April Raintree (8 page)

The next morning, though, the DeRosier kids told the others that we had tried to dye our hair and that's why our hair had been cut. We were jeered and laughed at. At lunchtime, I confided in Jennifer and she went to the Home Economics room and got some scissors. In the washroom, she cut Cheryl's hair and mine, so that we looked better. The aggravation over this incident gradually died down. The DeRosier kids were back to fighting with each other, although I sometimes felt they stopped long enough to plot against Cheryl and me.

Left to ourselves in our room, Cheryl and I did our homework and read a lot. Sometimes, she would read my geography book and day-dream. But mostly, she'd read about animals and adventure stories. I was into Nancy Drew books and other mystery books, and occasionally I would read some of Cheryl's animals books. So far, I had not read the book on Louis Riel. Whenever Cheryl wanted to talk about him, I would change the subject. I guess she got the hint because she began staying away from such topics.

On Saturdays, Mrs. DeRosier would take her eggs in, do her visiting and her shopping and usually her kids would go with her. Mr. DeRosier, Raymond and Gilbert went to work at the barns or in the springtime they would work the fields all day. Cheryl and I would have Saturdays to ourselves. Since I was good at doing the floors, I'd let Cheryl go rambling outside with Rebel.

One Saturday morning, in late spring, Ricky and Maggie didn't go to town with their mother. Later that day, Cheryl and I would know why.

Cheryl was outside looking for Rebel. I was cleaning the kitchen. Ricky had already gotten ahold of Rebel and he had brought the dog close to the house for Maggie to watch. Then, making sure Cheryl didn't see him, he slipped out to the pasture where the bull was kept. When he saw Cheryl nearing the pasture, he climbed back through the fence as if he had just come through the pasture. He yelled to Cheryl that Rebel had been hurt and that the dog was on the other side of the pasture. He said he was going for help.

Thinking that Ricky had just come across the pasture, Cheryl climbed through the fence and started running. She didn't notice the bull raising its head to watch her. She didn't see it start moving towards her, either. Her mind was only on Rebel.

I saw them from the kitchen window. I flew out the door, saw Maggie giggling to herself, and ran horrifed toward the pasture. The bull was now charging across the field, straight at Cheryl. I called Rebel and raced toward Cheryl. I climbed though the fence and yelled to Cheryl to run.

Cheryl heard the pounding of the bull's hoofbeats and at the same time she heard me. She stopped to look around and when she saw the bull coming directly at her, she froze in terror. I was screaming all the while for her to run and at the last minute, she did move. The bull narrowly missed her. It slowed to stop and turned around. Cheryl heard Rebel barking but she didn't know that he had streaked behind her and was now preoccupying the bull. I was running towards her and when I reached her, I grabbed her hand and we ran back to the safety of the fence. We turned to see how Rebel was doing. The dog was prancing around the bull, easily avoiding the short charges. Cheryl called him and he came happily loping back to her.

Ricky and Maggie had stopped laughing and they glared defiantly at me as I walked up to them. Without saying a thing, I hauled back and punched Maggie right in the face. Her nose started bleeding as she landed on the ground. Ricky jumped on me from behind and his weight knocked me off-balance. Cheryl, who was still shaking, walked over to him and kicked him hard. I motioned for Cheryl to leave things to me. Ricky and Maggie fought back and screamed bloody murder. I was silent as I ploughed into them. The fury in me wouldn't let their punches and their scratches hurt me. When my anger had subsided. I stepped back and looked at them with contempt. They were bloody and crying. As I turned to ask Cheryl if she was all right, I noticed Mr. DeRosier and the two foster boys in the distance. The boys who were standing just behind him had big grins on their faces, the first time I had ever seen that. The expression of Mr. DeRosier's face was unreadable. He didn't say or do anything. He just turned and continued towards the garage.

At suppertime, Ricky and Maggie came down after everyone else was seated. Maggie wore a sleeveless dress to show off all the bruises and scratches she had received. Ricky had also dressed for the occasion.

As they expected, their mother noticed their appearances right away. “What happened now? Did you two get into a fight?”

Maggie turned the tears on, so Ricky explained. “April and Cheryl were teasing the bull this morning and we tried to make them stop so they beat us up.”

