And then said something that could only be described as unexpected: “Well, not really.”

Pete’s words were like the sound of a needle getting scratched across a record on a turntable—a jarring interruption of some of the most beautiful music Ginette had ever heard. She turned to Pete. And wondered if she had heard him correctly. “Huh?” she asked, puzzled, but smiling to cover the hint of concern she felt.

“Not really,” Pete repeated.

“Not really what?” Ginette asked.

“You’re not really close to me. At all.”

Ginette pulled her head away from Pete and looked up at him, searching his eyes for an explanation.

“If you think about it a different way,” Pete explained, “you’re really actually about as far away from me as you can possibly be.”

More confused, Ginette recoiled a little from Pete.

“I mean,” continued Pete, “if you think about it technically—if you’re assuming the world is round, like a ball…” Pete gathered some snow, and the heat from his hands melted it enough for him to make a decent-size snowball. His hands felt like they had an ice-cream headache. He reached into his bag and pulled out his flashlight and clicked it on and tucked it under his arm to illuminate his makeshift globe. “See,” he continued, “if you’re assuming the world is round, like a snowball, then the farthest away you can be from somebody is if you’re sitting right next to them.”

Ginette wasn’t following.

“See, if I’m here…”

Pete pointed out a spot on the snowball facing them that represented him.

“And you’re here…”

Pete pointed out a spot on the snowball that represented her, just to the left of him.

“… then…”

Pete traced a path with his finger all the way around his miniature globe to demonstrate the immense space between them.

And when his finger returned to the point on the snowball that represented him, he said, “That’s far.”

And he looked at Ginette, in awe of what he felt like was an important discovery.

Ginette looked up at Pete, puzzled. “Huh?” she queried, her face all screwed up.

Pete demonstrated again, this time with more props. He reached into his backpack and grabbed his bag of gorp and took a peanut and a green M&M out of the bag and tucked his flashlight under his arm again and continued. “See, if this is me…” He held up the peanut. “And I’m here…” He shoved the peanut into the snowball, facing them, to represent himself. “And this is you…” He held up the green M&M. “… and you’re here…” He placed the green M&M directly to the left of the peanut, but then moved the M&M in the opposite direction of the peanut—all the way around the snowball—until it was close to the peanut again—but on the other side of it. And then he shoved the M&M into the snowball next to the peanut and said, “That’s far.”

And then Pete looked at Ginette, in awe of his discovery.