Matvey

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Matvey is nine years old, or so I'm told. I'm not so big on counting years and our friend defies the count anyway. He plays hard like a kid, but he thinks of others in a way many so-called adults have never mastered.

Alla told him she wanted to learn how to make pirogi. Matvey's grandmother taught him how to make the little sweet variety called piroshki, so he volunteered to come over and teach her. During spring break he bought a package of dough and spent a morning here showing Alla how to use it. He also brought along a beautiful apron his grandmother made and a rolling pin. By the time I got home from school he had prepared a whole tray of beautiful pastries, which he allowed me to load into the oven.

Since I didn't do any of the other work, Matvey and Alla let me wash whatever dishes they hadn't already cleaned up as they worked. Mostly I just ate.