Chapter Four

Friends?

Jake and old man Horton stood around and watched the plane taxi in to the terminal. “How will we know who this guy is” Jake asked. “How many rich Mexicans do you figure is going to get off this here airplane anyhow”? Horton asked peevishly.

Don Jose’ and Carlos were tired after the many hours of flying and the many plane changes they had made. Carlos was still very interested in all the new things that he had seen and done.

“Where are the icehouses, the igloos Don Jose’”? Carlos asked, he had seen pictures of them in the one school book he had seen that mentioned Alaska. “There are no igloos here Carlos, that would be much further to the north than we are at present. Lets get off the plane, the guide is supposed to meet us here at the airport”.

Carlos and Don Jose’ stepped off the plane and looked curiously around them. Juneau in the early spring is apt to be wet more than anything else and today was no exception. A light rain, almost more of a mist, was falling, and there were piles of old snow everywhere, the gray clouds hung low in the sky.

“That must be him there” Horton said pointing to a distinguished looking man with dark skin, black hair turning gray and an expensive looking suite coat on.

“Senor Mister Ortega”? Horton yelled at the man. “There Carlos, that must be our guide there, the man in the dark coat”. Horton walked briskly up to Don Jose’ and establishing his identity greeted him warmly. “Howdy there” he said “Welcome to Alaska Mr. Ortega how was your trip up here”?

“You must be Mr. Horton I presume, Thank you, the trip has been long but all has gone well. How are the prospects for the hunt”? “Fine, fine, the snow is going off well and the bears are just starting to come out”, old Horton rambled on for a while in this vein, Jake and Carlos stood back a bit and looked curiously at each other. Finally Horton ran down and told Don Jose’ “I have a room booked for you at the Alaskan Hotel for tonight so you can rest up, then we’ll load into the boat and take off early in the morning. I think we will try Freshwater bay first off. I have my truck parked over there so lets git in out of the rain”.

Horton guided Don Jose’ off toward the truck and said, “Jake you wait here and get Mr. Ortega’s bags, we’ll be waiting in the truck”. “Hell of a way to start being a bear guide, fetching bags”, thought Jake. Then he noticed that the other fellow that had been standing sort of behind Ortega was still there.

Don Jose’ rattled off a string of Spanish and the fellow sort of started then nodded his head once and said “Si, Don Jose’”.

Jake finally figured out that the fellow was traveling with the hunting client so he held out his hand and trying to imitate Horton, smiled and said, “Welcome to Alaska”. Carlos just looked at him. Jake tried again, “Welcome to Alaska, looks like a good spring for hunting”. Carlos just stood there. Finally Carlos said “no comprende englaise”. Then he rattled off a whole bunch more stuff and turned away toward the airplane. Jake stared after the man’s back and muttered under his breath, “shit, this is going to be a lot of fun ain’t it”?

Carlos thought “this gringo is about as smart as a donkey, he seems to want to stand out here all night and make funny noises at me. I’m going to pick up Don Jose’s luggage and maybe he will figure out what to do”. Carlos found the Don’s bags all set out together and also his own canvas sack. Pointing at the bags he said “these belong to Don Jose’ Ortega and we must bring them to the truck” The big gringo just stood there with a blank look on his face. Carlos thought for a minute and then he pointed at the bags one at a time and then made shooing motions with his hands toward where the two older men had gone. Carlos thought to himself “Man oh man, this is going to be great fun, one crazy old gringo and one dummy”.

Jake understood that these were the bags they needed and knew what to do with them, he looked at the stout Mexican and said “I don’t know what you just said ‘cause I don’t savy the lingo but don’t stand there looking like an idjit let’s go. Jake grabbed a big trunk and reached for the gun cases. Carlos lunged toward him and grabbed the gun case himself. A brief tug of war ensued before Jake let go suddenly almost causing Carlos to fall on the wet ground. Jake grabbed several smaller cases and spun around, heading for the parking area. Carlos glared at Jake’s back as he regained his balance, then he grabbed the remaining cases and his own bag and followed along.

When they arrived at the truck Horton and Don Jose’ were inside, warm and dry, chatting like old friends. By now it was starting to get dark and raining harder.

Jake tossed his load into the back of the truck earning another glare from Carlos. Carlos gently placed the valuable gun case into the truck and cursed Jake soundly in Spanish for being so clumsy. Of course Jake couldn’t understand a word of it but still he knew a butt chewing when he heard one. Jake was about to light into Carlos with a few choice comments of his own when the truck door popped open and Old Horton stuck his head outside. “Bout time you boys got here, jump on up in there and let’s get going.

“Just great”, Jake thought, now I get to ride in the back like a dog. Carlos just vaulted over the side and settled in. Not to be outdone Jake vaulted over the side too only he landed on one of the small cases and fell right on his ass in the truck bed. Jake stood up and was rubbing his tailbone when Old Horton gunned the truck out of the parking area. Jake was not expecting the sudden movement and went head first over the tailgate. Just as he was going over a strong hand grabbed his ankle and stopped his plunge.

Carlos smirked as the gringo leaped into the truck and promptly fell on his ass. Carlos was trying hard not to laugh out loud when the crazy old one took off. He lunged as quickly a he could and just barely caught Jake’s leg. Bracing his feet against the tailgate he jerked hard and pulled him back into the truck. Jake fell right on top of Carlos.

At this point it should have been a fistfight or at least a bunch of yelling but as Carlos pushed Jake off of him he heard him start to laugh. Carlos stared for a second and then he too started to snicker. Soon both men were laughing like fools while they were getting soaking wet, riding in the dark in the back of a truck driven at breakneck speed by a crazy old man.

By the time they arrived at the Hotel Jake and Carlos still could not understand each other but if not yet friends, were at least on the way.

“We’ll be here to pick you up at 6:00 in the morning, we can have breakfast on the boat while we run down channel so we don’t lose any time. Have a good rest and we’ll see you in the morning” Horton smiled and shook hands again with Don Jose’ and then turned to shake hands with Carlos. Horton had not realized that Carlos was with Don Jose’ either when they first met but now figured him to be an extra client. Carlos was surprised, he was used to being ignored by most people and ordered about by Don Jose’. Carlos put his hand out slowly and shook one time, up, down, release. Then Carlos looked again at Jake who was once more rubbing his backside, and grinned at him.