Page 30 of Mail Order Marvelous
Chapter Nine
As soon as breakfastwas finished and the dishes were washed, Josie and Jack headed out to forage in the large meadow where they had heard there were berries.
Jack walked through the meadow, a birch basket hooked over his arm.Josie followed more slowly, brushing aside last year’s leaves with her fingertips.
“Here,” she said quietly, pointing.“See the red?”
Jack knelt beside her.Nestled close to the ground were wild strawberries—small.He smiled.“You’ve got a better eye for them than I do.”
She plucked one carefully and held it out to him.Jack bit into it, his teeth brushing against her fingers, and closed his eyes for a moment.
“That tastes like summer,” he said.“Now we need to find the arctic raspberries.”
They remained where they were for a few minutes, picking the strawberries until there were no more ripe.Then they moved on to search other areas of the meadow.
They worked without hurry, speaking only when necessary.In a slightly higher, drier patch of ground, Josie found the first nagoonberries, their pale pink skins blushing under the sun.
“These are early,” Jack said.
“Early or not, they’ll make a delicious cobbler.”Josie was excited to find the berries Jack was eager for.If they found enough, she may even make some into jam to eat on toast later.
They gathered what they could, careful not to strip any one patch bare.It took them an hour, but they finally had what Josie considered enough berries for not only a cobbler, but also a batch of jam.She’d done a lot of reading on jam-making, and she was certain she was ready to try her hand at it.
They carried their things down to the riverbank, where Jack spread a folded cloth, and Josie unpacked what they had brought: thick slices of bread, a small crock of butter, smoked fish wrapped in paper, and a tin cup for each of them.
They ate slowly, sitting close.Josie mashed a few strawberries against the bread with the back of her knife, the juice staining her fingers pink.
Afterward, they shared the berries straight from the basket.The nagoonberries were soft and perfumed, almost floral, and Josie sighed as she ate one.“I’d never had this type of berries before moving here.I think they’ve become my favorite.”
Jack leaned back on his elbows, opening his mouth as she fed him one more berry.“Now that it’s warmer, we should spend more time outside like this,” he said.
Josie nodded.She rested her head against his shoulder, the taste of berries lingering on their tongues.“This is a perfect day after the seemingly endless winter.”
He smiled.“I agree.Alaska’s harsh climate isn’t for everyone, but when you know what’s waiting for you when spring finally arrives, the winters aren’t so bad.”
“Lula and Sebastian are coming over this evening.Perhaps we could eat outside,” she suggested.
“I’d like that.I’ll build a fire.Have you ever cooked over a campfire?”he asked.
She laughed.“I can barely cook on a stove!”
“You know that’s not true.Not after the way everyone praised your soup yesterday.”
Smiling as she remembered, Josie nodded.“They did praise my soup, didn’t they?”She could have won twenty blue ribbons at a fair for her cooking and not have felt as much pride as she did over that simple soup.
“Because you’re a good cook!”he said.“Maybe we should catch a few fish and cook them over the fire.”
“I wouldn’t know how!”
“We’ll stop by Myrtle’s and ask.”Jack wasn’t going to let her say no.
“If we’re going to stop by Myrtle’s and ask, why don’t we also stop by Agnes and Tom’s place and see if they have any fresh fish for us.I know the last time I talked to Agnes she said they were getting lots of salmon in their nets.”
“Good idea.Then we can lie here a little longer and enjoy spring.”
Josie laughed.“Are you feeling lazy today?”
Jack nodded.“Lazy and hopeful that you’ll stay here with me.”
