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Olaus had intimated to Otto Geist, an old family friend, an interest in prehistoric dogs
Otto
was doing a dig in an old settlement. Two or three skulls would be
enough; he would compare them with modern dogs. But Otto did things by
extremes. Dozens of skulls arrived, and two live St. Lawrence Island
huskies , a female, Diomede, and a male, Ungyuk. Diomede became
pregnant and brought forth three husky pups. The pack lived in a pen at
our house, where it was my job to feed them. I was still in grade
school.
My
Aunt Clara worked at the Post Office so she knew just about everybody
in Jackson. She arranged for me to pick up waste food at the hospital
to feed the dogs. I took my toy sled to the place where kitchen scraps
were placed in a special garbage can. Why the dogs and I didn't come
down with various diseases, I don't know. Perhaps our immune systems
were fully operating. Or perhaps the kitchen staff did something else
with food left over from patients with communicable diseases. The five
dogs wolfed down the food I brought. I didn't know that they considered
me a member of the pack until a strange event occurred.
One
day, the dogs escaped and ran after the huge elk herd on the adjacent
Elk Refuge. I ran after them until I realized it was hopeless. I lay
down in the snow, thinking I'd never get the dogs back and that Aimer
would be furious, and I cried out of sheer frustration. In a few
minutes I felt tongues licking my face and hands. They were all there,
having given up their chase of elk; they returned to me as they would
to a member of the pack! I grabbed a couple of collars and we all
returned home.
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