Weigh Out Way-In

CHAPTER 67

30 DECEMBER, Men's day

On December 30 the ladies unburden their husbands of the responsibility of looking after the kids. The kids have been taken back to Santa's Hideaway on the very same snowcat that their mothers were taken yesterday. Instead, the fathers were left behind in the middle of the forest.

The fathers don't seem to be interested a lot in what colour clothes they wear or what colour the vehicles they can soon test are. It is the horsepowers and the decibels that count. The fathers turn into big men (or enthusiastic little lads, depending on the bystander's point of view) when they see the first snowmobile racing fast to their camp. The roar of the engine makes them feel stronger and their posture becomes more upright as if they felt more prominent than amid the silence a few moments ago. However, the social hierarchy among the Chinese guide them to give way to their leader Mr Li to be the first to test ride the snowmobile. He jumps on the vehicle and and is about to ride away when the guide stops him.

'Helmet! Put the helmet on! You cannot ride before you wear it.'

Helmet on, off he rides.

The next snowmobile arrives at the camp and over-excited Mr Wang quickly takes the reins of this vehicle in his - so he thinks - capable hands. He is sure he can handle this vehicle very well because he has ridden motorbikes, which seem to have a similar kind of handlebar with more or less the same functions. So he puts the gear on, winds the twist grip and in a split of a second he dashes forward only to realise the surface under him isn't so even as the roads he is used to back home in China. His body shakes uncontrollably from side to side and he tries hard to keep his balance but cannot beat the odds; the speed, too high for his skills, and the bumps, both small and big, soft and hard, with too much variation, shake him off balance and toss him off the snowmobile as if he was a mere ragdoll. Fortunately, he ends up in the bush instead of hitting his head against the stately pine tree only a metre from the bush he just landed in.

The guide rushes to him, followed by the others present, and sees Mr Wang is lucky; there are only scratches and bruises on his face.

The guide thinks to himself, 'Phew! No knock-out.'

Mr Wang cranks himself back to his feet and shakes the snow off his clothes. Still a bit shaken by his experience, he is not able to blame anybody else for his accident. So the guide makes the most of this golden opportunity to remind Mr Wang, and anybody else disobedient, of the importance of following the safety regulations made clear at the beginning of the stay at Santa's Hideaway.

There are no arguments, not even a single raised voice, against the guide's admonition and the helmets land on the guests' heads, without any objections.

Mr Li comes back from his swing. He is satisfied to see the others have helmets on too and says,

'The Chinese are reasonable people. They don't risk it by not following good orders.'

The other guests, quieter than usual, line up to listen to the final briefing by the guide and Mr Li. Then the guide mounts his snowmobile and the others follow suit. The guide starts the engine and so do the others. Then he shows them a hand signal and they ride in single file after him in total obedience, nobody wanting to overtake a person in front.

They ride for about 30 minutes until they stop to a lean-to. There is no fire there yet so now it's time for them to put into practice what they learnt only a few of days ago through Sparkalph, a campfire expert. They bring some wood to the guide who knocks the logs against each other but cannot hear any clink.

'This wood is wet or rotten. No use for any campfire. You need to find wood with a strong smell of tar. That kind of wood is easy to catch fire.'

After some time they find some and the guide smells it and an expression of satisfaction spreads all over his face.

'Now we are good to go. This is exactly what we need. Job well-done!'

In no time at all there is a fire big enough for them to boil water for tea and for coffee and to fry sausages. Some of them don't want to eat quite yet but head off to the ice for fishing. And soon they get lucky and have fish too to fry on the fire.

After eating they also have a chance to try husky-sledding, snowcat driving on the ice and play snow frisbee golf. In the afternoon when the dusk is setting in, they mount their snowmobiles and ride all the way back to Santa's Hideaway. Yet another adventurous day has passed with a myriad of unforgettable experiences and, luckily, only one close call. Tired and weary, they trudge to the sauna and then to bed. In a wink, their igloos start vibrating due to heavy snoring.