Reading Material

Fairhaven, Bellingham, Washington, USA.

I went into a bookshop, it wasn’t big. They had Edward Abbey ‘Desert Solitaire’ and ‘The Best of Edward Abbey’ – a collection he’d put together himself. I bought the collection, trying not to feel dirty about it being a collection because, after all, Abbey had chosen it. It’s appropriate to spend the next three days reading the author who has a direct responsibility for my being here. Edward Abbey, master of anti-office rationale and wild-places inspiration. He distracted my mind frommy computer screen for six months last year, and it is only appropriate that I now let him affirm my journey through the inner passage into Alaska and all its wild places.

I’m excited. I’m in Fairhaven, a cute port-suburb of Bellingham, Washington, from where the Alaska Ferry leaves. The hotel gave me a lift to the terminal in the mini bus, and I disappeared into the cavernous cargo sheds to discover Milt, who is a friend of Damon, with whom I will be living in Juneau. Milt called my name in echos across the cargo shed on my arrival , ‘Megan!’. In no time we were back at the minibus with the bemused girl driver watching on as Milt accepted all my gear onto the palette he proffered up from his forklift.
‘Are you Irish?’
‘No, Australian’.
‘Australian? Even better!’
Milt and forklift disappeared back into the cargo sheds for the day and I wandered into Fairbanks to look around.

This trip is going to be a breeze. I feel like I am a special show-and-tell. I feel like everyone thinks I’m cute, and I act like it. For the time being, it’s working.