The Bird on the Wrong Shelf
Chapter 1Sixty-Eight
Yanky's test paper was folded in his bag, with the mark on the inside.
Sixty-eight.
He had studied the lesson twice. His friend had got eighty-nine.
At home, his younger brother, Moishy, ran to show him a small clay bird.
"I made wings this time."
"Put it away," Yanky said.
"Just look."
Yanky moved past him. The bird stayed on the low bookcase beside the door.
A grey wing pointed outward.
Nothing about it explained the number in his bag.
That didn't stop it from annoying him.
Chapter 2A Place for His Books
Yanky took out his school books and dropped them onto the shelf.
The bird wobbled.
Moishy caught it before it fell.
"Careful!"
"Then don't leave things in my way."
It wasn't Yanky's shelf. Mama had given Moishy the lower part for his little models.
Yanky knew that.
Moishy set the bird farther back.
"You didn't even look."
"I don't have to look at every lump you make."
The word lump was out before Yanky decided whether he meant it.
Moishy picked up the bird and went into the bedroom.
Chapter 3The Folded Paper
Mama came in with a basket of washing. Her burgundy tichel was tied neatly at the nape of her neck.
"What happened?"
"His bird was in the way."
She looked at the low shelf, then at the empty space where the bird had been.
"That is the place we gave him."
Yanky could argue about how far the wing had stuck out.
Instead, he took the paper from his bag.
Mama read the mark.
"You're disappointed."
"I studied."
"We'll look at which questions went wrong after supper. First, take your books to your desk."
She didn't tell Moishy to make smaller birds so Yanky could have a better afternoon.
Chapter 4The Wrong Reason
Yanky put the books on his desk.
He could see the test paper beside them.
Two questions had been left unfinished. Another asked for an explanation he had only named.
He still thought the mark was unfairly low.
He might ask his rebbi about that tomorrow.
But Moishy hadn't set the questions, checked the answers, or put the paper in his bag.
Yanky had found a small thing he could push away when the large thing wouldn't move.
He sat for a few minutes before going to the bedroom.
He needed quieter words, not a more convincing complaint about a shelf.
Chapter 5The Word Lump
Moishy was putting the bird into a shoebox lined with paper.
"I'm sorry I called it a lump," Yanky said. "I was upset about my test. That wasn't your fault."
Moishy kept folding the lining.
"You could have said you didn't want to look."
"Yes. And I shouldn't have dropped my books there.
That's your shelf."
Yanky asked whether he could see the bird now.
"Not now."
He wanted to say he had already apologised.
That wouldn't make Moishy ready to hand over something Yanky had just insulted.
"All right," he said.
He left the box alone.
Chapter 6An Unfinished Answer
After supper, Mama looked through the test with him.
Yanky marked the questions he wanted explained.
He didn't copy his friend's mark onto the top as if it were another reason his own answer should change.
The next day, his rebbi showed him what was missing in the unfinished explanations.
One question earned two more points after the rebbi checked it again.
Seventy was better than sixty-eight.
It was still not the mark Yanky wanted.
On the way home, he felt the same tight disappointment.
This time he decided where his books would go before he reached the door.
Chapter 7Before the Door
Moishy was on the rug with the shoebox.
"Did you ask about the test?"
"Yes. I'm still upset about it. I need a few minutes at my desk before talking."
Moishy nodded and moved the box closer to himself.
Yanky put his books down in his own room.
He washed his hands and changed out of his jacket.
Then he came back.
"Can I see the wings today?"
Moishy opened the box slowly.
One wing was larger than the other. Both had little marks for feathers.
Yanky looked at them properly.
Chapter 8The Proper Shelf
"You pressed the marks in before it dried?" he asked.
"With the edge of a stick."
Yanky nodded.
He didn't praise the bird wildly to cancel the word lump. He asked about the work Moishy had actually done.
They put it on the lower shelf together, with its wings turned away from the edge.
Yanky's paper stayed on his desk upstairs.
There were questions he still needed to practise, and one mark he still disliked.
The bird couldn't fix either of them.
It also didn't need to pay for them.
When Mama called them for supper, Moishy left the box open on the rug and followed his brother.
