Haida-ing

'Haida dogs?' I ask Dolores, 'What's that all about?' 'I don't know, but they're probably big.'

Dolores has beautiful eyes, clear and bright. But they are problematic for her. Yesterday, the first thing she said was that she discovered a new black dot in her eye. She tells me she doesn't have bifocals on the left side of her glasses, because she can't see anything out if it. Every two months, she comes to the eye doctor in Vancouver for. It was on one of these trips that I met her on the Skytrain.

If it weren't for Dolores, I would be entirely blind here. She tells me about the bump in the road, and how pavement would crack after an earthquake. That the sign for Jungle Beach is actually just a bit away from the 'real' Jungle Beach. That before, there was no road to Massett from Skidegate, they took the boat from Port Clements, and that Skidegate is where the government rounded them up and put them all. That when she was young, she ate clams off a stick for snacking, and that there would be seaweed in her pocket for munching on too. That her father was a great fisherman from Tanu (taa-NOO) and her mother from Skedans.

She tells me how to make bubbly sounds from deep in my throat, as if to bring up a little fish from the depths of the sea. I practice the word for Skidegate. It starts with a TH from the throat, then a G, still down there, followed by an easy 'gildna', followed by the second word starting with a double LL from below, popping up to the surface with an -ungway. Cheena means fish, and we pass by a river whose name translates as fish water. Skit-q'un - salal berries - are not quite ripe yet here. Haida means 'people', and the word for those up in Masset are 'faraway Haida.' I recognize the 'thl' sound which is similar to a sound from my dad's village dialect.

On Saturday we will go to the Kay Heritage Centre, for the 30th anniversary of its opening. Kay (qaaey) - almost better spelt as arabic قاي - means sea lion. Kay scuna means 'you smell like a sea lion' because boy, they are first smelled before seen. She will be the Acting Matriarch there at the festivities, as her sister, the Matriach, is ill. We go by the Centre to look at the totem poles, and she tells me which ones which relative made. They have the two clans, the Ravens and the Eagles, which is passed down matrilinially, and inevitably there is a raven or an eagle on a pole. She describes how the raven has a long straight beak, and the eagle has a curved beak. The rings at the top signify the number of potlatches the family has had. The hole at the bottom is the pole, and I've always liked low doors - they sometimes signify submission upon entrance. The word for door is the same for clam, as they both hinge shut. Of the two clans, she is a Raven, known for its intelligence. Specifically she is a 'Raven and the Moon.' She shows me the blanket with these symbols, which she will wear on Saturday.

We drive back from Kagan Bay (q'ah-gun < a safe place). I go extra slow by the playground and the town centre - cop cars do ticket for speeding, and they might be haida-ing behind a bush. We banter a bit, and by the end of the long day I get pretty silly. She tells me that they'll have Haida games on Saturday. 'Like what?' I ask, 'Ring around the totem pole?'