Kiss of the Fur Queen (28 page)
Read Kiss of the Fur Queen Online
Authors: Tomson Highway
Ann-Adele Ghostrider lit a tiny sprig of cedar — after sweet-grass, sage, and tobacco, the fourth sacred herb — and one last puff of smoke rose. Jeremiah stood with his back against the door, his mother biting his restraining hand. For God had finally come for his brother, banging on the door, demanding to be let in. The scream of fire alarms and engines became a woman’s wail, then another, then another, until one hundred voices were wailing the death chant.
And as he moved ever closer, Gabriel Okimasis could decipher the words and the numerals printed across her sash, syllable by syllable, letter by letter: “The Fur Queen, 1987.”
Through the smoke and candle light, the Fur Queen swept into the room. Covering the bed with her cape, she leaned to Gabriel’s cheek.
The creature of unearthly beauty was floating towards him carrying something in her arms, something round and made of silver, carrying the object at waist level, like a sacred vessel, like an organ, a heart perhaps, a lung, a womb? He was the champion of the world. And then the Queen’s lips descended. Down they came, fluttering, like a leaf from an autumn tree, until they came to rest if only for a moment, though he wanted it to last a thousand years, on Gabriel Okimasis’s left cheek. There. She kissed him. And took him by the hand
.
Rising from his body, Gabriel Okimasis and the Fur Queen floated off into the swirling mist, as the little white fox on the collar of the cape turned to Jeremiah. And winked.
LOSSARY OF
C
REE
T
ERMS
Anee-i ma-a? — what about those?
Arababoo — stew
Ash! Kagitoo! – Ash! Shut up!
Astum — come here (or) come to me (or) come
Ateek, ateek, astum, astum — caribou, caribou, come to me, come to me
Athweepi — rest (or) relax
Atimootagay — dog’s cunt (common swear word)
Awasis, magawa, tugoosin — child, here he/she is, has arrived
Awiniguk oo-oo? — who (plural) are these (people)?
Awus — go away
Aymeeskweewuk anee-i — they’re holy women (i.e., nuns)
Cha — dogsled term: turn right
Doos — Cree prononciation for “deuce”
Eehee — yes
Eematat — he/she’s fucking her/him
Kaaaa — an elongation (as in “Ohhhh”) of “ka,” meaning “oh.”
Kareewalatic — the backrest of a dogsled from which the handlebar protrudes for the standing driver to hang on to
Katha matoo — don’t cry
Keechigeesigook — heaven
Keegway kaweetamatin — I’ll tell you something
Keeyapitch n’tayamiyan — I still pray
Kigiskisin na? — do you remember?
Kitoochigan — music maker (e.g., record player, piano, guitar, or any instrument that makes music)
Kimoosoom chimasoo, koogoom tapasao, diddle-ee, etc. — Grandpa gets a hard-on, grandma runs away, diddle-ee, etc. (a non-sensical musical rhyme)
Kiweethiwin — your name
K’si mantou — the Great Spirit, i.e., God (also spelled and pronounced “Kitchi mantou” or, in bad Cree “Gitche Manitou”)
Machimantou — Satan
Machipoowamoowin — bad dream power (a very powerful term)
Maggeesees — fox
Mati siwitagan — pass the salt
Mawch — no
Maw keegway — nothing
Maw neetha niweetootan — I’m not going
Migisoo — eagle
Mithoopoowamoowin — good dream power
Miximoo — bark
Mootha nantow — it’s all right
Mush — dogsled term: go (or) go forward
Muskoosis(uk) — little bear(s)
Napeesis awa — it’s a boy
Neee, bailee sleeper chee anima? — sheesh (or “good grief”), isn’t that a ballet slipper?
Neee, nimantoom — sheesh, my God!
Neee, tapwee sa awa aymeegimow — sheesh, the nerve of this priest
Nibeebeem macheeskooteek taytootew! — my baby will go down to hell!
Nigoosis — my son
Nimama — my mother
Nimantoom — my God
Noos’sim — grandson/daughter
Oogimow — Chief
Oogoosisa — the son of
Ooneemeetoo — dancer
Ootee-si — this way
Peechinook’soo — is approaching (i.e., can be seen approaching)
Peeyuk, neesoo — one, two
Peeyatuk — be careful
P’mithagan — airplane
Poowamoowin — dreaming (i.e., the act of dreaming)
Seemak — right away
Sooni-eye-gimow — Indian agent (i.e., Department of Indian Affairs)
Taneegi iga? — why not?
Tansi! — how ya doin’!
Tantee kageegimootee-in anima misti-mineeg’wachigan? — where did you steal the big cup?
Tapwee — really (or) yes, really
U — dogsled term: turn left
Weechee-in — help me
Weeks’chiloowew! — “the wind’s a-changing!” with childish pronunciation (a cry of joy, of boundless elation, as nonsensical yet as expressive of a point as “heavens to Betsy!”)
1) There is no gender, so that, in a sense, we are all he/shes, as is God, one would think …
2) The soft g, as in “George,” does not exist; rather, all gs are hard, as in “gag” or “giggle.”
