The Break

In the early morning, Stella sits at her kitchen table with police officers, Christie and (Tommy) Scott, as she recounts what she believes was a sexual assault that occurred at the Break. Having witnessed the violent scene from her window, Stella waited for four hours for the police to arrive to take her statement. However, they tell her that she saw a drunken fight due to the unlikeliness of a rape occurring outside in the middle of winter; they say that her view from the window is too far to accurately see what occurred. They assert the evidence of a broken beer bottle and blood-testing results from a simple, albeit violent, fight. Stella, though, does not believe them and feels strongly that she saw a woman of small stature get raped out in the Break.

When Stella’s husband, Jeff, arrives at their house, he frantically searches for Stella and their children, Adam and Mattie, to ensure their safety. The police officers relay the situation, and Stella continues to assert that what she saw really happened. She attempts to get Jeff to back up her statement, but he takes the sides of Christie and Scott. Once the police officers leave, Jeff tries to console Stella; he tells her that her exhaustion from taking care of a baby may have clouded her clarity and that she could have dreamed parts of the assault. Stella thinks of her grandmother, Kookom, and how she craves her comfort. She also thinks of her Aunt Cheryl, who would have defended Stella’s claim and yelled at the police officers to take her statement seriously.

Emily, a young teenage girl, thinks about how she and her best friend, Ziggy or Zegwan, have never kissed a boy. On their way to Emily’s new house, the duo runs into an older teenage boy, Clayton, whom Emily has a crush on. She thinks about how she voted for Clayton as “the best-looking guy she’s ever seen” (18). One of Clayton’s friends invites Ziggy and Emily to a party.

Emily and her mother, Paulina, have just moved into Paulina’s boyfriend’s house. Pete has taken up a lot of Paulina’s time and focus, so Emily reassures Ziggy that they can go to the party without her mom even knowing. Despite her distaste for Pete, Emily and Ziggy laugh at how Paulina’s last boyfriend was worse due to his stench and bad breath. Ziggy tells Emily that at least Paulina does not have things as bad as Ziggy’s mother, Rita, does when she gets a new boyfriend. The girls laugh at their mothers, but Ziggy starts to get angry at the thought of Rita’s former boyfriends. However, Emily wonders if this anger results from jealousy that Clayton flirted with her and not Ziggy. On the day of the party, Ziggy wants to think of every possible scenario so as to not get in trouble with their mothers. However, Emily tells her that everything will be okay and not to worry, and Emily, instead, focuses on her excitement at the opportunity to spend time with Clayton.

Phoenix, who has just run away from “juvy” (a juvenile detention center) arrives at her uncle’s house after walking through snow for several hours. Her uncle, Alex, or Bishop as he prefers, sells drugs and constantly has people in and out of his house drinking and smoking weed. Phoenix looks around and notices how messy the house is and makes a mental note to clean it up for her uncle. She thinks about how nice he was to her as a child and how she can depend on him to take care of her. Alex lets Phoenix stay at his place until she can stay with someone else. Phoenix tries to find new clothes to change into in the basement. She starts to think about her time with her mentor, Grace, in group therapy. Grace asked the group to think about a time during which they felt the safest. Phoenix, who scoffed at the question, compares herself to Grace, taking note of how different they are not just in appearance but in upbringing as well.

Rather than going to stay elsewhere, Phoenix begins to call her friends and invite them over to Alex’s house for a party. She asks her friend, Dez, about Clayton, trying to find out what he has been up to since she went away to the detention center. She discovers that he has been selling weed for Alex and will be at Alex’s house anyway. Phoenix asks her friends to bring her warm clothes to wear, and she wonders if Alex will let her sell drugs as well. She desperately needs the money, but she does not believe that her uncle will allow her to do so because “he’s trying to look out for her, like he’s always done” (34). Phoenix thinks that she wants to be ready just for Clayton when he arrives to Alex’s house.

Louisa, or Lou, watches her husband, Gabe, as he leaves their home and, subsequently, their marriage. Lou focuses on the emptiness that settles around her. The space that Gabe once occupied feels cold, and she wonders if he will come back like he has previously. At work, Lou struggles to concentrate on her job as a social worker, and she focuses on her new status as a “left woman.” She thinks back to the night that she met Gabe at one of his shows. Rita, who is the best friend of Lou’s mother, got backstage tickets to see a band, so Lou and her sister, Paulina, went along with her. She remembers how he made her feel special by paying close attention to her, and, in hindsight, Lou acknowledges that she did not know at the time that Gabe treated everyone that way. He called her the next day to get coffee; Gabe slept over that night and, unofficially, moved in with Lou after that.

