The calm before the storm

Home. Home is something who’s definition is simultaneously both narrow and broad. The strict definition is that of the house where you live. It’s where you hold most of your stuff, where you come to once you’re done everything else you are doing for the day. It’s a specific location that can specifically be called yours. But the broad definition is something more philosophical. As the saying goes, home is where your heart is. It’s where you feel most comfortable, most happy. It’s the place where your loyalty lies, that you hold above all else in importance. Some people may feel as though their work or school is more of a home than their house, some may claim their home town is a place different from where their house his. The idea of home is important to everyone, and when you’ve chosen a place as home you will do anything to protect it. Or, do anything to return to it.

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“Mikwan! Its time to get up dear!”

Mikwan was dragged back into the realm of wakefulness at the sound of her mom’s voice coming from the kitchen. She groaned as she forced herself awake, cursing her last night’s self for spending so much time watching the owls outside her window.

“Mikwan?! Are you up?! Breakfast is going to start getting cold if you don’t come down!” Her mom called up again.

“Coming nikawiy!” Mikwan called back down.

With one last tired groan, Mikwan pulled herself out of bed and over to her dresser, pulling out her favorite purple t-shirt and blue jeans to wear for the day. Once she was properly dressed, she grabbed her phone and left her room, quickly hopping down the stairs to the kitchen. As she was going down the hall though, a familiar tune came into her ears from her father’s office.

“I got my truck in town all caked up in mud

I got my son going down heading to school on the bus

And I got my farm in the hands of the only one I trust”

“Seriously nohtawiy, you’re listening to that now?” Mikwan groaned as she approached her father at his desk.

“What? It’s never a bad time to listen to some good music.” Her dad replied.

“But why that music? Why do you even like country music? You grew up in the city, you didn’t even go camping till you met mom.” Mikwan whined, and her dad chuckled.

“You don’t have to have grown up on a farm in order to appreciate good music my little tweety bird.” He said, reaching over to ruffle her hair. “Besides, I thought you liked this stuff just as much as I did?”

“I might have liked it when I was a little kid, but I’ve grown up now.” Mikwan said as she dodged out away from her father’s hand. “I’m already 12 dad, I’m basically a teenager, an adult. I know how to tell good music from lame music like the stuff you listen too.”

“Oof, you’ll hurt your old man’s heart if you say stuff like that.” Her dad said with mock hurt. He then reached forwards and ruffled Mikwan’s hair before she could duck away again. “Just because it doesn’t have any of that electric stuff most other music has, that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Trust me, when you are actually an adult, you’ll learn to love country music just as much as I do. Now go on, your nikawiy is waiting for you in the kitchen. I’ll be following close behind, just have to save my work.”

Mikwan pouted as her hair got messed up, but didn’t bother fixing it for now. Instead, she just walked out the office and made her way to the kitchen where her nikawiy and her older sister Danis were already waiting. Danis was sitting at the table on her phone as usual, while nikawiy was just putting the finishing touches on the breakfast plates.

“Ah, there you are Mikwan. Got caught up by nohtawiy did you? Is he coming to eat with us soon?” Nikawiy asked.

“Yeah, he said he’s just saving his work, so he’ll be just a minute.” Mikwan said as she sat down at the table.

“Alright, then we might as well get started eating. Here you go dears.” Nikawiy said as she placed down their breakfast of bannock with jam, blueberries and strawberries, and deer jerky in front of Mikwan and Danis.

“Thanks nikawiy.” Mikwan said as she started eating.

“Yeah, thanks mom.” Danis also said, only to earn a stern glare.

“I’ve told you countless times Danis. Call me nikawiy while we’re at home, not mom.” Nikawiy scolded.

“What’s the big deal, they both mean the same thing.” Danis said with a roll of her eyes.

“The big deal is that nikawiy is from our traditional language, a language I refuse to let be forgotten.” Nikawiy said firmly, and Danis rolled her eyes.

At this point Mikwan tuned them out. This was an argument the two of them had been having basically as long as she could remember. Their mother/nikawiy has always emphasized the importance of remembering their culture, their history. And even though she didn’t fully know the language, she’d always done her best to make sure they used the words they did know whenever they could. Danis on the other hand, thought that was stupid, and always made sure their mother knew she thought that way. Mikwan didn’t really have an opinion on the matter, she liked their culture but didn’t see the point in forcing it, so instead she just always stayed out of their arguments. Still, tuning them out now meant she was focused on other things, specifically the radio.

