Kiss of the Fur Queen

In Eemanapiteepitat, 14-year-old Gabriel—recently graduated from Birch Lake—is travelling in a canoe with Abraham to hunt fish. Abraham’s question, “You gonna miss Birch Lake?” makes Gabriel painfully aware of how little his father knows about his life (108). Clueless about the abuse Gabriel faced at the residential school, Abraham good-naturedly talks about the benevolence of priests like Father Bouchard and Father Lafleur, as well as the positive effect Christianity has had on their people. “You know, nigoosis, the Catholic Church saved our people […] It is the one true way to talk to God, to thank him” (109) Abraham’s remarks make it clear to Gabriel that he cannot stay with his well-intentioned but naïve parents. He must follow Jeremiah south.

As the reservation folk gather around the newly constructed airport in Eemanapiteepitat to bid goodbye to Gabriel, he notes that most of them seem drunk. The reservation too has changed, consisting entirely of flimsy plywood buildings since the Housing Program decided to give it a makeover.

United in Winnipeg, the Okimasis brothers exult at being able to converse freely in Cree and English on the city’s streets. Jeremiah takes Gabriel to a mall so he can buy some clothes with the $100 the Sooni-eye-gimow has given him as clothing allowance. As they shop, the boys recall the Cree myth of how the weasel got its new coat. According to the story, the Trickster spirit Weesageechak comes to Earth disguised as a weasel to kill the cannibalistic Weetigo. The weasel climbs up Weetigo’s rectum and eats the monster up from the inside. Covered in excrement, the weasel’s white fur coat is now brown. To clean him up, God holds him by the tip of his tail and dips him into the river. Thus, while the rest of the weasel is clean, the tip of his tail remains dark till this day. Tickled by the myth, the brothers note that English could never capture and mainstream Christianity never accommodate such a wild story

Gabriel ends up purchasing and wearing such nice clothes that to Jeremiah his brother appears to be a “rock star with a tan” (119). The brothers gorge themselves on junk food. Later, a handsome white man exposes himself to Gabriel in a bathroom, and Gabriel feels deeply attracted to him.

The German teacher in Jeremiah’s history class is delivering a lecture on the spread of Christianity in the “New World.” The lecture focuses more on the warring sects of Christianity than the effect colonization had on the populations of the Americas. Just then, a dark-skinned Ojibway girl named Amanda Clear Sky enters the class. Jeremiah finds himself embarrassed by her appearance. He wonders if this is because she reminds him of the drunk, disenfranchised Indigenous people he has seen on street corners.

Meanwhile, Gabriel’s biology class is dissecting a pig cadaver. As the teacher, Mr. Armstrong, describes the male calf’s anatomy to the class, Gabriel recalls the Christian ritual of the Eucharist. In this ritual, the congregation eats a wafer that represents the flesh of Jesus and drinks wine that represents his blood. Thus, the congregation symbolically (or literally, in the view of Catholics) partakes in the body of Christ, becoming one with him. The thought that the priests at school and his parents are symbolically feasting on the “essence of maleness” makes Gabriel gag (125). To distract himself he focuses on Mr. Armstrong’s good looks. However, recalling his Catholic background, he immediately feels guilt for his desire for men.

Overwhelmed, Gabriel tells Jeremiah he wants to go home to their parents. Jeremiah advises Gabriel to divert his attention into bodybuilding and sports so he won’t feel isolated.