“Make a snow angel while you’re down there,” she shouted.
Paul rose up out of the snow, clearing it from his face and spitting, and plodded to the phone. Norma pulled her machine up to the pump marked diesel and filled up. After Paul had most of the snow out of his shirt that had been sliding down his back, he called the man back.
“Yes.”
“It’s me.”
“Are you alone?”
“Sort of.”
“Clarify.”
“I’m by myself talking to you while the transportation I arranged is fueling up.”
“Why aren’t you transporting yourself?”
“She’s trustworthy.”
“A woman? Who is the woman?”
“She’s no concern. I’ve had past dealings with her.”
“Can you ditch her somewhere?’
“Listen, I really can’t. I’ll explain later.”
“Right. We’ll address the matter of the woman later. I expect that you’ve done as requested.
“Yes. I’m on a payphone.”
“We don’t want to panic anyone that is still behind in Duluth. And we don’t need a story to surface.”
“As you stated and I understand. It’s a very delicate matter.”
“So here it is. Snow Ball is out of his cage and roaming around downtown, and we need you to get him sedated and back to the zoo.”
“This is about a zoo? I don’t understand why we’re not involving the locals with this one. There are still law enforcement agents that stay behind to prevent looting. We could probably use their help.”
“I’ll explain that in a minute. I have other men from the area that have made their way to the job on snowmobiles. They are waiting for you so that they can assist you in any way you need them. Five of them. They will have tranquilizer guns. And one for you. Keep two of the men busy erasing any evidence of the polar bear, you know, tracks and such.”
“I think that the storm will take care of the tracks for us.”
“Fine. Just make certain that it does. Other than that, I won’t tell you how to perform your job. Just get it done.” There was a pause. “You haven’t said anything.”
“I was just thinking. How did the polar bear get out of the zoo?”
“With all of the snow that’s been accumulating he figured out how to use it to build a ramp and climb over the fence that surrounded his cage. Then he did the same with the perimeter fence. Not many people know what’s going on and we’d like to keep it that way. Just take care of this quickly and quietly, before the storm subsides and people come back. The new owner doesn’t want a law suit. Mr. Michelson needs a little time to resurrect business. The place is struggling to keep its doors open. He doesn’t need bad publicity.”
“All of this just for a zoo.”
“It’s important, Mr. Hunter.”
“I understand.”
“We’ll only alert the authorities if we find that it’s absolutely necessary. I’ve set our deadline for 5:30 your time. By that time we’ll have to worry about the remaining emergency crews and stragglers getting up and outside, public safety. After that point we will simply have to give up and alert the public that they have a twelve hundred pound polar bear on the loose”
“What should I do if things get messy? A polar bear can cause a horrible mess of a man.”
“If you can still sedate and remove the bear without public knowledge then there is no sense in bringing us trouble. If a man’s dead, he’s dead. Nothing will change that.” He thought for a moment. “Use the props that we issued you. Make it look like the work of the Illuminati. Blame it on them. Like we did in Minneapolis when that drugged up hooker jumped out of that Saudi prince’s window. Just leave evidence of the shadow government far enough from the body so that it doesn’t seem obvious. A conspiracy involving the elites always seems to go nowhere. Always scares anyone that’s investigating away.”
“Okay.” Paul turned and saw that Norma was nearly finished fueling up. “Where was the polar bear last seen?”
“Lake Avenue. A couple of our men are trying to maintain a visual.”
“They’re not safe. In this kind of snow that animal can move better than their snowmobiles.”
“Then I recommend that you get down there as soon as possible. “
Norma drove up next to him and then slid over and leaned out the passenger window.
“I still gotta pay Bobo for the gas,” she called down.
Paul climbed up on the track and she moved back to the driver’s side so he could slide in. “We’ve really got to get moving, Norma.”
“I’ve got to pay Bobo. So what’s this about?”
“Snow Ball escaped last night. He’s running around downtown.”
“Wow, that’s not good.” She brushed snow off the fur-lined flaps on the hunter’s hat she wore. “We need to call Chubby.”
“We’re not calling Chubby.”
