Letters From Alaska: Rabbit Creek

 

The fall of 2007, someone stole my car. With my dog in it. Whoever they were cleaned out the car, and returned it, with my dog, Siddha inside. It was the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me to date. Aside from my little sister dying, that is.

I have lost most of the scraps of faith I had in our policing system. I know, it's not like the movies, but I would have been tickled if the police showed the littlest bit of interest in my plight. They did not. Like the IRS, or the USPS, they are mainly there to disperse forms and tell you there is nothing they can do.

But the strangest thing is not only what they took, but what they didn't. A few things; Taken: toilet paper, ancient Luna bar, Siddha's dog food, bag of rotten fruit, French dictionary. Not Taken: Jar of foriegn coins, tools, silver necklace, title and registration. Their hand prints remained on my dirty car, indicating someone with short, cigar-stub fingers and wide palms. Their height was indicated by how far the mirror and seat were tilted. If only I could kind find a tall, heartless, but not too much, man with paw hands, maybe I would have a suspect.

The ride home was spent making sense of the ordeal, narrating my own commercials, and singing love songs for Siddha, who didn't seem to mind.

Though the trip was almost useless, three things I appreciated greatly happened:

I saw Denali for the first time ever. It would seem that I never looked high enough. Once I saw it towering over the rest of the mountain range, I couldn't stop looking at it. I wonder what the world looks like from up there.

Stellar's sea lion in Seward. In a tank, but nonetheless magnificent. It weighed 2,300lbs, and resembled a van with flippers. It glided through the water gracefully, though it was most likely one of the biggest animals I have ever seen, save elephants. But there is something unpredictable about Sea Lions- maybe it's their appropriate name- they seem tender as puppies until they show their canines.

Also, we passed a huge SUV pulling a camping trailer that was on fire. I'm not sure how long it had been that way, or what they were going to do about it, but it seemed interesting.

Female black bear with three cubs. They ran towards us, only to be slapped back by their mother. She seemed to give us a grief-stricken look, as though she didn't know what she was going to do with all those babies.

All in all, it will be a story. And I was just thinking about it a few months ago how I hadn't been robbed in awhile.