Ketchikan or Bust (Tom's Adventures in Alaska)

by Matthew Green

  “Yeah, I’ve got beer, Honey, and you can be sure that I don’t care if I’m second or tenth on the list as long as I’m on the damn list!” Vic says to the DQ girl. “Tom, hurry up before she changes her mind!”

  Tom pulls up the steep grade to Vic’s house and swings the truck into the driveway. He stops just short of the door and leaves the engine running.

  “Here we are doll, my castle waits. Tom, you make yourself scarce tonight but don’t wreck my truck!” Vic says as he gets out.

  The DQ girl leans over and gives Tom a kiss. “I want you to know that I’ll be thinking of you while I’m with him. I ain’t done chasing you! You’re number one on my list!” She says as she leans in for another kiss while running her hand up his leg. She grabs his crotch, presses against him and tries to slip him some tongue.

  “Come on girl, my foods getting cold,” Vic calls out.

  She jumps out of the truck and slams the door. She walks into the house without looking back at the truck.

  “Get yourself a beer and grab two for me,” Vic says as he closes the door.

  Tom sits in the driveway for a minute wondering what the hell just happened. He finally shakes his head and puts the truck in reverse. He backs out of the driveway and continues to back the truck up the hill to Swan’s house.

  Chapter Six

  “I figured I might find you here in the library since you weren’t home,” Tom says to Swan as she jumps in his arms. “What time do you get off?”

  “I just came in to put some books away. Most of the work is being done by student volunteers now that school’s in,” Swan says in a bubbly voice.

  She takes his hand and leads him down the hall. They walk slow as they weave through the college students milling around. Tom slips his arm around her waist to pull her in close. She leans on his shoulder and matches his stride.

  “I talked to the lady that gives the GEDs. She said that you can start anytime. Do you want to go see her?” Swan asks. “I told her that you’re my boyfriend, I hope that’s ok.”

  “Sure,” Tom says.

  Swan pulls him through a door close at end of the hall. “This is the guy I was telling you about. Can he register for the GED?” Swan says quickly to the woman sitting at the desk.

  The woman looks up at Tom and smiles. “It doesn’t take much to get started. Fill out this form and show me your ID. From there we do some pre-testing to figure out what you need and you have to study for a minimum of two weeks before we’ll let you test again. The fee is fifty dollars. Do you want to get started today?”

  “Have you got a pen? We can at least get the application filled out,” Swan says. “Can he test today?”

  The woman hands Swan a clipboard with the application attached. She searches through the desk drawer for a pen and holds it out to Swan. Swan takes Tom’s hand and leads him into a corner of the room. Tom slides a chair out for Swan and then he sits beside her after she slides up to the table.

  Swan leans in to Tom and whispers, “If you get a good score on the test, you’ll get a good score tonight!”

  Tom scribbles his information on the application and tucks a crumpled fifty under the clip. They both scoot away from the table and walk back to the admissions desk. Tom takes out his wallet and tosses his commercial fishing license and social security card on the form. The woman takes the form and ID and reads it.

  “Do you have any other ID? Something with a picture?” the woman asks.

  “The only thing I’ve got is an out of country driver license.”

  “That’ll do. It’s to verify who you are more than anything.” she replies.

  Tom takes it out and gives it to her. She looks at it and hands all of his ID back.

  “Do you feel up to taking the pretests today or do you want to look over the study guides for a few days?”

  “If there’s time, let’s get started,” Tom states.

  He starts to feel butterflies in his stomach. He’d quit school because he was bored and wanted to get out and live life. Now he’s wondering if he was bored or just couldn’t cut it. He looks at Swan and gives her a nervous smile.

  “You come with me. We’ve got a quiet room around the corner where you can do your tests. When you’re done we’ll grade them and set you up with the material you’ll need to study. Swan, why don’t you hang out in the library until he’s done. Maybe they’ve got some things they could use help with,” the woman says.

  Swan grabs Tom’s arm and gives him a kiss. She squeezes him and walks away with a playful bounce in her step.

  “You sure have done something to her. I’ve never seen her playful and happy like she’s been this last while. It’s like she’s snapped out of her shell. What brought you to Kodiak?” the woman asks.

  “Life, adventure, travel, I don’t really know. I guess it just seemed like a good idea at the time. I’m still trying to figure out if I was running away from something or running to something. I’ll tell you what, if I figure it out, I’ll let you know,” Tom says.

  The woman gives Tom an understanding nod and sets the test booklets on the table along with two pencils. Tom sits down and stares at the booklets.

  “I’ll be back in a little while when your time’s up. Don’t worry, you’ll have more than enough time. If you finish before I come back, come to my desk.” the woman says before closing the door.

  Tom opens the first book and begins to answer questions. He quickly goes through each until he reaches the American History section. He stares at several questions and draws a blank. He answers a few from what he’d read in the Pogo comic books. He finishes the last of the tests and closes the booklets. He sits for a few minutes before getting up, and thinks over his answers. He takes his tests and gently closes the door as he exits the room.

