Vale of Shadows...

It's Thursday. I don't like Thursdays. And I am wandering 

through a vale of shadows. I am drifting, twisting and floating. 

Again? I don't like this time of year and between two years. 

Echoes of the past year and shadows of the year to come. 

Here comes the new year, same as the old year. What is there 

behind the mirrors? In the shadows. In the twilight? 

Is there a parallel  world like our world but slightly different? 

A world behind the curtains? The boundaries have worn thin. 

There are cracks in reality. Openings. And the other side is calling us.

Can you hear it?

Mrs. Obvious…

The telephone is ringing. Is that my mother on the phone?
And in the background an old song by The Police is playing.
Isn't that a little too obvious…

Well, the telephone is ringing

Is that my mother on the phone?

The telephone is ringing

Is that my mother on the phone?

The telephone is screaming

Won't she leave me alone

The telephone is ringing

Is that my mother on the phone?

Well, every girl I got out with

Becomes my mother in the end

Every girl I go out with

Becomes my mother in the end

Well, I hear my mother calling

But I don't need her as a friend

Every girl I go out with

Becomes my mother in the end

Oh Oh mother

Oh mother dear please listen

And don't devour me

Oh mother dear please listen

And don't devour me

Oh women please have mercy

Let this poor boy be

Oh mother dear please listen

And don't devour me

Momon? I ask the telephone.

Bromford Bibble? Is this Bromford Bibble?

Not my mother, obviously.

You really call your mother 'Momon'?

Yes, I say cautiously.

Oh, that's so nice. And it's so good talking to you.
I am your biggest fan. I've been reading your blog
for a long time. And I cannot tell you how awesome
your Christmas story was this year. Oh, how I loved
Nanuk and K'eyush and Grandma White Feather.

Definitely not my mother.

Who are you again? And may I ask you where you got

my phone number?

As I said, I am your biggest fan. You may call me fan
number 1, if you like. And I've got only one question and
afterwards I won't disturb or bother you any longer.

Isn't that what all stalkers say, I wonder.

Ask your question, I say.

You are Bromford Bibble.

That is not a question. That is a conclusion.

That is a fact.

Obviously, I say.

Obviously, she repeats. And in your Christmas story you
are also Nanuk, the little Eskimo boy, aren't you? So
obviously the little boy didn't freeze to death at the North Pole.
He was victorious without a fight and found his place of
strength so that he could defeat the Dark Eater who obviously
stands for fear itself.

Obviously? That's more like a question.

Are you an Eskimo?

No, I have to admit.

So what's the sense in all of this? Obviously?

Sense? What is that woman talking about? There may be no

sense in fiction at all. Does fantasy have to have or make sense?

Who are you? I ask. Are you Mrs. Obvious?
Mother of Captain Obvious?

Who is Captain Obvious? Maybe I am Mrs. Plagiarism.
And your Captain Obvious and your whole story about
Eskimo boys and power animals are just another one of
the same kind. Where is the sense? And who is thinking
about the children?

I close my eyes. There is no-one on the line.

And all of this makes as much sense as living together with

a llama in a penthouse on the roof of an apartment house.

Think about it.

And another song is playing on the radio…

There's a woman on the line, she is wasting my time,

She calls me every day, she's got nothing to say…

50 - Snow...

Bromford, come inside, my mother calls from the living room from inside my penthouse.

But, Momon, I say, I just found the perfect word for snow, just as Grandma White Feather asked me to.

Don't be silly, Bromford Bibble, Grandma White Feather is long, long dead and gone. She passed away long before you were even born.

And my eyes fill with tears when I look into the grey sky following a little white spot flying by. A little white spot with wings uttering the trumpet cry of a majestic snow goose. And as I watch the shining bird heading North one small single snow crystal falls from the heavy clouds landing and melting on my warm nose.

Come inside, my mother repeats, looks like we're getting a White Christmas this year.

And behind me she closes the glass door to the roof deck of my penthouse above the fifteenth floor of the apartment house on 666, Whitaker Lane, in Bromford, the friendly town at the bay and seaside.

SNOW

* * * 

*
A
AA
AAA
AAAA
AAAAA
AAAAAA
AAAAAAA
AAAAAAAA
AA

49 - Mistraldespair...

Nanuk.

That is Grandma White Feather's voice again. But he cannot see her. All he sees is the slim and slender figure of Joe Darque bending but not breaking in the wind like a tree gathering all the darkness around him.

You have to find the perfect word for snow, Grandma White Feather says calmly. That is all that's left to stop him now.

And then the world explodes in colour. All of a sudden like someone turned a switch the former white and now black and dark snow fields around them are lit by flashes of colourful lights from behind the hills.

What is that, Joe Darque asks, his dark eyes reflecting the phenomenon. Aurora borealis? In the winter darkness? In the polar night? Come on, kid, we have to take a look.

He grabs the boy under one arm and the polar bear under the other one running towards the next hilltop with steps too wide to be true.

Looks like we finally found the North Pole, the Dark Eater laughs and laughs. And it doesn't look like a red and white striped pole at all. Are you disappointed, kid? Are you sorry that there are no candy canes and no elves?

You will win.

The colours like a rainbow in the dark fill up Nanuk's heart with hope and joy. They give him strength from a source like a well right in the middle of the flat, plain ice field beneath their feet.

You have finally found your inner place of strength. You will be victorious without a fight. You can now scare away the dark.

Grandma White Feather, Nanuk shouts out. I want to believe. Oh, how I want to believe.

There's a snow storm coming. Nanuk shivers. His sealskin anorak feels like coming back to life on his skin. Is this what freezing is like? No, he cries and flying and floating he drifts away into the warm and welcoming darkness of unconsciousness, his power animal right by his side.

48 - Vanishing world...

The former white but now dark black polar bear shows his teeth and tries to bite Joe Darque. But he cannot reach him.

So, the eerie man says, this would be Nanuk, son of Aga, son of Amaguq. What are you doing so far up North, little kid?

Nanuk doesn't say a word. The bear cub is growling by his side.

Are you looking forward to Christmas, kid? Are you already waiting for good old Santa Claus to come by with his sleigh and his reindeers? Or are you searching for his workshop itself? Well, well, well. The North Pole is not far away from here. That's why they call these Northern Territories the Polar Circle, as you might know. Oh, all these little elves in their green clothes and hats dancing around the red and white striped candy cane that marks the North Pole. All singing and dancing while tinkering all the nice little presents and gifts for all the nice little children on earth. Nice little children like you, my little boy.

What is he talking about, Nanuk thinks. There is no such thing as a red and white striped pole or candy cane at the North Pole. And there are no elves. May be even no Santa Claus.

With a fierce roar Joe Darque jumps nearer.

So you don't believe in Father Christmas, he asks meanly as if he has heard or read Nanuk's thoughts. But I don't care anyway. It doesn't matter anymore. You know, all I have to do is find the 50 words for snow and like a spell they will turn your little world and everyone you love and know into ice and stone. And I will feast from your darkness and your fear forever. There are only two words missing. 48. I know 48 already. I've got only two to go.

And he keeps repeating them over and over again.

