Moon of the Crusted Snow: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

Evan awakes to his friend Isaiah banging on the door. The phones are still out, so everyone is using “moccasin telegraph” like the old days. The chief, Terry Meegis, is calling an emergency meeting for maintenance workers, even though it’s a Saturday. It’s getting colder outside, and there’s still no electricity, so Terry wants to turn on the reservation’s generator. Nicole jokes that this will be a good thing, as the kids miss television. It’s still early—the sun hasn’t risen yet. In the car on the way to the meeting, Evan groans when Isaiah makes him listen to country music on the car radio. It’s unsettling to see that the whole town has gone dark and the streams have frozen solid.

By the time they reach the meeting house, the sun is rising, which comforts Evan. He greets Dan, and Terry greets everyone in their native language. Terry explains that power and communication are completely cut off (except for shortwave radio), so he wants to fire up the old diesel generators before people get worried. They have enough fuel to power the town for a few days, and they’ll regroup on Monday. Dan says the generators are due for a check anyway, so it’s a good chance to test everything. Evan feels relieved; he’s a bit embarrassed that he was so worried. 

The community is already pitching in, writing up notices to spread the word. The community always works together. Everything seems under control, so the rest of the team will only need to deliver flyers. Isaiah groans (this is the last thing he wants to do on a Saturday morning), which makes Evan chuckle. They drive over to pick up the flyers, joking with their friends Joanne Birch and Tyler, who are making them. The flyers read that there’s a community-wide power outage, and that the chief and council are asking people to conserve energy by use wood for heat. They’ll be able to keep their fridges running with the community’s backup generators, so that their food doesn’t spoil over the weekend.