บท 16: Chapter 16
"Kohkom would like you to come for tea today," Anna said as soon as she came into class in the morning.
"That sounds nice," Leigh set the paper she was grading aside. "I'll call Mr. Dalrymple at lunch time and tell him I'm going out after school."
Anna nodded and went to her seat. The other children came in and sat down. Some took books out to read. Others doodled on the covers of their notebooks. Others just talked with their friends.
Tom came up to her desk.
"Do you think Mr. Dalrymple has seen my dad yet?"
"I don't know, Tom, I'll ask him at lunch."
The bell rang and they stood for the anthem then listened to the announcements. Once they were seated again, Leigh started them on their reading. She had the class divided into groups of four. Each group had a strong reader, a weaker reader and two average. The stronger readers ended up helping the slower ones so they all finished pretty much together. Right now, they were working through a book of native stories that Leigh had found.
The Cree children were especially caught up with them.
"I didn't know we had our own stories," Tom said, "I thought it was just stuff that the old people said."
"There are all kinds of stories," Leigh said, "Some are in books, and some are from old people first."
Tom just nodded, but he went back to reading the book.
For phys-ed Leigh had something different planned. The children came to the gym and some of them groaned when they saw the basketball on the floor.
"Basketball." Georgia folded her arms and glared at the ball. "Is for tall people."
"I like basketball," Macky said and Georgia rolled her eyes.
"We are going to do something a little different," Leigh trying to keep a straight face. "First I need you in four teams, so line up and I'll count you off." Soon she had four teams of students standing about in varying degrees of enthusiasm.
"Now, this is what is going to happen." She picked up one of the balls. "Each team will get a ball, and I want you to work on teaching each other about basketball. Dribbling," and she bounced the ball a few times, "passing," and she passed the ball to Macky, who passed it back to her, "and shooting." She made a jump shot at the closest net and to her astonishment sank the ball with a swoosh. The class cheered and Macky ran to get the ball. "Each team go to one corner of the gym and get to work."
The four groups spread out and soon the balls were bouncing and rolling all over the place. The enthusiasts were doing most of the bouncing while others stood off in the corners trying to stay out of the way of the ball.
After a bit, she blew the whistle and all the children gathered around her again.
"OK," she said, "Now for your first test."
"Test!" protested the class.
"Here Georgia." She handed the girl a ball. "Show me what you learned about basketball." Georgia tried to dribble the ball, but it got loose and rolled away. The class laughed, but Leigh held up her hand and they stopped. She picked one person from each team and none of them did any better.
"Right then," Leigh said, "Go back to your corners and you have to teach these people how to dribble the ball. They are going to represent your team. You can't yell at them or make fun of them; they won't learn that way. You need to help them have fun and want to learn." She shooed them away. This time each group formed a huddle around their designated dribbler. She could hear irregular bouncing and occasional cheers.
Gradually the cheering grew louder and the bouncing got steadier.
This time when she called them back, each of the four kept control of the ball and their teams cheered loudly for them.
"Now, there are more balls in the cupboard in the corner. Get as many as you need, and I want everyone to learn to dribble. You're going to have to help each other.
This time the gym was chaos as the groups broke into smaller groups and they practiced controlling the ball. Just before the end of the class Leigh had the teams do a relay race that involved dribbling the ball from one end of the gym and back. A few children lost the ball, but the cheers were loud and it was almost a tie at the end.
"Put the balls away now, and we'll go back to class." Leigh said.
Those with basketballs ran to put them in the cupboard while the rest started back to class.
"Now that we're back, I think it's time we learned a bit more about ourselves. I was going to do this earlier, but better late than never." She walked over to the map of the world and pointed to Scotland. "Remember I said my name was from here, and that my grandfather was born here. I would like you to talk to your parents and your grandparents and learn where you came from. Did you always live here, or did you come from far away?
"I know, I know," Enji waved his hand in the air.
"Yes, Enji," Leigh said.
"I was born in a village in Nigeria," He got up and pointed to Africa on the world map then to Nigeria, and finally to one spot on the map. "There." He flashed a brilliant smile at the class. "That's my father's home."
Leigh put a pin in the map to mark the spot and the other students crowded around to look at it.
"Did you have elephants there?" Jamie asked.
"Yes, and lions too. There are snakes and monkeys and lots of birds. It is very hot, not like here."
Leigh set the students to looking up Nigeria in their books and finding out as much as they could. They were all surprised when the lunch bell rang.
Leigh called Jim and told him that she was going to have tea with Anna's grandmother. Dave came by to complain that she'd caused him no end of trouble. He had piles of requisition forms to complete to get the budget for materials to teach shed building.
"I guess they got so used to me just building chairs and boxes that asking for real lumber came as a shock. It must go through the Board, but I'm going to get this stuff and those kids are going to build a shed." He left still looking over the papers and muttering.
