“My girl,”
said her mother again, now in a more solid voice, “times are going to change, and things will never be the same. I must ship you off to what these men call school, and I hope you do well, because if you do not go, your father and I will pay the price. This is the first time that they have come to our vast land, and now we must go visit their lands to see what they will do to our lands and skies. You will survive though. You are tough, like your mother. No matter what, my girl,”
Sky’s mother said, “no matter what.”
That night her mother passed on, and Sky was left with only her Dad.
One day her Dad said, “Sky, my girl, it is time. Do you remember what your mother said?”
“Yes,”
said Sky.
“It’s time for school.”
Sky jumped onto the boat, and waved goodbye to her father. Watching her homeland shrink, she remembered to be strong, and wondered if she would ever see her father again. But then she remembered her mother’s words and knew that she would never give up until she did.
Yesterday, my brother Miles and I looked at each other differently. He is mad at me for something, and I don't really know what it is. I think it's because I am finally standing on my own two feet. I don't know. All I know is that when he looked at me like he wanted to slap me and talked to me like I was a piece of shit, it really hurt, and it really angered me. I was so mad that even music couldn't soothe me. I wanted to curse and scream and hit something or someone, and I don't like to feel that way so I broke down and cried. A few hours later I got a phone call from my real brother, Raymond. He offered me a chance at a new life. He offered to show me life from a different perspective. In August, I am going to Edmonton and driving to Grand Prairie. He said he'll find me a house, a job, a life. But the life I have made in Inuvik is just finally coming together. It took a while to think about what I am going to do, and I haven't made up my mind. But I am not going to stop thinking about it until I figure it out. I want to go, but leaving my family and a home I know is going to be hard. I will need the strength of a million people to be strong enough to live, and have enough knowledge to move on.