The Bags on the Third Bench
Chapter 1The Best Bench
The third bench in the yeshiva courtyard had the best position. The first was near the kitchen door. The second faced the wall. The third caught a little shade and had no loose boards.
At lunch, Meir, Dovi, and Shaya sat there. Their bags sat there too.
"Bags need fresh air," Dovi said whenever someone asked why.
It was a joke, and Meir liked it. He liked the bench, the shade, and knowing exactly where he would be at lunch.
On Tuesday a new boy came out carrying a paper bag and a folded napkin. His name was Yitzchok. He stopped at the third bench.
"Is there room here?"
Dovi tapped the schoolbag beside him.
"We're full."
Meir looked down at his lunch.
Yitzchok went to the first bench near the kitchen door.
Chapter 2Two Places
A kitchen worker came out with a crate. Yitzchok moved his feet to let her pass. Her hair was fully covered by a cream-colored headscarf.
A minute later, she came back for another crate. Yitzchok moved his feet again.
Meir watched him shift his lunch from one knee to the other.
There was space on the third bench if the bags went underneath. Meir could see it. He also knew Shaya might say he was spoiling their arrangement.
He tore the corner of his bread into smaller and smaller pieces.
"You making crumbs for a wedding?" Dovi asked.
"No."
Meir glanced at Yitzchok again. One of the folded napkin's corners had blown away from his knee.
Meir almost called across the courtyard. Almost was quick. It required no words and left everything where it was.
Chapter 3Nothing to Decide
After lunch, Meir walked back inside with Shaya.
"We could put the bags underneath," Meir said.
"Why?"
"For someone to sit."
"There are other benches."
Meir knew that. He could have counted them from their window.
"The first one's in the way."
Shaya shrugged.
"So he'll choose the second tomorrow."
Meir said nothing more. He told himself there was nothing to decide until tomorrow.
But there had been a question today. He had heard it.
Chapter 4The Place He Could Offer
On Wednesday Meir reached the courtyard first.
He sat on the third bench. He put his bag underneath.
Then he took it out again.
It looked strange there, under his shoes, as if someone had changed the room around him. He brushed dust off one corner.
Yitzchok came out with the same paper bag. He looked toward the second bench.
Meir stood.
"Do you want to sit here?"
Yitzchok stopped.
"I thought it was full."
"Yesterday our bags were on it. Mine doesn't need a place."
Meir put his bag underneath once more.
"You can have this spot."
Yitzchok sat down. Meir took the end of the bench that reached past the shade.
Chapter 5The Other Bags
Dovi and Shaya came outside together.
Shaya looked at Yitzchok, then at Meir.
"I usually sit there."
Meir felt his face grow hot.
"I offered my place. I was sitting there today."
"It's our bench."
"We sit here a lot."
Dovi lowered his bag toward the seat. There was no room for it unless someone moved.
Meir waited. He did not grab Dovi's bag, and he did not tell Yitzchok to squeeze smaller.
Dovi put the bag by his feet.
"Mine will miss the view," he said.
Yitzchok smiled, but Shaya didn't. He sat at the far end and opened his lunch without speaking.
There were four boys on the bench. Nobody was sitting on a bag.
Chapter 6Not Everybody's Answer
Meir wanted to fill the silence quickly.
He almost said, "We're all glad you're here."
He looked at Shaya's closed face and stopped. He didn't know what all of them felt.
"I'm glad you sat with me," he said instead.
Yitzchok took a piece of bread from the paper bag.
"I wasn't sure I should ask again."
"I should have answered yesterday."
"I asked Dovi."
"I heard you."
Dovi looked up.
"The bags joke wasn't very useful, was it?"
"Not to me," Yitzchok said.
For a moment nobody moved.
"Sorry," Dovi said. "I could have moved mine."
Yitzchok nodded and went on eating.
Chapter 7The Sun End
After lunch, Shaya waited for Meir beside the door.
"You could have told me."
"I could have said I wanted to make room."
"We always sat together."
"We still can. I didn't promise your place to anyone. I offered mine."
Shaya rubbed the back of his neck.
"Now I was at the sun end."
Meir had begun at the sun end too. He didn't point that out as if it settled everything.
"We can trade ends tomorrow."
"I'm not promising to like him."
"I didn't ask you to promise that."
Shaya went inside. Meir followed him. Their next lesson began at the same time whether lunch had been comfortable or not.
Chapter 8A Bench, Not a Club
On Thursday Yitzchok reached the courtyard before Meir.
He was sitting on the third bench. His bag was underneath.
"Is there room?" Meir asked.
Yitzchok slid a little to one side.
"Yes."
Meir sat at the sun end and opened his lunch.
Dovi came out next. He put his bag on the ground without a joke. Shaya arrived last and sat down beside him.
The conversation did not become easy all at once. Shaya still spoke mostly to Dovi. Yitzchok still took time before answering.
When a fifth boy asked about the space at the end, Meir moved his own bag farther under the bench.
"There's room beside me," he said.
He did not announce that everyone agreed. He did not need to.
The third bench had always been long enough.
