Five Minutes Behind the Closed Door

Chapter 1The Last Wheel

Binyomin finished the last wheel on his drawing just as Totty went into the small study with Uncle Shmuel.

The drawing showed a wagon rolling through a village. Binyomin had made the wheels look round even though the wagon stood sideways.

He wanted Totty to see that part first.

He knocked on the study door.

Totty opened it a little.

"I am speaking privately with Uncle Shmuel. Please wait until we come out."

Binyomin held up the paper.

"Will you look at this?"

"Yes, after our conversation."

Chapter 2Two More Knocks

Binyomin sat in the hall with the drawing on his knees.

He waited until he thought a long time had passed. Then he knocked again.

"Not yet," Totty said through the door.

Binyomin went back to the chair.

Perhaps Totty had forgotten which drawing he meant. Perhaps Uncle Shmuel would leave by another door, and Totty would start something else.

Binyomin stood up and knocked a third time.

This time Totty came out, closing the door behind him.

Chapter 3What Needed to Wait

"Is there something urgent?" Totty asked.

"I want to show you the wheels."

"I want to see them. Every time I stop to answer, our conversation stops, too."

Binyomin looked at the paper.

"I do not know how long to wait."

"I cannot tell you exactly when we will finish. Come back in about five minutes for one check. If we are still speaking, I will come find you when we are done."

"In the playroom?"

"Yes."

Totty returned to the study.

Chapter 4A Safe Place for the Wagon

Binyomin put the drawing on the playroom table. His little brother was building a tower nearby.

"Do not use that paper for the bottom," Binyomin said.

"I wasn't going to."

Binyomin moved the drawing to the high shelf where completed pictures went. Now the wagon would not get bent under a block.

He sat beside the tower.

"Your bottom piece is crooked."

"It is a crooked tower."

Binyomin laughed. He found another block that leaned the other way and passed it over.

Chapter 5The One Check

When about five minutes had passed, Binyomin went back for the check Totty had offered.

Totty opened the door.

"We are still speaking. I will come to the playroom afterward."

Binyomin nodded.

He had not heard the private conversation, and he did not need to. He knew where Totty would find him.

Back in the playroom, the crooked tower was even taller.

"It needs a gate," his brother said.

Binyomin found two short blocks and a long one for the top.

The drawing stayed on its shelf.

Chapter 6The Door Opened

Totty came into the playroom while they were testing whether a wooden horse could fit through the gate.

"Now let me see those wheels."

Binyomin almost jumped up. Then he remembered the long block over the gate and stood carefully.

He brought down the drawing.

Totty looked at the wagon first, just as Binyomin had hoped.

"You have made the far wheel smaller. That helps it look farther away."

"I erased it twice."

"I can see why you wanted to show me."

Chapter 7A Longer Look

Binyomin told Totty about the crooked first wheel and the village path that had nearly run off the page.

Totty listened. The drawing was no less finished because it had waited on a shelf.

His little brother brought over the wooden horse.

"It fits through our gate."

Totty inspected the gate, too.

Next time Binyomin had something ready during a private conversation, he would still want to show it. Today, the one check had given him a place to wait without guarding the door.

He returned the drawing to its shelf, with the wagon's wheels facing outward.