Raised by the Midnight Sun: The journey of growing up Alaskan, one season at a time.

By Sparky Jones

A routine spring fishing trip for Mom and Dad, turned into a unpredictable journey for Spring Flower Johnson and her big brother JJ. A modern day little house on the prairie, set in interior Alaska, filled with intrigue, and suspense. Keeping up with daily chores of a subsistence lifestyle while their parents are away, is the least of their worries. They find themselves defending their home from intruders, crossing paths with bears, facing a deadly illness, and making new friends. Readers find themselves losing their breath in fear and finding youthful laughter, while learning Alaska history and survival skills. Raised By the Midnight Sun leads you on an emotional rollercoaster, through birch trees,and over tundra, as Spring Flower decides if the country life is for her. Will their parents allow them to stay behind again once they hear of the dangers they have faced alone?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publication Consultants
• Release date: Jun 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781594333279

Sparky Jones

Sparky Jones, raised in the wilds of Alaska, began writing stories in her journals when she was young. Interior Alaska's long winters and solitude made for prime writing time. Yet, all of her stories stayed locked within the pages of those childhood journals most of her life. Sparky's words and passions run deep. She has a heart for children and has been ministering to the youth of Fairbank for 20 years. When diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, she decided it was time to share her stories, so throughout chemo therapy she started editing them. Sparky lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she is a dispatcher for the northern most Yellow Cab Company in America, a wife, and proud mother of seven children: Lee, Sterling, CY, IvyJaden, Autumn, Latoya, and Shanika and four grandchildren.

Book preview

Service

Chapter One

Staying Behind

Hello, my name is Spring Flower Johnson. I am the twelveyear-old daughter of JJ and Opal. I have one brother, JJ Jr. He is older than me by two years. This is the story of our journey through springtime in Alaska.

I was stirred by my father’s voice outside, and the brightness of the sun delivered me from my slumber. I opened my eyes slowly, feeling the warmth of the sun on my face. I turned and gazed up through my window at the tops of the spruce trees and the multicolored Alaskan sunrise. I remembered today was the beginning of our end of the winter ice fishing trip.

UGH! I breathed under my breath, as I rolled stubbornly from my bed. I didn’t want to go on another fishing trip this year. My brother JJ had stayed home for the last two years, and now I am the same age he was two years ago. Why can’t I stay home? I grumbled as I got dressed and headed outside to plead my case.

Mom was already packing the old green Chevy pickup with all the fishing gear. Dad was lifting one of our generators in the bed of the truck, and it was difficult without a tail gate. My grandpa built the bed of the truck from old scrap wood; he even built boxes in the sides for tools and stuff, but there is only a chain across the back. So there is really no easy way to load anything heavy. I grabbed some sleeping bags and threw them in the back, trying to work up the nerve to ask if I could stay home this year.

Morning, Spring Flower. Nice day to start a trip, huh? Dad said as he rounded the truck. I almost jumped when he spoke, but I played it off by grabbing more gear.

Morning, Dad. Yes, a very nice day, I said as I kissed his cheek. Dad, can I stay home this year? I didn’t wait for him to answer; I just went right on pleading my case. I am twelve this year and JJ was twelve the first year he stayed home. Mom made her way around the pickup, I’m sure, so she could butt in.

I am not sure if you are ready to stay behind, honey. What will you do if there is an emergency? There is no way of getting ahold of your father and me, Mom said, putting her hand on my shoulder. I should have known it would be her I would have to convince.

Mom, I know what to do. If there was ever a problem, I would get JJ and if we needed an adult, we could ride the four-wheeler to Mr. Hill’s place up the road. I hate going fishing or hunting away from home. I always get bored after the first day, and I don’t want to be bored for a week.

JJ, get the coolers and dry food! Dad yelled to my brother, who was probably still sleeping. I don’t know, Spring. Help us load up and your mom and I will think about it, Dad said as he threw some gear my way.

We worked most of the morning loading everything Mom and Dad would need to set up camp in the back of the truck. Mom was making lunch as JJ fussed about me staying behind this year. Look, I don’t want to babysit; she will just get bored here, too. Come on, Mom, this is so stupid! Dad gave him a stern look and asked if I still wanted to stay, even though my brother didn’t want me to.

Yes, I want to stay! I will help cut wood, clean up, and JJ, I can cook for us. You know you would just eat dry meat until Mom and Dad got home, if I wasn’t here. Come on, PLEASE! I pleaded, grinding my teeth. I so wanted to stay home and my brother was just making my chances harder.

Well, JJ, she does have a good argument, Dad said with a smile. Mom set out the food; Dad prayed and we began to eat.

What would you cook? JJ asked with his mouth full. Before I could answer, Mom butted in again.

I could leave some of the food I was going to take with us; you know your sister can cook. Mom and Dad exchanged sly smiles; I was so happy to hear them helping me.

Okay, you can stay behind this time, but if anything goes wrong, you will be going with us on the hunting trip this fall, Dad said. I jumped from my seat, laughing. I ran to my parents, giving them both a kiss.

Thank you, thank you! I will not let you down, and JJ, I will not get bored, I promise, JJ let out a loud sigh, put his face in his hands, and buried his head on the table. When lunch was over, JJ and I helped Mom sort food and load the last-minute stuff. Mom was nervous about me staying, I could tell in her voice. I am sure Dad was, too, but he didn’t show it.

Now JJ, you take good care of your sister and the both of you behave, Dad said as he pulled my .22 rifle from behind the truck seat. Spring, I want you to keep your gun near you, just in case, and make sure you feed the dog.

