The Bell Under the Wrong Table

Chapter 1Three Tables

At the children's sound exhibit, three covered tables stood behind a rope.

A museum guide asked the visiting class to stay with Rebbi on the listening side.

"Tell me where you hear the bell," she said. "Don't reach under the covers."

Boruch wanted to answer first.

Last time, another boy had guessed a sound before he did. Today, he would listen closely and be ready.

The guide rang a bell where the boys could not see it.

Boruch heard a bright ring near the middle table.

"Under that one!" he called, pointing.

"What did you notice?" the guide asked.

"That's where the bell is."

He was already turning to the other boys, expecting them to agree.

Nachum said the ring had sounded strange near the table edge.

Boruch did not want strange to slow down his answer.

The guide lifted the middle cover.

There was no bell underneath.

A wide tube ended beside a little opening near the tabletop. Its other end ran toward a covered stand at the far side.

The guide lifted that cover too. There was the bell.

"The sound came through the tube," she explained.

Boruch stared at the empty middle table.

He had correctly noticed where the sound reached him. He had added the hidden bell's location without checking.

"Could you do it once more?" Boruch asked.

The guide replaced the covers and rang the bell again.

It still sounded strongest near the middle table.

This time, Boruch said, "I hear the ring near the middle opening."

"That's what your ears tell you," the guide replied. "The setup can carry it from elsewhere."

Nachum asked whether the sound changed when the opening was turned.

The guide adjusted it herself and invited the class to listen again.

Rebbi kept the boys behind the rope while the guide moved the exhibit piece.

They listened from the marked spots she pointed out.

Boruch heard the ring more faintly from one spot. Another boy heard it clearly from the next.

There was more to notice than one quick answer.

Boruch asked Nachum what had sounded strange before the cover was lifted.

"It came from the edge instead of the middle," Nachum said.

Boruch looked at the opening near the edge. His friend's slower observation had been useful.

At the next table, Boruch heard three taps, then a pause.

He said that much and waited.

Someone wondered whether the object was wood. Boruch had not seen it yet.

"It might be," he said.

The guide lifted the cover. The group could check his description against the tapping pieces: three taps and a pause.