The Card With No Guests Name
Chapter 1The Empty Line
Tzippy drew a border on a small card and left the line in the middle blank.
She had used cards like it to invite friends over for craft afternoons.
This one wasn't an invitation.
At the top she wrote Thursday. Below it: Finish the little street drawing. Read by the window.
After three crowded afternoons preparing the Bais Yaakov class fair, Thursday was free.
She wanted a quiet afternoon at home, with Mama nearby and nobody to entertain.
Then her friend Leah asked what they would do after school.
Tzippy put the card beneath her notebook.
Chapter 2Who Was Coming?
"Nobody's coming," Tzippy said.
Leah looked surprised.
"Are you upset?"
"No."
"Then come to mine. We could work on the picture together."
Tzippy liked visiting Leah. She liked the long kitchen table and the way Leah's little sister announced every missing pencil as though it had escaped from a prison.
She still wanted Thursday by herself.
"I was planning a quiet afternoon."
"You can be quiet here."
Perhaps she could. It would also be another visit with another person's plans in it.
Tzippy didn't have a headache, homework emergency, or family errand to offer as a better reason.
Chapter 3A Reason Without a Problem
At home, Mama was folding towels, her brown sheitel neatly pinned back.
Tzippy told her about the invitation.
"Leah thinks something is wrong if I want to be alone."
"Is something wrong?"
"No. I'm tired of organising things for a little while. I want to draw without deciding what anyone else wants to draw."
Mama nodded.
They checked that Thursday's plan fitted the family's afternoon. Mama would be at home. There was a small household job before Tzippy's free time, and supper later.
The quiet afternoon wasn't permission to ignore everything.
It also didn't need an illness to make it reasonable.
Chapter 4The Other Invitation
On Wednesday, Leah asked again.
"Did you decide?"
"I'm staying home tomorrow. I'd like to see you another afternoon. Could we ask our mothers about Monday?"
Leah frowned a little.
"Do you not want to be with me?"
Tzippy felt the invitation card grow large in her memory.
She could fill Thursday with a name and stop this uncomfortable question.
"I do want to see you," she said. "I also want one afternoon without a visit. Both are true."
Leah said she would ask about Monday.
She didn't look delighted.
Tzippy didn't turn the plan into a longer apology until delight arrived.
Chapter 5The Window
On Thursday, Tzippy finished the household job and put her drawing things on the desk.
For ten minutes, the quiet felt strange.
No one asked to borrow a colour. No one told her what the crooked window looked like.
She nearly went to Mama to announce that being alone wasn't working.
Then she wondered what working had been supposed to mean.
She wanted time for her own picture, not proof that every minute of quiet would feel wonderful.
She drew the window frame again.
Later, she read two chapters and looked out at the street.
Chapter 6A Small Visit Inside the House
Her little sister came to the door with a paper windmill.
"Look."
Tzippy looked. The windmill had one enormous blade and three little ones.
"It turns strangely," her sister said.
"It would."
They laughed together.
When her sister left, Tzippy returned to the book.
She hadn't ruined the quiet plan by speaking to a person. She also didn't need to turn the short hello into another craft afternoon.
The card named something she wanted room for. It wasn't a fence around every minute.
Chapter 7Monday Arranged
At supper, Mama said Leah's mother had agreed to Monday's visit.
Tzippy would go after homework and return at the time their mothers arranged.
She was glad.
On Friday, Leah asked how the drawing had gone.
"I finished the houses. I still need the people."
"We can look at it on Monday."
"Yes."
Tzippy didn't report the afternoon as a triumph over having friends. Friends weren't the problem she had been solving.
She had wanted a different kind of time for one day.
Chapter 8No Name Needed
On Monday, Leah's little sister announced that a green pencil had escaped again.
Tzippy found it beneath the table.
She and Leah drew people in the street picture, then put it away and talked about a book.
The visit was good. It was also different from reading by the window on Thursday.
When Tzippy got home, she found the bordered card beside her notebook.
The guest's name line was still empty.
She hadn't failed to find someone for it.
She had made a plan that didn't need a guest.
There would be visits she wanted, visits she couldn't manage, and ordinary afternoons she could enjoy with her own page.
If alone ever began to feel lonely or difficult, she could tell Mama. This Thursday hadn't been that.
She put the finished street picture on the shelf and kept the card for another quiet day.
