Angela’s Shadow

The shadow figure continues to plague Angela, forcing Mary to reveal the truth: Angela is Mary’s niece, and the shadow figure is the spirit of Angela’s twin sister, AASHENII. As the darker-skinned twin, AaSheNii couldn’t escape residential school the way Angela did. It was only after the nuns starved her to death that Mary came to Ottawa to help raise Angela as her nanny. It all comes clear: Mary has summoned Angela to KiiWeeTin to draw her into her Cree community and bring peace to AaSheNii’s restless spirit.

When Henry hears the news, his wannabe-anthropologist heart is ecstatic. Then, as Angela’s fear dissipates, Mary convinces her to stay in KiiWeeTin and have her baby there. Henry’s outward enthusiasm masks a growing discomfort. The thought that his perfect, pure, unborn baby is part “Indian” starts to eat at him. He begins to see AaSheNii’s shadow spirit; terrified, he decides to save Angela and his child from these “unclean savages”.

rn between staying with her new family and placating the increasingly unstable Henry, Angela agrees to go back to Ottawa, until Henry—plagued by AaSheNii—descends into a murderous psychotic break. Angela, now in early labour, hides in the bush, where Mary helps her give birth. When Henry finds them, Angela must trust her sister’s spirit, and her new-found traditions, to save herself and protect her daughter.