Before Mrs. DeRosier could turn on us, Mr. DeRosier spoke up in a quiet voice. “Now try telling the truth for a change. The tractor broke down this morning. I came back for some parts. You didn't see me, did you, Maggie and Ricky? But I saw you. And what you tried to do. You're both darn lucky I didn't have time to get to you first.”

“Are you calling my children liars?” Mrs. DeRosier asked him angrily.

“They're worse than liars! What they did this morning could have gotten Cheryl killed. What the hell's the matter with you? You three make me sick!” He slammed his fist on the table and silenced Mrs. DeRosier from saying any more. After a minute, he got up and stormed out of the house. Raymond and Gilbert looked lost. Even though they had barely begun to eat, they got up and left after him.

The rest of us finished our meal in silence. Mrs. DeRosier told Cheryl and me to go to our room when we finished the dishes. I knew she wasn't going to let this go by without doing something but I kept this worry to myself.

On Monday, Mrs. DeRosier kept Maggie home from school. When we got off the bus that evening, Maggie was in her good clothes and it looked as if they had gone somewhere. She looked gleeful and triumphant. She whispered to Ricky and they went into the living room, laughing.

At the beginning of the summer holidays, about a month after the incident, I was in the house one morning when I noticed a car enter the driveway and saw that it was Miss Turner. Then it hit me. Miss Turner was here to take Cheryl away. Of course, that's what their secret had been. That's why we had never been punished. I panicked. I couldn't be separated from Cheryl again! I just couldn't! But what could I do to stop it? Nothing! Except…except run away with Cheryl! But where could we go? Cheryl was outside somewhere. I didn't stop to think what we would take. I just ran out the kitchen door and looked around the farmyard. I saw Cheryl coming towards the house. Ricky and Maggie were still upstairs, sleeping. I heard Mrs. DeRosier calling for Cheryl from the other side of the house. I ran towards Cheryl and urged her to duck behind a building.

“Cheryl, Miss Turner is here. I'm sure she's come to take you away.” I was shaking. I was glad to see that Cheryl had her jacket on.

“April, I don't want to go away from you. They told me I'd never see you again.”

“I know, Cheryl. We are going to run away. Right now.”

I looked around the corner of the building. There was nobody in sight. We ran across the open grain field as fast as we could, trying to keep low. When we were into the safety of the woods, I said, “We're going to Winnipeg. I'm sure I know the way there. We'll just follow along the roads through the fields. When we get there, I'll try to find the Dions. I'm sure they'll help us. I know Mrs. Semple. She'll just believe whatever DeRosier tells her. Okay?”

Cheryl nodded, and we started on our journey. I had no idea how far it was or how long it would take. We followed alongside Highway 200, the same way we went to Winnipeg by car. We walked all that day, ducking low in the tall grasses in the ditch whenever we saw or heard a car. Sometimes, we walked through nearby woods. Once, we saw a car moving slowly and when it came closer we saw that it was an RCMP car. I knew they were looking for us. We'd have to be more careful. It grew dark and the darker it got, the harder it was for us to walk through the weeds. We waited until it was pitch black and returned to the road. Cheryl began complaining that she was hungry and tired and wanted to stop and rest.

I urged her on, saying that we had a better chance to make it if we continued through the night. In the middle of the night, Cheryl insisted she just couldn't go on anymore. I knew how she felt because I was dead tired myself. We left the road for a field. Cheryl fell asleep, her head resting on my lap. I sat for a while to guard her but I soon lay back and fell asleep, too.

I was awakened by someone probing at me. The sun was shining down on us and when I remembered where we were, I felt exposed. I blinked and was dismayed to find a police officer standing over me. Cheryl was already sitting up and she was still rubbing her eyes.

We were told to get into the car and I sat there, glumly. The Mountie talked to us but we ignored him and didn't say anything. I was so disappointed that I couldn't think of anything except that we wanted to stay together. I was surprised when we got to Winnipeg after all. But we were taken straight to a police station. We were told to sit in the waiting area. After a while, the officer came back and gave us milk and cinnamon buns. I wondered why we had to wait there.

