Kiss of the Fur Queen

Six years have passed since Jeremiah won the Crookshank Memorial Trophy. He is now working as a social worker with the Winnipeg Indian Friendship Center, which rescues and rehabilitates homeless Indigenous people. As he and his colleague Jimmy Roger Buck help a drunk woman up into their truck, Jeremiah feels devoid of joy. He feels there is little hope for “Cree, Sioux, Salteaux—his people, shuffling to, where?” (221). Jeremiah has started to drink to keep up with the emotional stress of his job.

Tragedy strikes the Okimasis family when Abraham and Mariesis’s oldest son, William William, is killed by a bullet at a Jane Kaka drink fest. Jeremiah visits Abraham, who is sick and inconsolable at his child’s death. Jeremiah seethes inwardly at Gabriel’s absence, wondering how he could be in Tokyo performing at a time like this.

A crowd of relatives and friends is gathered around Abraham’s bed when Gabriel suddenly appears on the scene. Abraham is overjoyed to see him. Jeremiah and Gabriel decide to tell Abraham about Gabriel’s abuse at Birch Lake, but Father Bouchard interrupts them when he arrives to administer Abraham his last rites. Jeremiah and Gabriel protest since they want to speak to Abraham.