  “You’re done already? Did you have trouble understanding the tests?” the woman asks. “It worries me when someone gets done this fast.”

  “No, no trouble except for the American History test. I took Canadian History in school. I guess I’ll have to learn American History quick if I’m going to pass the tests.” Tom replies.

  The woman laughs. “You can’t learn American History quickly; it’ll take months to learn what our students take in twelve years of school,” she says as she opens the top answer sheet. “Well, let’s see how you did, that’ll give us an idea of what you’ll need to study.”

  Tom sits at a table by the window to wait for the tests to be corrected. He suddenly feels anxious and self conscious. He stares out the window for a long time watching campus life. Some students are playing touch football in the field and others are milling around laughing as they horse around. He smiles and wonders if he could be a part of it or if he’d just get bored with school again like he did with high school.

  “Well, it looks like you were partially right. You’ve passed everything except the history test and you don’t need much to pass that. Your other scores are good enough to enroll in college if you want. I’ve got some books that you can take with you to study history, but I think it’ll take you a quite a while to learn three or four hundred years of history,” the woman says. “Longer than a couple of weeks anyway!”

  “How soon can I retest?” Tom asks.

  “Two weeks, but I don’t think that’ll give you enough time.” the woman says, almost scolding Tom.

  “Do I need an appointment,” Tom asks, “or can I come in when I think I’m ready?”

  “You get Swan to help you study and when you’re ready, come back in. If we have the time we’ll get you in right away,” she replies.

  “I think I’ll use my own study guides if you don’t mind. If I need anything else, I’ll ask Swan to pick it up for me if that’s ok,” Tom says.

  The woman shakes her head and holds out her hand to Tom. He shakes the woman’s hand and heads down the hallway to the library to find Swan.

  “So how did it go, Honey?” Swan asks as Tom walks into the library and sits at the first table.

  �
��I need to study American History,” Tom says dryly. “Can I take books out of this library or do I need to go to the public library?”

  “Well, you can’t, because you aren’t technically a student here but if you show me what books you need, I’ll borrow them for you and you can come up to the house to study. I’ll help you. I promise not to distract you too much,” Swan says as she leans in to give him a good look down her shirt. “So do you think you deserve a good score tonight?”

  Tom nods, gets up and walks over to the comic shelf. He picks out all of the Pogo comic books and hands them to Swan. She looks through the pile and shakes her head.

  “We’re not allowed to take out comic books or magazines,” Swan says, “but let me ask if they’ll make an exception for me.”

  They walk over to the librarian’s desk and Swan slips behind the desk. She leans in to talk quietly with the librarian and points up to Tom. The librarian shakes her head “no”. Swan talks quietly with her for a moment and points at Tom again. The woman looks up at Tom and gives him the onceover from head to toe. She turns to Swan with a cheesy smile and nods “yes”. Swan gets up and walks over to Tom.

  “What was that all about?” Tom asks.

  “Just girl stuff,” Swan says coyly. “She said that I can take them for a few days but we have to be sure to bring them back in good condition.”

  “I just need to read through them once. Can we stop at the public library and see if they have other ones?” Tom asks.

  “Why the sudden fascination with Pogo?” Swan asks as they exit the library. “I thought you need to study history?”

  “I do. When I was in here the day we met, I read a few of these while trying to get up the nerve to talk to you. As I read them, I noticed that they lay out American History including a lot of dates, people and events. I figure that if I need to learn everything important in American History just for the test, I might as well use these and get done quickly rather than spend months digging through text books.”

  “Are you sure that they’re accurate?” Swan asks, “I’ve never read one so I don’t know what’s in them.”

  “Well, I didn’t know anything when I wrote that test so I answered the questions from what I remembered from these books and I almost passed so they must be pretty good.” Tom says.

  “I tell you what; I’ll read through them with you. I am pretty good at history and I’ll let you know if I think they’re any good.”

  “I have Vic’s truck outside. I spent most of the day at your grandpa’s watching him and Vic get pretty drunk. I drove him home and he said I could use his truck for a while tonight. Did you drive here today?” Tom asks finally.

  “No, I walked down here. I like to walk when the weather’s nice because for most of the year it rains or snows and walking isn’t very pleasant,” Swan replies. “Besides, I want to keep this body trim and perky for you!”

  “Well then, trim and perky it is. I guess you can walk home and I’ll meet you there,” Tom says with a wry smile.

  “Don’t be smart with me, boy,” Swan scolds, “Or I’ll ride you home.”

  Tom wonders if she said it like that on purpose. He looks at her and sees by the look on her face that she might be serious.

  “Doesn’t Vic need his truck back?” Swan asks.

  “Oh, I don’t think he’ll be driving anywhere tonight, he’s a bit preoccupied. We’ll park it in his driveway and leave the keys in it so that in the morning he’ll be able to find it.”

