The Russian Word for Snow

by Janis Cooke Newman

  "Next time let's do the story with the witch," he says.

  232 THE RUSSIAN WORD FOR SNOW

  "OK." And then I read all of Woolly Mammoths, not just the disgusting part.

  "Good night," I tell Alex when we've come to the end, a picture of a lone mammoth standing in the snow. "Sweet dreams."

  "Good night, sweet dreams," he repeats.

  I bend down to kiss the mark on his forehead, the one we once thought was a bruise and has now faded almost away.

  "I will always love you," I promise him. "More than anything."

  "I will always love you," he says. "More than a woolly mammoth. And they're the powerfulest."