Viola Arrives

Looking at Viola for the first time, one could be excused for not identifying the level of maliciousness she was capable of. She was a round, tattered little woman with many opinions, who had been widowed long ago and lived with her long suffering son Baneberry and his family in the Skeena village.  It was lucky for him and his dear wife Wrack that they had Viola around to tell them the right way to bring up their three children.  Viola had left school early and had brought up her brood of three, growing plumper with each one.  It was with some surprise that her children had turned out surprisingly well considering their dear overbearing mother, but Viola was always able to find fault with them. Behind her shabby, threadbare exterior lay a woman who had lived an unsatisfying life; some long ago wrong done her that she could not let go of, that gave her a beleaguered guise.

When Viola arrived at the Limpet village by skiff, she was met on shore by her son Bones and his wife Star, who, luckily for Viola had only one of their three children still living at home.  When they arrived at their She had barely unloaded her basket of necessities all over the floor, and straightened her acorn hat (which she was secretly very proud of due to the long distance from which it had come) when she asked if there might be a bite to eat available.  “It’s been a long trip; took most of the day, Star and I haven’t had but a couple o’ small meals on my way.  You wouldn’t happen to have any eulachons would you?”  She was salivating at the thought of the taste of the small fish, common in the Skeena village, but not so much here.

“Certainly Viola” Star said as she passed her mother in law an eulachon on a deer cabbage leaf.  Viola stripped off the silver skin, throwing it over her shoulder and shoved the whole fish into her round, plump cheeks.  With no teeth left, it was a wonder she could eat so quickly. As she ruminated on their dinner meal she began her latest tirade.  Her mouth full or fish, she began “and you’d think they’d a let us older folk have our own skiffs with our own rowers, but no” she grabbed another fish from the counter and shoved it into her evidently still full mouth. ”But no, we had to come with the others an’ it was a real journey I tells ya!  Those boys couldn’t paddle fast enough, and the poling!” she grabbed another fish, dissecting it as she continued to chew, “when the polin’ started, we hadta’ move so as they could ‘get in position.  Well I tells ya, that Linnae of Shale’s was on our skiff. Pregnant as a girl can get an’ takin’ up the space of two.  They treated her like a princess!  No respect for us older folk. She was jus’ visitin’ at our village since her husband is off tradin’.”  She suddenly brightened and asked “Did you tell everyone I was comin’?”  Bones and Star wondered who the ‘everyone’ was.  They knew of no one who would be wanting to see Viola.

Bones avoided the question and tried in vain to steer his mother away from the fast vanishing supply of eulachons they had hoped to serve for dinner.  “Mother, come into the sitting room and make yourself comfortable” but Viola wasn’t budging as long as the fish were there in front of her.  When Viola turned to speak to Bones, Star deftly wrapped the remaining eulachons and put them away in her pantry.

Viola turned towards the table, her eyes grew wide as she saw the fish were gone, but continued chewing the mush she had stored in her cheeks. “and if she’s gonna pop that baby at the Gatherin’, I’d say it’s a mite early! Doesn’t look early to me!  I think she was in the family way when they got married.” Viola nodded her head as if having left a jewel of wisdom on the now empty table. Bones wished to no avail, that his mother would stop talking with her mouth shoved full of food.  The smell was overpowering and she looked more like a hungry seagull wolfing down a kill, storing most of it in its cheeks and gullet, than a grandmother who should be setting a good example.  “Yup,” Viola went on. “Yup, you just wait!  That baby’ll be born any day now.  She says that Shale’ill be back before it’s born, but I think I know a little bit more about babies than that Linnea does.”  Viola continued to chew while Bones gathered up her things, put them back in her basket and cut in “Mother, let me show you where you’ll be sleeping.”  He put his hand on her shoulder and attempted to steer her away from the table. He led her to the corner of the living area where they had put out their best furs for Viola.

 “Hmff.. “ she said.  Can’t you do better’n that? No respect for an old woman. Why I’m plenty old enough to be an Elder.  Think they’ll ask me to join’em this year Bones?”  Bones looked at her incredulously.  This uneducated, opinionated woman could not really think she was qualified to be an Elder, could she?  But she seemed to have moved on.  “Thought you had more room.”

Star came to his rescue.  “We’ve got Mus, Perri and their three kids staying here as well.  You know, Perri’s a logger. They live in the Cedar village?”  Star queried.  “They’ll be needing the upstairs so we’ll all be sleeping down here too.”

Viola looked unpleasantly surprised. “You mean to tell me that that hussy an’ her family are getting’ the best digs?  Why I wouldn’t stay in the same house with her if’n I didn’t have no choice.  She’s always been trouble, that one.”  She frowned as she tried to remember some vagrant memory.

“Mother” said Bones, his voice and temper rising as he drew out the word. “Mother, we’ll have no talk like that.  I expect you to treat our guests with respect!  If you’re not able to do that, then maybe you need to stay somewhere else!  There’s always room in the Gathering Great Lodge.”  He could feel his blood boiling, having forgotten just what a trial his mother was.  His poor brother Baneberry, putting up with her year round.

“No” a humbled and subdued Viola said. “This’ll do”

Star and Bones looked at each other, communicating their distress without words, both having come to the realization that this Gathering was not going to be quite what they wished it was.  Viola was here.