The fire’s smoke also helps alleviate the incessant swarm of mosquitos. After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the Canadian wilderness, learning. Once he can make fire, Brian can cook things like fish, birds, and eggs. He learns to make fire by striking his hatchet against a flint-like rock after his father and good friend appear in his dreams, giving him coded messages about how to do so. He meets a bear while foraging for raspberries and is later attacked by a porcupine in his shelter. Brian learns to choose his food sources carefully and never to gorge, despite his constant hunger. His first success in eating wild berries (he will later call them gut cherries) results in a night of horrendous food poisoning. He finds things to do to keep his mind busy, building a small shelter out of tree limbs and leaves, searching for wild berries, and drinking water from the lake. He tries to stay positive and evaluate what resources he does have rather than focus on how lost and alone he is. A youthful summer of rigorous chores on a farm jobs as an engineer, construction worker, ranch hand, truck driver, and sailor and two rounds of the 1,180-mile Alaskan dog sled race, the Iditarod have provided ample material from which he creates his stories. He recalls his English teacher who taught him about keeping a positive attitude. He is desperately thirsty and hungry, and he has no idea where he has landed. He has very little on him, apart from his windbreaker, shoes, and hatchet. Stranded at the lake, Brian assesses his position.
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