Drifting, Twisting, Whiteout, Blackbird braille,

Wenceslasaire, Avalanche, Swans-a-melting, Deamondi-pavlova,

Eiderfalls, Santanyeroofdikov, Stellatundra, Hunter's dream,

Faloop'njoompoola, Zebranivem, Spangladasha, Albadune,

Hironocrashka, Hooded-wept, Phlegm de neige, Mountainsob,

Anklebreaker, Erase-o-dust, Shnamistoflopp'n, Terrablizza,

Whirlissimo, Vanilla Swarm, Icyskidski, Robber's veil,

Creaky-creaky, Psychohail, Whippoccino, Shimmerglisten,

Zhivagodamarbletash, Sorbetdeluge, Sleetspoot'n, Melt-o-blast,

Slipperella, Boomerangablanca, Groundberry down, Meringuerpeaks,

Crème-bouffant, peDtaH 'ej chIS qo', Deep'nhidden, Bad for trains,

Shovelcrusted, Anechoic, Blown from polar fur, Vanishing world,

Drifting, Twisting, Whiteout, …

Come on man, you've got 2 to go,

come on man, you've got 2 to go.

Come on man, you've got 2 to go,

come on man, you've got 2 to go.

Come on Joe, you've got 2 to go,

come on Joe, you've got 2 to go.

Come on now, you've got 2 to go,

come on now, you've got 2 to go.

Don't you know it's not just the Eskimo.

Let me hear your 50 words for snow.

Come on Joe, only 2 to go,

come on Joe, only 2 to go.

Come on Joe, just you and the Eskimo,

Come on now, only 2 to go.

Come on now, only 2 to go,

Let me hear your 50 words for snow.

47 - Blown from polar fur...

Bon hiver. Bon hiver.

Boy and bear are stumbling through the snow, away from the dark man and his strange, disturbing voice.

He's a Dark Eater, Grandma White Feather says suddenly next to Nanuk. But that doesn't mean he eats the dark. He steals the light and feeds from all men's and animals' fear of the dark.

That's scary, Grandma, Nanuk sighs almost out of his breath.

Maybe scary but all so true.

When do Momon and Popon come home?

Bon hiver. Bon hiver. The longest night on earth is here.

And Nanuk runs right into the black man who appeared right in front of him like suddenly grown out of the earth. And his white-teethed grin is shining in the dark.

46 - Anechoic...

Come out, come out, wherever you are, Joe Darque shouts in his most eerie voice. I know that you are hiding right behind the hill next to my flying machine, kid.

Nanuk stops breathing.

I can still hear you, the dark man giggles. You are breathing far too loud. And that animal of yours is really very smelly. 

But doesn't his voice come from a totally different direction now?

K'eyush, the polar bear cub is right behind the little boy. He bites his sealskin anorak and drags him away from the voice.

Come on, little Eskimo, Joe Darque shouts, I can smell and taste your fear. Let me know your 50 words for snow and I will let you go.

50 words for snow? Nanuk doesn't know what he is talking about. But when he turns around to K'eyush the polar bear has turned all black from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail.

45 - Shovelcrusted...

Daylight is already fading. Or whatever they call the twilight these days. The longest night is near. The darkest time of the months long Polar Night. And Nanuk does not remember when he saw the sun for the last time.

Every step K'eyush takes to their unknown goal his fur becomes grey and greyer, dark and darker like somebody or something is sucking all the light out of it.

And right behind the next hill Nanuk sees the man in black's helicopter. What is his name again? What did he say it was? Darque, Joe Darque. That's what he said.

Without noticing Nanuk ran into the little polar bear. And the animal stands still and lets the boy touch his neck.

Where is he, Nanuk asks whispering. The bear turns his head a little and points with the tip of his nose towards another hill. There against the sky Nanuk can spot the slender almost spider-like silhouette of the man in black.

He is pointing with his long arms and creepy hands to the sky and chanting or singing words the boy does not understand.

We have to get a little nearer, he whispers into K'eyush's ears. And together they almost rob towards Joe Darque.

And suddenly the man in black turns around.

44 - Bad for trains...

K'eyush, Nanuk cries out loud spotting the little polar bear for the first time in clear daylight or at least what you can call clear daylight in the months of the Polar Nights. He is sitting right between the snow lion on his pillar throne and the playing snow meerkat and snow porcupine looking at him.