Rita and Lou work together, so Lou spends the rest of their workday discussing Gabe’s decision to leave her for another woman. Rita tries to keep their conversation lighthearted, but Lou only feels anger for her situation. She thinks of how happy Paulina is with her new boyfriend, who grew up in the “bush” right outside of a reservation. Lou talks to Kookom, and she tells her that she will visit her the next day. Kookom tries to ask if Gabe will come as well, but Lou lets her know that he went back home for a while. Lou and Rita make plans to visit the art gallery of Cheryl, Lou’s mother, that night.

Cheryl wakes up without remembering much of the previous night. She smells the snow and thinks about how the February air drifts into her apartment from an open window where cars are honking their horns. She walks around her apartment trying to decipher what happened before she went to sleep, which she calls her morning “ritual.” She notices a new painting that she started of her sister, Rain, as a wolf; Cheryl has been painting the women in her life as wolves from photographs. She remembers a recurrent dream of trees and memories of Rain visiting her when she lived in the bush. When Cheryl arrives at the art gallery, Kookom, Cheryl’s mother, calls to ask what she is doing, and Cheryl takes note of her mother’s fading memory and constant confusion. They comment on Stella’s absence since marrying Jeff, a white man, and having their son, Adam. She also comments on Stella’s long-lasting grief of having lost her mother, Rain. Rita and Lou arrive to the art showing.

Thinking of her other daughter, Paulina, Cheryl recalls moving her into Pete’s house at the beginning of the week. Paulina and Cheryl discuss how the men in their lives do not know how to do the dishes, but Paulina still comments on how fortunate she feels to have met Pete. Cheryl tells her to enjoy their time together without fretting over the future. Although Lou believes that Gabe is gone for good, Cheryl tells Rita that he will be back, and she tends to think positively about him. Rita remarks that there is a full moon, which is a time to celebrate, and they leave the art gallery to go to a bar.

Ziggy, who comments on how frozen she is by the time that she and Emily make it to the party, dreads spending time with people who are drinking and smoking weed. She worries about getting caught by her mother. Ziggy notices that all the guys at the party are wearing red bandanas, and she comments on how their town has a “red” and “black” gang that rival each other. Clayton introduces Emily and Ziggy to his friends, and he gets them both a beer. Unlike Emily, Ziggy holds on to hers without drinking it. She notices other girls staring at them as they talk to Clayton, and Ziggy focuses on the girls’ clothes and makeup. Clayton gives Emily a cigarette, and Ziggy thinks back to the couple of times that they smoked one with their brothers. A joint is then passed around the group. Clayton takes Emily outside, and Ziggy follows them despite not being asked to come. She tries to convince Emily that they need to go home, but Clayton asks Emily to stay. He goes to grab them another beer and tells the pair that he will make sure that Emily gets home if Ziggy wants to leave. Before Ziggy and Emily can decide, Phoenix comes out of the house, yelling at Emily for talking to her boyfriend, Clayton. She attacks Emily by grabbing her hair and pulling her up from the ground. Ziggy and Emily run away.

Tommy Scott, one of the police officers who took Stella’s statement, talks to Christie as they leave Stella’s house. Although Christie does not believe Stella, Tommy thinks about how much blood they found on the Break, and he wonders if Stella was right about what she saw. Christie tells him not to worry and that they will most likely hear about someone going to the hospital with a stab wound before their shift ends in the morning. He thinks about how Stella is an attractive woman despite how tired and worn out she looked.

Christie calls Tommy “May-tee,” referring to his Métis heritage, and Tommy attempts to disregard him. He views Christie as a lazy police officer who does not always do every part of his job, despite his years of experience in the field. They go to a gas station, where they meet another pair of police officers on duty. Christie and one of the men go inside, while Tommy and the other one discuss how their shift has been going. Tommy comments how tired he is, and he begins to think about how excited he is to go home to Hannah, his girlfriend. Hannah, a white woman, tells Tommy that he should take advantage of being Métis; she was the one who told him to claim this on his application to be a police officer.

As the night goes on, he thinks back to his first call about a drunk man who beat his wife. This reminds him of his childhood; his father, who had an alcohol addiction, abused his mother. He remembers the turmoil of growing up in an abusive household, and he feels sadness for his mom. This makes him realize that he feels sorry for Stella. He calls local hospitals to see if anyone has come in who fits the scenario. However, no one has admitted themselves to the emergency room for a stab wound like Christie told him.