With balls of excitement rolling around in my tummy, I blurted, Okay, Daddy! so loud Dad jumped. We all laughed. I so did not want to let my parents down. I wanted to make them proud. We all hugged and said our good-byes. Mom and Dad waved as they backed out of the yard. I turned to look at JJ, but he was already back in the house. I ran around the house to our shed to get the dog food and went to feed Bear; he is my mother’s dog. She named him Bear because of his thick black hair, and he looks like a black bear. I was so excited. I dumped some of the food on the ground. I was going to clean it up, but Bear beat me to it. So I walked over to the water house to fill his water dish.

I wanted to get a good head start at staying home, so I decided to start by cutting wood for the fire tonight. Dad always gets plenty of firewood, yet it still needs to be split and stacked against the woodshed. Most of the time, Mom and I leave the wood cutting to Dad and JJ, but I want to do it today. I had to make sure JJ would appreciate me staying home, not be mad at me for staying behind. I want us to enjoy our spring together.

After I cut a small pile of wood, I began stacking it on our woodpile. When a squirrel ran up the pile right into my face, it scared the living daylights right out of me. I ran to the steps and grabbed my .22. I may not have chosen to go to camp and fish, but I can hunt at home. I love to hunt small animals. I’d like to hunt some rabbits and grouse while my parents are gone. Springtime in Alaska is one of the best times to hunt rabbits and grouse anyway. This time of year, and in the fall, they change colors, changing from white to brown and black for summer. When they are two colors or more, it makes for easy spotting. By the time I got back to the pile of wood, the squirrel was gone. Oh, well, I can hunt later. I finished stacking the rest of the wood and made a perfect slanted angle up the side of the shed.

As I covered the wood with the tarp to keep it dry, I heard our four-wheeler start. So I ran around the house. JJ was on the four-wheeler revving the engine. Where are you going? I asked with my hand on my hip.

None of your business! he snapped. I’ll be back in a little while. I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to go anywhere; I didn’t ask before my parents left, so I waved good-bye as I walked back to the house. When I went to put my gun away, I stopped to look at my house.

Our house is an A-frame cabin, that means it is shaped like a capital A. Big A-frames usually have a door and two windows downstairs, and one window upstairs in the front. That is what mine looks like, but we have a small A-frame, so we only have one small window downstairs by the door, and one large one upstairs (which is my bedroom window).

Downstairs inside the front door is our entryway and our living room. The back is a small room my parents share. Between the two is our kitchen and a little room, I guess, you may call our bathroom. Although you can’t take a bath in there. There is no way a bathtub would fit in there. It’s only slightly bigger than our broom closet. The only thing in there is a counter with a mirror above it.

We don’t have plumbing, so we don’t have running water. We haul our water from a glacier-fed stream just outside of the nearest city, Fairbanks. Many people and families get water from the Fox Watering Hole in any jug that holds water; we carry ours in fivegallon jugs. It is fun to go out and climb the trails up behind the stream while Dad fills the jugs. Sometimes Dad lets me drink right from the spout if no one else is there. The water is so cold it gives you a brain freeze, and it is so clear there is virtually no taste, but it is so refreshing. I have tasted city water, and I would rather drink from a stream any day.

With no running water, our indoor toilet is a port-a-potty, which is a plastic toilet that sits low to the floor. It has a bottom piece that stores your poop, then you have to dump it yourself. Not a fun job, so most of the time we just use the outhouse. It’s a little shed out to the side of our house. It sits on top of a huge hole in the ground. Inside it has a bench and in the middle of that bench is a toilet seat. It is not heated, nor does it have lights. The smell is awful, as it would be, sitting over a huge pit of poop. My mom tries to make it look nice, she even hung a picture of her friend Mike in there. But no matter how pretty she tries to make it, you still want to quickly use it and get out before the smell knocks you out.

When I got back in the house, it was dark compared to outside. So I opened the curtains. We do not use any lights in the summer. We get our electricity from a generator, and it runs on gas. So in order to save on gas, we only use what we need, nothing more. Once I opened the curtains, I grabbed some dry meat and climbed the ladder that went up to the loft.

The loft consists of two rooms; in back, JJ’s room, and in the front, mine. Because our cabin is an A-frame, our roof is slanted. You can only walk upright in the middle of the room. I like my room though; I have all my posters of flowers hung on the ceiling. I can only hang paper because anything else would fall off. My window looks out across the front of our house to the woods. In the mornings I can watch the sun rise. All the wonderful colors slowly pushing their way across the sky. It is really quiet out in the country. Once in a while, you will hear a small plane or snow machines in the distance. This time of year, you might hear more dogs, and there are more birds now that it’s spring. I have a single bed with a flowered quilt my mother made for me. My dresser is old and has a mirror that is supposed to hang above it but it can’t because of the roof. So it just leans against the wall. Really that is all that fits, except my dad’s old trunk. It was his trunk when he was in the military, and now I keep all my memories in there.

I settled on my bed to read when I heard JJ coming back with the four-wheeler. Since it is so quiet out here, you can hear any vehicle for miles. Mom says she can hear when Dad turns off the main road. I’m not sure how much of that is true though because sometimes she can’t even hear me and I am right upstairs.

When Mom and I went to the library in town, I picked a book about a girl from the city. I do not know too much about city life. Just what I have seen on TV. I don’t watch much TV though; we only watch on Friday evenings or special days. It saves on fuel for the generator. I have always