Everyone is relaxed and enjoying the evening. The men smoke their short pipes and their puffs of smoke look like purple clouds against the setting sun, while the children throw handfuls of green grass into the black smokepots to keep the mosquitoes away.

Everyone’s wondering about the moose. Where did it come from? Where is the head? Who killed it?

Sam knows, but he will speak when he decides the time is right. If he is here this evening, if he asks for a makoucham, it’s because he has something very important to say.

Poné gets up slowly from the log he’s sitting on. His little round eyes shine like fireflies. He approaches the racks, cuts off a piece of moose meat and eats it with his fingers.

He has given the signal; now it’s our turn.

The moose meat is juicy and sweet. It’s always best roasted over a fire like this. From the first mouthful we can guess that it’s from a female, and that she has recently given birth. The flesh still has the smell of her pregnancy, the presence of her calf.

Now we are more intrigued than ever. Sam would never kill a female at this time of year unless he absolutely had to.

Full of moose, bannock and tea, we sit down again. The time has come for Sam Brascoupé to speak. He’s sitting on a log with Charlotte and the children at his side. The children huddle close to each other. A biting wind has come up.

Sam starts to speak. His voice is serious.

“I have a story to tell you. This story troubles me, and that is why I have come to share it with you.

“Yesterday morning, at the club, I took three of the big company bosses fishing. When we set off, the sun was shining on the lake. We weren’t in a hurry so at first I followed the shore of Lac Rosaire by the old cedars, where the sandbank is. Then I headed to the pass between two rocky islands. There, as I’d thought, each of the men got a huge gray trout. They were very excited. They kept standing up in the boat and yelling, ‘They’re biting today! I got one, I got one! A damn big one, too!’

“Right away they wanted to celebrate. They took beers out of a cooler that they had brought with them. Then they wanted to keep fishing. There are lots of fish in the pass, because the water is deep and fast there. They caught many more trout and had to celebrate with each catch.

“By this time they were getting hungry so we put into shore. I lit a little fire in a pit that I made a long time ago. I always stop there to eat. There’s dry wood and fresh water nearby. I made tea, but they preferred to drink their beer while I cooked up a trout and some bacon in a big frying pan. They ate and told loud stories that I didn’t pay attention to. Finally I gathered up everything and doused the fire while the three men turned their backs to the wind and faced the forest. Then they spread their legs and peed side by side, laughing the whole time.