Three more hours. Three more hours and I'd be home. I was so looking forward to getting home to my bed and my teddy bear. Twelve days away from home, going to our region's other three labs to teach my colleagues about their new spectrometer, one I'd worked with for a few years already. But now, I was done and going home.
It was late fall and there were a few leftover road work areas that had us alternating in a single lane and we'd just gotten out of such an area. I was the last person to get through before they let the other direction's vehicles go through for a while. I couldn't help but think that the work had better finish soon as there was snow in the forecast.
Traffic ahead of me slowed down to a crawl and we eventually came to a complete stop. After a while, I, along with most people on the road ahead of me, shut off my vehicle and got out to walk around. There was no traffic coming from the other way so whatever it was had to be big. I tried checking the road conditions website but there was no cell service. Not unusual for this area of the highway. We were in a First Nations reserve and its territory was vast. There was service in the little town in the middle of the reserve. Hopefully, if there had been an accident, someone had been able to call for help.
It was almost an hour later when I saw vehicles way ahead of us start up and get moving. So I got back into my vehicle and waited for my turn and followed the other cars. It was still odd that there was no traffic going the other way. Once we made it to the village, we were directed by a series of men with high visibility vests to park in a large field. There was a man in the field, indicating where to park so I followed his indications and parked at the end of the row.
As I got out of my vehicle, I took a look at him. He was obviously native but unlike most of the first nations people depicted in movies and TV, he didn't have the serious scowl and actually seemed quite friendly. The people in the car next to me started asking him questions but he just said "Please just go in and all will be answered."
They grumbled but started walking towards the building he had pointed to. I opened the back door of my vehicle and grabbed a fleece. He came towards me and said "The building is heated, you won't be needing that, Miss."
Miss? Now that we were closer, I could see that he was no spring chicken either. There were a few white hairs in his long braid and lines on his face. I estimated that he would be in his forties, just like me. Up close, not only did I find him good looking but found that he had kind eyes. Normally, I wasn't a fan of men with hair longer than mine and my French braids went down all the way past my bra band but on him, it just looked so natural, so appropriate. I smiled at him and said "I have no doubt that the building will be comfortable but when we eventually come out, it might not be this warm. Might need it then."
"Good point. Shall we join the others?"
I nodded and we started walking towards this big building. There was something about his voice that I found extremely pleasing. I wanted to hear it some more. I ventured "Must be some big accident to close the highway. Hope nobody got hurt."
"To be honest with you, I have no clue what happened. I just got a call asking me to come help with traffic so I came. I'll find out what's going on at the same time as you will."
"So you just dropped what you were doing and came running?"
"Something like that. I've been working from home and it's not that far. I was able to walk, not run."
I looked at him and he had this playful gleam in his eyes. "Good one. What do you do that you can do from home?"
"I'm a computer nerd. I can do a lot from home."
"True but that takes discipline, something that I would lack if I tried to work from home so hats off to you."
"Thanks. What do you do?"
"I'm a lab rat."
"A what?"
"A lab rat. I work in a big laboratory, doing analyses, maintaining all the lab equipment and preparing reports for customers."
"Oh! Sounds interesting."
"It is!"
We'd reached the door to the building and he opened it for me. Once inside and past the entrance foyer, I saw that the place was a community hall with an elevated stage at the front. Locals were directing people to take seats at the various tables. The man I had walked in with headed towards the right hand side of the hall and I followed him. For some reason, I felt like remaining close to him and not just because he was attractive but also because there was an aura of calmness and peacefulness about him. Maybe we could chat some more later on. Any subject to hear his voice again!
A man was up on the stage requesting our attention. I took a seat at an empty table close to where the man had positioned himself and turned my attention to the man on the stage. He also had very long braided hair and he, like so many of the first nations people we could see on TV and in movies, seemed to have a permanent scowl.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the highway has been closed in both directions and at both ends of the reservation. We have gathered you here so you can be comfortable and sheltered from the weather system that is coming in. We have plenty of food and supplies should we need them. Please make yourselves comfortable and we will give you more information later."
As nice as the man making the announcement had made it sound, that left me and obviously everyone else with a lot more questions than answers. Many people protested and asked questions: Why is the highway closed? Why don't we have cell service? Where are the authorities?
