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Vera strokes her mother’s brow “I’ll make you some sweet tea And you will eat some ham ”

Maain

Vera sits there a e hter and her husband’s voice It all leaves her feeling vaguely out of place Still she covers her mother’s frail body and stands up

“He is so proud of you,” Mah

“Sasha?”

“Your papa ”

Vera feels an unexpected tightness in her throat Saying nothing, she walks forward, and Leo’s laughter wars of any old desk ever could She gets out her cast-iron frying pan and fries up some of the ham in a tiny spot of sunflower oil and adds sliced onions at the last minute

A feast

The whole roo ham and sweet, caramelized onions She even adds extra honey to their tea, and when they all sit on the old mattress to eat (there are no chairs any Even Ma

“Can I have er in the e for any trace of honey

“No ly as this breakfast is, it is not enough for any of them

“I say we go to the park,” Sasha says

“It’s all boarded up,” Anya tells him “Like a prison No one plays there anymore ”

“We do,” Sasha says, s as if this is an ordinary day

Outside, the snow is falling A veil of white obscures the city, softens it The dragon’s teeth and trenches are just mounds of snow and hollowed-out white valleys, respectively Every now and then a white hillock sits on a park bench or lies by the side of the road, but it is easy to miss Vera hopes her children do not knohat is beneath the cover of snow