“In other news, Mary Gibson from Vancouver BC was recently found a few blocks from her home. She was one of the many people who’ve mysteriously disappeared in the serial disappearances that have been occurring all across Canada, Isreal, and Japan, and one of the lucky few who have managed to return. Unfortunately, as she also has no memory of her time in captivity like the others that have been found so far, authorities are still no closer to finding the culprits behind these disappearances. The only known connection between these is that the disappearances only ever occur when a person is alone, so please be carful to travel in groups.”

“Seriously? It’s been three years since this started, or at least 3 years since the public caught wind of this, and they still have no clues at all as to who’s responsible for all that?”

Danis and nikawiy paused their argument, and everyone turned to see nohtawiy stepping into the room.

“Morning dad.” Danis called out to him. Nikawiy opened her mouth to scold Danis once again, but nohtawiy spoke up before she could.

“Morning Danis.” He said, giving her a pat on the shoulder. He then turned to nikawiy and pulled her into a half hug while giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. “And good morning to you too, omiyosiw niwa.”

“Morning ninapem.” Nikawiy said, clearly blushing.

“Breakfast looks good. Come, lets sit down and eat. We’ve all got a decently busy day, so let’s chow down so we can relax a bit before we have to get going.” Nohtawiy declared, grabbing both his and his wife’s breakfast and sitting them both down at the table.

And once again, nohtawiy managed to easily disarm the argument like it was nothing. Mom was too flustered from his flirting to continue arguing, and Danis never cared to argue any more than necessary. It was the family’s typical morning scene, happening so often it was basically boring at this point.

“Alright, I’m done. I’m going to go brush my teeth and my hair now.” Mikwan said as she finished eating and stood up.

“Alright dear. Just call if you need anything.” Nikawiy said as Mikwan left to get ready for school.

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“Alright, we’re off!” Danis called out.

“See you after school dears!” Nikawiy called back.

“Be carful kids, don’t go anywhere by yourself until you get to school!” Nohtawiy said.

“We wont! Bye!” Mikwan said.

Danis then closed the door, and the sisters began walking their way to school.

“Alright, now that we’re out of the house, you feeling good about school Mina? Enjoying 7th grade so far?” Danis asked.

“It’s alright Danielle, grade 7 isn’t that different from grade 6.” ‘Mina’ replied with a shrug.

That’s right, Mikwan had a double life. At home, she was Mikwan, a born and raised city Cree girl who loved her culture and loved nature. She might not speak fluent cree, but she knew about as much as her mom did, and loved all the different foods and ceremonies that her mom made her do. Outside though, she was Mina. She was just an ordinary girl who just so happened to have darker skin than most girls. She might have Aboriginal blood in her, but she has no idea what tribe she comes from, nor does she care. She’s just an ordinary girl who likes dolls and romance movies and the color purple.

“Right now, maybe. But it’s only been a month, so who knows?” Danielle said. A sly look then took over her face. “What about your classmates, any of the new boys catch your eye?”

Mina responded by rolling her eyes and walking faster. While ‘Mina’ might pretend to like romance movies to fit in, in truth she couldn’t care less about it. She had no interest in boys, and Danielle knew that full well, yet she still insisted on always trying to tease her about it, much to her annoyance.

As she marched forwards, her eyes were drawn to the side of the road where a yard worker was working in the public park raking up some leaves into a big pile, and Mina instantly felt tempted to jump in. She knew she shouldn’t, that jumping in would get leaves in her clothes and hair, and that Danielle would get upset with her. Girls like her, at her age, didn’t jump in leaf piles. She was too old for that, and even if she wasn’t, it wasn’t something girls in the city did. But at the same time, she loved leaves, so she didn’t hesitate. With a happy laugh, Mina jumped into the pile and sunk into the pile of red, yellow and brown.

Back down the road, Danielle rolled her eyes and jogged to catch up.

“Seriously, you are still such a kid Mina.” She said with exasperated fondness. “Alright, come on, lets go.”

…

“I know you’re in there Mina. Come on, we need to get to school.” Danielle said.

…

“Are you serious Mina? Come on, we need to get going.” Danielle said when Mina refused to leave the pile of leaves. “If you’re really that upset about my teasing then I’m sorry, but there’s no need to hide like this.”

Danielle waited another minute, quickly growing frustrated with Mina’s lack of response.

“Alright, enough is enough Mina. It’s time to get to school. I am not going to be late because of you.” Danielle said, now officially irritated, and she reached into the pile to grab her little sister. Except, her hands found nothing but air and leaves. Now confused, and quickly growing concerned, Danielle began digging through the pile in search of her sister, but she couldn’t find hide nor hair of her.

“Mina?” She exclaimed as she searched, pushing away the leaves till there way nowhere for Mina to hide. And yet, Mina, was gone.

“MINA!”