Katie went to draw the curtains in Jess’s room as quietly as she could, now that her daughter was safely in her towelling sleep-suit, tucked up and asleep. With a hand on the blue fabric dotted with flying pink ponies, she hesitated as she looked out of the window. There were flashing red and blue lights way over to the east on what must be the Trans-Canada. She could just see the dancing beams above the roof-tops reflecting on the low, heavily laden snow clouds. There must be a hell of a lot of lights. Jesus, thought Katie. Looks like a pile-up. People drove like morons in the snow.

She drew the curtains over the scene and hoped it wasn’t as bad as it looked. There had been a lot of sad stuff in Silver lately. More than its fair share. She had enough to worry about on her own doorstep without having to ponder on what automobile carnage was happening on the edge of town.

She crossed her arms and leaned against the window-sill, looking into the room at her daughter’s bed.

It could be a tumour. It could be something simple. But if she had to knock him unconscious and drag him by his ear, Katie Hunt was going to get her husband into the hands of someone who’d take a look and help him out. She hadn’t seen him like this before. Sam was the strongest man she had ever known. Not physically, but in his resolve. He could take things on the chin that would knock most folks down like bowling pins. And he’d shared every rap, every blow with her since they met. Nothing was secret. This time though, it seemed there was gear he wasn’t telling her about. And that worried her more than anything else in the world. Okay, some things in his life were private. His past life on the reserve, sure. She got bits from him now and again, usually funny stuff. Like how the kids ripped off the cars that white officials were stupid enough to drive onto the reserve, stripping them down to the axles and then running off with the parts, into the safety of hundreds of square miles of cover. It didn’t matter now if that was all she got. She hadn’t been there. She had no right to demand a slice of his history. There was plenty she hadn’t told him. Mostly out of shame. Stuff about high school, and what her life was like with Tom. All that existed someplace else. But nothing in their life together since they met was private. Nothing.

She crossed to the bed, kissed Jess and went next door to Billy. He was already in bed. ‘Ooops. Sorry. Wrong room. I was looking for Billy Hunt, but he’d still be dressed, playing with his computer.’

‘I’m tired.’