Alaska Adventure (3 page)

“Frankly, I’m much more worried about the mosquitoes,” Laurel returned, laughing.

Cassie felt guilty for having been caught daydreaming. Her best friend simply knew her too well. She couldn’t help letting her mind drift off at the oddest times—when she was in class, for example, or even when, like now, she was on the phone with someone calling from hundreds of miles away.

Her two main passions, art and daydreaming, had something in common. And that was that they both took her out of her everyday life. In part, preferring to live in a world of fantasy was simply her nature. Yet there was another important factor that contributed to her tendency to retreat into herself: the fact that she’d always been chubby.

She wasn’t exactly what anyone would call fat, but she’d always been plump enough that the other kids used to lease her about her weight. The fact that she was also uncoordinated didn’t help. She was the type who was always picked last to be on a team, the girl who elicited groans from the others whenever it was her turn to bat during a baseball game.

Now, whenever she looked into the mirror, she had to admit she wasn’t that different from a lot of the other girls. During high school, she’d shot up a few inches, her curves changing enough to give her a silhouette that was pleasantly round, even if it was a little too full. Her coloring was striking, and she told herself that people were more likely to notice her full head of curly red hair and her bright blue eyes than the extra ten pounds she carried. Yet she still felt different. Between her natural tendency to be shy and her self-consciousness over being plump, she preferred being alone, pursuing what was important to her. When Saturday night rolled around, she was happy staying home by herself or with a friend, watching TV or renting a video—usually topping off the evening by ordering in a pizza or whipping up a batch of brownies.

“Well, Laurel,” Cassie said, determined to stop letting her mind wander and instead concentrate on the phone conversation, “it sounds like you’ve got a great summer ahead of you.”

“I’m already counting the days!” Laurel assured her. “How about you? Have you thought about what you’re going to do?”

“I’m looking forward to spending three long months at home. Just think—no classes, no grades, and no exams. Oh, I’m still hoping to find a job somewhere in town. But mostly I want to paint. I’ve got a million ideas that I simply haven’t had the time to follow up on, thanks to that weekly paper in English Lit and those problem sets in Calculus and everything else that’s been keeping me too busy to breathe all semester.”

The girls had just hung up when Cassie’s father poked his head in the doorway.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize you were in here.”

“That’s okay. I’ve finished talking on the phone.”

“I wanted to get a book.”

“Help yourself. We’ve got thousands.”

Dr. Davis
scanned the shelves, his head bent to one side as he read the titles on the books’ spines.

“Who called?” he asked pleasantly.

“Laurel.”

“How is she? Is she enjoying spring break?”

“She’s so focused on her summer that she’s barely thinking about spring.” Dragging herself off the couch and perching on the thickly padded arm, Cassie continued, “Laurel’s got this crazy plan. Believe it or not, she’s going to Alaska this summer.”

“Really?” Dr. Davis sat down at his desk, putting the book he’d retrieved from the shelf off to one side. He fixed his gaze on Cassie, pressing the tips of his fingers together to form an inverted V.

“There’s some research project one of the professors at the university is running. I think he’s a biologist.”

“Actually, he’s an ecologist.”

It took a moment for the meaning of her father’s words to register. “You mean you’ve heard about this project?”

“Certainly. Ethan Wells and I have been friends for years. We met when we both served on the university’s undergraduate admissions committee.” He paused for a moment before adding, “As a matter of fact, he called me just last week.”

“Really?” Cassie was barely listening. She was much less interested in hearing about her father’s friends at the university than she was in studying the outline of his silhouette, wondering how she could capture on canvas the odd shadows cast by the late-afternoon light.

“It was you he wanted to talk about.”

“Me?” Cassie’s interest was suddenly piqued. “Why on earth would some science professor I’ve never even met want to talk to me?”

“He remembered a conversation he and I had about you last spring. It was back when you were trying to decide whether to go away to college or to stay right here in Mountainville.”

Cassie squirmed uncomfortably.

“Ethan told me he remembered my saying I was concerned about your reluctance to try new things,” Lawrence Davis went on.

