Mother just arrived on the train this afternoon. I ran to the train tracks when I heard the train come in. Grandma was busy making lunch. When the train went by, I waited to see Mother come along the tracks after the rest of the people moved off, and then I saw her. I ran to meet her and she dropped her suitcase when I gave her a big hug. It was so good to see her! We are getting on the train tomorrow to head off to the Reserve. She works, so she can’t get much time off. I’m going to miss Grandma when we leave.
Rob came to the cabin asking if Grandma had any suggestions about their sick baby. The baby girl has a bad cold and has trouble breathing. He thought he’d come and ask Grandma first before his wife had to take the baby to the hospital, which is over three hours away by train. Grandma rummaged around in her “healing box” as I call it, before she wrapped a bundle of herbs and went off with him.
Mother and I just finished playing cards and she’s gone to take a nap on my bed. Grandma is not back yet.
Grandma said she made a steam tent with herbs for the baby to breathe, and then a cedar poultice for the baby’s chest. She thinks the little girl will be all right in a few days.
I hate to leave Grandma. I would much rather stay here, but I know that I have to go back to the Reserve.
Mother slept on my bed beside me last night. I’m so used to sleeping by myself that I had a very hard time going to sleep. We’re just sitting around at the table drinking tea. It’s another hour yet before the train comes.
We’re at the Reserve now. Mother talked to the teacher and he’s going to allow me to join the Senior classes on Monday.
We had fried pickerel and canned spaghetti for supper. Eliza was really excited when I got here. Lyndon just looked at me and shrugged.
Lyndon’s dog is really cute! No wonder Mother couldn’t tell me his name because it is “Maangoons” — Little Loon — because he has a black head, and the black hair stops around his neck and the rest of him is spotted in white. He does look like a loon! All he wants to do is play.
I have to share a room with Eliza but that’s okay. She has her own little bed in one corner and I have a single bed in the other. There’s a window on my side and I can feel the wind from the window. There is only a plastic sheet covering it. There’s old linoleum on the floor and it gets very cold. I have to wear thick socks all the time. I don’t know how I forgot my moccasins at Grandma’s. She had made a pair for me when I was at Residential School. She said that she meant to give them to me at Christmas.
Too bad I couldn’t stay with Grandma.
Grandma called and left a message at the store saying that she would call again at a certain time, so Mother and I went to the store at that time, and sure enough, the phone rang and the storekeeper handed us the phone. A package had arrived for me! Mother laughed when I told her what it probably is. My cookbook! We just had to go to Grandma’s to get it! It was an excuse to see Grandma again.
Mother fixed my bed again yesterday morning, before we headed off to her work at the Band Office and me to school.
I usually just straighten out my bed in the mornings at Grandma’s. Here, there is a cotton sheet around the mattress and a quilted blanket on top. But Mother had always insisted that I fold my blankets under the mattress whenever I was here, and I never asked why. Now I recognize that she is still trying to do what she was trained to do at Residential School. So I deliberately left my blankets hanging down. When I came back from school today, they were tucked in under the mattress. Mother had remade my bed while I was at school. I ripped the blanket off and left it hanging down again.
She didn’t say anything.
Mother did not remake my bed again. It was as I had left it this morning.
We had macaroni mixed with canned tomato soup with square chunks of canned Klik mixed in. I made a face at Izzy when Mother’s back was turned, and he grinned and winked at me. I really think I am going to have to learn to cook. I can’t wait to get my hands on that cookbook! I didn’t get a chance to go to the library when we passed through Sandy Bay on the way to the airplane base.
There was a gang of girls here that used to make my life miserable. They’d catch me coming or going from school. They never touched me, they just made up songs and teased me about Izzy not being my father and asked where my own father was and what his name is. The leader was a big girl with a huge nose. Big Nose has apparently married a boy from another Reserve, so she had to move there, so now there is no gang of girls. I am very happy about that.
We are back at Flint Lake.
Mother and I got here yesterday. It is so nice to visit Grandma! I finally had time to visit Rob and his wife and baby. I arrived with my first attempt at making a pot of chili. It tasted really good, I thought, but I was not sure if it tasted too spicy for them. After a taste, they said that it was very, very good! His wife’s name is Sarah and the baby is Matilda. She is also expecting another baby.
I spent my time telling them about the Residential School and about the daily activities. They were full of questions, as they too had gone to Residential Schools, and also their siblings.
I was very surprised to hear that Emma was home. I asked Grandma why she came back, and she said that she heard Emma had been really sick in the city, but that is all she knew. I thought that I could go visit her, but we have to catch the evening train and then sleep overnight at a hotel in the next town before catching the plane back to the Reserve.
Izzy wasn’t too happy, as this was a rather expensive trip just to visit and get my cookbook. I wanted to see Grandma really bad too, and this time remembered to pack my moccasins.
Mother and Grandma laughed when I was thumbing through all the recipes that I was going to cook.
After Church today, people came up to say hello and some welcomed me back home. It doesn’t feel like home though. I’d rather be back home at Flint Lake with Grandma. I asked Izzy on the way home why everyone was so friendly to me all of a sudden. He winked and said that now that I was a young woman, every parent was looking me over as a potential daughter-in-law. My mouth fell open and I think I had better leave as soon as I can!
I don’t feel like writing like this every day now. It feels like there is no purpose anymore. At Residential School, I was basically writing to Grandma, and now there is no need.
So far, I have baked some cookies, raisin pie (my pie crust was a bit hard), made meatballs, French toast, brown beans, shepherd’s pie (had to use hamburger — recipe says beef chunks), spaghetti with meat sauce, casseroles (I had to put in other stuff for some stuff they don’t have at the store). I haven’t tried bread or cakes yet.
Mother and I went to the store after school and I noticed that some of the food packages have recipes at the back or under the labels too. The storekeeper noticed me looking at the boxes and cans and writing down the recipes in my notebook. Then he asked me if I’d like to work there after school and on weekends to clean up spills, sweep the floor and dust the place. He does have a caretaker, but the guy just mostly keeps the meat and dairy section clean and mops the floor.
He asked Mother and she said sure and how much would he pay me. She was really happy when he said how much he’d pay. That was one thing I learned at Residential School — how to clean things properly. I have my first paying job!