Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
But baby moccasins, I remembered belatedly, I was there in search of baby moccasins.
Val's baby, though not yet born, was depending on her honorary Auntie Dana to come up
with the coolest christening present of all. A little desperate by now, I went in search, re-
fusing to be distracted by the seal gut snowshoes, the ivory letter opener with the hump-
back handle, and—oh, look! Eskimo yo-yos!
On the last aisle, at the end of the aisle, twelve feet from the exit, I found Elena from
Gambell's table. Elena from Gambell had a mouthful of Big Mac and a lap full of fries but
she was happy to sell me a tiny pair of sealskin slippers, lined and cuffed with sea otter fur
and trimmed with beads and a strip of purple skin of some kind. I especially liked the
purple because we don't know yet if Val's baby is a boy or a girl and most of the baby
moccasins I had seen had been trimmed with pink or blue.
Victory was mine for $50. I wrestled myself out of the Egan without buying the
muskrat parka for $4000, but it was a close call.
Lucky for me
AFN
happens only once a year.
