The Braid

Ages 9-12

Bina braids her own hair for Shabbos for the first time, and the left side comes out loose.

She does it in the bathroom, with the door closed. She splits the hair in three, and crosses the right over the middle, and the left over that. The right side is tight. The left side has gaps, with strands lying out of it.

She undoes it, and tries again. The strands come apart in her fingers. She tries a third time, and her arms ache from holding them up.

Downstairs, the pots are clinking. Someone calls that the guests are coming in ten minutes.

She ties off the end with the band. The left side hangs lower than the right. She feels the loose strands against her neck.

She picks up the comb, and puts it down again.

She goes down the stairs. In the kitchen, her sister is cutting the cucumbers, and does not look up. Her father walks through with a bottle, and does not look either.

At the table she takes the plates from the stack, and sets them out, one at a time, round the cloth. As she leans over the far end, a loose strand falls forward across her shoulder, and lies on the white.