Grandma tried to straighten out her fingers. “Jessica, I think I am done knitting (编织),” she said. “My fingers just won’t do what I tell them any more.” I looked at Grandma’s hands, remembering that she had taught me how to knit gloves for my dolls since I was little and that her hands had been sure and strong whatever she had knitted. Grandma had always said that I was very good with her knitting needles and balls of yarn (纱线).

But this winter she could hardly bend her fingers. The doctor said Grandma had arthritis (关节炎), suggesting she should keep her hands warm. I made her cups of tea to hold and moved her chair closer to the fire. However, her fingers were still difficult to move.

I wasn’t used to seeing Grandma’s hands so still. In the morning, her hands were still in her lap. In the evening, her quiet hands even made her voice stay still. I tried to help her find her voice. “Grandma, tell me about when you were a little girl like before,” I begged, knowing she loved to tell interesting stories of her nine brothers and sisters and herself during their childhood. “That was so long ago, Jessica,” whispered Grandma. “I can barely remember.”

This winter there were no hats with matching gloves or soft sweaters knitted by Grandma. But I missed her voice more than those. What about her sister Olga giving their snowman a bath in hot water? What about her brother Peti cutting off her doll’s beautiful hair and then hiding it? Were those words still moving silently in her head?

After dinner, Grandma fell asleep in her rocking chair. Mom sorted through our knitting items, among which an old pair of gloves caught my attention. The gloves were Grandma’s favorite ones with the names of Grandma and her nine brothers and sisters on the fingertips. Each time she wore them, all her happy childhood memories would become very interesting stories in her mouth.

The gloves gave me an idea.

“Grandma, shall we knit a new pair of gloves?” I asked hopefully.

Far up in the mountains of Canada, there is an old abandoned wooden house. Once it was occupied by a young couple who wanted to distance themselves from the troublesome affairs of this modern world. Here they were miles away from the nearest town. Bob, the husband, made the occasional trip into town to buy supplies whereas Jan, his wife, spent her free time by the fire, sewing. Their life was simply peaceful. Then, one midwinter’s day, Jan woke up from bed with a strange ache in her bones. Putting it down to overwork, Bob asked her to bed and made sure she rested. Though Jan was impatient to get to her chores (杂活), Bob comforted her, “Relax, Sugar. You’re overdoing things. All these chores will be here when you recover.”

However, Jan seemed to be getting worse instead of recovering. By evening, she was running a high fever and in greater pain. In spite of his best efforts, Bob could not manage to ease her suffering. And then suddenly, she started to get into unconsciousness. It was then obvious that she was seriously ill. What could Bob do? He had no experience in treating the sick and Jan was getting worse by the minute. He knew that there was an old doctor in town but he lived three miles away, downhill. Heavy and fat, there was no way the doctor could make it up to their house.

Something had to be done quickly! Bob racked his brains but had no idea at all. The only thing left to do was to go to the doctor. In Jan’s condition, she could never walk that far in the waist-deep snow. Bob would have to carry her!

Bob searched his mind for a way to move poor, sick Jan. Then, he remembered. He had once made a sledge (雪橇) so that they could ride together over the mountain. They never got around to using it though, because the whole mountain was thickly covered with rocks and trees. He had never found a safe way down.

However, he decided to have a try in spite of those risks.

At last, the town came into view but the sledge gave strange sounds.

Jane got an F in the science class. Shamefully, she buried her face in her hands, thinking the day was really terrible. The worst was that it was her twelfth birthday.

The day’s awfulness began when Jane decided to stay up until midnight so that she could witness the moment when she ofially turned twelve. Unfortunately, she missed it. Her day didn’t improve at breakfast. Carl, her baby brother, threw up while eating his baby food, causing her parents to spend the whole time cleaning up the mess and worrying Carl possibly being sick.

Like a good mature (成熟的) twelve-year-old, Jane kept quiet and pretended she wasn’t angry. She knew that it wasn’t Carl’s fault. After all, he was just a 10-month- old crawling (会爬的) baby who was only able to call “mama” and “papa”.

Jane seemed to be angry a lot recently. Everyone said it was hormones (激素), but she was pretty sure it was because of unfaimess. It had basically started when her parents decided to have another kid and when Jane was becoming smart and mature. Those grown-up qualities only brought her increased responsibility. Besides mountains of homework, she was dutiful for playing with and caring for little Carl sometimes. Jane loved Carl. She even bought him a toy cat. But his shining eyes didn’t give any indication of understanding her upset.

As she walked home, Jane wondered what further unpleasantness would await. Did her parents remember today was her birthday? They had given no such clue at breakfast. Did she want another one of those birthday parties that were thrown for her when she was little? She’d enjoyed them at the time, but now that would only embarrass her. And considering previous festivals, she couldn’t expect anything else from her parents.

Jane returned home and opened the front door. She saw the house lookinig deserted. Well, this suited her fine. Then, she stepped inside.

Suddenly, her parents jumped out with the party hats, saying, “Surprise!”

“Jane!” said Carl, dragging his favorite toy cat.