Blue Ravens: Historical Novel

8 Snow Eggs

› 8 ‹ Snow Eggs — — — — — — — 19 1 5 — — — — — — — John Leecy delivered formal invitations to Aloysius Hudon Beaulieu and Basile Hudon Beaulieu, mere stable boys, to supper in the hotel dining room with Odysseus, Doctor Mendor, Catherine Heady, the federal teacher, and our mighty uncle Augustus Hudon Beaulieu. Aloysius painted blue ravens with the abstract faces of the dinner guests that night. Naturally, the stories were timely, spirited, and ironic, and the best stories on the reservation started with the absence of the federal agent. Foamy was on a greyback mission with the native police to capture peyote visionaries. Foamy was mocked at the high table. John Leecy poured a taster of the banned absinthe to honor the trader, the secret bond of the boozers, and the absence of the agent. The spirit was strong, and just enough for two salutes to ancestors and remembrance. Aloysius watched the others and savored the scent of the spirit. We were captivated by the conversations and stories that night at dinner. The Green Fairy burned our tongues, but we pretended to be mature drinkers. We were dinner guests at the high table with our employer, the doctor, our favorite uncle, a severe teacher, and our friend the trader who wore a medal of peace. John Leecy served dinner in four courses, the best we had ever eaten. We could never afford the cost of a formal dinner, but many times we ate good food from the kitchen. Margaret Fairbanks was one of the most famous chefs in Minnesota. She was native, a distant relative, and learned how to cook in the pricey resort hotels on the North Shore of Lake Superior . Messy was a reservation nickname because she was the messiest cook in the state. Messy delivered leftovers two or three nights a week at the livery stable . The hotel dining room was always crowded with hungry visitors from 80 G e r a l d v i Z e N o r around the world. Every week a few travelers on the train between Winnipeg and Minneapolis stayed over just for dinner at the Hotel Leecy. The first course was mandaaminaaboo, native corn or hominy soup. Native corn is mandaamin and was grown by selected families in every generation to continue the tradition. The main course was fresh broiled walleye caught at Red Lake, Gratin Dauphinois, thinly sliced potatoes with cream, garlic, and cheese, mounds of mashed rutabaga with maple syrup and nuggets of wild garlic, wedges of cabbage with spears of carrots, radish, and chunky pepper, buttered turnips, peas, green onions, and wild rice blended with tidbits of salt pork, and mounds of freshly ground horseradish. The third course was a delicious Camembert and hard cheeses from the Marin French Cheese Company in California. Each course was served with wine. The last course was a choice of desserts, Oeufs à la Neige, Snow Eggs, made of meringue, vanilla custard, and caramel, and puffy warm doughnuts with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Every course was a complement of at least one good story and the start of another. We remembered every conversation and story that summer night at the Hotel Leecy. John Leecy celebrated the great company. Odysseus saluted his father Jefferson Young. Catherine recited a short poem by Walt Whitman. Augustus praised the absinthe and wine. Doctor Mendor toasted the chef Messy. Aloysius toasted his namesake the priest and saint. Basile honored the mongrels and Misaabe. My brother painted blue ravens on the napkins that night and then waited for the perfect moment, a pause in the courses and stories, to remind the company about the trader, the agent, and goober peas at the reservation hospital five years earlier, when we were only fifteen years old. Odysseus laughed, leaned back and told the story about how he lured the suspicious and bumptious federal agent into a round of the song “Goober Peas.” Confederate soldiers sang that southern ditty during the American Civil War. Foamy was uneasy in ordinary situations, and that night in the hospital he was easily duped to sing along. The trader raised his hands and sang in a loud voice, and the guests in the restaurant joined in at the end of the song, B l U e r a v e N s 81 Goodness, how delicious, Eating goober peas! The slight taste of absinthe was followed with fine wine, and then hard whiskey. The wine was from the Beaulieu...