I remember that night so clearly, like it was yesterday. Every night for six years I lay on my bed and remembered that beautiful night. This one night of passion caused me a lifetime of pain. Except that my "lifetime" won't be as long as I want it to be. The doctor said that I have three years to live. Now I wish that when I was younger I was more educated about HIV and AIDS and the way they were transfered. I would have been more careful with what I was doing. Now I have to make the best of this short life that I have left, and I will surely help educate the people in my community.

Remembering the day I found out I had HIV is like remembering my name. It started off like a normal day. BUZZZZZZZZ, my alarm clock was ringing in my ear at 6:30 a.m. and I reached over to shut it off. I opened my eyes and saw that the sun was shining beautifully through my bedroom window. I could hear the birds outside my window chirping their good mornings to each other. I smiled and inhaled my first concious breath of air. I smelled the sweet aroma of pancakes and syrup which was to be my breakfast. Slowly I rolled out of my comfortable bed and got ready for school.

"Kerrie, the doctor needs to see you before you go to school today!" my mother shouted at me as I walked out the door. When I stepped outside I could feel that the sun had already warmed the air to make this late spring day feel like summer. I walked to the clinic where I got checked a month ago and asked for Dr. Rangbang. When I walked in his office he told me to sit down and asked me where my mother was, and told me to call her to come to Rangbang's clinic. I could feel my stomach tighten as I hung up the phone. When I sat down I felt dizzy and wanted to throw up. I knew something bad was going to happen, but it just didn't occur to me that at this point nothing could get any worse than the news I was about to receive. My mother walked in the door and Dr. Rangbang told her to have a seat. She paused for a second with a look of worry on her face, then sat down and joined us in the uncomfortable silence.

"I don't know what to say, or how to say what it is I'm going to say," Dr. Rangbang's words came stumbling out of his mouth in a dry flat tone. He hesitated to go on for about thirty seconds. In those brief seconds the tension that hung inside the little room was so thick you could practically cut it with a knife.

"Kerrie you tested positive for HIV," Dr. Rangbang said quietly but loud enough for me to hear. I sat there in shock not moving or speaking. A loud buzzing was going through my head, and scenes from the last time I had sex were flashing before my eyes. I wanted to curl up in a corner somewhere and die. I could feel the anger and fear building up inside me and start to bubble over like a steaming pot. I wanted to reach out and strangle someone, but I kept still and quiet.

That was six years ago. Now I make the best of what I've got and what will happen. People treat me the same as they used to because they know they can't get HIV from hanging out with me. I also help educate the youth and my peers about the HIV and AIDS virus and how it can happen to anyone. Take it from me, either be safe or be sorry.

Right now, one of every four new HIV infections occurs in a person less than 22 years old.

One day after school I noticed that one of my parents wasn't outside my school waiting to pick me up. I thought they had car problems or that they just wanted me to walk home because of my laziness. Our house is about two and a half miles away.

After the long walk home I finally reached the front door of our house. I then heard people shouting inside of our house. I thought maybe one of the neighbors had come over to talk to my parents because we left the T.V. on too loud. But when I opened the door it wasn't my neighbors at all. It was my father and mother arguing. I could see the tears in my mother's eyes, and then she turned and went into the kitchen to be alone. When I looked at my dad he told me, "It's alright, son, me and your mother just have to go our separate ways because we don't love each other as much as we used to." I asked, "What will happen to us?" "I don't really know!" he said.

About fifteen minutes later I went to talk to my mom about the argument they had. She looked very depressed sitting down by the table. I walked up next to her and asked, "Do you want to talk about the argument you and dad had?" "No, not now," she replied. So I got up and went into my bedroom and started to cry because I thought this was all my fault. I felt so depressed I fell asleep.

When I got up in the morning my mother didn't even bother to make me any breakfast. She just sat down on the couch looking very down and depressed. As soon as my father came down the stairs I asked him, "Can you take me over to school because mom isn't feeling very good?" "Yes, let's go," he replied.

After school I ran home as fast as I could to check on my mom. She had already packed all her belongings and started to take them out to the car. I couldn't believe she was actually moving. She told me that I could come and see her whenever I wanted to, then she gave me her address and kissed me goodbye. I started to cry because she was leaving us for the first time and I didn't know what to do.