  “So….. you think that you’re staying with me tonight?” Swan asks. “I don’t believe I gave you an invite!”

  “Well, I don’t think I want to stay at Vic’s and interrupt his party so I guess I’ll go stay on the Sunk N Burnt,” Tom says. “I’ll drop you off at your house and walk down to the dock. It’ll give me some time to study. I’d like to have my studying done before we leave in a couple of days.”

  “You mean that you don’t want me to help you?” Swan asks, acting like she’s had her feelings hurt. “I did offer to let you score after all.”

  “Oh, I’d like you to help, but I think that you’ll be too much of a distraction and I won’t get any studying done,” Tom says. “Maybe give me a little while and then we can do something together.”

  Tom opens the passenger door of the truck and Swan gets in. He gets in the driver’s side and starts the truck. He stops a few times in the parking lot for students and pulls slowly into the street so that the motorcycle doesn’t tip over. He drives cautiously through town to the hill that leads up to Swan’s house.

  “Pull up past the house a bit, there’s a dirt ramp up there that Dad uses to unload stuff. We’ll push the motorcycle off and we can work on it together. Grandpa gave me a service manual that I’ve been reading and we can run downtown if we need parts. I don’t think it’s a good idea to take it out to Vic’s lot otherwise he might think that he owns it,” Swan instructs.

  Tom pulls up the hill toward Vic’s house and continues up the hill to Swan’s. He follows her finger points and backs up to the ramp. They untie the bike and struggle to unload it without tipping it or getting run over. They push it over into the driveway beside her truck.

  “You’re right about your studying. You head down to the boat and I’ll bring you down some supper a little later,” Swan says.

  Tom stops before getting into the truck to give Swan a kiss. She grabs him tight and they embrace in a long passionate kiss. She finally pulls away and gently pushes him toward the truck.

  “You better go if you’re going to go! Otherwise decide you’re going to stay and let’s take this inside!” Swan says, panting as she does.

  Tom hesitates for a minute and caresses her cheek before he gets into the truck. He starts the engine and pulls away slowly as Swan walks to her house. He crests the hill, coasts down the grade and pulls into Vic’s driveway. He shuts off the engine and drops the keys on the floor. Before getting out he looks around the truck and sees the coil on the floor. He reaches over and picks it up, grabs the books off the seat and closes the driver’s door. He walks up the hill and ties the coil onto the handlebar of the motorcycle before heading back down the hill. He cuts through town to the dock where the Sunk N Burnt is tied.

  Chapter Seven

  Tom sits on a park bench next to the harbor looking at the boats moored there. It’s so peaceful listening to the gulls squawk and the gentle waves lapping at the shore. The evening air is kept free of the harbor stench by the slight breeze that’s blowing in from the ocean. It’s nice to sit and relax in the early evening.

  Tom’s stack of books sit on the bench beside him waiting for him to study. He looks at it as he reaches for the bag from the deli across the street. He picks up the bag and digs out half of the roast beef sandwich he’d picked up a few minutes before. He bites into the sandwich and enjoys the flavor of the horseradish as it mixes with the other ingredients. He sits and eats the sandwich slowly while enjoying the setting. The tensions of the day vanish as the tranquility around him fills his soul. Tom opens the carton of milk and gulps it down. He tosses the empty container in the trashcan beside the bench and looks at the pile of books. He hesitates for a minute before slipping them under his arm as he stands up. He walks down the gravel path and kicks a rock with the toe of his shoe. It skitters down the path for a couple of feet before it ricochets off of another rock and lands in the water below. Tom stops and watches the ripples spread out from its entry point. A gull swoops in and dives into the circle, obviously thinking that a fish had jumped. Tom jumps back, startled by the bird. He shakes his head at his jumpiness and continues down the path. He occasionally nudges other rocks into the water hoping to see another gull dive at one.

  Tom reaches the ramp down to the dock and turns down it. He walks along the dock and looks down each finger at the boats. There’s no activity on the dock. The boats sleep soundly in their slips, occasionally tugging at their mooring lines when a small wave tugs washes past. He heads down the last finger where
the Sunk N Burnt is tied, goes past it and stops at the end of the pier. Tom looks out to the open water and scans the islands surrounding him. He breathes in the fresh ocean air and takes in the beauty of the night. One of the books tugs at his grip and threatens to fall. He adjusts it back into place and turns to go back to the boat.

  Tom hops the rail of the Sunk N Burnt and lands on the deck of the boat with a thud. He walks around the deck looking things over. His shark jaw is still tied to the winch where he’d put it to dry. He looks at it and decides that another couple of days in the sun should be enough. He spots his bear claw dangling from a nail next to the ladder. In the bucket by the gangway to the bow is his lump of whale shit. Tom stands on the deck and remembers the fishing and exploring adventures where he’d found the treasures. He smiles, and turns to go into the house of the boat.