Celia's Song Read Online Free Page A

near death. They relented and let the Inuit talk them out. These old hunters drilled holes in the ice one hundred metres apart, then they went to where the whales were trapped and started humming. They walked across the ice, humming. The whales followed.”
    I remember that story. I’m surprised this guy does too.
    â€œWhat is your point?” Clearly aggravated, Thomas is unable to stay silent.
    â€œWe aren’t the only people who know things, Thomas.”
    I have to say something about that. People aren’t the only beings who know things. I am standing right outside the window in full view, talking out loud, but these guys don’t see or hear me.
    â€œSo what are you suggesting, Doctor Johnson? Should we find some old Native conjurer to shake his rattle and tell us what this shadow on our film is?” Thomas Friesen scoffs at his colleague.
    â€œNo. I think we should see a scientist who might know something about mythology,” Sam answers.
    â€œBefore we do that,” Frederick suggests, “we should have the film checked by the AV department.” Frederick loves to be orderly, loves the proper order of things. It’s why he became a scientist: first things first. Order gives him the courage to reach beyond the known.
    â€œSplendid, some attempt at rational thought prevails,” Dr. Friesen triumphs.
    â€œLet’s get a copy first,” Sam cautions.
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œIn case the Audio Visual department ruins the original.”
    This makes Frederick laugh. “Okay,” he says, and swings into his jacket.
    LATER, OVER LUNCH, WHILE the film is being checked, Sam asks Thomas what he meant by “Some attempt at rational thought prevails.”
    Thomas is sorry he raised it. He is pretty sure Sam’s question was rhetorical, so he doesn’t answer.
    â€œNot many scientists invent things, did you know that, Friesen?” Sam takes up the dead air between himself and Thomas. Thomas sips his coffee and feigns staring at the menu.
    â€œMillions of items are invented each year,” Sam continues, “some of them dangerous, some absurd, useless, some vital to human existence, but no one knows which until a scientist gets curious about it and tests it. Scientists further knowledge, we don’t create it, and we don’t invent. We test, we inquire, but we do so only if we possess a nagging doubt about the veracity of all beliefs. It’s a pretty closed mind that dismisses testing, even of the craziest beliefs.”
    Some intelligence is being born here. I can’t help smiling.
    â€œAnd a completely open mind is also dangerous,” Thomas says. “We could spend years investigating old wives’ tales. To what end?”
    This would not be wasted time .
    â€œAs scientists, we recognize our beliefs constitute a ball and chain,” Frederick says. “Moving to test the mythology before we test the film is an unnecessary attachment to belief, just as refusing to test the myth once we have tested the film is an obsessive attachment to disbelief.”
    Frederick is one of the hopeless who now inhabit Turtle Island.
    Sam nods. He can live with that.

III
    BEFORE THE STORM, THE serpent decorating the house front hung by a thread. Both its heads watched the land for what seemed an eternity; day by day, one head grew hungry and anxious. The quiet about the house suited the restless head, because it was both death-filled and promising. The serpent could apprehend pending movement and the restless head grew excited as his sense of duty to those whom he had once protected diminished. The smell of the building was an affront to him. Even more, he was offended that the people had neglected to feed and honour him.
    I came back to the hill to watch the serpent. I listen to the heads talking to each other.
    â€œHow long in human time have we been here? When will we know that the original contract is sufficiently broken to warrant our sliding