Chevy smiled back. “What will it take? My boy won’t take the hit. He just won’t. You do one thing to him. Just one push. One kick and I’ll be the one you’ll have to wrestle with. Me.” Chevy pointed to his wide chest. “And you have to remember one thing. There’s others like you that I can call in. Others who are stronger. Smarter. Like that dumb bitch said—that useless piece of scum walking next to him right now. ‘You don’t know who you’re dealing with.’”

Ubluriaq’s nose was touching his. “I’m supposed to be scared, am I, Old Man? I’m supposed to quiver and shake because of your misinformed threat. A call-in is a call-in. No take backs. No do-overs. It’s on, Old Man, and I won’t mind having you for an appetizer.”

They watched the Inuit couple make their way along the road.

“Let’s stop at the liquor store,” Aviak said. Her edge was wearing off. The thing about walking and drinking is that you make the alcohol circulate faster and that hampers the enjoyment of it all. Aviak had a whisper of sweat sitting on her upper lip. “Come on! Let’s stop at the liquor store!”

Kunak looked back at her and shook his head. “Nauk.” Maybe he could take care of Aviak. Treat her good. Keep her sober. Live the good man’s life. He wanted to get her to The Hope. Get a sandwich or something into her gut.

“No, nuliaq. Straight to The Hope for some eats.” Kunak kept walking. He knew how he was with booze. He knew how it ate him up and spit him out every day of his life.

“I got money and we have to walk all the way down that big hill and then up the other side. There are some things that I don’t want to remember!” Aviak pulled open the door of the liquor store on 106 Avenue. A cowbell clanged against the glass door, making Kunak stop and look back. That sound, he thought, I know that sound. I dream that sound. Except it’s not a dream. It’s a nightmare. That’s the sound at the end of my nightmare. In the nightmare I am walking on a street at nighttime. All the city lights are off. I’m in a city of darkness and the hollow sound of a bell rings out into the night. It’s the only sound there is in the city of darkness. People have turned on their car lights so they can see. In the dream, the cars can’t move and the sound of the cowbell bongs over everything. It keeps ringing out over the river, over and over.

Kunak shrugged his shoulders and muttered, “Who the fuck knows. I’ll wait here for a bit and see if Aviak comes along.” He squatted on the sidewalk while the traffic zipped past him. Big trucks. Loud mufflers. People racing toward the river valley in a rush. High school–aged teens trying to cross the street. It was getting later in the day. School was out.