49 pages • 1 hour read
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Content Warning This section includes depictions of anti-Indigenous racism and substance abuse.
“Before I look down, I know it’s there. The crow’s head I was clutching in my dream is now in bed with me.”
Mackenzie’s macabre dream begins the action of this novel, and as she continues to reflect on her nightmares, it becomes apparent that the dreams connect to her unresolved grief over the death of her sister. Bad Cree uses supernatural elements to explore the processes of grieving and healing, and Mackenzie’s dream is one of its most central supernatural experiences.
“You can always tell the time of day in Vancouver by the crows. In the winter, they fly to roost in Burnaby at 5 pm, at 8 pm in the summer. They move through the sky like a thunder crowd, collecting more kin as they fly home.”
“The dreams I’m having now are different. I can move and speak. But both types feel like a warning, a deep siren of something to come.”