“Daddy,” Cassie protested, feeling her cheeks redden, “do you have to go around telling our personal business to total strangers?”

“Ethan’s not a stranger,” Dr. Davis said gently. “He’s a friend.”

Cassie was growing more and more uneasy. She wasn’t sure where all this was leading ... but the gnawing feeling in her stomach told her there was an excellent chance it would turn out to be a place she wouldn’t be pleased about.

“Go on,” she urged, swallowing hard.

“I’ll cut to the chase. Cassie, Dr. Wells wants you to be part of his research team this summer.”

It was Cassie who finally broke the long, heavy silence that followed Professor Davis’s announcement.

“You’re joking, right? You’re just trying to scare me into taking school more seriously. Or ... or maybe into thinking about transferring to another college. Or—”

“I’m not joking, Cassie. This is a wonderful opportunity. Your mother and I have made a mistake in babying you. Of course, we love having you here all the time, but in the long run we’re not doing you much of a service. You’ve never been off on your own, learning to take care of yourself. It’s high time you spread your wings a little. And this is the perfect way.”

“But—but I don’t know anything about biology!” Cassie’s mind raced as she struggled to come up with a convincing argument why this plan of her father’s was absurd. “And Alaska’s so far away. And—and—”

“Ethan and I discussed all that. He understands that you’re not a budding scientist. He’s willing to teach you whatever you need to know. What’s even more valuable to him are your other traits. He knows you’re conscientious and responsible and hardworking....”

For the second time in the past few minutes, Cassie stopped listening. She was off in another world. But this time, it wasn’t one of colors and shapes. It was one of mosquitoes and bears, wet feet and aching muscles. She pictured herself in an untamed wilderness, thousands of miles away from home. She saw a girl who was tired, lonely, uncomfortable, and more than a little scared.

She was tempted to protest, to rack her brain until she came up with a way of getting her father to change his mind. But the determination in his voice told her it was no use. And if she knew anything at all about her mother, she could be certain she felt exactly the same way.

The decision had been made ... and there was no going back. Like it or not, she was going to Alaska. Somehow, even knowing that her best friend was going with her wasn’t enough to keep a hard knot from forming in the pit of her stomach—a knot Cassie suspected wouldn’t go away until after she’d come back home to Mountainville at the end of the summer.

Chapter Three

“Dr. Ethan Wells. Department of Biology.”

Mariah Burke read the words on the plaque aloud, her voice dripping with disdain even though there was no one around to hear. In fact, as she stood outside the door at the end of an undistinguished pale gray cinder-block hallway in the deserted basement of the Life Sciences building, her books balanced casually on one hip, she could have been the only creature in the world.

The only
living
creature, at least. Lining the corridor were large glass cases displaying endless varieties of insects, butterflies, and reptiles—all of them dead. Mariah had barely given them a glance as she’d come down the hall, her reluctance about this mission reflected in the slowness of her pace.

Yes, this was the place. She hesitated a moment longer. Then, letting out a sigh, she rapped on the door.

“Come in,” answered a deep voice from within.

Here goes,
thought Mariah. She paused for a moment, smoothing her long black hair, hanging down her back in thick waves. Then she threw open the door and strode inside.

Her first impression was that she’d stepped into an enclave of complete chaos. The metal shelving that lined two of the walls was covered with cheerful clutter, not only books and journals and stacks of papers, but also rocks, fossils, and the types of specimens she’d breezed past in the display cases. The large metal desk was similarly covered with disheveled piles of books and papers. A computer was pushed off to one side.

Hanging over the desk, next to a bulletin board covered with photographs, newspaper articles, and Post-its with telephone numbers scrawled across them, was a large poster. On it was a photograph of a magnificent mountain range. Jagged black rock reached high into the sky, the pure white of the snow-covered peaks a startling contrast. Underneath, in bold letters, were the words “Alaska: The Last Frontier.”

“Dr. Wells?” asked Mariah.

“That’s me.”

