Solar Storms

The first-person narrator (Angel) recalls still sometimes hearing the voice of her great-grandmother, Agnes. The narration then shifts to Agnes herself, relaying a story she once told Angel. During a harsh winter, when Angel was a baby, Bush (Angel’s grandfather’s wife) spent days preparing a feast in Angel’s honor. Bush had fought to keep Angel in her care and protect her from Hannah Wing, Angel’s abusive mother, but ultimately, Hannah took her daughter away from her family and Native community. The feast was an act of mourning, Bush’s ritual to mark the loss of Angel from their lives.

Agnes briefly interrupts the story to describe a haunting nightmare she once had of Hannah, who appeared as a nonhuman creature beneath a frozen lake. She says that everyone always feared Hannah. Back at the feast, Agnes recounts how Bush cut off her long hair, saying she wanted to release the memories it held of Angel. She then gave away all of Angel’s possessions and her own to those in attendance. By the end of the night, each guest carried a piece of Bush’s grief home with them, feeling the weight of Angel’s absence. Bush alone remained in her small wooden home, with its crumbling walls and foundation, until Agnes returned later on to retrieve her, and they walked together to the mainland.