The Answer from the Empty Hall
Chapter 1Just One Word
"Where should I put the paper?" Yanky called as he carried a roll toward the school storeroom.
A moment later, someone behind him seemed to say, "Paper."
At least, that was what he heard.
He turned.
His younger brother Binyomin stood near the drinking fountain, holding an empty cup.
"Stop repeating me."
"I did not."
"You just did."
Binyomin looked down the long hall. Most of the classroom doors were closed. At the far end, the folding partition stood open, leaving a bare room beyond it.
Yanky had asked Binyomin to help carry paper after dismissal. Now he wished he had come alone.
"Bring the short roll," he said.
A thin little sound returned from the far end.
Roll.
Chapter 2The Funny Voice
Binyomin picked up the short roll. He grinned.
"It sounds funny here."
"Yes. Because you are doing a funny voice."
Yanky walked faster. His long roll knocked against his knee.
They were making a large floor map for the younger boys. Yanky wanted to finish before Mr. Stein locked the storeroom. He had already spent half the afternoon finding a pencil that made a broad enough line.
Binyomin had offered to draw tiny houses.
Yanky had said they would see.
At the storeroom door, Yanky called, "Mr. Stein!"
Something at the other end answered with a little broken sound.
Stein.
Yanky spun around.
"Enough!"
Binyomin's grin disappeared.
Chapter 3The Closed Mouth
Mr. Stein came out carrying a stack of flat boxes.
"What is enough?"
"He keeps copying everything I say."
"I was not," Binyomin said.
Yanky held the paper against his chest. The roll had begun to curl open.
Mr. Stein put the boxes down.
"Where were you standing when you heard it?"
Yanky pointed toward the fountain.
Binyomin stood a few steps behind them now. His mouth was firmly closed.
"Show me," Mr. Stein said.
Yanky called, "Paper!"
A small sound came back.
This time he was looking straight at Binyomin.
His brother's lips had not moved.
Chapter 4The Bare Room
Yanky lowered the roll.
Mr. Stein walked toward the open partition. The boys followed without calling again.
The room beyond had no tables in it. They had been moved for floor cleaning. Its walls were hard and bare, and the hall ran straight toward it.
"Your voice can come back from hard surfaces," Mr. Stein said. "It is easier to notice when this end is empty."
Binyomin whispered, "I said it sounded funny."
Yanky wished he had not heard that.
Mr. Stein closed the folding partition most of the way, then returned to the storeroom door.
"Try the same word, in a normal voice."
Yanky said, "Paper."
There was no clear little answer this time.
Mr. Stein opened the storeroom.
"We can use ordinary voices inside. I have the wide pencil ready."
Chapter 5No Tiny Joke
Yanky put both rolls on the worktable.
Binyomin placed his cup beside them. He had never reached the fountain to fill it.
"I thought you were making fun of me," Yanky said.
"I told you I was not."
Yanky wanted to explain that the voice had sounded exactly like his brother's. Then he remembered watching the closed mouth.
"I should have listened. I am sorry I shouted at you."
Binyomin ran a finger along the short roll.
"Do you still want help?"
Yanky had almost finished planning the map in his head. He had pictured broad roads, a square park, and no tiny houses to slow him down.
He looked at the pencil Mr. Stein had left on the table.
"Yes. Could you draw houses along this road? Leave room for the names."
Binyomin sat down.
"Not too tiny?"
"Big enough for a boy to see while standing."
Chapter 6The Other Answer
The first house had six windows and a crooked chimney.
Yanky nearly told Binyomin to begin again. Then his brother drew another house beside it, a little taller and a little less crooked.
The two houses made the road look like a place, not merely a line.
Yanky moved the park to give them more room.
When the floor map was ready, Mr. Stein helped the boys roll it loosely around a wide cardboard tube.
"Both names on the back?" he asked.
Yanky wrote BINYOMIN beneath his own name.
They carried it toward the exit. Mr. Stein had closed the partition. The hall sounded ordinary now.
At the fountain, Binyomin stopped.
"I still need water."
Yanky held the map while he filled the cup.
He could have carried it alone. It was easier with two people.
Outside, Binyomin asked whether they could add a bakery next time.
Yanky looked at the blank space beside the park.
"Yes," he said.
The answer did not come from the empty hall.
