Kate suryeyed the yard in front of her cabin anff uttered one<br >word. "Breakup."<br > Affection for the season was lacking in the tone of her voice.<br > Ah yes， breakup， that halcyon season including but not neces-<br >sarily limited to March and April， when all of Alaska me!~ into~<br >a 586，412-square-mile pile of slush. The temperature reaches the<br >double digits and for a miracle stays there， dayl~ht increases by<br >five minutes and forty-four seconds every twenty-four hours， and<br >after a winter s worth of ~-hour days all you want to do is go<br >outside anffstay there for the rest of your natural life. But it s too<br >late for the snow machine and too early for the truck， and meltoff<br >is swelling the rivers until flooding threatens banks， bars and all<br >downstream communities--muskrat， beaver and man. The meat<br >cache is almost empty and the salmon aren t upthe creek yet. All<br >9h<br ><br >