In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

• Mass
• Brandon Taylor (bio)

Aleksander Igorevich Shapovalov—Sasha to those who loved him most in the world and Alek to everyone else, including himself—stared at the radiographic scans presented to him by his doctor in the intimate corner examination room and tried to think of what he'd tell his mother.

"There's a good chance it's nothing," Dr. Ngost said. "But you'll have to get a biopsy."

"A biopsy," Alek said.

"Yes. We'll take a small piece of the mass and examine it. Then we'll know more."

"But I don't feel sick," Alek said. "I just came because of this cough. I don't feel sick."

"There's a chance that you aren't. There's a chance it's just a mass that we can take out. It happens sometimes. The body is full of odd turns."

"Full of odd turns," Alek repeated—a nonsense phrase, too casual. Full of odd turns, like a clock or some other machine, routes [End Page 251] and paths inside him swerving this way and that, and then suddenly an aberration, a deviation, a mass swelling up from below.

Dr. Ngost put a hand on Alek's arm, and Alek turned his head toward him slowly, away from the scan that showed his insides, ghostly white on a black backdrop.

"One step at a time," he said warmly. "Biopsy. Then we know."

Alek almost repeated the doctor's words again but stopped himself by biting the very tip of his tongue. He nodded firmly a couple of times, then climbed from the bench. He pulled up his jeans beneath the crinkling paper gown. The room was cool as a small cave. Dr. Ngost watched him dress, and when they shook hands, Dr. Ngost held on just a little longer: "Don't worry. It's going to be okay," he said.

________

On the bus, Alek considered calling his brothers. Grigori was a first-year surgical resident at Mass Gen, and Igor was starting at Columbia medical school. They would know how to explain it to their mother best, how to articulate the parameters of the thing in a way that wouldn't scare her. It seemed foolish not to call them. The bus turned onto the more corporate corner of Capitol Square. All that chrome and glass against the slategray winter sky. Alek had a seat to himself, which felt like a minor miracle. Downtown was emptying before it began to fill again. Luminescent snowdrifts covered bike racks and lampposts.

He had pulled up the text chain with Grigori—they hadn't texted in months, since he'd first arrived in the Midwest, to say that he'd made it. He'd sent a couple pics of the apartment he'd found. It had come furnished and felt lived in. He'd sent both Grigori and Igor pictures of the tub and the room with its decent but kind of soft mattress. And they'd texted back cool and nice and faggot style :). [End Page 252]

When they were younger, Grigori's favorite pastime was to pull hairs from Alek's body. Igor held him while he twisted and tried to get loose. Then Grigori plucked out his eyelashes one at a time, fine white hairs invisible the moment they left his body. Alek remembered the little shooting stars of pain with each hair. He remembered Igor's sweaty hands holding him down. He remembered the damp odor of their panting filling the closet.

As they grew older, the punishments evolved. Soon, it wasn't enough to pull the hairs out of Alek's body. They had to burn him, too. By then, both Igor and Grigori were smoking in the alleyway behind their apartment building after and before school, when their parents weren't watching, sending up white trails. Alek caught them one day and ran to tell their parents, his body thrumming with the pleasure of finally having a secret on them, some measure of power. But as he turned to run, he didn't see their bodies growing taut with pursuit. They caught him before he even reached the end of the alley...

中文翻译：

---

大量的

代替摘要，这里是内容的简要摘录：

• 大量的
• 布兰登·泰勒（生物）

亚历山大·伊戈列维奇·沙波瓦洛夫（Aleksander Igorevich Shapovalov）–萨莎（Sasha）给世界上最爱他的人，阿勒克（Alek）给包括他自己在内的所有人-盯着他的医生在私密角落检查室向他提供的射线照相，试图思考他会说些什么。他的母亲。

恩戈斯特博士说：“很可能什么都没有。” “但是你必须做活检。”

“活检，”阿莱克说。

“是的。我们将一小部分进行检查，然后我们将了解更多。”

“但是我没有感到不适，”阿莱克说。“我只是因为咳嗽才来的。我没有生病的感觉。”

“有一种可能你不是。有一种可能是我们可以清除的质量。有时会发生。身体充满了奇怪的转弯。”

“充满奇怪的转折，” Alek重复道，这是个胡扯，太随意了。像时钟或其他机器一样，到处都是奇怪的转弯，绕过[End Page 251]和他体内的路径，以这种方式转弯，然后突然出现像差，偏差，质量从下方向上膨胀。

Ngost博士把手放在Alek的手臂上，然后Alek慢慢将头转向他，远离显示他内部的扫描，黑色背景上呈幽灵般的白色。

“每次一步，”他热情地说。“活检。然后我们知道了。”

Alek几乎再次重复了医生的话，但咬住了他的舌尖使自己停了下来。他坚定地点了点头，然后从板凳上爬了上去。他在起皱的纸质礼服下面拉了他的牛仔裤。房间像一个小洞穴一样凉爽。Ngost博士看着他的衣服，当他们握手时，Ngost博士坚持了一段时间：“不用担心。这会没事的，”他说。

________

在公共汽车上，阿莱克考虑给他的兄弟们打电话。Grigori是Mass Gen的一年级外科住院医师，而Igor则在哥伦比亚医学院就读。他们会知道如何最好地向母亲解释，如何以不会吓到她的方式表达事物的参数。不给他们打电话似乎很愚蠢。公交车驶入了国会大厦的更偏僻的角落。残酷的冬天天空映衬着所有的铬和玻璃。亚历克（Alek）在自己的座位上坐着，这感觉像是一个小奇迹。市中心在再次开始装满之前正在排空。发光的雪堆覆盖自行车架和路灯柱。

他与Grigori拉起了文字链，自从他第一次到达中西部以来，他们已经几个月没有发短信了，说他做到了。他寄了几张他发现的公寓的照片。它已经装好了，感觉像是住进去了。他给格里高里和伊戈尔寄了浴缸和房间的照片，里面装着像样但柔软的床垫。然后，他们发短信回到很酷，很漂亮，很喜欢的风格:)。[结束页252]

当他们还年轻的时候，格里哥里最喜欢的消遣就是从Alek的身上拔毛。当他扭动并试图放松时，伊戈尔（Igor）抱着他。然后格里哥里（Grigori）一次拔出了一根睫毛，当它们离开他的身体时，细小的白发就看不见了。亚历克（Alek）记得每根头发上的小小的流星般的疼痛。他想起了伊戈尔满身汗水的双手将他压低。他记得他们在衣柜里喘着粗气的潮湿气味。

随着年龄的增长，惩罚逐渐发展。很快，将头发从Alek的身上拉出来还不够。他们也必须烧死他。那时，伊戈尔（Igor）和格里戈里（Grigori）都在放学后和放学前在公寓楼后面的小巷里抽烟，当时他们的父母不在看着，发出白色的足迹。Alek有一天抓住了他们，跑去告诉父母，他的身体body不休，终于高兴地向他们透露了一些力量。但是当他转身奔跑时，他没有看到他们的身体因追逐而变得绷紧。在他甚至到达小巷尽头之前，他们就抓住了他。