After breakfast, Colin saw the doctor, and they both gave statements to local law enforcement. Now, all annoyances behind them, they were in line, waiting to board the helicopter that would take them to the Mendenhall Glacier.
Joshua clutched Colin’s arm and glanced ahead to where uniformed attendants were helping other tourists board the craft. “Oh god,” he moaned.
“D’you think I’d take you on this thing if I thought it was going tokillus?” Colin asked, trying to be heard over the noise of the chopper blades.
“Oh, Colin, ofcoursenot! I’m just… nervous.” He blew out a breath, then inhaled deeply, trying to relax. “The damned noise is the worst part!”
“Yeah,” Colin admitted. “Itisloud.”
David grabbed Joshua’s arm. “Here,” he said. He placed a plastic bag in Joshua’s hand and then handed another to Colin. “This’ll help.”
“Earplugs!”
“Perfect,” Colin said, placing the soft plugs into his ears. “Count on the Professor. He’s always prepared.”
“Well, that does help,” Joshua admitted. “But… but…”
“Let’s go, babe,” Colin said, nudging him forward. “We’re up… so to speak.”
The four men clambered into the small craft, and once the pilots were sure they were securely buckled, they gunned the engines and lifted off.
Joshua felt his heart slam against his chest as the chopper left the ground. The whirring of the blades, coupled with the noise of the chopper and the sinking sensation of being lifted into the cool Alaskan air, triggered a sickening wave of anxiety. He closed his eyes and gripped Colin’s arm, struggling to steady his nerves.
“Josh, look at me.”
He raised his head and met his husband’s beautiful eyes. “Remember when we rode the Ferris wheel? Remember how much fun it ended up being once you just relaxed?”
“I do.”
“This is just like that.” His hand cupped Joshua’s chin. “Don’t close your eyes, baby.” He turned Joshua’s head toward the huge windows surrounding them. “Look out there!” He wrapped both arms around Joshua’s body, holding him tightly, his strong arms offering protection and security. “You’ll never get another view like this one, Josh,” Colin told him. “Don’t waste it.Look!”
Joshua leaned against Colin’s shoulder for a moment, then allowed his eyes to scan the view outside their windows. The sheer beauty of the vast snow-covered mountains, glittering blue-white glaciers, and untouched wilderness below caught his breath, diverting his thoughts from the nervousness that had gripped him only moments earlier. A tentative smile crept across his face as he gazed out of the helicopter's window, feeling his anxiety ease, transforming into exhilaration and wonder.
“You OK, Josh?” Nate asked. “Isn’t it beautiful?” He pointed ahead to where the enormous glacier sprawled. “We’re going to walk on that!”
“Pretty damned cool,” Joshua replied, smiling. He turned to Colin and kissed his cheek. “Thank you,” he whispered against his ear.
“You all relaxed now?” Colin asked him, grinning.
“Well, I wouldn’t gothatfar!”
Joshua leaned towards the window as the helicopter descended, taking in every detail of the icy landscape below. “Walking on a glacier,” he murmured, shaking his head. “How cool arewe!”
“Yeah,” Colin muttered, unsnapping his seatbelt as a ranger opened their door. “Us and fifty thousand other tourists.”
“True enough,” one of the pilots told him as they climbed from the craft. “But the experience you’ll have here will be unique toyou. That’s the beauty of it!”
The four friends stood on the icy surface, getting their bearings, stuffing their earplugs into jacket pockets. The air was crisp and clean, filled with a purity that seemed part of the vast, frozen expanse that stretched before them in a dreamlike tableau of white and blue.
“My god,” David said, looking around him. “This thing is huge!”
Colin indicated a towering wall of ice rising close to where they stood, its surfaces adorned with intricate patterns and shades of blue that seemed to transform with the angle of the sunlight. “Look how it changes as we move.”
In the background, the ranger guide spoke to the group. “Glacial ice isn’t like the ice in your freezer. It is formed from the gradual compression of snow over thousands of years.”
“Why are they blue?” Nate asked.
“Glacial ice is very dense. It absorbs every color of the spectrum except blue, giving glaciers their characteristic hue.”
