"She grew up on Haida Gwaii. I like that name. White folk still call them the Queen Charlotte Islands, but really, Harriet, who the hell was Queen Charlotte anyway,, and who really cares? Pretty name, we suppose, but Queen Charlotte, if she ever existed, probably never set foot there, much less could ever find it on the map. Haida Gwaii is Tamara's name for it, and that's good enough for me. She was still a frightened and confused little gay boy, and his parents were fundamentalist Christians, so she had to get the hell out. Feeling more like a girl than a boy she started to cross dress. I don´t know how she got into university, I think that was her ticket out of her horrible family, so she was in UBC just after I had to drop out. Smart girl. Incredibly compassionate, and one hard little bitch that wouldn't back down from a fight. Quite small, almost scrawny, but petite and beautiful. Anyone would have to look good and hard to see that she was a tranny. She got there on a scholarship, but it wasn't enough to keep her alive and she was already owing on her student loan, so she turned to hooking. Bloody good at it. Bloody good at everything. And so anyway, I told Jim all about Tamara and the impact of white colonialism on her life, the life of her people, and of natives living everywhere in this damn fake country.
And I told him one secret the church is still guarding under lock and key. The native residential schools, which Tamara's parents were survivors of, and how it wrecked their lives, the abuse they suffered there from the priests and nuns, and no one wants to talk or even know about it. One day, I told Jim, that word would get out, this would go completely public and then watch the shit hit the fan..."
"And" says Carl, "Now the word is out about the native residential schools, and yes, the shit is hitting the fan, and is going to go on hitting that fan for generations to come. Kenny had a prophetic voice. By the way, Chris, remember his drag name, Cassandra? Do you know what that means?"
"Tell me", say I handing back to him the bag of chocolate chips.
"Cassandra was a princess of Troy. The god Apollo had the hots for her and gave her the gift of prophecy, but even if he was a Greek god, she was not about to put out for him, so he punished her by declaring that no one hearing her prophecies would believe a single word. So, when they were receiving the Trojan horse full of Greek warriors ready to sack, rape and burn Troy to the ground, Cassandra warned them and warned them and warned them again, but because of Apollo's curse, no one would believe her. And then look what happened..."
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