He sat at his desk, a stack of papers laid out before him. He was younger than she’d expected, probably in his thirties. Through wire-rimmed glasses peered a pair of piercing dark eyes. Thick, wavy black hair covered his head, curling just over his collar. He was dressed casually in a plaid flannel shirt, well-worn jeans, and a pair of scuffed brown leather boots.

“I’m Mariah Burke. Dr. Lewis suggested I talk to you.”

“Ah, yes. I’ve been expecting you.”

“You have?”

“Nate Lewis called me this morning. Take a seat.”

Mariah was suddenly uneasy. She could feel her confidence slipping away. She hadn’t expected Dr. Lewis, her genetics professor, to call ahead.

He was the one who’d first told Mariah about Dr. Wells’s research project. Mariah was the star pupil in his class. The fact that she was also the only freshman in a class full of sophomores and juniors made her straight-A average even more outstanding.

When Dr.
Lewis had called Mariah into his office, she couldn’t imagine what he wanted to say.

“Mariah,” Dr.
Lewis began, taking off the thick glasses that he always wore during class, “I think you have an exciting future ahead of you. You are an excellent scientist. You quickly grasp even the most difficult concepts, your lab work is impeccable.. ..”

Mariah was about to say “Thank you” when Dr. Lewis shook his head.

“But there is something missing. You have no experience with the practical side of science. Everything you know, you’ve learned from books. There’s so much more to the natural world than what you can read about on the printed page.”

Before she could defend herself, pointing out that a pre-med student majoring in biology had little need for anything other than book knowledge, Dr. Lewis handed her a Xerox copy of a journal article. “Have you met Dr. Wells?” he asked.

Mariah shook her head.

“Ah. That’s too bad. Ethan Wells is someone you should know.”

She glanced at the title of the article, still not understanding. “ ‘Limnology of Three Small Lakes on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska,’ ” she read aloud. With a shrug, she told him, “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“Limnology is the study of freshwater lakes and ponds. It’s just one of Dr. Wells’s interests, and one of the many areas he’s incorporating into the research project he’s conducting in the field this summer. He’s taking a group of students with him to Alaska. He’s running a project that involves really getting out there. Actually
experiencing
the world of science, Mariah, rather than simply observing it from afar. Being part of something like that is as different from studying science in a lab as ... as the difference between reading about Egypt and getting on a camel and traveling through the desert to the Great Pyramid.”

Smiling, Dr. Lewis added, “I think you would benefit greatly from an experience like this.”

Mariah’s first reaction had been one of horror. The idea of spending two months slogging around Alaska in a pair of hip boots, brandishing a spray can of insect repellent, was anything but appealing. But slowly it occurred to her that Dr. Lewis wasn’t really giving her much of a choice. He was Mountainville University’s pre-med advisor, advising undergraduate students who hoped to get into medical school one day, and she’d been hoping that he’d write her a glowing recommendation when it was time to apply.

Then there was the issue of finding a way of making med schools sit up and take notice. A project like this might be just the thing she needed in a couple of years to distinguish her from the hundreds of other applicants to the most prestigious, competitive medical schools.

Besides, she reasoned, if she went ahead and applied, and then wasn’t accepted as a member of Dr. Wells’s research team, at least she’d be able to go back to Dr. Lewis and tell him she’d tried. Then he’d keep her in mind when something more to her liking came along ... something she could do
indoors,
far away from mud and bugs and long days of strenuous effort.

“Tell me a little about yourself,” Dr. Wells said congenially, folding his hands on the desk in front of him. “Where are you from?”

“Beverly Hills.” Automatically Mariah stuck her chin up a little higher. It was a defiant gesture she’d picked up since coming to school back east. Whenever people heard she was from one of the wealthiest sections of Los Angeles, they either teased her or, even worse, silently made their own assumptions. “My father, Oliver Burke, is a staff surgeon at the UCLA Biomedical Center.”

“He’s a plastic surgeon, isn’t he?”

Marian’s chin rose even higher. “Plastic surgery isn’t all nose jobs and tummy tucks, you know. He’s done groundbreaking work in the area of developing new techniques for grafting skin on burn victims—”