Shy as a Rainbow

Once upon a time there lived this very quiet, little Inuk girl. She loved when her Mother gently brushed and fiercely braided the girl’s glossy black hair. Straight it fell, a glistening onyx waterfall.

As shy as a rainbow. Surrounded by turbulence and silence.

She was the first in her large family not born at home. Her Mother’s Mother, Anana, gazed into the crib to find aware chocolate brown eyes gazing back. Then and there her Anana named her E-Ye-I, meaning Eyes.

Of brothers and sisters she had many, yet spent hours in the company of her Anana and Ninouk, her Mother’s parents.

Her Anana spoke very little English. Ninouk, a well-respected interpreter and translator, was well versed in two languages and conversed in two more.

Surrounded by languages, the girl and her siblings often wondered why they could only speak and write English and not Inuktitut, their Mother Tongue.

She could hear that foreign, familiar language, flowing like a river current, syllables fast and furious. Those achingly familiar words punctuated by peals of laughter or tears. She creeps closer, quiet, listening, deciphering. A sight of movement? Shadow? Sigh? Talk ceases. Heads swivel. Eyes catch. A look shared. It’s English once more. Where have they disappeared?

Many years later, while brushing the cascade of onyx hair, her Mother bends close.
Soft sighs were her words, the girl strained to listen.

“It was for your own good. Yours, your brothers’ and sisters’. After your Uncles, Aunts and myself returned from boarding school, we all agreed, we did not want our children to suffer the same way. We understood that English was here to stay. In this language and education you must fit in and succeed. No Inuktitut to be spoken around the children. We all agreed. We thought it best for the children. You understand?”

Young as she was, Inuk Girl understood. And so she studied.

Today, many decades later, studies still.
To honour the sacrifices of many.
Little Inuk Girl included.

Shy as a rainbow. Fierce as a storm.
Chocolate brown eyes
Still recording. Still remembering.