Limbo Page #8

Like a soap opera.

Sounds like we're moving in.

There's no telling

how long it's gonna be.

We're gonna be all right, aren't we?

We're gonna be fine.

Lester!

Lester! Oley!

Help!

Help, somebody, please!

Somebody help me!

Help me.

Who the f*** is that?

Lester and Oley. They're on the boat.

What boat?

Are you okay?

What's the matter?

You can't always save people.

We need to feed this

a couple of times a day.

When the sky's like this,

it won't be easy to spot.

But on a clear day...

So what if it rains?

Well, if it rains or the tide comes in

too high, we'll start from scratch.

Then we hope that somebody sees this.

Somebody who doesn't wanna kill us.

It's a possibility.

Jeez, you two are a perfect match.

Doom and Gloom.

- There's no use pretending.

- Yes, there is!

We're on a camping trip.

We're on a survival school camping trip.

This is what they call "quality time,"

isn't it?

This is what they mean.

No distractions, no media stuff.

We just get to know each other.

We gnaw the bark off a few trees.

People pay money

to come on trips like this.

If you assume that bad sh*t's

gonna happen, bad sh*t happens.

I just don't see the point.

The fish go in through here...

...then they can't

turn around and get out.

Well, that's the idea, anyway.

This wire's kind of brittle, though.

Where'd you learn all this stuff?

My old man taught me.

You did lots of stuff with him?

When he had something to do and needed

somebody to swear at, he took me along.

My father's a composer. My real father.

Really?

How long did you live with him?

I didn't.

She split up with him,

you know, before...

Bobby was your half brother?

Did you ever live together?

Nope.

We'd see each other around.

He was a lot younger.

Different friends, a different life.

I've got two half sisters

and a half brother.

What are they like?

I never met them.

They're pretty little still.

I saw them in a picture.

He was in People magazine, my father.

So you don't visit?

She doesn't want me to.

You just write letters and phone calls?

No.

You don't think we're gonna

get rescued, do you?

"The house is small but cozy now that we

have cleaned it up and made it our own.

I have my own room, and at night I hear

the owls calling back in the woods...

...and our foxes yipping

when something wild comes by.

There are blueberries everywhere.

My fingers are stained purple with them.

Mother insists I'll be attacked by bears

if I stray too far from the house.

Papa's headaches are better,

and I help him clear the fish trap...

...and prepare the food for the animals.

It is unpleasant, sticky work,

but must be done.

I've gotten stronger

handling the skiff.

Mom chides Papa

for making a boy of me.

But I don't mind.

The days it doesn't rain

are God's glory.

Most of our vixens are

close to giving birth.

Some days, I'll go for hours without

speaking, and feel I'm changing...

...perhaps possessed by the soul

of some long-dead Indian girl...

...or perhaps the spirit of a she-wolf.

This morning, I snuck up on Papa

felling a spruce for the fireplace...

...and watched him for a long time

without him seeing me.

Perhaps I shall learn

to become invisible.

I made blueberry pancakes.

Mother says if she eats any more fish,

she'll grow fins and swim back to town.

At night, she has me kneel

with her to pray."

You gonna read us some more?

"The terrible birthing has begun.

We think one of the vixens

ate her litter.

The kits, the ones that survived...

...are lovely once their eyes are open.

Papa told me not to handle them,

but when he is gone, I do.

Their heads are squarish and fluffy."

Fox babies.

Isn't that enough?

Don't want the bears to dig him out.

Sorry you had to see this.

Killing somebody for money.

By the middle of winter up here, people

kill each other because they're bored.

Bobby took a risk, didn't work out

for him, and that's all.

"Winter has locked us

in its icy embrace.

The pelts of the animals are thick and

bluish, our home is blanketed with snow.

Papa calls it 'Limbo, ' because it isn't

heaven and it's too cold to be hell.

Mother wondered about purgatory,

but he said no.

Purgatory has an end to it.

'Don't torture me so, ' said Mother.

The salmon we dried up has run out.

The kits are eating solid food now,

and it's hard to keep up with them.

Papa went to the other side

of the island and shot two sea lions.

He could only bring one back

without tipping over in the skiff.

I had to help him

with the crosscut saw...

...breaking it down to pieces

that we keep in the shed.

Papa said it's just meat, but I tried

not to look at what I was doing.

When Papa rowed back, the other

sea lion had been gotten to by a bear.

We put a piece of the frozen meat

in each of the pens...

...and the foxes fight over it

and gnaw at it...

...and the outside melts from

the heat of their little tongues.

Mother won't deal with them anymore.

She has grown silent

with the shorter, darker days...

...and only now and again will she

break out into one of her Bible songs.

She asks me to join her,

but we don't harmonize well."

"I have a dream about Fox.

He is a young man who comes to me on

snowshoes, dressed in the blue pelts.

His skin and hair are dark,

but his eyes are ice blue.

All the others here are paired,

he says:

Papa and Mother.

The sires and the vixens.

But I am alone...

...and he can't let that continue.

Sometimes in the dream

he stays with us, but usually...

...he picks me up and carries me

to his own island.

Papa says...

...if we can get the animals through

the winter, they're a gold mine.

He says fortunes have been

started on less.

He says if he keeps

having his dizziness...

...l'll have to go hunting

with him the next time.

The burns from where Mother hit him with

the bacon grease are only pink now...

...healing, though the hair doesn't grow

on that part of his jaw.

I'm sewing a sampler."

Don't worry about it burning.

Just flip it over after a minute.

Did you put the trap back?

Good.

Good day for planes.

Nobody's coming.

Don't be negative.

In two weeks, how many planes

have we seen? Zero.

We heard that one.

There'd be more

if they were looking here.

What's that supposed to mean?

Bobby probably told

people at the dock...

...that we were headed

in a different direction.

He thought people were after him.

People were after him.

Stupid.

Trying to impress your boyfriend,

drag us out on a boat...

I'm cold, I'm hungry, I'm dirty and

I'm scared shitless, just like you are.

- I'm trying to help us get through this.

- I shouldn't be here!

I shouldn't be in this state!

Nobody is to blame for this!

Yeah, right.

When you are of age, you're free

to f*** up your own life...

...but until that time, I'm afraid

it's my job to do it for you.

You could help me with this.

He's not my father!

- Thank God!

- What's that mean?

He would've gone off picking berries.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes