Members of the Forked River Cree Nation are celebrating their first Heritage month this April. The chief and council have closed the local school for a week and urged all older members of the community to share their knowledge about traditional Cree ways with the community’s children. Eleven-year-old Aaron Thomas and his oldest brother Walter are headed by dog team to the Old Settlement six hours north of Forked River to spend the week with their uncle Marvin, a traditional Cree hunter and trapper, who has lived his whole life in the Old Settlement. More things happen to Aaron in a week while tripping about in the snow with his uncle and camping out in his yard than anyone could have foretold. On his second day in the marsh while learning to trap, he catches an unusual muskrat with shimmering silver fur, whose skin, when dried, tells the remarkable story of Cree people from long ago and a young Cree boy who paddled many miles to find a home.