Arctic Thunder Read Free Page A

Albert seem like summer.”
    Spencer shook his head. “Jeez, that does suck. Your dad wouldn’t go there unless there was lacrosse, though, right? I mean, he loves lacrosse as much as us. I can’t see him doing that.”
    Ryan groaned. “Maybe, since we won provincials, he wants to win a seal-hunting championship or something now.”
    Mike glanced up, and despite his mood, smiled. Ryan grinned, too, while Spencer began to chuckle. Then Cayln started to laugh, as well.
    Still chuckling, Mike shook his head. “You know what really sucks? You guys won’t be there. I won’t know anybody. I’ve never had to move before. I won’t know anybody and I’ll likely have to try out all over again to make a team up there. I think the people up there are mostly First Nations. They’re likely great at lacrosse, of course. They invented the game. Maybe I’ll make their team and we’ll come down here and kick your butts.”
    Ryan rolled his eyes. “Oh, yeah, right!”
    â€œSo do you guys leave as soon as summer holidays start?” Cayln asked.
    â€œThat’s the other crappy part,” Mike said. “I don’t even get to finish school here. We move in early March.”
    â€œYou can’t be serious!” Spencer cried.
    â€œThat’s just in two weeks!” Ryan added.
    Mike gazed at the floor sadly. “I couldn’t believe it, either. My mom’s already started to pack. If you didn’t notice, the garage is full of boxes. Get this. Apparently, there are two rivers you have to cross if you drive to Inuvik. In the winter the rivers are covered in ice. They freeze up and people drive over them. In the summer there are ferries. If we don’t move now, then I guess once school is over is when the ice is melting on the rivers and they can’t cross them for a while. That means they couldn’t get trucks across with our stuff until all the ice is gone and the ferries are in the water. So we move now and they get the trucks over the ice with our stuff.”
    â€œI thought there was ice and snow up there all the time,” Spencer said.
    â€œNo, only ten months out of twelve,” a voice said behind the boys.
    Turning quickly, they saw Ben Watson in the doorway in his RCMP uniform. He grinned when he saw the surprise on the boys’ faces turn to dejection. Mike didn’t even look up.
    â€œI’m kidding. They actually have a great summer up there, and guess what? The sun never goes down. I’m not kidding about that part. They call it the midnight sun. The sun never goes down from late May to well into July.”
    â€œSo are you guys going to drive up and go over that ice and stuff to get to Inuvik, too?” Ryan asked Ben.
    â€œNo, Ryan. The moving trucks will take our stuff up and over the Peel and Mackenzie Rivers. We’ll fly up. It’s a pretty long drive, and in winter the weather through the mountains in the Yukon can get pretty bad at times.”
    Spencer glanced at Mike. “I thought you guys were going to the Northwest Territories?”
    â€œInuvik’s in the Northwest Territories,” Ben said. “But to get there you have to drive up through northern B.C. and then across the Yukon. You go to Whitehorse and then on the Klondike Highway to Dawson City. From there it can get a little hairy because you drive up through the mountains on the Dempster Highway to this place called Eagle Plains. Then you go down into the Northwest Territories. You cross the Peel River, go to a spot called Fort McPherson, and drive on to the Mackenzie River. Once you cross the Mackenzie, you go to Inuvik. That’s it. The road doesn’t go any farther. When you get to Inuvik, you have to fly if you’re going farther north.”
    â€œJeez!” Cayln blurted. “So, in other words, you’re taking Mike to the end of the world.”
    Ben laughed. “Inuvik’s actually the biggest