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Snow covered the ground outside. There was no reed<br />
basket this time. A girl stood on his doorstep, foreign, fey. Her<br />
chin was pointed and cheeks too sharp. Green eyes. Dark hair<br />
dotted with snow. Blue lips. Her nose was wide and flat, marring<br />
the pretty face and making it easier to look at her. She would have<br />
been too perfect otherwise. She was beautiful as a winter storm.<br />
“Minchka” Aleksandr whispered again.<br />
She looked up at him and smiled. Minchka’s smile.<br />
“Hello, Papa.”<br />
Aleksandr wrapped her in a hug and the little doll fell to<br />
the ground. With the sun scrabbling its way higher in the sky,<br />
they stood in the doorway a long, long time and the dragons<br />
twined around their feet, claws clicking, flames bursting from<br />
their snouts. All around them, the snow began to melt.<br />
A programmer by day,<br />
Jennifer Racek loves writing<br />
stories on the train during<br />
her commute to downtown<br />
Dallas. In her spare time,<br />
she runs a writing critique<br />
group, a YA book club, a<br />
Harry Potter meetup group,<br />
and participates in far too<br />
many craft swaps. Mrs. Racek lives with her husband, two<br />
children, two dogs, a cat, and a hedgehog named Percy<br />
Jackson. You can find out more about the author and read<br />
samples of her writing at http://www.jcracek.com.<br />
February 2014 59
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