W
hen I brought Aput, Grandpa took good care of Aput. The weird thing removed from Aput’s ear kept blinking a red light. Continuously...?
“
Do you want some?” “everything is okay, now.” Since waking up, Aput has not eaten anything, nor said anything. ‘Does he not like it here?’ ‘Did he hurt his head?’ ‘Can that be the reason he forgot how to talk?’ I have thought about lots of things, But the only thing I could do was give the baby bear something he would like and stay with him.
“
Only one signal.?” “I guess he is separated from the mommy bear?” I can tell how much the man is worried about the baby bear from his voice. The captain and the crew start to move again. on the screen is a yellow light, barely blinking.
A
put said he couldn’t find ice anywhere on that day. And the other bears couldn’t come out of the water... Aput was there. “My mom told me to wait on the ice” It was the first sentence Aput had spoken to me.
Teo!n”a be difficult from now on”
“
d it e t a o l f “It’s gon d n a e c i ated e r c e v a h e w , w a r o f e c a “As you kno l p s i h t ect t o r p o t y l t e r c on the sea se t.” s a f o long time” o t g n i t l e en m e b s a h e c i e h t .” s d n e i r f “But now, r u o p l e to h y a w e n o e v a h “So we only rd. a e h s i e c i o v s ’ ndpa a r g , k c a b e h t From
“
Is it the meltless ice?” Lea asks. “Yeah, I heard it is like a really old legend?” “Grandpa said it never melts?” “Are you sure, Teo?” “In this book, it says so?” “It never melts?” Lea looks like she can’t believe it, But I can.
Aput
is silent. ft, e l e w n e h w h c mu t a h t k l a t t ’ n d . We di m a e r c s a h t r wo e b o t s m e e s s i But th
The snow storm lifts u s up into the sky. It is the third day of ou r journey.
W
e fall from the sky just around evening. We are buried under snow and lose a backpack. But it is clear that we have arrived in a Whale Grave. “Are you okay?� This is what I say the most to Aput.
“
The signal is coming from here” Both the captain and the crew are confused. They have never seen such a big icehouse before. “Nobody’s here?” “Hello?” Everyone cries at the top of their voices, But the icehouse, or the ice building, does not answer back. After a moment, however, the big gate starts to move.
F
ire in snow always looks more beautiful. Seems like it’s not just to me. In Whale Grave. I share the fire with new friends.
“
We are from the Arctic base camp.” “We are looking for a baby bear.?” The captain has to raise his voice. Inside the ice factory is very noisy. The captain takes out a photo. Grandpa says nothing, But he feels bad for bears wearing weird caps in the photo. “Stay over. The snow storm will blow over soon.” Grandpa doesn’t really talk much.
W
e are dancing as if we are possessed by something. Everyone does in Whale Grave. And aurora comes into our bodies. It is tickling. I don’t even imagine this. It feels like my whole body switches on.
Teo, it’s Teo!”
“
Lea’s voice is rich and full as always. “Teo, you’re not hurt?” Grandpa gives me a long hug. It is warm. Lea is kind enough to let others know that I have come back.
“
Beep beep”
“Found it! It was here.” The crew picks up a tracker on a desk. “Aurora ice. This is aurora ice!” The captain’s voice is shaking; anyone can notice it. “by the way, where on earth is the baby bear?” The crew keeps fiddling with the tracker. “I heave heard” the captain can’t hear anybody right now. “What?” “Unmelting ice.” “What if others see!” The crew looks around. And the two quickly get out of grandpa’s room.
T
hat place is filled with the green lights of aurora. Both grandpa and I can say nothing to the beautiful
lights. “It is a real aurora!� The captain mutters. I have thought that I wanted to show this only to my grandpa.
“
Clean here!” “Lift this up!” Everyone is moving busily here and there to prepare for aurora ice. Of course, the Arctic crews give a hand.
“
All we need is the aurora.” “You know the bottle!” “The bottle of aurora.” The captain calls the crew out. “What is your plan?” The voice of the crew dropped. “Listen.” “People will flock together to see the aurora.” “We can make a lot of money!” “Just trust me.”
The captain thinks nobody will notice.
T
he headlamp is as fussy as the captain.
“Vroom vroom�
The engine sound is trapped in the storm But the car starts to run through the snowstorm.
Very quickly.
R
ight then, something is wriggling in the pocket!
“Whale Grave? You! How?�
Before even finishing talking, the headlamp lights come into sight.
It
soars up to the sky. The giant fairy with ice feathers flies up and starts to spew auroras toward the captain. Everything has flown away in the blink of an eye. Everything including the captain’s truck and all of us. And we can’t hear a single sound.
“
Mmm” ‘I have seen it, but where?’ So many thoughts run through my head. ‘Ice feather?, the book!’ ‘Yes, Whale Grave!’ The smell of smoke is roughly waking me up.
“You, you..., ice fairy...!” “How did you?” Suddenly, I hear a beep in my head. ‘W...hy?’ I cannot lift my eyelids anymore.
Auroras will co
mes u
pi
nd ro ps in all aurora ice the m s , sta ic d ay rts e w e f ma a t o n chi I b i e c h e t i n e t ne w the g pu o f t iant or ith snow. ed e m n ice ed You r from small a mac on e d w o p e uror hin e by ic , e s r a ic e. o ne u o c e be sprinkled continou of o t s sly. d e e n
W
hile aurora ice is made, the ice machines are colored with auroras. Although the machines sometimes stop, ice keeps being created, and I realize that it is time to send Aput back.
N
ow, Aput is standing on the aurora ice. ‘Can he meet his mom?’ I am still not sure. “Teo, there is still lots of ice we gotta drop off” “Come on, let’s go,kids” But we all are still unable to leave. Wishing that Aput meets his mom for sure.
This is a story about the adventure of two friend, Aput and Teo. Aput is a lost
baby polar bear and Teo is a boy from Ice factory in Arctic. They were going on a journey together searching for Aurora, which is key material of Aurora Ice. The Aurora Ice can help their friends to meet their family again especially for Aput. But there were obstacles they need to get through.... and also they made new friends on the journey. Finally they came back to Ice Factory where people had been waiting for the Aurora. But the captain from Arctic station, he had a different idea that nobody thought about...
by Sen Woo
senwoo@gmail.com