There was a low murmur from the radio perched nearby. Bobby Clark was narrating the Fourth of July parade on Park Air Live. And here comes the veterans‘ float, Jeff Talbot driving his Army surplus jeep—HOO-ah!—with Demetri Totemoff and George Perry in the back throwing candy hard enough to overshoot the Kanuyaq River. Ouch! Goddammit, Perry, watch where the hell you‘re throwing that stuff! Ouch! A background murmur, probably Bobby‘s wife Dinah in soothe mode. One of them had to remember Bobby was on the air, although since it was a pirate radio station that changed broadcast frequency pretty much daily it wasn‘t like the Federal Communications Commission was ever going to catch up with him. A delighted scream too close to the mike made Kate and Mutt both jump. Bobby and Dinah‘s four-year-old daughter, Katya, named for Kate. Delivered by Kate, if it came to that, and on the day of her parents‘ wedding, no less, at which Kate had not only officiated but also stood up for both bride and groom. That had been one fraught day.

Oh, well now. Bobby‘s rich baritone rolled out of the radio. Here comes Max Chaney‘s flatbed bearing Miss Niniltna, whose day job is Luba Lindeman, and let me tell you gentlemen who couldn‘t make the parade today, you should see the red dress our own pride of Niniltna is almost wearing. All the way to China, guys, no shit—ouch! Goddammit, Dinah!

Goddammitdinah! Katya said.

Park Air vanished from the airwaves for a few seconds, but Kate, veteran of many a Niniltna parade, could fill in the blanks. Luba would be perched on a pile of last year‘s tanned wolf, beaver, mink, and marten hides donated by local trappers who hadn‘t been able to unload them at the Fur Rendezvous fur auction in February. She would be wearing the gold-nugget and walrus-ivory crown made by local carver Thor Moonin. She would be attended by five other Niniltna High girls, all of them doing some combination of pageant, royal, and papal wave. They‘d be giggling a lot. They also represented six of the seven girls in the junior-senior class of Niniltna High. Vanessa would not be forming one of Luba‘s court, not because she wouldn‘t have been an ornament to float, town, and event, but because she and Johnny were both working out at Suulutaq. There at least was one reason to be grateful to the mine. Kate didn‘t have to go into town for the parade.

The parade would be led by a bad-tempered Maggie Montgomery in uniform driving Jim‘s Blazer. Jim had avoided leading the parade this time by contriving to have Kenny Hazen call him to Ahtna for an assist on an apprehension.

Park Air erupted back into life, Bobby‘s voice sounding disgruntled. —there‘s Jimmy Moonin on his tricycle, although I don‘t know what the hell he‘s got on his head. Some kind of pad—Oh. Kate later learned that seven-year-old Jimmy had appropriated one of his mother‘s Kotex pads and wrapped it around one eye. In the interests of verisimilitude he‘d stained it with a liberal application of red food coloring, but that was not known by the people watching the parade. Bobby rallied. Kid‘s got a hell of an arm on him, look at him field that Hershey bar! Way to go, Jimmy! Bernie Koslowski‘s gonna be looking serious at you when it comes time to recruit for the basketball team! I‘m thinking point guard! Bobby‘s voice dropped to the low rumble that sounded like a Harley hog in neutral. A long time ago Kate had had the pleasure of hearing that rumble up close and personal, and she couldn‘t stop a nostalgic shiver at the memory.