Wanderings of the Bitter Child ~ Mr. Shinmei "Pierce and Read Aloud for You"

With each step, the snow sinks deeper and deeper. It is now possible to sink into the calf belly, and the hat is getting heavier and heavier. Suddenly, I saw Vidali's finger to the left, as if to make me pay attention. I looked, as if vaguely seeing a shack made of branches in the clearing of the forest, covered under the snow. Finding the way is difficult because the snow is already quite thick. All traces of roads, large and small, were covered, but at the edge of the clearing in the woods, where tall trees began to appear again, I seemed to feel that the ditch next to the main road had been filled; there must have been a path leading to the shacks. Walking to the edge of the ditch, sure enough, it was a small road, and we quickly came to the shack. The shacks were made of bundles of wood of varying thicknesses, and the roofs were made of dense branches, and the snow could not enter at all. This hiding place is no worse than a house. Vadali said, "I've been wondering, this is a newly cut open space, and there should be a lumberjack's hut somewhere." Now, let the snow fall on it! "That's right, let it go!" I said in a challenging tone. I approached the doorway, or simply the opening of the shack, because it had neither a door nor a window, and I shook the snow from my shirt and hat for fear of getting the inside of the shack wet.