Poor Miss Vicki

Sept. 2009, The Herald

By Krista Kapralos

EVERETT — Poor Miss Vicki.

Still on the sunny side of 35, she’s in no need of a facelift, if appearances count for anything. A bright teal-green tapered streak cuts clean across both sides of her hull. The color is a bit dated, perhaps. Miss Vicki was born in 1975, but she’s still a child of the ’80s.

Her story is a mystery. What was clear on Wednesday is that she was abandoned by her owner, left to rock gently for the rest of her days in Possession Sound. Read more

Old belles of the bay

By Krista Kapralos

TULALIP – They were here in the beginning, when there was nothing else.

It’s been at least a decade since most of these boats slid into the water.

They rest just feet away from Tulalip Bay, cocked this way and that, settled atop barrels, cinder blocks, wooden crates. White and blue and rust-colored. They are Chelsea Girl, Nightmoves, Desiree.

Early weekend mornings bring fishermen back to these, their first loves.

There have been marries, divorces, births, deaths, new jobs and pink slips. Read more

Ancient game, modern times

By Krista Kapralos

TULALIP – Names are drawn from a woven cedar hat.

Ten people, five on each team, face one another in lines of folding chairs.

Eleven beaded sticks clatter to the floor.

Two people each hold two short, stubby bones - three-inch sections of a deer’s leg.

They knead the pieces in their palms, clicking them together. Ten sets of eyes study one another, shifting, searching for any sign of weakness. Mouths twist into eager grins.

Suddenly, a man throws his voice out at the other team in a long shout. He pulls back his arm, raises the drumstick he clenches in one hand and strikes the hand-painted drum he balances in the other.

THUD. Read more