– What's the point of the moon? And anyway, when there are snowdrifts, it's so bright at night without the moon.
We reached the end of the park and turned back along another alley. Everything around us was covered with snow, half-frozen to the ground. It was falling in such a dense, unhurried shroud that it seemed to be flying from the bottom to the top, not the other way round.
– Ha, first time I've seen a kid who dreams of being a snowdrift. Are you sure you haven't hit your head recently?
The boy pretended not to hear the question:
– I don't want to be like everyone else. If I become a snowdrift, I'll protect plants from wind and frost and keep bugs warm. A snowdrift is strength, power, you have no idea what kind! – he continued to prove inspirationally.
– Oh, I can't. And to die in spring? – I teased again.
– Is there no difference when? A snowdrift at least watering the ground while dying, and you will die – what's the use? Plus, don't forget, next winter the snowdrifts return – eternal life.
– So it'll be different snowdrifts. Last year's are already gone.
– But that's not a fact, nobody cancelled the water cycle in nature.
– But listen, a human being is a living organism, with thoughts and processes, and a snowdrift is just water, – I continued, kicking the snow with my foot and not believing that I was seriously discussing it at all.
Meanwhile we walked back to the bench where I had met him. He was about to turn back into the park, but I stopped, intending to go home.
– Isn't a human being a water? The form is different, but the essence is the same, – the boy persisted, taking off and putting on his blue, ragged glove. – And there are no more thoughts in another man than in a snowdrift, but it is not that useful, but how much harm!
– Still, it is better to be a human being: one has a will, an action. But a snowdrift does not direct its life in any way: it fell out, where it fell out, and lies humbly waiting for someone to shit in it.
– The snowdrift simply understands the inevitability of shit in our lives. As if it doesn't exist in the human world. It's full! But about falling out, where you fall out: ‘You get worn and torn in the place you were born’, have you heard that? People also fall out where they fall out, and most of them have been around this place their entire lives. Even if you've gone far away, all in white sneakers and asphalt, the town is still with you forever, right here,– he tapped his temple. – I wouldn't like that. The snowdrift is free and lives as it wants without all these conventions, – the boy tsked loudly between his front teeth again, looking thoughtfully at the treetops.