Waubgeshig Rice - Moon of the Crusted Snow

“What do you mean?”

“You should probably find your brother and talk to him.”

Sensing the tension rising, Amanda changed the topic. “Do you guys have any flour left over at your mom and dad’s?”

“Yeah, a couple bags.”

“You should probably use it up soon. Do you know how old it is? It might start going bad. Fry up some bread and freeze it for later. These cans won’t keep you full.”

“Okay, thanks, Auntie. Yeah, I made some bannock, but I also got some bags of it frozen too. I’ll do the rest today.”

She picked up the heavy bags in each hand, and turned back to the door.

“Do you need a hand with that?” Evan asked.

Sydney turned to look at him. “No, I’m good thanks. It’s a good workout. It’s gonna be beach season again soon so I gotta stay in shape.” She chuckled and smiled at him, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. He remembered her younger sister Tara, frozen in the ditch months earlier.

“Bring Nic and the kids by my mom and dad’s place sometime,” she said.

“For sure, that’d be nice.”

“K, see you guys later.”

Evan watched her leave and thought about his brother. What the hell is he up to? he thought. Is he hanging around Scott? He should really know better.

“Hey, I think there’s a couple more boxes we gotta get.” Isaiah broke into Evan’s reverie and motioned to the back of the shop. Evan followed Isaiah through the door and into the dark storage area, where Isaiah turned to him with a worried look. “What she said reminded me of something.”

“What’s that?”

“I saw Nick on the road yesterday afternoon when I was going from Candace’s to my dad’s.”

“Oh yeah? What was he doing?”

The disastrous party at Cam’s flashed into Evan’s mind. Since then he had rarely seen his younger brother’s friend.

“He didn’t look good.”

“Really?”

“No, he was kind of pale. He looked real skinny. His cheeks were sunken in.”

“Is he sick?”

“Maybe. Maybe he’s just hungry.”

“Weird. Why isn’t he out snaring rabbits? Why doesn’t his uncle share his stash of food with him at least? Donny should have enough if he has the Northern’s inventory squirrelled away like they say.”

Isaiah shrugged. “He said something really weird to me too.”

“Oh yeah? What?”

“He said that he had just seen Scott walking down the road.”

The mere mention of the man made Evan’s fingers curl into fists.

Isaiah continued. “He said that Scott stopped him and started asking him weird questions, like about how hungry he was. He said Scott had told him that he knew where to get extra food if he needed it.”

“What the hell?”

“Yeah, he said then Scott tried to get him to go with him. He said he almost went, but he got creeped out. He was walking back home when I saw him.”

“Jesus.” Evan took off his toque and scratched his unwashed hair. “What kinda shit do you think Scott’s up to? Is he hunting and black marketing meat? What’s he taking for payment? That guy does nothin’ for free.”

“Fuck if I know.” Isaiah’s shoulders slumped as he headed back into the light where a lineup of restless people was forming.

Darkness seeped into the house as the sun set. Nicole pinched the tiny copper wheel to turn up the wick of the glass lamp and lit it with a black lighter. The corner of the kitchen was revealed as the flame caught. She picked up the stack of colouring books and moved them to a lower shelf, in case they became a fire hazard. The children had coloured everything in them but they still enjoyed looking at them from time to time. Nicole was conscious that sometime soon, even this light source would disappear with their supply of kerosene.

Nangohns and Maiingan sat on the floor in front of Dan. Their grandfather relaxed back into the soft chair. Nicole stepped to the couch and sat down between Evan and Patricia. It was story time.

Dan leaned forward and cleared his throat. He looked deep into the children’s eyes. Maiingan flashed a smile missing baby teeth in the bottom row. They loved hearing stories — especially from their grandfather.

“Do youse kids know the one about Nanabush and the geese?” he asked. The lamplight glimmered in his brown eyes. The children shook their heads. The adults on the other side of the room cradled mugs of hot tea that had been made from boiled snow on the stove in the basement. Evan tried to relax after a long day of walking through heavy snow checking on elders and carrying loads of firewood indoors. The muscles in his back were tense.

“Well, it was early in the fall a long time ago,” Dan continued. “Nanabush was getting really hungry. He knew winter was coming and that he had to get ready. He didn’t have much food saved up yet. You know how me and your daddy go hunting a lot before the snow comes?”

They both nodded.

“Well, Nanabush was behind. He shoulda been hunting for weeks. But he was getting lazy. He was too busy swimming and eating the berries that come late in the summer. But then those ran out. And he decided it was finally time to go looking for food. So he walked down to the lake to try and find some geese.

“He walked for a really long time and didn’t see any. ‘Did they already fly south for the winter?’ he asked himself. ‘If they did, I’m in real trouble.’ He knew that the snow was still a couple weeks away. But sometimes the ones with wings know the seasons better than we do. For all he knew, they could already be gone.

“He kept walking up the shoreline, looking all around him and listening. Then all of a sudden he heard something in the bush up from the shore. It sounded like singing and yelling. He couldn’t tell what exactly it was, so he walked up the little hill into the bush. ‘Who’s making all that noise?’ he said.

“He came to a clearing in the bush, and he saw the geese! They were singing and dancing around. They looked really happy. Like it was a party! So Nanabush walked up to the one closest to him. ‘Goose!’ he said. ‘Why are you all singing and dancing?’

“‘We are leaving soon for the winter, Nanabush,’ said the tallest goose. ‘We are giving thanks and asking for a safe journey and good health along the way.’

“Nanabush looked around. He counted thirty geese in that circle in the bush! Can you count to thirty?” Dan asked his grandchildren.

“Oh, I can!” Maiingan raised his hand and rapidly fired off numbers until he reached the mark.

“Well done, my boy!” said Dan. “Now do it in your native language.” The boy repeated the numbers in Anishinaabemowin, which took a little longer.

Dan picked the story back up. “So the geese were leaving for the winter. Do you know the Anishinaabe word for winter?”

Nangohns’s hand shot up. “Biboon!”

“Ehn, yes, my girl. That’s right! Good job.” He looked above them to see Evan, Nicole, and Patricia smiling on the couch.

To conserve precious resources, the families did most things together, rotating the hosting responsibilities. The idea was to save on firewood and food by living more communally. The only unpredictable variable was Cam. Sydney and their son stayed with her parents, but Evan knew Cam often wasn’t there. He would return to the duplexes where Scott ruled.

“So anyways, the geese were all dancing around and singing.” Dan’s gestures became more animated as the story’s action built. “They were very plump, because they had to eat a lot for their journey south. They needed lots of energy to fly that far. Nanabush started licking his lips. Look at all these geese , he thought. They’re enough for me to get through the winter! And they’re so fat!