Welcome to White Fox Bay - Chapter One

Emma leaned toward the small airplane window and looked down.

For the last little while there had been almost nothing below them but trees, water and rock. Every so often she had spotted a road or a scattering of buildings, but mostly it seemed to go on forever.

Then the plane banked slightly and she saw it.

White Fox Bay.

The community stretched along the blue water below, houses scattered between the trees and rocky ground. From up here she could pick out a few larger buildings and what she assumed must be the school. Beyond them was more forest. And more water. And more forest.

Well, she thought. I guess I'm really doing this.

Three months earlier, accepting a teaching job in a northern community had seemed like an adventure.

Sitting on an airplane about to land there, it suddenly seemed considerably more real.

Emma had taught before. She knew classrooms. She knew lesson plans and report cards and the particular expression children got when they were absolutely certain the teacher hadn't noticed what they were doing.

It wasn't the teaching that worried her.

Everything else?

That was another matter.

The wheels hit the runway with a thump.

Emma sat back in her seat and smiled despite herself.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Here we go.”

A few minutes later, she stepped down from the plane with her backpack over one shoulder.

The first thing she noticed was the air.

It smelled different. Fresh and cool, with the unmistakable scent of trees even here at the airport.

The second thing she noticed was the airport itself.

Emma stopped.

She had known it would be small.

She had not realized quite how small.

She looked at the little building, then back at the plane.

Right.

She adjusted her backpack and followed the other passengers toward the door.

She was ready for whatever her new community had in store.

At least, she hoped she was.

Then she walked inside.

And discovered an audience.

There seemed to be people everywhere—sitting in chairs, standing along the walls, talking to one another. Children wandered between adults. A little girl in a pink hat stared openly at Emma. Someone else smiled at her.

Then another person did.

Emma suddenly became very conscious of the fact that she was standing in the doorway wearing a backpack and looking completely lost.

A woman with long dark hair separated herself from the group and came toward her with a warm smile.

“Emma?”

“Yes?”

“I'm Mary Ann. Principal at the school.”

Relief washed over her.

“Oh! Hi!”

Mary Ann laughed. “Welcome to White Fox Bay.”

“Thank you. It's good to finally be here.”

Emma glanced around the room again.

Mary Ann followed her gaze.

“Busy day.”

Emma nodded, although she had a growing suspicion that at least some of those people knew perfectly well who she was.

She would discover later that she was right.

Emma's luggage had made it on the same flight, which felt like an excellent start.

Mary Ann helped load everything into her truck and then drove slowly through the community.

“There’s the nursing station,” she said, pointing. “Band office is over there. That's the store—you'll probably want that one later.”

Emma tried to remember everything.

Nursing station. Band office. Store.

Turn here.

School there.

Which road had they just come down?

She had absolutely no idea.

Mary Ann kept talking, waving occasionally at people as they passed. People waved back.

Emma watched houses, trucks, dogs and children slide past the window. The community looked both smaller and larger from the ground than it had from the air. Roads curved around rocky patches and stands of trees rather than following the neat grid she was accustomed to.

Then Mary Ann slowed in front of a small yellow house.

“And this is you.”

Emma looked at it.

“My house?”

“Your house.”

For the first time that day, something inside her relaxed.

It was small. It was cheerful. And after airplanes and airports and introductions and trying desperately to remember where everything was, it looked wonderfully quiet.

“I love it.”

The house was even better.

There was a small living room, a kitchen and dining area, comfortable furniture and a wood stove that Emma suspected she was going to have to learn something about before winter.

Mary Ann showed her around, pointed out a few things she needed to know, and handed her the keys. 

“There's a list of phone numbers on the fridge. If you need anything, call me.”

“I will.”

“And you know where the school is?”

Emma hesitated.

Mary Ann laughed.

“Across from you.”

Emma looked through the window.
“Oh.”

There it was.

“Okay. I can probably find that.”

“I have faith in you.”

After Mary Ann drove away, Emma stood alone in the middle of the living room.

Silence.

