Bearskin Diary by Carol Daniels

Author:Carol Daniels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, First Nations
ISBN: 9780889710771
Publisher: Harbour Publishing
Published: 2015-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

The Potential for Poison

Sandy was ten years old and sitting around the old kitchen table. Her Baba was cutting up onions for turkey stuffing. The old Catholic priest from Sandy’s hometown was there. His name was Father Hebalto, a cantankerous old bastard. He had a penchant for drinking the offering wine, and ordered cases of the blessed alcohol every week. But funnily enough, there were never any empty bottles in his garbage can. Sandy didn’t like him because he didn’t let the kids play hopscotch. “Playing with numbers like that summons the devil!” he’d say.

But Sandy didn’t listen and she and a couple of the other girls snuck around. It made Sandy think she was a little witch—gone into hiding to practise her craft—giggling with each stroke of chalk. 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9–10, arranged in a pattern that Hebalto claimed would summon hell on Earth. The girls danced in secret, pinky-swearing to tell no one and delighting in the forbidden; counting, leaping and laughing out loud, praying not to be caught by Father Hebalto.

Meanwhile Baba watched from a distance—continuing to dress the turkey. Hebalto was very particular about his food preparation, instructing her to leave the bird out on the counter overnight, at room temperature. “That way, it closes up the pores on the thing, locking in juices for when it goes into the oven to roast.”

“But that will cause food poisoning.” Baba voiced her concern about salmonella. Regardless, she reluctantly but obediently did as the priest instructed, placing the raw bird on the counter beside the sink for its overnight transformation. It sat there on an oversized platter staring at Baba as she closed the door to the priest’s home, crossing herself that the turkey wouldn’t spoil and telling the priest that she would return tomorrow.

The next day at dinner, the turkey was a grand-looking main dish, presented in its roasted perfection in the middle of an elaborately set table. It was the kind of presentation you’d see in a Better Homes & Gardens magazine photo, the bird trimmed with parsley and radishes adding a splash of colour. Still, Baba was hesitant to serve it to Hebalto and the other priests who drove in from neighbouring prairie towns. The turkey looked irresistibly tempting: brown, plump, juicy. Its mouth-watering aroma provoked pleasing anticipation as Hebalto made the first cut into its crisp skin. But Baba was fretting and pacing. If salmonella had set in, there was only one way to find out. As Father Hebalto put fork to mouth, Baba held her breath.

Anticipatory angst.

Sandy’s fitful dream switches from past to present day. She says a silent prayer. As she prays, Hebalto’s face changes and is replaced by the face of Blue.

Baba says now she knows for sure that the risk of poison is real: it has sat too long in an unhealthy and unsafe environment.

Sandy jerks herself awake, bumping her head on the glass of the window just as Blue reaches over to turn up the volume on the Jeep radio.

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