The Borrowed Compass

Chapter 1Someone Who Knew

The compass looked more useful in Dovid's hand than it had on his uncle's shelf.

It was brass, with a lid that shut with a small, satisfying click. Dovid had brought it on the Sunday hillside walk because he knew things about directions.

At least, he knew where north was from his bedroom window.

"A real compass?" Bentzy asked.

Dovid opened the lid.

The needle swung, trembled, and pointed.

"Which way are we going?"

Dovid glanced toward Mr. Landau, who was counting the boys at the park entrance.

"Up first."

Bentzy laughed. "That I knew."

Mr. Landau had a folded trail map. He showed them the marked loop and the picnic clearing where they would stop. They would stay together on the path.

Nobody was to go ahead around a bend without him.

"Dovid has a compass," Bentzy announced.

"Good," Mr. Landau said. "You can help me check at the fork. I'll show you how to match it to the map."

Dovid nodded before the word show had finished arriving.

Chapter 2The Part He Had Not Asked

His uncle had handed him the compass that morning.

"Do you know how to use this one?"

Dovid had said, "More or less."

His uncle had started to explain the markings, but Dovid was already admiring the lid. Then his uncle's neighbor had knocked, and Dovid had left with permission to borrow it.

More or less had become mostly less.

Still, the compass pointed. The map showed a path.

Surely the two could be made to agree.

At the first bend, Bentzy asked which hill was east.

Dovid turned slowly until the needle lined up with a letter.

"That one."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

The hill did not argue.

That was one good thing about hills.

Chapter 3Two Blue Lines

At the fork, two paths went between the trees.

The sign had a blue arrow on each side. The lettering beneath the arrows had faded until neither path name was readable.

Mr. Landau stopped the group. He opened the map and stood beside Dovid.

"The short loop begins north of us. Let's check together."

Dovid held out the compass. The needle moved as his hand moved.

Mr. Landau watched. "Let it settle. Hold it flat."

Dovid held it flatter.

A boy behind them dropped his water bottle. It rolled under the low fence bordering the path. Mr. Landau asked everyone to wait while he helped retrieve it from the path side.

Dovid looked at the map still open on the bench. He turned the compass until the needle reached the mark he thought was north.

The right-hand path seemed to fit.

"It's this one," he told Bentzy.

Mr. Landau returned, checked that everyone was together, and picked up the map. "Did you find it?"

"Right."

Mr. Landau looked from the map to the sign. "The blue marks are on both paths. We'll check the next trail board shortly. Stay together."

They took the right path with him at the front.

Dovid closed the compass lid.

Chapter 4The View They Had Not Ordered

The next trail board was farther away than Dovid expected.

The path rose instead of curving around the hill. The trees thinned. Through them, the boys could see the valley.

"Better view," Bentzy said.

Dovid nodded.

Better view was a useful description. It did not mention wrong direction.

Mr. Landau stopped at a broad level place and unfolded the map again. Nobody was near the slope beyond the fence.

"We're on the ridge path," he said. "This is not the loop we planned."

One of the boys groaned. "Does that mean more uphill?"

"It means we check where we are before doing anything else."

Dovid pressed his thumb against the compass lid.

He could say the sign had been confusing.

It had been.

He could say the map was small.

It was.

He could leave out the part about saying right before he knew.

Chapter 5A Very Small Voice

Mr. Landau found the broad place on the map. He pointed out a trail marker fixed to a post beside them.

"The safe route back is the way we came. We'll return together to the fork."

Bentzy looked at Dovid's compass.

"Did it point wrong?"

Dovid opened the lid.

The needle moved exactly as it had before. It looked certain about something he did not understand.

"I don't think the compass is broken," Dovid said.

Mr. Landau looked up.

"I don't really know how to read this one. I said I knew which path before I did."

The boys were quiet.

Dovid could hear a bird somewhere below the trees.

He wished the bird would become considerably louder.

"Thank you for telling me," Mr. Landau said. "I should have finished our check at the fork. Choosing the route is my responsibility."

He folded the map halfway, leaving their position showing.

"You still need to tell me when you aren't sure. I can't check an answer you are hiding from me."

Dovid nodded.

The compass felt heavier now. It had not gained any brass.

Chapter 6Back Was Still a Direction

They walked back to the fork together.

Nobody got lost. Nobody needed rescuing. The ridge path was an ordinary marked path, and Mr. Landau knew the way back.

But they had spent time on it.

At the fork, Mr. Landau checked his watch. "We have time for the short part of the loop, not the clearing at the far end. We will eat at the lower picnic tables."

"The clearing has the big stones," Bentzy said.

"Another time."

Dovid stood beside the bench where the map had been.

"I'm sorry," he told Bentzy. "I wanted to sound like I knew. We missed the clearing because we took the other path."

"Not only because of you. Mr. Landau said he had to check."

"I still gave him an answer I hadn't checked."

Bentzy kicked a small pinecone off the middle of the path.

"Next time, say more or less to us too."

Dovid looked at him.

"How did you know I said that?"

"I didn't. That's what you sound like when you're guessing. Except you leave out the less."

Dovid almost smiled. Almost was enough for now.

Chapter 7A Check That Took Longer

Mr. Landau sat with Dovid on the bench. The rest of the boys rested within sight beside the fence.

He put the map flat and showed Dovid how to identify its north mark. Then he showed him the compass markings.

Dovid asked which part of the needle mattered.

Mr. Landau answered.

Dovid asked why turning the whole compass had not turned north.

Mr. Landau answered that too.

The questions sounded very basic outside Dovid's head.

Inside his head, they had been carrying much more weight.

They checked the left path against the map and the sign together. Mr. Landau made the decision to continue.

Bentzy waited until they started walking.

"Which hill is east now?"

Dovid took out the compass, then stopped.

"Let me check with Mr. Landau. I might have told you the wrong hill before."

Bentzy looked at the hills.

"Fortunately, I haven't built anything there yet."

Chapter 8The Lid on the Shelf

When Dovid returned the compass, his uncle asked about the walk.

"We took the ridge path by mistake."

His uncle waited.

"I didn't understand your compass. I said I knew before I asked. Mr. Landau brought us back, but we didn't have time for the clearing."

"And now?"

"Now I understand a little more. Not enough to choose a route for people."

His uncle put the compass on the shelf.

"Would you like me to show you again next Sunday?"

"Yes. From the beginning."

Dovid could still picture the big stones at the clearing. They would have to wait for another walk.

He could also picture Bentzy's face when he said, Fortunately.

That had not been the end of being friends.

His uncle opened the brass lid.

Dovid sat down beside him.

This time he watched the needle, not the shine.