For the first time since she'd left home that morning, nobody was talking to her. Nobody needed anything from her. She didn't have to remember directions or names or where she'd put her boarding pass.

She dropped her backpack beside her luggage and looked around.

Her house.

Her new house.

In White Fox Bay.

She was really here.

Her stomach growled.

Emma looked down at it.

“Oh, come on.”

Emma went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

Empty.

Of course it was empty.

She stared hopefully at the shelves for another few seconds, as though food might appear if she gave the refrigerator sufficient opportunity.

Nothing.

“Excellent planning, Emma.”

She closed the door.

Then she remembered Mary Ann pointing out a red building during their drive.

The store.

She could do this.

Emma grabbed her backpack and headed outside.

She had considered asking Mary Ann for a ride to the store before she left.

She was glad she hadn't.

Mostly.

The community wasn't that big. Walking would help her get her bearings.

At least that was the theory.

She followed the road in the direction she remembered, mentally replaying Mary Ann's tour.

Store was down toward the water. I think.

A truck passed and the driver lifted a hand.

Emma automatically waved back.

A few minutes later, two children and a dog watched her walk past. One of the children said something to the other.

Emma didn't hear what it was.

She had a pretty good guess.

New teacher.

Apparently anonymity was not going to be one of the perks of this job.

She kept walking.

And then she saw it.

A large red building ahead.

WHITE FOX BAY STORE.

Emma grinned.

“I found it.”

There was nobody nearby to appreciate this achievement, but that didn't make it any less impressive.

Inside, the store was much bigger than Emma had expected.

She picked up a basket and began working her way along the aisles.

Bread. Milk. Eggs. Coffee.

Definitely coffee.

Something for dinner.

Something for breakfast.

She was debating how much food one person realistically needed when she became aware of someone standing beside her.

Emma looked down.

A little girl in a purple hoodie was looking up at her.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” Emma said.

The girl studied her for a moment.

“Are you the new teacher?”

Emma smiled.

“I am.”

“I knew it.”

“You did?”

The girl nodded, clearly pleased that her information had been correct.

Emma glanced toward the woman standing nearby, who smiled at her.

“News travels fast,” the woman said.

“So I'm learning.”

“What grade are you teaching?” the girl asked.

Emma told her.

The girl immediately announced the names of several children Emma would apparently have in her class, along with information Emma suspected those children might not have volunteered themselves.

By the time they said goodbye, Emma knew considerably more about her future students than she had five minutes earlier.

She continued shopping with a smile.

Tomorrow suddenly felt a little less intimidating.

It wasn't until Emma stepped outside carrying two grocery bags that she discovered a flaw in her otherwise successful plan.

She had to carry everything home.

The bags hadn't seemed particularly heavy inside the store.

They were considerably heavier after five minutes.

And her house seemed considerably farther away than the store had when she'd walked there.

She switched the bags from one hand to the other.

Then switched them back.

A truck passed her.

For one glorious second she thought it might stop.

It didn't.

“Should've asked Mary Ann for the ride,” she muttered.

Still, she recognized the road now.

She recognized a few of the houses.

And when she finally spotted her little yellow house ahead, she felt absurdly pleased with herself.

She had arrived in White Fox Bay.

She had found her house.

She had found the store.

And, perhaps most importantly, she had found coffee.

Not bad for day one.

By evening, the light outside had begun to soften.

Emma sat at the little kitchen table with her first dinner in White Fox Bay.

Across the road, she could see the school.

Tomorrow she would walk through those doors for the first time.

She would meet the staff.

See her classroom.

Start figuring out what she'd actually gotten herself into.

Tonight, though, she was tired.

More than tired, really.

There was an odd mixture of excitement and homesickness sitting somewhere in her chest. Everything familiar was very far away. Everything outside her window was new.

Emma looked around the little house.

It didn't feel like home.

Not yet.

But maybe it would.

Outside, two ravens settled on a wire near the road.

Emma watched them for a moment, finished her dinner and smiled.

She had made it through her first day in White Fox Bay.

Tomorrow she would see her new school.

For tonight, this was enough.