Excerpt
“It doesn’t seem like a big dream to me,” Ken said. “I just want to go
there and see it all.”
“It’s more than that,” she said. “It’s much more than that. This dream
is bigger than you.”
“What do you mean this dream is bigger than me?”
“It is. It’s bigger than you and it’s bigger than me and you have no say
in it.”
“You’re beginning to sound like my grandfather in Spain just before he
died. You’re giving me goose bumps.”
Later, when Ken was alone with Patrick he asked him what Jessica
meant when she said, things like, “I am your home,” or “The dream is
bigger than you.”
He smiled, “Yup, that sounds like Jessica all right. She’s been like that
since she was a child, making pronouncements that seem to come from
nowhere and are never explained. It’s almost as if she’s having some sort
of separate conversation on some different level at the same time that
she’s talking with us. Maybe she’s living half her life in another dimension
– I don’t know.”
“I find it a bit unnerving at times,” Ken said.
“I wouldn’t let it trouble you too much,” Patrick said. “Even though she
can be a bit spooky at times. In another time she probably would have
been considered a Shaman or some such special person.”
Ken asked Patrick what he thought of his sister marrying a white European.
Their family had never intermarried. Would it be an issue?
“No.” Patrick said. “Why?”
“I just wondered,” Ken said. “It’s been on my mind for some time. Is
there any reason why your ancestors did not marry Europeans?”
“Not that I know of. It just simply worked out that way. What about
your family? Will marrying a non-European be a problem for them?”
“I don’t think so,” Ken said. “But, I don’t really know. I’ve never talked to
them about it and come to think of it, I haven’t talked to them for a long
time. But I really don’t mind one way or the other. This is my business.”
Ken and Jessica began to plan their trip to the Arctic. Jessica immersed
herself in research. She talked to everyone, especially the bush pilots that
she invited to the house, and she began to piece the stories together and
gather names of possible contacts. She marked places on the maps that
Ken had purchased. The biggest challenge was finding a way to get there.
The only road was the Alaska Highway, which led in the opposite direction
to where they wanted to go. The only other highway was the Mackenzie
River and it was navigable only twice a year: in the depths of winter
by truck, or in late summer by boat.
The river was not a simple route. It was a mass of arms and branches interspersed
with innumerable islands.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981073573
Hellenic Canadian Literature 