Excerpt
trees made more noise than the kids. Leaves played with the
light wind which had started blowing from the west. The kids
didn’t play with the wind, neither amongst themselves. They
only looked at each other wondering what each of them had
hidden in their hearts, what each of them didn’t want to recall,
things they didn’t wish to anyone, yet things they experience
in this Kamloops Residential School, run under the auspices of
the Roman Catholic Church. And the wind kept on playing and
the children kept being quiet as if they didn’t want to disturb
the playful wind among the tree leaves as if they were afraid
the secret each savage kid kept deep in their hearts would be
revealed to the winds and to the tree leaves and the air which
choke them instead of helping them heal.
Anton was standing in the room taking clothes out of the
washer and putting them in one drier when his glance noticed
two pairs of pants walking just outside the small rectangular
window of the laundry. Anton walked closer to the window and
noticed the two priests standing on the pathway that was laid
around the huge building. He couldn’t see their faces but from
their stands he guessed they were on duty overseeing the kids in
recess. Suddenly Anton’s mouth gaped open seeing the hand of
one priest holding the other’s hand for a while. That hold was
a lot longer than the usual when two people greet each other.
That hold was more than that and even more so when Anton
noticed the fingers of one caressing the hand of the other. He put
his head closer to the window and carefully not to be seen, with
his head almost upwards he confirmed what his thoughts were:
it was father Nicolas. That meant that father Thomas was the
other priest. Unless it was the head of the facility father Jerome.
But no, Father Jerome never serves on duty overseeing the kids
in recess. Anton pulled away from under the window and kept on
Libros Libertad 