"You have another fan," Fran said, "He never used to come here to complain, he would just complain on the High School side."
"He always complains?"
"You'd think if they had a shop class that they would have a proper budget for it, but he ends up screaming for supplies every year. I'm sure it's getting worse, or maybe he's just getting louder."
After lunch, Leigh worked through math and art with a break while they went to French class.
The school bell rang and Anna stood beside Leigh's desk quivering with excitement. Leigh packed up her stuff and left it on the desk. She could get Jim to bring her over later to pick it up. She made sure she had her purse and keys then followed Anna out of the school.
The girl led her onto a trail running past the Plan and into the Grid. They walked right past the trailer. I could have just dropped the stuff off and saved a trip. Anna walked through the Grid without any fear paying no attention to the derelict houses or the graffiti. It was her neighbourhood. She probably didn't notice the poverty and damage to the homes. They got to the edge of the Grid and the trail went down the side of a hill Leigh hadn't known was there.
Good thing she had the traction aids on her boots, because the hill was icy.
Anna didn't notice. How did the girl get back up the hill? At the bottom, there was a rough road and a couple of old trailers set back a little way.
"That's kohkom's trailer," Anna said pointing to one, but she led Leigh past it into the woods again. They didn't go far before they reached a small clearing. In the centre stood a tent which looked like a small yurt. It was on a wooden platform and smoke wafted out of a hole in the canvass roof.
"Tansi, Kohkom," Anna called and led Leigh into the tent.
Leigh expected the tent to be full of smoke, but while she could smell the wood smoke, it didn't make her eyes burn. It was warm enough that she gratefully gave Anna her coat.
"Hello..." Leigh started and realized that she didn't know the old woman's name.
"Tansi, okiskinohamakew" the woman said, "call me Kohkom, everybody does."
"Hello, Kohkom," Leigh said, "Thank you for the invitation."
"You are most welcome," Kohkom said.
Anna appeared again and poured tea for Leigh and Kohkom. Leigh breathed in the scent of the tea. Very different from what she drank at the coffee shop. She took a sip. The warmth of the flavour mixed with the warmth of the tea and the sweetness of the milk and honey. She smiled.
"Good," Kohkom said. "I walk with nôsisim iskwesis, my granddaughter. We walk in sunshine and talk of shadows, we walk in shadows and talk of sunshine."
"That seems like a wise thing," Leigh said, "It is important when we are in the shadows to remember sunshine."
"Shadows are part of the world too, nôsisim. If all was sunshine, life would be hard. The strongest medicine often grows in the darkest places."
"I think I understand," Leigh's head was spinning a little from the heat. She took another sip of the tea, and breathed slowly. "It is different for me, I think in straight lines, but I think you teach in circles."
"Ah," Kohkom said, "you just tell your stories differently, but the lessons; they are the same."
"What do you wish to teach me, Kohkom?"
"Straight lines indeed," Kohkom smiled and it lit up the tent. Leigh's head stopped spinning. Every detail of every wrinkle on the old woman's face stood out. "I had a son," Kohkom said, "Who carried a dark spirit, like you do. Anna told me how brave you were naming the spirit to those you teach. My son didn't like to name the spirit in him. He only wanted to see sunshine." She shook her head and a tear fell from her eye. "Because he feared the shadow, the shadow had power to kill him. He wouldn't take the white man's medicine, the little pills you take, but he wouldn't walk the medicine wheel of his own people either."
"This spirit," Leigh asked, "how do your people treat it?"
"You have taken the first step on the medicine wheel, nôsisim, this tea is from the forest, from plants of both sunshine and darkness. It will not fight with the little pills, but it helps the journey. It cleanses the body and soul."
Leigh looked at Kohkom and the cup of tea in her hand then she took another long sip.
"Anna, nôsisim iskwesis, you told me she was brave." Kohkom smiled even brighter, "We will walk the medicine wheel together. I will guard you from the shadows outside, and teach you to guard yourself from the spirit inside you that would cause harm.
They finished their tea. Leigh didn't feel any need to fill the tent with words. The intense clarity of her vision ebbed and flowed. Just as it returned to normal, Anna stepped up with her coat.
"Tansi, Kohkom. Thank you." Leigh followed Anna out of the tent and reveled in the sharp chill of the air. It was already dark, but Anna took her hand and led Leigh back past the trailers and up the hill. Leigh could see the warmth of light shining from houses in the Grid. The graffiti and neglect were hidden by the darkness. She was less afraid walking in the darkness than she had been during the day.
They arrived at the trailer and Leigh saw the lights of her home welcoming her. Anna gave her a tight hug and a small package of tea.
"Kohkom says to make yourself a cup each day."
"How much do I use?"
"Enough to make it taste right," Anna said, "You'll know."
"Thank you," Leigh said and hugged Anna again.
"Ay-ay," Anna said.
"Ay-ay," Leigh replied.
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