But what happened to the poor fellow's fur? It doesn't look white at all, not even yellow. It isn't dirty brown from dust or earth either. It looks grey like somebody or something dimmed it, almost silverish in an awkward way.

Nanuk knows that all polar bears have black skin and that their hairs aren't really white but he has never seen one with a colour like that befor.

Suddenly the bear cub seems to wink with his eyes. Follow me, he seems to whisper in a language only power animals and children understand.

And slowly he walks away to the small hills to the North-East.

Nanuk nods and follows him.

43 - Deep'nhidden...

Nanuk's small brain is working hard. He tries to make and find sense in all the things he has heard and learned in the past few days and hours.

The man in black has come to take away their homes, all the wooden huts, the whole village to dig a great big hole to get all the oil under the snow, the ice, the earth.

And Momon and Popon left him to find a way to stop him.

Deeply sunken in his own thoughts he steps out of town once again to the grounds where he uses to play and where he built all the snow animals the past few days.

Only to find another not so frosty animal waiting there for him.

42 - peDtaH 'ej chIS qo'...

Do you think it was a good idea to tell him that cousin Tupilek is a lawyer, uncle Oogrooq asks aunt Nukka.

He would have found out sooner or later, Nukka replies, that we are not the wild indigene eaters of raw meat he thinks we are. And also it is time for cousin Tupilek to prove his strength after all the money we invested into his education as a town community.

Her frown makes uncle Oogrooq smile. He hugs her.

You and your sister Aga, he says gently, you both are strong fighters.

It runs in the family, Nukka says. It's the heritage of our mother White Feather.

Nanuk has heard enough.

41 - Crème-bouffant...

What are you doing here so early again, Nanuk hears uncle Oogrooq ask. You said you were giving us some time to check things.

I mean no harm, the man in black says with a big shark-like smile lifting his hands. I just wanted to make sure all of you understand my and my company's generous offer. We have built a whole new town on the mainland for you and your families with electricity and flowing water. All advantages of the modern life.

We understood your offer, uncle Oogrooq says.

We understood it very well, aunt Nukka adds stepping forward. You want to make us leave our homes and houses so that you can have them destroyed. But we have a lawyer in our family. And we won't give up easily just like that.

We ask you to leave now, uncle Oogrooq shouts in his deepest voice, and not to return until we got the chance to check everything.

Again, I mean no harm, the man in black replies. The sky above him and even the air around him seem to become darker all of a sudden. Take your time. But notice that all clocks are ticking. And one day I will return not only with good offers but also with an armada of bulldozers.

And he turns around heading towards the black helicopter that brought him here.

All the grownups have to stand up against the whirlwind the flying machine causes when it takes off and hold their hoods.

40 - Meringuerpeaks...

The next day the black man returns. The black man who is giving aunt Nukka the creeps.

The black man, Nanuk thinks, or better the man in black because he is wearing a black suit and a black shirt with a black tie and polished black shoes. He must be freezing because he is wearing no coat above his shining black jacket and only a tiny black bowler hat on his head. His skin is white like milk or yellowish like rotten, stinky milk that has gone sour.

My name is Joe Darque, Nanuk hears him say and the grownups seem to back away from him in dislike when he takes and shakes their hands.

39 - Groundberry down...

Nanuk takes a step forward towards the hungry noises.

Didn't we teach you anything, Grandma White Feather upsets. Never go near a polar bear. They are dangerous. They are wild animals and predators. You have to call an adult at once. Where are your aunt and uncle?

But he is only a cub, Nanuk replies. He is only a youngling like me. He wouldn't harm me. I think I found my power animal at last. He's been calling me outside for months. He visits me in my dreams. I will name him K'eyush.

One of the metallic bins falls to the side and rolls onto the muddy path between the wooden huts. The little polar bear with his black button like eyes looks over his shoulder right into Nanuk's eyes. Then with a bumpy speeding run on his short legs he heads North to the wide and white snow fields.

