Continuation of "Where it's White and Cold"

“Len, it is okay, there are no bears in the forest during the winter”, Sasha was comforting Lena, as I tuned in their conversation. I didn’t even notice they were talking.

            “How about during summer?” Lena asks and I could hear a frown in her face.

            “Len, the bears sleep during the summer” I answer her and instead of walking behind Sasha, I ran to his side and put my hand on Lena’s back.

            “No, they sleep during the winter, but they are so nice during the summer don’t wont eat you, Len.” Sasha corrected me. Whatever, Mr. Smarty-pants.   

            “Well, what if they wake up during the winter? How do you know they are nice?” Lena asks quickly.

            “They don’t wake up because they are too warm and cozy.” I answer her first question and put her scarf on her red nose.

            “Bears have a lot of berries to eat during the summer, so they’re happy” Sasha responds to Lena’s second question, as he pulls Lena up. She was sliding down his back a little.

            “So, the bears won’t eat me?” Lena says, carefully.

            “Nope.” Sasha and I answer at the same time. We look at each other and smile briefly.

            “Not even Tania?”

            “No, Len, not even me. It’s okay.” I reassure her.

            “How about Vladimera?” Lena looks at me with this silly smile that makes me think she’s up to something.  

            “Not even Vladimera.” Sasha says. Even though I was supposed to answer her. She looked at me! Plus, I know what she’s thinking!

            “Dang it.” Lena replies, smile fading from her face.

            “No, I’m telling you. The bears can sense mean people, so they would eat Vladimera for sure” I tell Lena, giving Sasha a next-time-let-me-answer look.

            “Haha told you the bears would eat her!” Lena yells to Sasha and her left hand punches his shoulder. She never said such a thing. She might have believed it in her mind, though.  

            “Hey, you don’t want me to die or faint again, do you?” Sasha says teasingly to Lena.

            “No!” Lena and I both exclaim.

            “That’s what I thought.” Sasha smiles at us.

            We enter the forest. Some trees here won’t let the sunshine in, since they are so tall and big, but we see sin-beam spots in some places. Most all trees are tall and green.  All of the trees have snow on their branches keeping the trees warm. I always see the snow clearer here, because the sun is not shining on it as much. It always looks slightly blue. Most snow is covered by branches that fell from the trees on a windy night. The hills are all clear, because we sled on them so much. I find a spot in the sky where there were no trees in the way and notice that the sky is blue and clear with no clouds. The wind is calming down too. Good. It means that Lena might not get a cold sore this time. Speaking of Lena…

            “I can take Lena now, you go slide” I tell Sasha. He put Lena down on her feet, hugs her goodbye, waves at me, and runs off.   People are now running with their card boards on different hills, debating on which hill is the fastest. I look for any signs of Masha or Jenia.  Not that I want to give Lena away, I just need company.