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    Soapstone Signs
    Soapstone Signs
    Soapstone Signs
    Ebook50 pages24 minutes

    Soapstone Signs

    By Jeff Pinkney and Darlene Gait

    ()

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    About this ebook

    One spring, a nine-year-old Cree boy is visited by a master soapstone carver named Lindy, who gives him four pieces of soapstone. The primary secret to carving, the boy learns, is recognizing that each piece of soapstone already holds its true form inside. Lindy teaches the boy to listen to the soapstone and look to the world around him for signs as to what to carve. As the seasons change, the young boy’s experiences lend him opportunities to develop his carving skills and become attuned to the signs around him. He eagerly awaits the following spring, which will bring Lindy’s return and a chance to show off his carvings.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateNov 1, 2014
    ISBN9781459804029
    Soapstone Signs
    Author

    Jeff Pinkney

    Jeff Pinkney likes to be out in his canoe or on his mountain bike on forest trails. He holds an English degree from Trent University and is a former business writer business columnist. Jeff's books in the Orca Echoes line, Soapstone Porcupine and Soapstone Signs, draw on Jeff's experiences while traveling as a development consultant in Canada's James Bay Frontier, where he acquired a deep appreciation for the people and the landscape. Jeff is an emerging poet, writer and amateur stone carver. He lives with his family in Baden, Ontario.

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      Book preview

      Soapstone Signs - Jeff Pinkney

      Soapstone Signs and Whispers:

      A Spring Arrival

      Lindy travels opposite to the geese. Every spring after the ice breaks up on the river, he walks in from the north along the tracks. Even though his name is Lindbergh, everyone calls him Lindy. Even me. He has a way of being polite without saying anything. He smells like campfires and the outdoors.

      Lindy carries a big burlap sack of soapstone pieces. Folks ask where he’s found all that soapstone. He just laughs and tells them, Somewhere between here and there.

      Our place is one of the stops on his yearly journey to the south. We operate the lodge between the river and the train tracks. Lindy trades his carving in return for a place to sleep and food to eat. Each year, Mom puts the one he carves for us in the glass display case. Our guests sometimes ask to buy them, but Mom always says, Not these ones—they are special to us.

      When someone asks, Whatcha working on? Lindy smiles and says, Work in progress. He leaves his finished carvings on the ground beside him, and the tourists can look and touch and buy those ones if they want. He carves bears, loons, owls, ospreys, beavers, walrus, seals and even fish.

      Lindy has a place he likes to sit by the riverbank. I like to sit with him and watch him carve. Sometimes he hands me what he is working on. I look and then hand it back without saying a word. Really, that is saying a lot.

      Today, when Lindy finishes a carving, I become curious. How do you know what you will carve next?

      He pauses, looking thoughtful. You ask the stone, he says. "Whatever it is going to be, it is

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