. Yuka looked up at Kallik, spit into the ocean and started to say "Why don't you go fu..." Kallik interrupted, "The village! They will be happy to see us and all our fish, plus my brilliant idea to have a fire in my kayak." Kallik started waving to shore to signal the others to come over and grab the fish and also to marvel at his genius. "Look Yuka, here comes Yura! See will be so impressed with me!" "YURA! YURA! Look I made a fire to stay warm!" Shouted Kallik.
While he was shouting Kallik ignored that his fire has started to spread throughout his kayak.
"KALLIK!" Yuka shouted "KALLIK YOU JACKASS! LOOK! YOUR KAYAK!"
Kallik stopped shouting and waving at Yura to see his kayak had a much larger fire than he had intended to have. He tried waving his arms at it to blow it out, but this made the fire grow larger. "YUKA! YUKA! HELP ME!" shouted Kallik.
Yuka paddled as fast as he could to the burning kayak. "Kallik you'll have to jump out!" yelled Yuka.
"YUKA HELP!" Kallik kept screaming, "YUKA HELP!" he repeated.
"JUMP OUT KALLIK!" Yuka shouted once more. Kallik looked at Yuka, looked at the fire now burning more than half of his kayak, looked at Yura on shore confused and concerned, and then finally looked at the cold water below him. "Shit," he said softly to himself.
"KALLIK! JUM..." before he could finish shouting, Kallik was into the icy water and screaming from the cold. Yuka paddled over and pulled a cold, wet, and upset Kallik from the water, once in the kayak with Yuka both of them watch the other kayak sink into the water and disappear into the cold ocean.
Once back on shore, the local men hurried to get Kallik to a hut to get warm again, all while laughing at him for starting a fire. "Yuka, please don't tell Yura what happened, tell her it was an accident!" Kallik spoke.
"Yeah I'll make something up kid," Yuka said while laughing.
Kallik was now shivering next to a fire in a hut alone. Yuka walked in and said, "Hey kid, you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine, just cold as always." Yuka smiled, "Well that's nothing new, I'm just glad you are not dead." Kallik nodded. Yuka began to smile and slowly started to laugh which then moved into a fit of laughter, "What's so funny?!" Kallik demanded to know why Yuka was laughing at him. "You remember I told you there was a saying about cake?!" Yuka asked Kallik, "Yeah, but why is that funny?" Kallik said. "Well, I know what it is now." Yuka said as he was now crying and laughing, "Well what is it old man?!" Kallik was even angrier than before.
Yuka stopped laughing, wiped a tear from his eye, stood up, and walked towards the door, as he got to the doorway he turned and looked at Kallik and said, "You can't have your kayak and heat it too!" and began laughing harder than before as he walked out of the hut.
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| Two Inuit men in kayaks. |
