Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga

Author:Tanya Talaga
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: House of Anansi Press Inc
Published: 2017-09-08T18:07:59+00:00

When the plane lands at the Thunder Bay International Airport, the first thing every student from the north does is make a beeline for the Tim Hortons coffee kiosk. The brightly coloured sugary donuts and vast selection of smoothies, iced cappuccinos, and flavoured coffees are a huge treat for the kids. There are no Tim Hortons or any fast food outlets in their home communities.

Skye stood near Robyn as they waited for their bags. She hadn’t really known Robyn back home; they didn’t have any common friends. They had gone to the same elementary school — there was only one in Keewaywin — but at eighteen, Robyn was a bit older than Skye, who was sixteen. Robyn had always been quiet and bookish, a homebody who preferred to hang out with her parents. Robyn was extremely close to her father, who never strayed far from their house because of his reliance on a wheelchair, and the rough, natural world of Keewayin was not exactly wheelchair friendly. Robyn used to sit by her father’s side as he worked. When Robyn was a girl, she would tell her parents her life’s ambition was to return after she graduated to take care of her dad. Her mother was convinced that if Robyn had her way, she would eventually do just that.

After the students collected their luggage, they went outside to wait for their ride.

“How come you didn’t come here the first year?” Skye asked her.

Robyn said she was at Ear Falls, but because it didn’t offer any senior classes she was just coming to Thunder Bay now.

“I’ve never been to this city before,” Robyn confessed.2

The kids loaded into vans and headed to Dennis Franklin to register, find out where their boarding houses were, and get settled in. Robyn knew where she was going — to her cousin Bryan Kakegamic’s house. Tina had called her eldest sister Maida’s son, Bryan, and his wife, Cheyenne Linklater, to see if Robyn could stay with them in Thunder Bay. It made Tina feel better to know that her daughter wasn’t going to be living in a stranger’s house, but that she was going to be cared for by family.

Later that week, Skye took Robyn on an abridged tour of the city, showing her how to navigate the bus system. She pointed out some of Thunder Bay’s highlights: the Brodie bus terminal where all the kids met up, the Intercity mall, the waterfront, and the frozen Sleeping Giant, cold and silent in the bleak winter months.

Before Skye got off the bus to head home for supper, she and Robyn made plans to meet up later at the mall. Robyn wanted to meet some new people and hang out.

This is where they found themselves later in the evening: at the food court in the Intercity mall.

The teens, about seven of them, were excited. Skye had pooled her money together with Kyle Meekis and Robyn. Skye had $15, Robyn had $25, and Kyle $20. They got some liquor from Peter,

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