When my dad came back from work I told him about mom leaving. When I showed him the address she gave me tears started pouring from his eyes. Then he gave me a big hug and we went into the house to pick up the furniture that had been knocked over in the argument.

Now I see my mother every weekend after school to check on how she is doing without us. And all of us are happy in the way we are living.

By: Jonathan Boots

"When I was a child I'd never seen a moose up close before, only from a distance. The first time I saw a moose up close was when I went berry picking with my son Leo many years ago. Leo, Pal and I were on our way upriver to Kwik when we saw two moose on the beach. We slowed down and passed very close to them, and I could see they were a cow and a calf. But while we were passing them they got scared and ran into the trees. I was really excited to see them. The one thing I remember about them was that they both had really big eyes. Those eyes scared me so much that I never want to see eyes like that again! After that we went to pick berries. That was the only time I ever saw a moose up close in my whole life."

By: Lorraine Fitka

As told to: Rose Lynn Fitka

I was born in April of 1983, along with two other calves which I learned were my brother and sister. I was in a world much bigger than where I came from. As I opened my eyes and looked around, I was afraid, but with my mother at my side, I felt safe. Awhile after I was born, I tried getting up on my feet, but I couldn't because my legs were so weak. I knew I had to keep on trying, though, and soon I started to walk. My brother and sister got the hang of it, too, and we started exploring the forest. It was so exciting for me and my brother and sister. Then we went back to our mother, and she taught us how to eat grass and many other things. I thought, at first, this world wasn't dangerous at all, but later my mother told us that there were many dangers in this world that we were going to have to face. For now, though, I felt safe, and later in the evening, we all went out fot a swim. It was so fun that I wanted to stay in the water longer, but it was getting dark and we had to go home.

A year passed, and then it was time for us to leave our mother. It was hard for us, but she explained why, and we understood. By this time, we were pretty much grown up. I thought this was the saddest part of my life, leaving my mother. But I still had my sister and brother with me.

By my third year, I had big full grown antlers. My brother and sister and I had already separated and I had already mated. One day while I was walking along the river, I heard a strange noise coming in my direction. It grew louder and louder. I looked towards the far part of the river and I saw something big in the water making a strange buzzing noise. I sensed danger when I saw something move inside the strange object. They were two-legged creatures! My mother had always warned us about the dangers of the those two-legged creatures. They were the ones that carried around the firesticks, as my mother called them. They too made a strange loud noise. It was the first time I'd seen a two-legged creature. I had always wondered how they looked. Suddenly, the loud object started to come towards me much faster. I looked closely and saw the men holding something I now recognized was a firestick. I got scared and started running for the trees. Then the firesticks made their loud noises, and while I was running towards the trees something hit the ground with a splatting sound. I got even more scared and ran faster. The men jumped out of the thing they were in and made loud bangs with their firesticks as I ran up the beach. They were hunting me. I ran through the trees as fast as I could. When I came to this big clearing there was no place to hide. They kept on shooting at me. Then something hit me on the leg and I felt a sharp pain. I fell to the ground. I tried getting up, but I fell back down. I finally got up and tried to run, but I couldn't and had to walk with a limp. The men were getting closer to me, and they shot at me again. I felt another terrible pain in my neck, and I fell to the ground and couldn't move. Blood was flowing down my side where I got hit. Then the pain started to go away and I felt dizzy, as if my life was going to end. Suddenly I heard another loud shot, and it hit me right in the head. I looked at the men one last time, then my mind went blank and I couldn't think anymore. I was dead!

If I was a grizzly bear cub I would live with my Big Mama bear. Whenever a big male bear bothered me I would tell Big Mama bear to beat the tar out of him. My Big Mama bear is so strong. She is 15 years old.

