The Assiniboine River runs beside moments when Yoli is trying to keep her family connected through crisis. First, its vanished ice makes the water seem newly passable; later, a bench beside it becomes shelter from a prairie hailstorm as Yoli absorbs news of Tina’s death and reaches out to her family.

Setting and Changing Water

The river is close enough to reach on foot from the hospital. After sitting outside on the hospital steps and talking with her children, Yoli lights one of the cigarettes Julie has left her, tries to steady her breathing, and walks to the water for a look. The ice is gone and the river is quieter. She considers that it might now be safe to put a canoe into it if a canoe were the only way home. The thought makes the river more than scenery: it is a practical route, newly available as the conditions change.

A Place to Reach Others

On another visit, Yoli sits on a bench beside the river after Tina’s death. The family has just divided up urgent tasks: Sheila will help take her father home and arrange calls, while Lottie will speak with the funeral home about Tina’s cremation and urn. Yoli emails Nic from her BlackBerry to say that she and Lottie expect to go to Vancouver for the funeral in five or six days, and asks him to return from Spain earlier so Elfrieda will not be alone. She also phones her children with the news. They are silent at first, and she waits for them to be able to speak before they say goodbye. The riverbank holds this practical work of care and communication without relieving the grief that prompts it.

Storm and Narrative Significance

The weather abruptly turns while Yoli remains by the river. The sky darkens to purple, flashes of light appear, and wind raises waves on the water; hail drives people nearby to seek cover. Yoli crawls beneath the bench and lies still as the ice strikes the wood above her. On its underside she notices gum and graffiti—initials, hearts, and curses. Sheltered there, she thinks of Lottie and Tina sliding unharmed beneath a semi truck on their bicycles and emerging laughing and breathless. The river scene links immediate physical exposure to a remembered family daring: a place of quiet water becomes, in the storm, a shelter from impact and a setting for recollection.