Mandel Old Woman- Every Little Thing You Get Punished For
I was going to talk the other time I ran away it was blizzard, hey. Coming back to it, it was blizzard. Then one of my friends, it was my cousin, told me just bring a umm, umm a hot water with you, it will help you. At that time I just did it and would a hot water help me… it won’t help me out, maybe it just froze. And so, so it was about in the evening it was blizzarding and I planned it out. I ran, it was in the playroom, I just took off from the from the, from the playroom. I took off… started running, ran all the way, it was my, umm, the snow was going up to my waist deep. And I, and I just had a… I forget what. I think it was a thin jacket at the time. I had my runners and I was walking and running at the same time coming down, coming where I used to live, it was at the Flats.
And when I got home and my umm, my umm, my face and my hands were frozen and you know that’s how, my uncle told me my, um, put my feet in the oven. At that time I was about maybe, about five years old, and at that time… umm I didn’t care about anything. I just, at the time, I didn’t care about anything I just, I just took off. And its just its, I almost, if I, if I, I could’ve probably passed away with those two incidents when I especially with this one in the blizzard, hey. Like I, like I froze my ears, my whole body actually… my feet, my hands, my ears, and, and at that time. I could of, you know, passed away if I run away from the blizzard and that other time I was, I could of froze too again out sleeping out of nowhere. And that’s very, that’s very, umm I don’t know.
I never, want to go back into those, those umm days. I don’t know. It’s just so miserable out there. You never get to see your parents. Sometimes I have to stay at the at the residential for I say maybe, sometimes for two three weeks there, nobody’s around and umm and gee its lonely out there and I don’t know you get you never get to see your parents. And so those were some of things that happened to me. And I never, never want to go through that again.
And when you get punished you can’t, you can’t drink water or you can’t drink water at nights or you get punished for that too. You get same thing… they’ll kneel, they’ll kneel you down to the in the bedroom, that’s the bedroom that’s upstairs in the boy’s room. And you’ll kneel down for hours there too. And gee that was awful too. And still if you fall asleep you know get punished for it, you get slapped that was so awful. And you never get to see never get to see your, your umm your brothers or sisters. And the only time you get to see them is umm when you go into the dining room and you eat. And the food was very awful you can’t… you can’t very umm its, I don’t think, nothing, this you know. The food you get, umm, get tired of seeing. You don’t want. That’s why I don’t hardly like some of the food I eat now, I don’t care for them, you know. And on Sunday’s you have to go, you have in back in a certain time, you don’t go back in a certain time you get punished for that too. Everything little thing you get punished for it.
-Mandel Old Woman
Notes:
Oral interview with Mandel Old Woman. Conducted, translated, and transcribed by Gwendora Bear Chief. Old Sun Community College, May 5, 2022.
