Beside the Bean

Ages 6-9

Boaz rolls a dry bean in his palm.

On the table, a little pot of soil stands beside a sprouted bean. Two green leaves rise from its split skin.

Gadi sits across from him.

"First there's a seed," Boaz says.

He shows the bean.

"Then a flower."

His hand reaches past the pot to the bare table. He stops.

Gadi looks at the empty place. His mouth stays closed.

Boaz puts the dry bean down. It rolls toward the pot.

He brings it back and lays it on its flatter side.

He moves the pot beside it. He sets the sprouted bean beyond the pot, with its leaves pointing up.

Boaz touches the dry bean.

"We plant this."

He rests his finger on the pot's rim.

"We water the soil."

He points at the sprouted bean.

"The leaves come up."

Gadi leans toward the sprout.

The dry bean lies beside the pot. Boaz's finger rests by the sprouted bean's two green leaves.