Kiss of the Fur Queen

Jeremiah is in Eemanapiteepitat working on his second play, which is inspired by Anne-Adele Ghostrider’s tale of the starving of the Cree and the arrival of the priests in Mistik Lake. Mariesis is enjoying her twilight years with all the surviving older folk of the reservation for company. Black-eyed Susan Magipom is allowed back into the Okimasis home now that Abraham is dead. Mariesis keeps asking Jeremiah if he and Gabriel continue to observe Catholic ritual. Jeremiah evades the question.

Gabriel’s health is falling. Jeremiah notes his little brother gets soaked in perspiration during rehearsal and takes many pills. Jeremiah wants to know about the pills, but Gabriel cannot explain yet and lies that they are just vitamins.

In Jeremiah’s second play, “Chachagathoo the Shaman,” Gabriel’s Migisoo the caribou hunter wails for God to send the Cree caribou because his people are starving. The Weetigo appears, tempting the caribou hunter and possessing him. The play opens to rave reviews. However, Gabriel is now on a respirator, his lungs choked by an infection. The doctor tells Gabriel he can live for another 15 years if he is careful, but on his way back from the clinic, Gabriel again indulges in risky sexual behavior.

“Chachagathoo the Shaman” generates its share of controversy, especially agitating the Canadian clergy. Meanwhile, Gabriel finally tells Jeremiah he has AIDS. Jeremiah wants to tell their mother, but Gabriel is extremely reluctant. Delirious with fever, Gabriel dreams of an arctic fox, an angry old man, and a Weetigo-like figure. He hits Jeremiah in his delirium, reliving the trauma of his childhood abuse.

Gabriel asks Jeremiah, “Who do you think met Dad on the other side? Jesus? Or Weesageechak?” (298). Gabriel is in a hospital bed, connected to many IVs. Gabriel decides it must have been Weesageechak, “the clown who bridges humanity and God—a God who laughs” (298). This clown or trickster must be dressed as the Fur Queen and could be a woman: Indigenous languages don’t have gender, so Gabriel wonders why Weesageechak or even God should. Gabriel’s last wish to Jeremiah is that no Catholic priest come near his bed, though Mariesis can have her “Catholic mumbo-jumbo” (299).

Mariesis is on her way to her youngest son’s deathbed, carrying Annie Moostoos’s last tooth, which she has sent as a good luck talisman for her godson. Close to death, Gabriel dreams of Weetigos and Father Lafleur. When Mariesis finally reaches Gabriel, she places a crucifix on his chest, unaware of what the symbol signifies for him. Gabriel reassures Jeremiah that he hasn’t failed him and reminds Jeremiah of the time he saved him from the caribou stampede. What Gabriel wants for Jeremiah is to “be joyful.” Realizing Gabriel is about to pass soon, Mariesis screams at Jeremiah to get a priest.

The “priest” Jeremiah gets is Anne-Adele Ghostrider, who finally makes it to the hospital through a snowstorm and replaces the rosary in Gabriel’s hand with an eagle feather. The medicine-woman lights a braid of sweetgrass and waves the smoke over Gabriel, who is being held by Robin Beatty. The smoke sets off the fire alarm, and the hospital staff pound at the door to Gabriel’s room, requesting that the ritual be stopped. Mariesis joins them, telling Amanda to open the door or Gabriel will go to Hell. She has a Catholic priest in tow.

Asserting that Indigenous people have the right to conduct their rituals just like everyone else, Jeremiah opens the door to pull in his mother and then locks it. Gabriel’s hallucinatory visions begin to resemble Abraham’s memories as he approached the end of the championship race. As Mariesis struggles against Jeremiah’s grip, the Fur Queen enters the room, lays her cape over Gabriel’s bed, and kisses him. Rising from his body, Gabriel floats off with the Fur Queen. The arctic fox on the Fur Queen’s cape seems to wink at Jeremiah.