I looked around and saw a bunch of native men enter the large room and encircle us. Despite how intimidating and downright scary this was becoming, I felt an odd calmness. The man who had accompanied me inside was still close. He saw me looking at him and discreetly nodded. At the same time, this little voice inside my head was telling me that I would be okay and that I needed to remain calm, cool and collected.
Three men, all with braided white hair, took to the stage and went to the middle. One of them raised his hands, requesting the crowd to be quiet. It took a minute or two and finally, people listened.
"Dear guests, welcome to our community. We've recently had events on our reserve that have hurt and angered our community. We have tried several ways to resolve the issues with the federal and provincial governments but have not had success with those negotiations. One of the issues is that many of our young people have been removed from their families and authorities refuse to let them come back home. Unfortunately, you have become pawns in our negotiations with the authorities. Until our children and grand children are returned to us, we will not allow you to leave."
He continued to talk but I couldn't hear him over the uproar in the crowd. I turned to look at the man who had seemed so nice earlier. Had he known and lied to me? It didn't take me long to realize that he was as shocked as I was. He glanced my way and mouthed "I'm sorry, I didn't know." I turned around to face the crowd which was getting noisier.
Many of them were getting up and trying to leave. There was screaming and shouting by the adults and many children started crying. It was total chaos. That's when many of the native men who had encircled us drew weapons and started screaming at people to sit down. The men on the stage were also telling people to sit down and calm down.
I was glad to be off to the side, away from the doors and away from the physical chaos. I just sat still and waited. Somehow, there was still a voice inside my head that told me that remaining calm was the right thing to do. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and I just about jumped off my chair. Everyone suddenly went quiet and bent down. The first man who had addressed us was on the stage and had a firearm in his hand. He had fired it into the ceiling as evidenced by a hole above him. He yelled "Be quiet and get back to your seats right now!"
He then pointed the gun at various people in the crowd and motioned for them to move and go sit down. "People! Please sit down! Please calm down! You are not in any danger as long as you cooperate."
The older man who had addressed us took back the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, please. All we want is to send a message to the governments. We have absolutely no intention of hurting anyone. We just want our families back."
A few men stood up and started yelling that this was kidnapping and that it was illegal.
"We understand that our actions are upsetting. However, they are no different from what the government did to our families. Our children and grand children were taken from us without warning and without good reason. Again, please remain calm and hopefully, we can have you on your way sooner rather than later."
But the men continued to argue. The guards got impatient and aimed their rifles at them and told them to sit down and be quiet. Their wives pleaded with them to not risk getting shot and the men finally sat down but I wouldn't say they calmed down. However, with them sitting down, the locals put down their rifles and relaxed a bit.
People sat and talked among themselves for a while and I just remained quiet, observing the various native men around. The man I had spoken to was talking to two others, one similar in age, one much older. My bladder was getting full. I really needed to go. I slowly got up and made my way towards the door where there were indications for washrooms. The other man saw me and immediately came over and grabbed me by the arm, asking "Where do you think you're going?"
"I was hoping to go to the washroom."
The man I had spoken to also came over and said something in another language. There was a brief discussion and then the one who I had spoken to earlier said "Come."
He led me to a washroom through a maze of storage cabinets and boxes. When we got to the door, he opened it and actually stepped in with me. Once we were inside, he said "I got told to ensure you wouldn't try anything. I'm sorry."
I just nodded. I had to go so bad that I didn't care what he saw. He averted his eyes as I lowered my jeans and undies and quickly sat on the toilet and did my business. When I was done, I quickly wiped, stood and pulled my pants back up. As I washed my hands at the sink, I asked "What's your name? I'm Cassie."
"I'm David."
Somehow, the situation was just too awkward to have a full conversation though I would have liked to ask many questions. I dried my hands and he opened the door. Silently, we got out and walked back toward the large room. As we turned a corner, David hit something, let out a big grunt and a bunch of boxes went clamouring down on the floor, causing a big ruckus. By the look on his face, I guessed that he had either hit his shin or his knee cap. A quick look at the low cabinet he'd displaced and I figured it was the knee cap. His face had gone pale and he looked like he was going to pass out.
