The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

Author:Louise Erdrich
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

“Do you have more plums?” she asked.

I said no, but I helped her into the boat anyway. Her hair was black and endlessly long, covering her, and underneath it she was naked. Her smile was gentle. Her skin was purple, gray, cold, the color of those plums. There was something familiar about her, something awful and yet familiar. I was very much afraid and began to paddle quickly back to Grandfather. Still, I was a curious child.

“Who are you?” I asked as we traveled along.

“I am your grandmother” she said, “here’s what happened. Long ago, I married your grandfather. We could not be parted. We were like one person, he and I. He was stingy with me. After I bore our first child and lay her in his arms, after she grew for a year, I became my daring self again. I became again the wild girl he’d loved from the beginning. One night, I dared him to swim with me in the lake. We went out in our canoe to the deepest part of the lake, the darkest and the coldest side, where you have found me. We threw off our clothing. I dived in deep as I could, pulled my way down, down, until I reached the bottom.

“My dear grandchild, that’s when I got lost. It was so dark down at the bottom that I got turned around. I could not find my way back up again, and so, tired, I curled up in the cold weeds and I went to sleep. Until now.”

My grandmother looked toward the shore. Her face glowed in the twilight. I saw, as we approached, that she was watching my grandfather as he came down the path from the camp to the edge of the lake. He walked closer, closer. Something strange happened. I rubbed my eyes. I passed my hand across my face.

I could not believe what I was seeing.

As he approached, my grandfather’s step seemed to pick up life. His hair got darker and darker until it turned the pure black of his youth. Lines disappeared from his face. He straightened his bowed back. Just as our canoe touched the shore, he smiled. And oh, my grandchildren, suddenly he had all of his teeth!

I got out of the canoe. He looked upon me kindly, said good-bye to me, and then he took my place in the canoe with his young wife. The two gazed into each other’s faces with great happiness. I watched the two paddle away together, into the darkness, into the night. Two shooting stars passed over through the sky. The lake was silent. I never again saw my grandfather, but eventually his clothing was found on the shore, washed up on the dark side of the lake.

When Nokomis finished, no word was spoken. Omakayas could say nothing because stiff hairs prickled at the back of her neck. She couldn’t get the sight of that hand, reaching out of the water, from her mind! Ten Snow and Angeline were wiping tears from their eyes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.