“He’s the best hunter in the area. We could really use Chubby right now.”
“Chubby talks more than you do. There’s no way we’re calling your uncle and telling him what’s going on. The people that I work for would not go for that.”
“Oooh, the mysterious people that you never identify,” she said sarcastically.
“It’s already weird that I brought you. But you just had to have your way.”
“I think we should call Chubby.”
“Chubby’s still in town?”
“He’s camped out on his roof with a shovel so that his roof doesn’t cave in like everybody else’s did during the last super storm.”
“Chubby.” Paul shook his head. “Well, we’re not calling Chubby.”
“You just don’t want to call Chubby because he wrestles with you and sits on you sometimes. He’s just being playful.”
“There’s nothing chubby about Chubby. He’s a giant. He’s got to be over four hundred pounds. The last time he sat on me he broke two of my ribs. There’s nothing playful about two broken ribs.”
“Chubby’s a beast, Hunter. You put a couple of deer skinners in his hands and there isn’t much difference between Chubby and a polar bear. He may be even stronger.”
“I don’t care for your uncle tossing me around and laughing.”
“He’s just playing a little bit rough with you because I told him that you’re some type of secret agent man. He really likes you. He says it all the time.”
“See? That’s just what I mean.”
“What?”
“Both you and Chubby talk too much. You shouldn’t be speculating about what I do and then starting weird rumors.”
They sat quietly for a moment.
“Norma?”
“What?”
“Does Chubby really say that he likes me?”
“Says it all the time.”
“That’s nice. Still doesn’t mean that we can bring him with us.”
“Fine. We’ll leave Chubby out of it. You’re still so sensitive.” She loosened her scarf. “How are we going to do this?”
“We’ll sort out the particulars when we get there. We’ve got to sedate the bear and get him back to the zoo before anyone knows what happened.”
“Well, now we know what the sleigh is for. Why can’t we just kill the bear when we find it?”
“I don’t know. What difference would it make if we killed him? We’d still have to remove him.”
“Probably easier than sedating him and transferring him all the way across town.” She noticed that he was growing impatient with her. “Fine. You call the shots. I was just thinking out loud.”
“And, Norma, this is very important. We can’t tell anybody. I’ll pay you five thousand dollars for helping me.”
“Hell, for five thousand dollars I’ll wrestle that polar bear into a headlock and drag him back to the zoo.”
Norma pulled up next to Bobo’s entrance and opened her door.
“You coming in,
Hunter? Get some coffee or something?”
He sighed. “I need cigarettes.”
They entered the store where a bearded man with a bush of wild red hair was reading a hockey magazine.
“The Wild have got to get a couple of defensemen that aren’t such pussies.”
“I don’t follow football,” said Hunter.
Bobo held up the magazine and ran his finger under the word Hockey.
“What are you two up to, stayin’ behind in this mess? And in the middle of the night? It can’t be good.”
“Hunting polar bears,” Norma said with a smile and Paul glared at her.
“Oh yeah? Well I’m setting a trap for Santa Clause. Goona prove he’s real. Sell the story to the Enquirer, and Santa Clause to the-”
“How about the zoo?” offered Norma. “That’s where we’re going to put our polar bears, aren’t we, Hunter?”
Paul nodded and forced a smile.
“We really got to get on, Bobo,” Paul said, politely.
“You know, I never thought you two’d get back together.”
“Neither did I,” said Paul as he put his arm around Norma and ushered her out of the store. “Hunting polar bears?” he said, looking at Norma when they got outside.
“Oh my!” she said sarcastically. “He might call the editor of the Tribune and it’ll be front page news by morning.” Norma laughed.
“We’re just lucky that there’s no one to call now.”
They rode along through the storm, the blue haze of light from the gauges creating an eerie ambience when contrasted by the whipping swirling white world outside the cab. Tremendous dunes rose before them but the snow taxi conquered them with ease, climbing hungrily and then dropping over the peak, causing the two to brace themselves against the dashboard.
“Now that we’re not dating anymore you could finally tell me what you do for a living. You said before that it would just complicate