The Answer He Heard Through the Door

Chapter 1Not This Time

"Not this time," Abba said from behind the study door.

Moishe stopped in the hall.

In his pocket was the programme for the boys' choir evening. His solo was circled in pencil. He had asked Abba to come, and Abba had said he would try.

Now Abba was speaking to Uncle Chaim.

"It won't work," Abba added.

Moishe walked away before hearing anything else.

He took the programme from his pocket and rubbed at the circle with his thumb.

The pencil stayed. So did the words from the study.

Chapter 2A Different Rehearsal

At Wednesday's rehearsal, Moishe missed his entrance.

The choirmaster, Mr. Levy, tapped the page.

"This line is yours. Let's try from the two bars before it."

Moishe sang too quickly, stopped, and began again.

His friend Shaya leaned toward him afterward.

"What's wrong?"

"Abba isn't coming."

"Did he tell you?"

"I heard him say it won't work."

Shaya waited for the rest. There was no rest.

"I don't want to ask and hear it properly," Moishe said.

Shaya didn't tell him that Abba would certainly come.

He pointed to the entrance mark. "At least this part tells us where to start."

Chapter 3The Empty Chair in His Head

That evening, Moishe practised the solo at home.

He put a chair opposite him so he could practise looking up from the words.

Halfway through, he stopped looking at it.

He imagined it empty on Thursday too.

Abba passed the room with a pile of books.

"How is the song coming?"

"It's coming."

"Would you like me to listen after supper?"

Moishe nearly said that there was no point.

Instead, he put the music down.

"I heard something yesterday."

Abba stopped beside the chair.

Chapter 4The Part He Hadn't Heard

"You told Uncle Chaim it wouldn't work. I thought you meant my choir evening."

"I was talking about moving the bookcase into his smaller room," Abba said. "The measurements don't fit."

Moishe stared at the chair.

"Oh."

For a moment, relief filled the whole room.

Then he remembered something else.

"I told Shaya you weren't coming."

"You'll need to correct that. But I haven't confirmed Thursday yet. My late appointment may run over."

The room became less simple again.

Moishe had been wrong about the sentence. He still didn't have the answer he wanted about the evening.

Chapter 5A Question with an Answer

"When will you know?" Moishe asked.

"Tomorrow morning. I'll tell you before school. Mummy plans to come either way."

Moishe nodded.

He wanted to ask Abba to promise. The appointment would not become shorter because of that.

"Will you listen now?"

Abba put down the books and sat in the practice chair.

Moishe started from the two bars before his entrance, the same place Mr. Levy had used.

He still stumbled on a word. Abba waited while he found it.

The room contained an actual listener now, not an empty chair he had invented from half a conversation.

Chapter 6Thursday Morning

Abba came to the breakfast table with his answer.

"I can't get there for the beginning. I may get there later, but please don't watch the door for me. Mummy will be in the audience."

Moishe felt the disappointment he had been trying not to feel all week.

He also knew what had actually been said.

"Can I sing it for you again afterward?"

"Yes. We'll do that on Friday afternoon."

At school, he found Shaya.

"I got the conversation wrong. It was about a bookcase. Abba may arrive late tonight. He isn't sure."

Shaya nodded. "Thank you for telling me."

Moishe did not turn "may" into "will" this time.

Chapter 7The Door at the Back

Mummy took a seat near the middle of the hall. Her burgundy tichel stood out among the rows.

Moishe saw her before the choir lined up.

He also saw the door at the back.

For the first song, his eyes kept drifting toward it.

Mr. Levy gave the choir its next starting note. Moishe looked at him, then at the entrance mark in his music.

His solo came after the second chorus.

He sang the first phrase too softly. On the next phrase, he made his voice steadier.

The door opened during another boy's song.

Moishe did not turn around in the middle of his own next entrance to check who had come in.

Chapter 8What Really Happened

Abba had arrived near the end.

He had missed the solo.

Afterward, Moishe told him that plainly, and Abba said he was sorry to have missed it.

"Friday afternoon," Moishe said.

"Friday afternoon."

They kept that small plan. Moishe sang in the room with the practice chair, without an audience programme or a back door to watch.

Later, Uncle Chaim came to collect a smaller shelf instead of the bookcase.

"This one fits," he said.

Moishe smiled at the shelf.

The answer behind the door had belonged to wood and measurements. The answer about his evening had needed its own question.