That is wonderful, my boy, Grandma White Feather says, but now hurry back to your aunt's and uncle's cabin. You are freezing.

38 - Boomerangablanca...

What's that rattling sound?

Nanuk hasn't even noticed that Grandma White Feather is standing right next to him.

And what are you doing outside in the cold open at this time of night, little man?

Nanuk is standing next to the fish hut at the North end of the small village of wooden huts dressed with his sealskin anorak and his warmest boots above his pajamas.

Somebody or something is rattling the metallic trash bins with their round covers.

What is your power animal again, Grandma, the boy asks.

As I told you before, my spiritual companion, my own private power animal is a snow goose, Grandma White Feather replies. And there, in front of us, behind the fish hut rummaging through our garbage is a polar bear.

37 - Slipperella...

That black man is giving me the creeps, Nanuk hears aunt Nukka say.

I hope Aga, Amaguq and Tupilek find a way to stop him, uncle Oogrooq adds. I cannot believe he and his company really own this land now. This is our home. The grounds belong to our ancient spirits and ancestors.

Can he really make us tear down our huts, our whole village, aunt Nukka asks shakingly. She tries to drink from her mug of tea but has to put it back to the table.

Amaguq saw the papers, Oogrooq snorts. They say something about oil and ores underneath our grounds. And now that the permafrost retreats the big companies want to dig deep to get all that valuable stuff up to the daylight.

Nothing good ever came from the mainland, as the ancestors used to say, Nukka says squeezing her husband's hands.

Nanuk has heard enough to make him even more worried.

But on his way back to the guest's bed in his cousins' bedroom he gets distracted by a clattering clank from outside the cabin.

36 - Melt-o-blast...

In the evening Nanuk cannot fall asleep. Everything seems strange and unfamiliar. This is not his room. This is not his bed. And although he already spent many times with his younger cousins in their bedroom at his aunt's and uncle's cabin this time it feels different.

And the grownups are in a strange mood. They seem worried and full of sorrow. But they won't tell the children what is going on.

Right now Nanuk can hear aunt Nukka and uncle Oogrooq talk quietly in the kitchen.

His little cousins are snorting in their sleeps.

So Nanuk sneaks out of bed to eavesdrop on the grownups conversation to find out what is going on.

35 - Sleetspoot'n...

Oh, look, Aga, Popon says, look at all these snow animals our son built. What is this? A groundhog?

No, Popon, Nanuk replies, that's a snow dassie, you know. They are no groundhogs. They are relatives of elephants.

What a clever boy we have, Aga. Wonder where he got all these strange ideas from, wife, Popon says smiling brightly but glooming at the same time.

Oh, Amaguq, do you really think we've got time for that, Aga says softly. And Amaguq nods.

Momon takes Nanuk by his shoulders and kneels before him while she looks at him in all her seriousness.

Listen, Nanuk, Popon and I have to go on a journey to the mainland. We have to visit Tupilek in the big, big city to get his advice.

Cousin Tupilek is a wise man, as Nanuk knows. He lives in the big, big city and used to visit an assembly of stone houses his family called a university.

We need you to stay with your cousins and aunt Nukka and uncle Oogrooq until we return, Momon continues. We need you to be good and listen to what they say as long as we are gone.

Aunt Nukka, Momon's younger sister. Her power animal is a sea gull. Uncle Oogrooq who's power animal is a bearded seal always looks like one as well.

I have to stop thinking about these animals, Nanuk says to himself.

Can't I come with you, Nanuk asks trying to hide a little sneezing sob.

We won't take long, Popon says kneeling beside his wife hugging both of them with his wide arms. And we know you'll be a brave little boy until we return.

Later that day Nanuk sees them driving away with the motor sled to the harbour at the seaside.

34 - Sorbetdeluge...

Momon and Popon are Nanuk's parents, his mum and dad, his mother and father.

