Stolen Life (71 page)
Authors: Rudy Wiebe
Shirley Anne Salmon
(née
Bear):
Rumours are she may be in Thunder Bay, or sometimes in Toronto or Wetaskiwin, or Vancouver. Her mother, Auntie Josephine Bear, will say nothing. In seven years Yvonne
has not had one contact with her: “She may never face the consequences of her original lies, nor admit she was manipulated by the law to nail me. She must have so much pain, and me, out of my own pitifulness, I have no feelings of revenge. Shirley Anne is her own worst time, she has to put up with herself.
Leonard Charles Skwarok
(1953 – 1989): Yvonne continues to pray and lay down tobacco for him.
O Creator, here I am, Medicine Bear Woman. Forgive my pitifulness. I have shared my pain because I know it is also the pain of my people.
I pray you,
remain with my words, I mean no harm;
may the existence you have chosen for me
enlighten all people to a better understanding;
that we learn humility and pitifulness, so that no one needs
to suffer alone, but can find spiritual union
with all humankind.
A–HO
Yvonne Johnson, 1998
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
“BREAK IT TO THEM GENTLY”
Written by Burton Cummings.
© 1978
SHILLELAGH MUSIC
(
SOCAN/BMI
) / Admin. By
BUG MUSIC
.
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
“PENICILLIN
PENNY”
Words and Musie by Shel Silverstein.
© Copyright 1973
EVIL EYE MUSIC INC
., Daytona Beach, FL
Used by Permission.
“THE SKY IS CRYING”
By Elmore James.
© 1960 (Renewed) Longitude Music Co. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
WARNER BROS. PUBLICATIONS U.S. INC.
, Miami, FL 33014
“SUGAREE”
Lyrics by Robert Hunter, Music by Jerry Garcia.
© 1971 by Garcia/Hunter. Used by permission of
ICENINE PUBLISHING
COMPANY
, P.O. Box 1073, San Rafael, CA 94915
Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders; in the event of an inadvertent omission or error, please notify the publisher.
Rudy Wiebe is the author of several short story collections and essays, including
River of Stone
, and eight novels, including
The Temptations of Big Bear
and
A Discovery of Strangers
, both winners of the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. He lives in Edmonton.
Yvonne Johnson is a member of the Red Pheasant Cree nation in Saskatchewan, imprisoned for first-degree murder in 1991 in Kingston Federal Prison for Women, and transferred to the minimum security Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge for Native Women, in Saskatchewan in 1995. Thirty-six years old, she is married with three children.