The Snow Child

When winter roars back, Faina returns, now taller and thinner. The child delights in her new coat. But as they eat dinner, Faina grows overheated, and Jack props open the door despite the snowstorm. Over the couple’s protestations, the child insists on leaving. At last, Mabel shares the fairy-tale book with Jack, who sees her logic and stops her. “You’ve lost your mind,” he says (219). He finally tells her about the child’s home in the woods and her dead father. Mabel is furious. How could Jack have allowed Faina to live by herself like some animal? She heads out into the stormy night to retrieve the girl.

Mabel gets lost. She curls up beneath a tree in a tight ball for warmth and falls asleep. When she awakens, Jack is there banking a fire. Jack knows they must stay at the campsite at least another night because of the snow. Alone together, cuddled against the night, they talk. Now, after years, Mabel asks Jack about their dead child. Jack tells her that the baby was a boy, that Jack named him Joseph Maurice, and that he conducted a prayer service over the gravesite.