Zarulium Chronicles I - Destination Nazca

Chapter 3: Joe – Aurica, Ontario, Canada – November

  Warm in the town, the cold November air quickly turned cold on the highway, so Joe rolled up the truck window. The caseworker in Orillia had advised everyone involved that the best day to relocate Joe would be Friday after school. In this way, he would have the weekend off to meet his new family and prepare for a new school.

  Joe's uncle was driving him to his new foster home. He had done nothing wrong at his first one: that one was a temporary home that authorities sent him to when his mother first struggled with drugs. The caseworker provided ample warning to his mother, but recently, she had a relapse.

  "Uncle Dan, how come you have such an everyday name, but I have a native one?"

  "Well, I had a native one at birth just like you."

  "Really? What did your parents name you?"

  Relaxed, Dan replied, "Bear Claw."

  Excitedly, Joe remarked, "Awesome!" Then he asked, "Now why didn't I get a cool name like that?"

  Dan explained, "Well, the tradition is to name a child at birth in relation to nature or the elements. In my case my mother saw a bear going after a wild turkey and saw it claw at the turkey – so that became my name."

  Pleased, Joe concluded, "Excellent!" Then, as if he were christening his uncle, Joe stated, "Uncle Bear Claw!"

  Dan elaborated, "Well, usually when you pass into manhood, you take a Christian name – sometimes even earlier, I guess because it is easier to fit in. It's hard to be First Nations as it is without the rest of folks identifying you as one simply because of your name."

  Joe lamented, "I don't really feel like a 'Joe' though, eh – and I would have been happy to be called 'wild turkey' even . . ."

  Smiling as he spoke, Dan explained, "Well, we gave you the name Joe when you first went to school to help you adjust. The school had a few native kids in it but they all went by Christian names already, and so we went for one then too . . ."

  Joe reasoned, "Well, I guess any Christian name is better than my native one . . ."

  Dan protested, stating, "I disagree! You have the most special name I ever heard – you were named for something almost unique."

  "Yeah, yeah, my mother always tells me how few people can be named because of a birth mark, but why couldn't that mark be shaped like a lion or a snake?"

  Bear Claw reasoned, "Because the Gods wanted to paint the Sun on you Joe – you are special. I think one day the world will find out that you are special."

  "I don't think so, Uncle Dan. I think you want to cheer me up. Its okay, I understand I have to go to this home in Aurica until mom gets better. Promise me you'll visit me on the weekends when you aren't working."

  "I told you Joe – I will be there whenever I can."

  They rode quietly for a minute or so before Dan commented, "Hey, remember I signed you up for karate at the school you'll be going to! I want you to always attend."

  With mild concern in his voice, Joe asked, "Sounds like a pretty rough school – is karate mandatory there?"

  "No," replied Dan, laughing, "it's a private club that uses the school after hours – it has nothing to do with the school."

  Nodding, Joe replied, "Okay, I get it. Thanks, Uncle Dan."

  His uncle wouldn't admit it, but Joe was sure Bear Claw signed him up because Joe was hopeless at defending himself. His uncle would probably also not admit to paying the entire fee because Joe's mother had very little money. Joe wondered if he could ever repay his uncle's generosity.

  Joe sat back, looked out at the passing farmland, and he wondered what he would experience next. Would he meet other kids like himself at his new school? He quickly realized that this idea was pretty freakin' crazy. That'll happen when I sprout freakin' wings! The likelihood of finding a second First Nations child in this upper class 'rural suburb' was remote.

  Next, he wondered if he would find someone to identify with in the Karate class. When he watched karate movies, experts kicked the pretend crap out of each other. Joe imagined that in a real Karate school, the advanced students kicked the real crap out of the rookies. Joe thought that karate seemed unsuitable to his easy-going disposition.

  Seeing a smile emerging on his nephew's face, Dan asked, "What're you smilin' at, Joe?"

  "Oh, nothin' special – I just thought it was funny that I never seem to meet people like myself no matter where I go."

  Encouragingly, Dan stated, "Don't you worry about that! I told you – it is because you are special."

  "Okay, Uncle Dan – I give up – I must be special, eh," replied Joe, although he mentally replaced the word 'special' with 'visible minority'.

  Today, I am a new kid in a foster home, again. On Monday, I am the new school kid, again. On Monday, I am the First Nations kid, as always. Joe flipped down the passenger-seat visor to look in the mirror at the hole where his front tooth used to be. He added that to his list of negative thoughts.

  On the positive side, he had recently turned twelve. At least he did not have to experience this in a new school or home with strangers. He was used to others teasing him for always being one of the youngest students.

  He considered his other positive assets. He performed well at school and did not mind meeting new people. Then he thought about an expression he had heard. It went like this: 'As long as you have health, nothing else matters.' This caused him to feel with his tongue the hole where his tooth used to be.

  He thought about how he lost it. John Storm Cloud knocked it out when Joe refused to continue doing the 15 year-old jerk's math and science homework a week ago. The injury had healed; however, Joe knew he had lost an adult thing before he even became one.

  The loss, however, did not deter Joe from wanting to grow up faster. He dreamt that one day he would have a job working with computers or in a science lab or even better with computers in a science lab! It was a dream because Joe knew it had poor odds of materializing. Yeah, eh – they'll give you a job like that when you grow back that missing tooth!

  When clever white kids showed their knowledge, the adult society praised them and spoke of how bright they were and what 'promise' they held. When Joe had initially tried that, the adult society identified him as a mimic. They assumed he had learned how to ape things he had heard on television.

  As his thoughts faded away, Joe asked, "If I learn to defend myself with karate, do you suppose John Storm Cloud will leave me alone, Uncle Dan?"

  Dan Bear Claw did not want to mislead his intuitive and intelligent nephew. The child's father was deceased and his mother was a recovering drug addict. Joe had no siblings or grandparents making Dan his only other known relative. Dan held a good job driving trucks, but this meant he was on the road most of his life these days, and could not care for his nephew regularly.

  Dan replied, "I think you might be in this home for a year, Joe, but I met the family and they are nice people. They want to help you through the next year. I bet you grow a foot taller and do well in school and you won't even have to see guys like Storm Cloud again . . . and karate is more about helping you achieve some spiritual peace and harmony within yourself. I don't expect you to fight anyone – but hey, if they start a fight, I hope you might be able to defend yourself."

  "Okay, Uncle Bear Claw," said the nephew.

  "Good, Painted Sun," replied the uncle.

  Pointing to it, Joe stated, "Hey, there’s the turn-off for Third Street. The instructions say we go south here, eh."

  Dan pulled off the highway at the overpass. They had made good time from Rama to 'Escape to Estates', in Aurica.