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drawing framed with a golden square: a man wearing a prickly tuque who was bleeding everywhere. He seemed to be calling out in pain. A group of men was around him, but no one was helping. I wondered what it meant.
    A man came toward us, dressed all in black.
    â€œIs this him?” the man asked Mama in Cree. He was looking at me.
    â€œYes, Father.”
    â€œYou are doing the right thing,” he said.
    Then Mama drew some marks on a piece of paper and we went home.
    Mama said she would make us all new cups of tea. She kept fussing around us while we were drinking. She asked if Alex and I were hungry, then got up and sat back down. Then she asked us all if we were warm or cold, and I said that I was fine, and Alex did too. I asked her if anything was wrong and she said, “Nothing, nothing.” She opened the door, I guess to look for Papa.
    When he came home a few hours later, he opened the door wide, rushed in and gave us hugs.
    â€œWe have been blessed,” he said.
    â€œWhat are you taking about?” Mama said.
    â€œAlex and Ed, get your shoes and coats!” he said.
    â€œWhere are you going?” Mama said.
    â€œI had a vision last night in the fire. A caribou manitou. She led me along the river into the forest.”
    â€œYou know I don’t believe in that stuff,” Mama said.
    â€œLet me finish. So this morning when I got up, I retraced the footsteps of my vision. When I got to the forest, I looked down. I didn’t see anything. So I shut my eyes and smelled. It was that heavy muskiness that you never forget. I could tell she was near. I opened my eyes, and I began to walk forward. I couldn’t see anything at first, but I knew that it would happen. Through the trees was a patch of fur. She was pretty far away, but she had spotted me, so I couldn’t get nearer without her bolting. I raised my gun and she didn’t even move. Like she knew her fate. She fell with a single shot.”
    â€œA caribou around here?” Mama said. Caribou tended to stay away from the reserves and other settlements.
    â€œI know. It’s a sign, right?”
    â€œIt’s … I’m not sure. A sign from who?”
    â€œOh you know, whoever, does it matter? I have something for you,” Papa said. “Wait here.”
    He left the house and came back a few moments later with a metal pail. Inside was something red and wobbly—a caribou heart.
    â€œNetchi. This is for you.” He offered it to Mama.
    â€œMy favourite. Thank you, Keshayno.”
    â€œI told Charles Tomikatick, and he is there now, skinning the animal. I came home so Ed and Alex could see the caribou preparation. I want to show them how to remove the fur and how to extract the tendons for thread. Then we can go to the store manager and—”
    Mama interrupted. “Keshayno. I have something to tell you.”
    â€œOkay,” he said dismissively, turning to Alex and me. “You ready? Let’s go.”
    â€œAbraham!” Mama said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œToday I went to see Father Lavois.”
    â€œWhat?” he said, focusing on Mama.
    â€œI signed Ed up for residential school.”
    Papa muffled a cry. “For school? Why, Mary?”
    â€œThis life is over. They have to get an education to have a better life. That’s what Father Lavois says too.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about? Look!” he said, gesturing at the caribou heart.
    â€œIt’s just a matter of time.”
    â€œWe’re getting by.”
    â€œNo, we’re hungry and in debt.”
    â€œEveryone’s in debt,” Papa said.
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œIs that what Father Lavois said?”
    â€œYes,” Mama said. “Other stuff too.”
    â€œI should never have let you go to church!”
    â€œAbraham, you are not the boss of me!”
    â€œBut …”
    â€œAnd it’s not just Father Lavois who says the kids must go,” Mama said.