Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 THREE DAYS KATER MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1964 AROUND 8:00 A.M. VALDEZ ELEMENTARY SCHOOL "Welcome, Jackson! I'm Miss Lawrence. Please come in!"

Jackson stood in the doorway of the classroom and tried to hide his surprise. This teacher was no grumpy grandma type. She was young and tall, with long black hair and a bright smile. Jackson scanned the classroom. It was sunny, with colorful maps and posters on the walls. About twenty kids sat at desks lined up in rows. The boys all had short hair and were dressed in neat shirts and pants. Jackson glanced at his rumpled secondhand flannel shirt Mom had found yesterday in a church used-clothes bin. He patted down his overgrown curls—maybe he should have cut his hair. Too late now. "Class, this is Jackson," Miss Lawrence said brightly. "Hello, Jackson," the class all said together. Jackson's stomach started to churn, and the pancakes and two glasses of milk from breakfast sloshed around in his stomach.

Was he going to puke? All over the floor? He'd never been to school before. But he was pretty sure puking was the worst thing that could happen to a kid. He took a breath… Get a grip. Miss Lawrence led him to the closet where he could hang his coat and leave his lunchbox. He took off his beat-up army backpack, still filled with his emergency supplies. No, he probably didn't need them here in Valdez. But you never knew. Miss Lawrence pointed out an empty desk in the middle of the room. As Jackson sat down, a girl with short brown hair and cat-eye glasses leaned over and smiled. "I'm Leonor." "I'm Chris," said a short but muscular boy with fox-colored hair. "I'm Nora," whispered a smiling girl with long yellow braids.

"I'm Mary," said the rosy-cheeked girl next to her. Other kids looked at Jackson and waved. None of them seemed stuck-up, as far as Jackson could tell. "Jackson," Miss Lawrence said, "you're just in time for our morning geography lesson. Is everyone ready?" "Yes, Miss Lawrence!" everyone sang. She stood in front of a big map of Alaska that hung in the front of the room. Jackson's stomach settled. Finally, the kids weren't all staring at him. "Alaska's capital is…?" Miss Lawrence said. "Juneau!" chanted the class. "Biggest city?" "Anchorage!" "When did Alaska become a state?" "1959!" "When did people first come to Alaska?" It was quiet for a few seconds.

A few kids tried. "In the 1800s, during the gold rush!" Miss Lawrence shook her head. "1700s, Russian explorers?" "No…" Miss Lawrence said. "During the Ice Age!" Nora called out. Miss Lawrence smiled. "Yes." Wow, Jackson thought. That was a long time ago. "Nobody knows exactly when the first people came to Alaska," Miss Lawrence said. "But it was definitely more than ten thousand years ago. And some of those people were my ancestors. As you all know, I am Unangax." That's one of the main Alaskan Native Cultural groups, Jackson thought, thinking back to the books he and Mom had read about Alaska. There are many groups—Inupiaq, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Yup'ik, Cup'ik, Athabascan, Eyak, Tsimshian, Tlingit, Haida, Sugpiaq… and each is

different. They have different languages and customs, different myths and arts. "Hey, Miss Lawrence!" Chris said with a sneaky grin. "You don't look ten thousand years old!" Kids giggled, and Miss Lawrence let out a big laugh—almost as loud as Mom's. "I was not born during the Ice Age, thank you," she said. "Where did your ancestors come from, Miss Lawrence?" Leonor asked. Miss Lawrence pointed to a big piece of land across the sea from Alaska. "They came from here," she said. "Today it's called Siberia." She went on to explain that the sea between Siberia and Alaska was called the Bering Sea. "But back during the Ice Age, the land and oceans around the world looked very different. Part of the Bering Sea was dry land. So people could walk across to Alaska."