alt="Screen shot 2011-04-13 at 10.00.19 PM.png"/>When the boat was ready, I waddled out, all bundled up in blankets against the howling wind and got aboard. Soon Emil was assisted aboard. We were a sight. Because of our swollen throats, neither of us could talk except in our own muffled language. We both laughed at each other when we met and tried to talk. “Lough lygg sits glurging to be arahhf rip”. (Meaning, “It looks like it’s going to be a rough trip”.) “Yeah, whhan to op hunk?” (Meaning “Yeah, do you want the top bunk?” As predicted, the sea pounded us just as soon as we got outside our harbor. It was sixty miles by sea to Cold Bay and we knew it would take hours to get there.
My sketch of the THRASHER
It had to be a desperate situation for anyone to be out in that storm during winter in a tiny fishing boat. We were both tossed completely out of our bunks onto the deck twice during the first hour but the experienced village crew handled the storm well and by seven thirty that night we chugged up next to the Air Force dock. Because we were unable to give Cold Bay any advance radio warning that we were coming, the Officer of the Day came storming down to the dock to see what was the intrusion at the port of his military installation. When he heard our story, he quickly drove us out to the airstrip to see a Navy doctor, whose plane just happened to be stopping for fuel on a flight from Adak. It was lucky for us we came when we did.
Both of us went to the small Air Force dispensary to say "Ahhh" after which the doctor put me in the Cold Bay infirmary and took Emil, who was much worse, to the Kodiak Navy Hospital with him in the waiting plane. The Navy doctor thought I would be better in two days, but instead I got worse. The medic didn’t know what to do for me so he sent a telegram to the doctor saying, “Your patient here is not improving.” The Navy answered back, “Your patient there just needs rest and more penicillin.”
One day, I took four pain pills the medic had stashed in a cup near me. I was desperate to stop the extreme pain, but the pills were ineffective. I couldn't eat nor sleep because of the choking. I finally got up and started walking to get my mind off the situation. There was so much swelling that I couldn’t talk. I had to write on paper what I wanted to say to the medic. There was pain under my tongue, in the glands of my neck, in my ear and my teeth became loose in the gums. I could barely breathe and imagined that a python was around my neck slowly squeezing my life away. That was not good! The medic sent another frantic telegram, even signed by the base commander, to the doctor in Kodiak asking to have me sent to his hospital. The Navy’s answer was just more penicillin shots. I was choked off so badly it was affecting my breathing, talking and swallowing. This was clearly a very serious situation. I was not a member of the Air Force so no one was taking responsibility for my condition. I realized that even though I was in a medical facility, I might just die there amidst these medics. It seemed hopeless!
After a full week in Cold Bay it was obvious I was not a patient of the Air Force nor the Navy, so I asked the medic to send a radio message, in the blind, hoping to connect to Chris Gunderson's boat radio on Sanak. Chris had brought it into his cabin and always kept it turned on each evening for any urgent communication. I asked to be picked up whenever the weather would permit. I was still weak and had a swollen throat and tongue, but it was clear that I would need to be responsible for my own recovery, not the Navy or Air Force.
While I was in the Cold Bay infirmary, Marie had been carrying the full load at school. Two fifth grade girls, Lorraine and Kristin Gunderson, volunteered to stay with her. Some nights Martha Wilson, who had been orphaned by the murder of her mother, would also stay. She had been farmed out to various homes since the tragedy. All three girls slept on the bed-couch and Marie slept on the floor. Norman and Andrew Wilson, the other two orphans, hauled in the domestic water for the school, dumped out the drain water, filled the fuel oil for the stove and filled the gas needed for each Coleman lantern so that school was ready for the next day.
Marie taught all the kids for a short, but legal, day of school which was acceptable under the strained circumstances. She was able to use the lesson plans I had prepared in advance, but only half of the students showed up because the epidemic had spread to many of the island families by this time.
Halloween was approaching so Marie, Kristin and Lorraine made cookies for an afternoon party at school. Olga and Karl Luff had given the school a case of orange pop so they wouldn't get trick or treated. On Halloween night, the healthy kids dressed up in paper masks and visited all the cabins to trick or treat and get candy. When Kristin and Lorraine came back they sat for hours and talked about their dreams for the future. They both wanted to get away from the island and experience the big world. As it turned out, their dreams of leaving the isolated lifestyle never happened as they both married men of the Aleutians, though they did leave Sanak.
One night when the girls weren't with her, Marie went up to the spring for her domestic supply of water. The water bubbled out of the ground into a wooden barrel right next to this ominous cabin whose occupants had a very bad reputation. There were sounds of yelling and conflict coming from inside the walls. Under this insecure situation she quickly filled her buckets and stumbled her way back down the hill. A girl out alone at night in this particular setting was the same as being in the wrong part of town of a big city. In her stress, she spilled most of her water, making it a night time Jack and Jill episode.
Nov.1st Today didn't go so good. Kids were really noisy and I was in an awful mood and I said something to make Merle cry. How long can this go on? Each day gets worse. If he doesn't get well and come back soon I'll go crazy. Can't stand the nights, even with the girls here. Nothing I do keeps me from worrying about my husband. When he left during that stormy night, his condition was life threatening. I haven’t heard anything since! Is he still alive?
Nov 4th Went for a walk to the point. The mountains were beautiful all covered with snow and the sun shining on them. Stayed out at the point awhile, watching the water and mountains. Nature is beautiful but I've never been so lonesome in my life! This is a serious village epidemic. Kristin and Martha stayed with me tonight. I'd like to stay alone but am afraid to. Never know what the drunk men may do! If only I would hear some news from Sandy. I've been knitting to keep my mind off the situation..
Nov. 5th Chris Gunderson came by and gave me a message from his radio from Sandy. He is better and ready to come home! Just knowing that makes me feel excited. Washed my hair and took a bath in the wash tub.
It was wonderful just to return back to the island. The place had seemed like a hellhole when I left. There was no sense of safety. We had a murder, many drunk and unruly villagers, continuous wind, primitive living conditions and finally this death-threatening disease. But somehow, that same place had magically transformed into a paradise when Chris’s boat chugged home through the Pillars of Hercules. There I embraced a calm, bright, green island full of beauty, a loving wife, some grateful students and a rewarding career all wrapped up inside our cozy metal cocoon. Above all, I had returned alive which at times for me was in doubt. I became optimistic about our future. Life was good!
Soon after I got back, however, additional symptoms of the original malady seem to grip the village. We thought that perhaps we had a case of rheumatic fever with the Holmberg girl, five cases of streptococcus throat and many people with a stomach illness similar to the flu. There were some dogs and cats that took sick, so we