My playmates would be Baby Bunny and Little Calf Moose. We would play Kick the Tree, Capture the Frog, Scare the Man, and Red Rover Red Rover Tear the Humans Pants Then Run All Over. We would have lots of fun playing those games. Once in awhile the humans would shoot at us. So we would run and hide. And when a big male grizzly ran after us again I would tell Big Mama that a crazy male bear was after us. So Big Mama would say," Dog gone those stupid - - - male bears!" Then she would go over and kill him. She would come home all bloody, so we would go to the river and she would wash up.

One day we saw a wounded moose. So Big Mama ran over and killed it. Then we had our supper. But Big Mama told me not to tell Little Calf Moose we ate moose so that Little Calf Moose would still be my friend. Then we went back home.

The next day we would walk what felt to me like thousands of miles and then return back home again. And when food go scarce we would eat berries and trash. But if people came near the trash we might think they were going to take our food. So Big Mama would get mad and attack the poor humans.Then we would go home and I would play with my friends.

One day a mean male bear killed my friend, Little Calf Moose. I was so sad. Then when it was time for hibernation Big Mama bear accidentally killed my friend Baby Bunny. I got mad and sad at the same time. So I told Big Mama that I was sorry I got mad and sad at the same time. Then Big Mama found a den and we began our long winter sleep. And that's the end I guess

by: Yvonne Evan, 9th grade

Marshall School, 1992

If I were to be a Grizzly for the summer, I would want to be a female cub. I wouldn't want to, go near any one of the towns. The only place I would want to stay is in a very safe area. I would want to go out to look for food, then come back to the place where I was before. When I find food I would want to go to to another safe place. The reason why I wouldn't want to go any closer to any one of the towns is because the men like to kill bears even if they didn't do any harm to anybody. I would only stay one and a half miles away from the town. I would look for food, but if there is hardly any food around I would go to another place to look for food. I would want to eat fish, berries and trash. After that I would go and take a rest. After taking a rest I would keep on going and looking for food. When it got dark I would stop and get comfortable and go to sleep. The next day I would go out looking for more food to eat. When I'm looking for food I would do something interesting like chase other animals I saw for the fun of it. After that I would want to go and find a quiet place to stay for the winter. When winter was over I would want to look around for more food. When I saw Frank Keim in the tundra I'd want to chase him. Later on I would go and explore . When I saw a male I would try and run as fast as I could to get away from him. When I got away I would keep on going. If I saw an animal I'd chase after it. When I caught it I' d eat it but I'd watch out for other kinds of animals while I am eating. After that I 'd take a rest before going on my journey. Then, along the way I' d stop at a stream to get a drink of water so that I won't get thirsty for awhile. When mating season came I would want to have a female cub. The reason why I wouldn't want a male cub is because they can be too much. Some may be mischief and mean and some of the other ones may not be mean and mischief. But I think the female cubs are better than the male cubs.

If I were a bear for a couple years I would stay away from fish camps. I would raid their camp only when they were gone to a village for food.

I would be a female. And during the mating season, I would always watch the two males fight and when one of them won, I would go with the male.

Eight to 9 months later, I had a female cub and I named her Charlotte. The first year Charlotte and I went out to look for food. When we got done eating, we played Peach Touch. After that when we were just about to go home, a male (Robert) came and almost killed Charlotte and I got really mad and kicked him in the butt. After that it never tried to kill Charlotte again. A few days later Charlotte died. I was really sad and cried most of the day. When the next mating came I watched the two males fight over me, and when one male won I had a boy, and I named him Elmer Fudge. I didn't like him so I gave him to his father.

After that I didn't want any more cubs. So during the mating season I always hid from the males. But the next season I was so bored that I had two cubs and I named them Yvonne and Teresa. Every day they would play Peach Touch. After that we ate and lived happily after.

THE END!!

By: Tanya Lynn Peter

If I were a bear for the summer I would check out the villages on the Yukon and scare people. Sometimes I would go to fishcamps and eat some fish. When people came to fish / would scare them and take their fish. But if I saw someone with a gun I would run away. If they shot at me I would charge them. I would try to scare all the female bears and their cubs away. I would live by a little stream where there are lots of fish. Whenever I got hungry I would go out to the tundra or the stream and eat. Someplace there is a big valley where I would have a big den. During the fall I would put lots of food away for the winter. I would travel many miles looking for the den I would stay in.