Altona Collegiate - Green and Gold Yearbook (Altona, Manitoba Canada)

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Bi 1 i V 5 Nickel 1

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EQUALS by Robert Friesen jbeorge loved the soft waning light of the autumn evenings and the gentle flickering leaves which changed colors as they floated through the breeze. IM air had a pleasant aroma of rain that had just passed over. He looked up and toward the clouded sky, which permitted hardly any sunlight to pass through. iOmy a few scattered sunbeams made their way down [to earth through openings in the clouds. These won¬ derful sights no one could take away from him. Nature had always been a part of him, ever since he bal been born. All this was a part of him. On hot and humid summer nights, when it was impossible to sle jp, George would lie awake and hear nature’s sounds all jaround him. Whenever he heard the lark’s warb¬ ling in the meadow, he immediately • thought of his wonderful childhood. He remembered all the wonder- Fulljoys of the ignorant bliss of his childhood. He wished he could feel that way today. He didn’t really like being an Indian, at least not the kind of Indian the white man thought him to be. He : wanted to be treated on equal terms with those he was forced to work with. He looked at the dirty jar containing the blue milk. Once again anger rushed into his head. He asked for good fresh milk, but all he Sever got was this blue skimmed milk. He was no ion or pig to drink it. He wanted rich, sweet milk, like the others got, in a clean jar that shone bright in the sunlight. He hadn’t always been treated like a dog. He re¬ membered when he was young, when he had fought in the war. Everyone was his equal then. He was iccepted by everyone, everywhere he went. George ;ven intended to marry, but his future wife left him a week before they were to be married. He had made uch plans, had such dreams. But these dreams soon vanished when he went out in the white man’s world. The next morning he looked for a better job at a aear-by farm. He felt no sensations with the prospects cf the new job. He thought here he would be treated like at all the other places. A woman came out of the ' arm house to meet him. | Yes, my husband needs a man to work for him.” looked around and nodded, “You can put your :e« over there beside the barn.” Later he set up his tent and began preparing his supper. A young boy came toward him, stopped in ront of him and looked at George with a serious and pqftled look on his face. sTAre you really an Indian?” fceorge felt a tense feeling run through himself, but continued calmly to prepare his meal. “Yes, I am.” ■You don’t look like it,” replied the boy with a smile on his face. “Have you got feathers?” George looked up. “Like they have on television.” George shook his head. He .was becoming very an¬ noyed by the boy’s questions. “Do you paint your face the way they do on television?” George shook his head again and kept on pre¬ paring his meal. “My mother says Indians aren’t as bad as they used to be.” George could hardly hold back his anger. He clutched his large stirring spoon and pretended not to hear. “They don’t scalp people any more, you know,” the young boy assured George. George felt sick and closed his eyes for a minute. His palms became sweaty with the tension inside him. “Do you want to come and watch television?” George opened his eyes and looked at the boy be¬ fore him. The boy was innocent the way he once was. He envied the youth and the life that lay ahead of him. His life would be a lot easier for him. Merely being white assured him of this. George remembered all the young boys he had seen in the front lines in the war. He remembered their agonies and deaths as if it had been yesterday. He kept on looking at the young boy and wondered if there would be a war in his life. He would never know. He had no right to know. The boy was still waiting for an answer and George nodded, “Perhaps later on.” The boy left and George started to eat, but his appetite had vanished. He only took a mouthful of potatoes and went into his tent and lay down on the low cot. In the days that followed, George worked hard for the farmer. He liked the farmer, but he wasn’t sure if the farmer thought of him as just another Indian whom he could feed his skimmed milk. George and the boy became good friends. Whenever he had free time, George and the boy went on hikes, fished, or just talked together. The whole family was friendly to¬ wards him. George woke early the next morning. He stood up in his tent, paused to stretch, and went to get his breakfast which the farmer’s wife left for him outside his tent. George had asked her to leave some milk for him. She had. Soon he would know if he had found people who really accepted him. He picked up the jar of milk and held it up to the sunlight. The white milk glowed radiantly as the sunlight struck. He had finally found a man who considered him as truly a fellow man. Suddenly the future seemed to brighten up.