Karen Russell Quote

We know that Rangi can at least mutter because Digger Gibson says he used to talk to the bear. In his group home for orphaned Moa boys, Rangi had a pet cinnamon bear. I saw her once. She was just a wet-nosed cub, a cuff of pure white around her neck. Rangi found her on the banks of the Waitiki River and walked her around on a leash. He filed her claws and fed her tiny, smelly fishes. They shot her the day his new father, Digger, came to pick him up.Burying that bear, I overheard Digger tell Mr. Oamaru once. The first thing we ever did together as father and son.Rangi's given us this global silent treatment ever since, a silence he extends to people, animals, ice.