The Marrow Thieves

Miig tells the story of Natives in Canada, briefly describing the arrival of whites to Canada and the early subjugation of Natives. Miig notes that the Natives survived: “We returned to our home places and rebuilt, relearned, regrouped. We picked up and carried on” (24). Next, Miig describes “the wars for the water” (24), where whites specifically target Native lands for having the cleanest water. Miig continues, describing how climate change altered the world and affected humanity: “Half the population was lost in the disaster and from the disease that spread from too many corpses and not enough graves. The ones that were left were no better off, really. They worked longer hours, they stopped reproducing without the doctors, and worst of all, they stopped dreaming” (26). 

RiRi calls to Frenchie as he is returning to his tent; she wants to know what Miig said during Story, which Frenchie notes is “fast becoming the routine” (26). Frenchie explains to RiRi that it’s for her own good not to hear Story yet, citing Slopper’s having heard it too early and it having a severe negative effect on him. While Frenchie tries to give RiRi a watered-down overview of how climate change destroyed the world, he hears an alarm call from outside as someone is approaching the camp. Frenchie and his family discover that the newcomer is a Native girl.

Three weeks later, the newcomer Rose has become part of the group. She argues that they should stop running and start fighting. Miig leads the group in what he calls “Apocalyptic Boy Scouts” (34)—lessons covering survival skills, such as hunting and building shelter. Upon returning from hunting lessons, Frenchie tells Rose that he pities her and the rest of the “homesteading” group for being stuck with Minerva. Rose tells him that the homestead group learns Native language from Minerva, which sparks Frenchie’s jealousy. Rose tells him a word they learned, “nishin,” but refuses to tell him what it means. 

Frenchie dreams of the Recruiters taking Mitch away. The next morning, the group packs up and leaves again. Rose catches up to Frenchie on the walk and tells him: “Nishin. It means good” (40). She promises to share with Frenchie whatever Minerva teaches her.

Frenchie suffers from insomnia, plagued by nightmares of his lost family members. RiRi asks Frenchie questions about his past, which helps him cope, as “[i]nstead of dreaming their tragic forms, I recreated them as living, laughing people” (43). The next morning, the camp awakes and gets ready for the day. Once again, the hunting group looks for food. Miig tells them they are going to split up to hunt, saying, “I want you all to get used to the idea of operating alone” (45). Frenchie goes off on his own, contemplating how nature has changed and how civilization has gotten to where it is. 

While on his own, Frenchie sees a moose. At first, he is excited at the prospect of the meat and supplies the moose would provide, but then realizes that his group could never stay in one place long enough to process the animal. They would “be leaving half, at least half, behind to rot” (49). Frenchie elects not to shoot the moose, for both the moose’s sake and his own, then returns to the group’s meet-up spot at the appointed time. Wab is late returning, and empty-handed, “which was weird for her” (51). She does not tell the group why she seems distressed until later.

After his experience while hunting, Frenchie now dreams of the moose. While the rest of the group relaxes a bit, Wab is still stressed, clearly preoccupied with something. At Wab’s prompting, the group discusses what makes a person good or bad, and how people change under difficult circumstances. Miig suggests, “We are actually [all] motivated by the same thing: survival” (54). Wab confesses that while on the hunt before, she saw men in the woods, one of whom was someone she knew—“Someone who wasn’t very honest” (55). At first, the group is excited upon learning that the man she saw was a Native, like them, but Miig tells them, “Not every Indian is an Indian” (55).