The Chair at the End of the Table

Chapter 1Twelve Chairs

Yossel was helping Totty set up the small meeting room for a family lunch. Twelve people were coming. The table had two long sides and a short end near the wall.

Yossel counted the chairs twice. Then he pushed them close together until all twelve fitted.

"Every place," he said.

Totty was checking the serving table. "Let me see before we call it ready."

Yossel looked proudly down his row. Not one chair was missing.

Chapter 2The Space That Was Missing

Totty tried to walk behind the chairs while Yossel sat in one.

He had to turn sideways.

"Zeidy uses his cane," Totty said. "He needs a clear way from the door to his chair."

Yossel got up. He could see a path now, but only because he was no longer sitting in it.

"I can push the chairs under until he comes."

"People will be sitting there during lunch. The room needs to work then, too."

The twelve places were not the whole job after all.

Chapter 3Not Just One Chair

Yossel moved the chair at the end of the table. It no longer touched the wall.

"Here?"

Totty walked the route again.

The end chair was easier to reach, but the serving table still narrowed the path from the doorway.

Yossel stared at that table. He had lined its edge up exactly with a seam in the floor.

"It looks straight there."

"Straight can be useful," Totty said. "So can space to walk. We can find a place with both."

They left the doorway clear while Totty checked where the table could go safely.

Chapter 4A Different Wall

Totty moved the serving table against the other wall. Yossel carried the light stack of napkins, one stack at a time, and put them where Totty pointed.

The route was wider now.

They spread the dining chairs a little farther apart. Totty checked that the table was steady and nothing blocked the door.

Yossel sat in the first chair again. This time Totty could walk behind him without turning sideways.

"Now count," Totty said.

Still twelve. The number had not changed. What the twelve places allowed had changed a great deal.

Chapter 5Ask Zeidy

When Zeidy arrived, Yossel stayed beside Totty instead of pulling out the nearest chair and hurrying him into it.

"Would this place be comfortable, or would you rather sit on the other side?" Totty asked.

Zeidy looked at the table.

"This one is good. And please leave my cane where I can reach it safely."

Totty helped arrange it. Yossel brought Zeidy's cup after asking where he wanted it.

Zeidy sat down without having to squeeze past the serving table.

Chapter 6The Last Count

At lunch, a cousin moved an empty chair into the walking route to reach a napkin.

Yossel noticed.

"Let's put that back when you're done. We need this space clear."

His cousin returned it. There was still room to pass.

After lunch, Yossel counted the chairs before helping clear the room. Twelve, again.

He had started by counting the things people would sit on. Now he also looked at the space people would use to get there.