“We almost made it, didn't we?” Cheryl said. “If I hadn't gone to sleep, we would have made it.”

“I went to sleep, too, Cheryl. Don't worry, we'll explain everything to them.” I had read about the RCMP. I knew they were good guys and that they would listen to us. I began to wish that I had talked to the Mountie in the car, after all.

We never did get another chance to talk to the Mounties. Mrs. Semple came in first and she gave us a disapproving look.

“I never expected this of you, April. Mrs. DeRosier is worried sick. Don't you know how much she cares for you? You girls put a scare into all of us. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Do you know what could happen when you hitchhike? Why you, you could have been hurt.”

“We didn't hitchhike. We walked,” Cheryl said, sullenly.

“Don't try to tell me that you walked all that way. You girls have had a very bad influence on each other.” She turned to stare at Cheryl. “And you, young lady, I won't be surprised if you land in reform school.”

“Why should she land in reform school?” I said, bitterly. “I'm the one who talked her into running away. I didn't want us to be separated again.”

“And I suppose you're the one who attacked Maggie?” Mrs. Semple asked.

“I beat her up. And Ricky, too. They tried to kill Cheryl.” After I said it, I realized it must have sounded ridiculous. Nothing was coming out right. I had wanted to explain everything out in a logical, sensible way. Instead, here I was sounding hysterical.

“You have too much imagination and not enough common sense,” Mrs. Semple said. “Mrs. DeRosier brought her poor daughter in and showed us what happened. Now they have no reason to lie about who did what. It was a very vicious act, Cheryl. Furthermore, Mrs. DeRosier brought a report from school to back her claim that you are a troublemaker. April, it's touching that you want to cover up for your sister. But if we don't do something now, she'll end up in a reform school.”

“I'm not covering up! I'm telling the truth!” I shook my head in disbelief. How come they couldn't see through Mrs. DeRosier and Maggie? How could I convince them of our honesty? Then I remembered Mr. DeRosier and the boys. He had spoken up for us once. If he knew about this, surely he would speak up again.

“Did you talk to Mr. DeRosier and Raymond and Gilbert?” I asked excitedly.

Mrs. Semple eyed me suspiciously and said, “April, you're a beautiful girl. I advise you to keep your charms to yourself. Mrs. DeRosier told us that you've been flirting with them.”

“And of course, you believe her,” I grumbled more to myself than to her. The witch would have had that covered too. After that, I just didn't know what to say. Then Mrs. Semple gave us a little speech about what she called the native girls' syndrome.

“…and you girls are headed in that direction. It starts out with the fighting, the running away, the lies. Next come the accusations that everyone in the world is against you. There are the sullen uncooperative silences, the feeling sorry for yourselves. And when you go on your own, you get pregnant right away or you can't find or keep jobs. So you'll start with alcohol and drugs. From there, you get into shoplifting and prostitution and in and out of jails. You'll live with men who abuse you. And on it goes. You'll end up like your parents, living off society. In both your cases, it would be a pity because Miss Turner and I knew you both when you were little. And you both were remarkable, well-behaved youngsters. Now, you're going the same route as many other native girls. If you don't smarten up, you'll end up in the same place. Skid row.”

I thought if those other native girls had the same kind of people surrounding them as we did, I wouldn't blame them one bit. Much of the speech didn't make sense to me anyway. I'd never heard the terms shoplifting, prostitution and I didn't even know what drugs were. I'd been into drug stores and they sold all sorts of useful things. So far, I hadn't had a crush on a boy, well, not a major crush. And what the heck was skid row? All I knew for sure was that somewhere in that speech, she had insulted our parents and I could see that it rankled Cheryl. I held her hand.

I thought of once more trying to reason with Mrs. Semple but then Miss Turner walked in. Mrs. Semple went over to her and they talked for a few minutes. Then they came to us and told us we were going to the Children's Aid office.

There we sat alone in one room while they discussed our futures in another. I was still angry and felt like a criminal. We hadn't done anything wrong. Well, maybe I shouldn't have laid such a beating on those two brats. But it was Cheryl who was getting all the blame. Between the two of us, she was the more innocent. It was unjust.