First retold in an interview.
One year, snow had fallen, and the kids ████ ███ wanted to go sledding, but in ███ ██████ ████, they didn’t have enough sleds for all of them. So, they got an idea. It’s a way of collective problem-solving: “Let’s figure it out, comrades.” They took pillows from their beds, wrapped them in garbage bags, and hid them in their school bags — pretending they were going for a walk, so the teachers wouldn’t know what they were up to or where they were going. Then they climbed to the top of the hill, pulled out the pillows because, actually, a pillow wrapped in a garbage bag is a sled. I didn’t know that, they either made it up on the spot or had done it before. So, it slides, and it’s soft, but since no hill is perfect — there’s always some sticks or rocks poking out — as they went down, the bags tore, and the pillows ripped, with feathers flying everywhere. It was truly surreal. The white snow, and suddenly feathers floating around them. ██ ██████, ███ ███████ ████ ██████, ███ ████ ███ ██ ██ ██████ ████. █ █████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ████, ███ the joy of that brief ride before the pillow ripped was priceless, so it was worth all the pillows. ███ ███ ████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████. ██ ███ ████████-██-███ █████████, █████ ███ █████ ████. ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ████ ████, ██ ████ ███ ████ ███ █ ██████ █████, ██████ ████████ ██ █ █████ ███. ██████ gained something.