Write On!

              transportation. Every shovel of snow uncovered another yellow
stain! Well, we decided, we would have to go further yet. Surely if
we headed into the forest we would find clean snow. Still
enthusiastic, we entered the sparse scrub that passed for a forest at
this latitude. We soon realized that with spring on its way, although
there was snow here, most of it white, there was not as much as we
expected. Nevertheless we grazed our way farther and farther,
getting a shovelful here and there, slowly accumulating a full tub of
snow.
Although it was some distance back to camp, lugging the
now heavy tub and lifting our gumbo- clad boots, we struggled
gamely. After all, it was worth the hard work. We were going to
have a bath! Back at the kitchen we lifted the tub to the stove and lit
the two burners below. Now we would just have to wait till it
melted and got hot. As Georgina made coffee for our wait, I
rounded up towels and soap for the big event.
They say a watched pot never boils but, when the pot is
filled with snow, it surely does shrink. Imagine our chagrin when
all our hard earned snow was reduced to a mere inch and a half of
water! Disappointed but still game, we found pails and returned to
the hunt for white snow. Three trips to the bush and back with
loaded pails again filled the tub with snow and we sat down, again,
to wait. An hour later, that tub of snow had become three inches of
water! Time was flying and we still hadn't created enough water
for a decent bath. Tired and discouraged, we nevertheless returned
to hauling pails of snow to our tub. Our morning enthusiasm had
waned but we were determined. We had progressed this far; it was
no time to quit! ' The Bath' had become a quest!
By mid afternoon, after refilling the tub with snow three
more times, we had a decent level of water thawed and it was slowly
warming. Tired, discouraged and dirty from our travails, we wanted,
in fact needed, that bath more than ever. Testing the water
temperature one last time, we deemed it ready. I gathered a few
sheets from the cupboard to cover windows, took one last look
around the camp and seeing the lot empty, locked the door. Just as
we were lifting the tub down from the stove and anticipating the
decadence of a real bath, our dreams were rudely interrupted by a
sharp knock on the door!
Not expecting anyone to be around for some hours yet, we
looked askance at each other but neither had any idea, I pulled back
the sheet at the lower comer and peeked out to see a muddy and
disheveled truck driver on the step, just raising his hand to knock