Momon's name is Aga. She's the best mother in the world, as far as Nanuk knows. She certainly is his own personal best mother. And her spiritual power animal is the white whale. She likes to watch it blending in when it swims to the point where the ocean meets the sky or when it dives deep down in the ocean.

Popon's name is Amaguq. And he is Nanuk's own personal best father. His power animal is the mighty polar wolf. More than once they were lying side by side listening to the white wolves singing in the pale moonlight when he brought his son to bed at night.

Today there are looks of concern on his parents' faces like dark clouds or shadows that they try to hide as they approach the snowy grounds where Nanuk is playing.

33 - Zhivagodamarbletash...

He always made me laugh, Grandma White Feather says, when he told that story.

Why is Grandpa Green Sleeve called Green Sleeve, Nanuk asks.

Because he always asked the one question, Grandma White Feather says.

And although Nanuk also knows this story he cannot wait to hear it once more.

Grandpa Green Sleeve was born in Iceland, Grandma White Feather tells the story. And when he came to Greenland he was shocked and always asked the one question.

Why is Greenland called a green land, Grandma White Feather says and Nanuk mouths silently, while there is way more green in Iceland and way more ice on Greenland?

It should be the other way around, Grandpa used to say. But nobody was able to answer his question and so they named him Green Sleeve instead.

And although Grandpa Green Sleeve is long, long gone, as Nanuk now remembers, he still can make Grandma White Feather smile but always with a little teardrop in the corner of her eye and in her voice.

But look out, Grandma White Feather says now, your Momon and Popon are coming for you.

32 - Shimmerglisten...

Well, do you know the colour of a normal African zebra, Grandpa Green Sleeve continued.

Black and white, Nanuk asked. But some say black and white are no colours at all.

Not quite right, Grandpa Green Sleeve whispered. African zebras are black with white stripes.

And snow zebras, Nanuk asked excitedly regardless how often they had this conversation. And he always made Grandma White Feather hide her face by turning her back on them because she tried not to laugh out loud.

Snow zebras, Grandpa said with his most knowing and mysterious face and voice, are white with black stripes, of course. But they change their colour of fur in winter times to hide from the eyes of humans. Like an artic hare that puts on his white winter coat in the dark months the white stripes of a snow zebra turn from black to white. And that is the reason why you and almost everybody never saw a snow zebra out in the open, out there in the wilderness.

It blends in, Nanuk cried out happily. You will never see it in ice and snow.

And Grandma White Feather laughed and laughed, wiping her eyes with a big handkerchief.

31 - Whippoccino...

And Nanuk remembers a story or maybe a fairy tale Grandpa Green Sleeve and Grandma White Feather used to tell him.

Do you know the snow zebra, boy, Grandpa Green Sleeve asked.

Oh, husband, Grandma smiled, how is our little boy from the Polar Region supposed to know African animals? Your words not mine.

And Grandpa grumbled but not in an angry way. I am not talking about them zebras. I am talking about the snow zebra, one of the rarest animals in the Northern Polar Territories and the whole wide world.

I have never seen one, Grandpa, Nanuk used to say excited and curiously.

You can bet on that, Grandpa Green Sleeve always answered.

30 - Psychohail...

And above them all on a pillar made of blue ice, 

prancing and posing like sitting on a snow throne
The powerful snow lion.

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29 - Creaky-creaky...

A snow warthog looking up to Snow Camelopardalis way up in the starlit skies.

28 - Robber's veil...

Come on Joe, just 22 to go,

come on Joe, just 22 to go.

Come on Joe, just you and the Eskimos,

Come on now, just 22 to go.

Come on now, just 22 to go,

Let me hear your 50 words for snow.

27 - Icyskidski...

A snow dassie and a snow meerkat playing with a snow porcupine.

Very carefully because of the icicled spikes, of course.

Porcupines have quills, nanuk heard somebody say, but thinking of quills 
in those Harry Potter books he doubts they can write at all. 
So, why should they have quills?