Between Einar and Kate sat Old Sam Dementieff. His grin was razor sharp, his bright eyes all-knowing. No point in trying to fool herself that he couldn‘t read her like a book. Kate wondered who had nominated him for the board and why he‘d accepted. He wasn‘t exactly a political animal.

Old Sam was Eliza and Quinto Dementieff‘s son, although Kate had overheard the aunties speculating about that once when she was very small. Eliza had given birth too soon after marrying, One-Bucket McCullough had disappeared shortly thereafter, and Quinto had stared everyone down and raised Sam as his own. Old Sam and Abel Int-Hout, the homesteader next door who had raised Kate, had been good friends, and at least in her eyes they resembled each other a great deal. There wasn‘t a rock or a tree in this part of Alaska either man couldn‘t find again blindfolded. Abel had married and had three sons, Old Sam had remained single and childless so far as everyone knew, in his later years taking up with Mary Balashoff. They‘d probably been together as long as they had because they were so often apart, Old Sam wintering in the Park and Mary, with the exception of occasional booty calls to Niniltna, the lone year-rounder on Alaganik Bay.

Old Sam was an outlaw, that much Kate knew. The taste of illegal king still lingered pleasantly on her tongue. She smiled back at Old Sam, who let‘s face it put the rat into Parkusrattus

The motion to contract the services of the Gaea logo artist for a new corporate logo was carried by a unanimous voice vote and Annie Mike was authorized to contact the artist and inquire as to price and delivery date. All right, under old business, the board will recall the suggestion made at the last meeting to encourage shareholders living in Anchorage to have regular meetings in Anchorage, so as to foster tribal unity and to disseminate news from the board to the shareholders. I would like to report that I have spoken to my cousin, Axenia Shugak Mathisen, and she has agreed to organize the meetings, one a month for the next six months. I propose we revisit the situation at that time to estimate the program‘s success and to decide if it warrants extended funding.

She had a moment to marvel at her own pomposity before Old Sam said, I still think it‘s a bad idea. Who knows what kind of trouble they‘ll get us into over there? Any more old business? Kate said. No? Good, let‘s move on to new business. As expected, Auntie Joy‘s hand shot into the air, and with no enjoyment at all Kate said, The chair recognizes Ms. Shugak.

Auntie Joy rustled the stack of papers she had in front of her, but she forgot to pass them out around the table. Kate didn‘t remind her. She cleared her throat and looked around the table. She wasn‘t nervous, precisely, but she‘d never set forth a proposal of her own before, and the only person on the board she‘d talked to about it beforehand was Kate. Auntie Vi, of course, was another matter, and they all knew what was coming.