Ross Breithaupt
Author
The Mentor
Depending on whom you talk to, there are between five and eight archetypal characters in every story. There seems to be general accord about the basic five, though. They would be the protagonist; the antagonist; the confidant (who may be a love interest or a devoted friend); the mentor; and the mysterious other – or “fifth business” – who usually arrives later in the story, and who ends up being a kind of linchpin.
I’d like to focus today on Midland’s mentor character: Rory’s grandmother, Hilda Laukkenen. Rory calls her Mummu – one of the Finnish words for grandmother.
Hilda’s role as mentor, and how she teaches Rory to grieve, does not become clear until well into the story. We first encounter her in chapter three. There are hints here for how Hilda has worked through her husband’s death – years and years before – and is now coming around to “talk” to him again. The medium for these conversations is the humid cedar-scented air of Hilda’s sauna.
Here is a portion of chapter three:
Thunder Bay, Ontario has, outside of Finland, the highest concentration of saunas in the world. In spite of this, it had not been easy for Hilda to find a sauna like the one Jakob had built for her in Marathon: elemental in its box design, with just the one bench, not overflowing with people, and, most importantly, constructed entirely of red cedar. It had taken her years—decades in fact—to find the right one. In the end, she’d recruited Laura to help her. Laura was Hilda’s favourite girl at the clinic. She reminded her of Penny, her granddaughter. She was spunky and pretty and she always laughed at Hilda’s jokes.
“Laura, dear. Look at that!” Hilda said. They had arrived at the Green Thumb Inn, the home of Hilda’s sauna.
“Whoa.” Laura adjusted her sunglasses. “Mrs. L, it’s a sun dog! Ice crystals, up around the jet stream, I think. Wow… it’s beautiful, eh Mrs. L?”
Hilda was not what you’d call a deeply religious person, but she did have a strong faith impulse. She considered this a sign from God. “Ice crystals,” she whispered. “Amazing what can happen.” She found a safe place in her memory bank to tuck the image away.
“Good afternoon, lovely ladies! Right on time!” It was Robert, the manager of the inn. “Mrs. Laukkanen, may I say you are glowing today!”
“Hello, Robert. Thank you, but I feel pretty stiff, in truth.” Hilda’s Finnish accent had not faded much over the years. It was there in the word “stiff”, which came out as “steef”. “Like two-days-old road kill,” she added. It sounded like “road keel”. Laura giggled behind her.
“Ah. Nothing that a half hour in the sauna won’t fix, right?” said Robert.
“Mm-hmm.”
Laura escorted Hilda to the change room, helped her undress and wrapped her in a towel. “Thanks, dear. I’m fine now,” said Hilda, waving her facecloth. “See you in a little while.” Hilda sat down on the bench and tossed some water on the hot stones to add some steam to the room. Within minutes her body was covered with sweat and flushed with endorphins. Her tough old heart upped its pulse by a handful of beats per minute. Her arms settled comfortably in her lap; her hands opened slightly. Her lips rested together. She inhaled a long, slow dose of the steamy air through her nose, letting the damp molecules from the cedar wood mingle with her olfactory receptors. She held her breath for a moment. Then she let it out gradually, with a small moan just under the exhalation. There was no better place in the world for Hilda.
She was home.
2 Comments on “The Mentor”
Leave a comment
Voyager 1
The Porcupine’s Quill
The Porcupine’s Quill
Voyager 1
Ross Breithaupt 
Ok, so now I need a sauna…! The snow is falling here in Toronto…and my space heater ‘does not quite do it’….looking forward to learning more about Hilda when the book arrives !
LikeLike
Thanks Christine. Haha! A sauna visit would be pretty sweet… maybe after shovelling the sidewalks etc.
LikeLike