EUGENIA re-enters with a handbag full of furs.
EUGENIA
Yo. Got furs.

CECILIA
Eugenia!

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
What are you doing back so soon?

EUGENIA
The seasons have been shorter lately. And I’m very efficient. Why are you in my chair? I told you not to sit in my chair.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE stands up and moves back to her original rocking chair. EUGENIA sits down in her rightful traditional spot.

CECILIA
Welcome back, my dear friend.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
Any news? Will there be a rebellion? I’ve always wanted to be part of a rebellion.

The sound of a boiling teapot.

EUGENIA
It is imminent.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
I knew it! I knew Confederation was a dumbass idea.

CECILIA
Hopefully the battle will not reach us. I will pray for peace and our safety. Our father, who art in-

The tea is ready.

CECILIA
Oh! The tea is ready. It’s time for tea! Shall we have some tea? Tee hee.

CECILIA gives each of the women a teacup, a saucer, and a spoon.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
Merci.

CECILIA
La Bibliotheque.

EUGENIA
Miigwetch.

CECILIA
Oooh and a very May-witch to you too!

The three women raise their teacups and have a silent toast. MARIE- ANGELIQUE and CECILIA each take a sip. It’s apparently delish.

CECILIA
Yum.

EUGENIA turns her teacup over. Nothing drips out.

EUGENIA
There’s nothing in this / cup

CECILIA
Eugenia, where do you go when you leave us behind?

EUGENIA
All over. Wherever I want.

CECILIA
Isn’t it dangerous?

EUGENIA
Of course. But it’s dangerous here too.

EUGENIA motions to the men.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
I kind of like them. I like being watched.

EUGENIA
I bet they’d love to watch you even more if you were wearing, say, a new fur hat?

EUGENIA pulls out a fur hat.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
Oh, it’s beautiful! But I have nothing to trade! And I have none of that new-fangled Confederate Currency because I don’t have a new-fangled Confederate Husband. God, my life sucks.

EUGENIA
Cecilia?

CECILIA
My husband will no longer trade with women. He says it’s against the Lord’s will. Says it is not natural for women to be off in the world, working alongside men.

EUGENIA
Weird. Where I come from, women were always responsible for trading. You can’t trust men with important jobs. Best just send them off to like fishing or a war, somewhere they won’t be in the way, and bring them back when you need them, if you know what I mean. But, quite frankly, in my opinion there’s almost nothing a man can do that a woman can’t do... including that, again, if you know what I mean. And I know you do Cecilia.

CECILIA
I most certainly do not!

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
What do you mean?
CECILIA
You’ll find out when you’re married.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
Do you mean intercourse?
CECILIA
It is not appropriate for women to speak of such things.

EUGENIA
Where I’m from, women always-

CECILIA
We are no longer where you’re from. That world is gone.

EUGENIA
A final gasp. A dying breath. A good fur trade.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
It is not dead yet. Our way of life can still be saved. And we can all still be friends and trade furs forever! Fur-ever! Haha! Trust me. Louis Riel will see to it.

EUGENIA
Ugh.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
May I help you?

EUGENIA
Everywhere I go that’s all I hear. Louis Riel this, Louis Riel that. He’s overrated.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
Blasphemer.

CECILIA
I’ve heard he is very pious and devout, although there are murmurs that he may be a... whisper voice traitor end whisper voice.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
Even a traitor deserves forgiveness.

EUGENIA
His face looks like a potato.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
Potatoes are delicious. I’m sure Thomas Scott would agree.

CECILIA
Very rude

EUGENIA
And what’s with his facial hair? A mustache with no beard?
MARIE-ANGELIQUE
He’s a trendsetter.

CECILIA
Your mother would never approve.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
My mother is a selfish, miserable hag and I’ll never forgive her.

EUGENIA
Didn’t you just say that “even a traitor deserves forgiveness?”

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
We digress from the important matter at hand: the newly formed country of Canada is intent on destroying our way of life and I must use all of my skills and all of my gumption to survive! I am like the Scarlett O’Hara of the prairies and I will do whatever it takes to protect my people. And I will also go on record to say that is has always been childhood dream to marry a Metis man and keep our culture alive.

CECILIA
No, it wasn’t. You’ve always loved basic white boys.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
They’re just so confident, for no good reason!

EUGENIA
Do we even know for sure if he is Metis? He could be faking it. People do that all the time, for book deals.

CECILIA
I believe he is Ojibwe, Eugenia. Like you.

EUGENIA
He’s Franco-Ojibwe. That’s completely different.

CECILIA
How is it different?

EUGENIA
Well, for one, I don’t parle pas Francais.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
You do too parle pas Francais. We all parle pas Francais.

EUGENIA
Mine’s no bueno.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
It is no longer fashionable to look down upon the French, Eugenia. It is tres chic now. The Russians, for instance, can’t get enough of it.
CECILIA
TOLSTOY.
MARIE-ANGELIQUE
Exactly.

EUGENIA
But why marriage? That’s not fun.

CECILIA
I’m having a great time.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
Because I’m not like you, Eugenia. I can’t just leave here whenever I want. I can’t trap or hunt or take care of myself. If I get married, I’ll be protected... and maybe then I can protect others. Louis Riel is surely at the forefront of the fight for our rights and that fight will inevitably bring him here. And when it does, I’ll be ready.

EUGENIA
Even if you did someday meet him, there’s no telling you’d like him.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
That’s okay. You don’t have to like someone to marry them. You just have to love them.

EUGENIA
I don’t intend to ever get married. I like being free.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
I can be free and be a wife at the same time.

CECILIA
No. You must submit to your husband fully. Every decision he makes, you must support.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
I’ll simply pray he makes good choices.

EUGENIA
Last I heard, he had dropped out of school and was living in Chicago writing, like, poetry.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
Can you please just be happy for me? I finally have a purpose.

EUGENIA
You have a crush.
MARIE-ANGELIQUE
I have a goal.

EUGENIA
A lofty one. You’ve never left this room.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
He’ll find me.

EUGENIA
It’s not an easy door to find. And he is likely still very far away.

MARIE-ANGELIQUE
Distance is no barrier. Love knows no obstacles. And “as long as we have love, love will keep us together.”