“Nipi, nature is generous. All we need is for her to give us a bit of food. We will be together. We just need to trust in nature, the way our ancestors did.”

5

I PULL TOM’S canoe out of the water. I’m doing it to keep myself busy, while I sneak glances in the direction of the path.

Suddenly I see Pinamen coming, in a hurry. She has been talking to Manie and Charlotte to ask if we can use the cabin.

I set the canoe on the bank and run to meet her. She is so lit up I don’t even have to ask. She puts her hands on my shoulders and I hold her by the waist.

“They agreed?”

“Yes, let’s get ready to go into the bush as soon as we can.”

“What about Sam?”

“Charlotte spoke to him. He was worried anyway about the cabin and maintaining his trapline. And he didn’t know what he was going to do about the dogs. They’re going to come and visit us with the children.”

“Pinamen, I’m going to trap for you, fish for you. I’ll bring you beaver, hare, big trout, a moose…”

“A moose?”

“Yes. Anything you want.”

“Let’s eat all together at Manie’s tonight. Sam and Charlotte are going to be there. Then we can get ready to leave.”

The whole family seems excited that we are going into the bush.

“I feel as if I’m going myself!” Manie says. “It’s the best thing you young ones can do. It’s what I did when I was thirteen and I left with Joseph. It wasn’t always easy. We worked hard. I know what it’s like to be hungry, to paddle for weeks, to make portages that last all day… But I regret none of it. I miss the woods. I still have the smell of the firs embedded in my skin.”

She pauses, looks at us and raises her voice. “Not only that, but you are setting a good example for the ones who just laze around on their backsides on the reserve, fingers up their nose, learning how to live off the government, how to drink and bicker like bear cubs in spring.”

After the meal Sam and I sit on a bench near the stove. He fills his pipe on his knee, cradles the bowl in his hand. He strikes a match on the stove. He quickly wedges the stem of the pipe between his teeth, places the flame on the well-packed flakes of tobacco and puffs noisily. Then he speaks.

“Nipishish, I inherited my territory from my mother.” He takes a pull on his pipe. “My territory, I know it like the back of my hand. I am going to tell you where to find the moose paths, the dens of the bears, the beaver dams, the muskrat burrows…”

He takes time to smoke again. I listen closely.