NORTHERN EXPOSURE

BON INTO A CARIBOU-HUNTING CREE FAMILY IN NORTHERN MANITOBA, ACCLAIMED PLAYWRIGHT AND NOVELIST. TOMSON HIGHWAYS PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE MAGICAL WORLD OF HIS CHILDHOOD IN PERMANENT ASTONISHMENT

- TOMSON HIGHWAY

NATURAL FORCES SUCH AS wind and water betray their own rhythms, their own personalities. Those of sub-Arctic Canada are no different. As with humans, their moods are volatile: friends one day, killers another. In fact, we can never tell which mood they will bless or blast us with from one day to the next. So, what are we to do but roll with the punches? Here’s one mood…

The first three weeks of August are known for their beauty. No wind, no rain, no mosquitoes, the temperature exquisite. By its last week, however, the fall winds have come and the temperature plunges. Augurs announcing the advent of autumn, they whip the water into waves so gigantic they look like churches coming to get you for not confessing all your sins to Father Cadeau, they are that scary. On the wide-open stretches of Reindeer Lake where there are no islands to paddle to for refuge or hide behind from such Leviathans, you risk losing your life.