The Coat on the Chair

Ages 15-18

Ronit runs her thumb over the chipped corner of her coat's top button. The coat hangs over the chair beside her bag.

She takes another pea pod from the pile between them.

Avia splits a pod with both thumbs.

"I held the bag open for the onions. He dropped all my change into it."

Ronit laughs. One pea slips from her hand onto the table. She puts it in the bowl with the others.

Mama lifts the lid from a pot at the stove.

Ronit looks at the wall clock. Twenty to five.

She sets down her half-open pod and takes her coat from the chair. She puts it on and fastens the top button.

Avia pushes three peas from her pod into the bowl.

"Then he weighed the onions and tipped them straight in."

Ronit picks up her bag. She pulls the strap onto her shoulder and moves to the doorway.

Avia opens another pod.

"What?" Ronit holds the bag strap against her coat.

"The coins. They were under the onions." Avia pushes a pea free with her thumb.

Ronit looks at the wall clock. A quarter to five.

She opens the top button and slips the bag from her shoulder. She puts her bag on the chair and lays her coat beside it.

Ronit sits down and picks up the half-open pod.

"Did he find them?"

"He tipped the onions into another bag and picked every coin out of the empty one."

Ronit presses along the pod. Four peas drop into the bowl.

At five, she sets her empty pod beside Avia's. She takes her coat and bag from the chair and puts the coat on.

In the doorway, Ronit fastens the chipped button.