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The Easy One

Chapter 1Mirel never minds

At the Sunday family lunch, Aunt Sheindy is deciding who can watch her twins on Thursday afternoon.

"Mirel can," she says, before anyone else speaks. "Mirel never minds."

Cousins nod. Bubby nods. Aunt Sheindy's navy tichel catches the light as she turns to Mirel with a warm smile.

"Right, Mirel?"

Mirel is thirteen, and she has an answer ready, because she always does.

"Sure."

The word is out before the thought behind it arrives. The thought says: Friday is the fractions test, and Thursday afternoon is when I planned to finish the practice pages.

Chapter 2The label

Later, Mirel helps clear plates and listens to how people talk about her.

"Mirel is the easy one," Aunt Sheindy tells Bubby. "Never a complaint."

"Such a help," Bubby agrees.

Mirel carries the salad bowl into the kitchen and sets it down more slowly than she needs to.

She is not sure she is easy. She is sure she is quiet in front of grown-ups. Sometimes quiet looks like easy from the outside.

She also knows that being called easy is nice. It has a small warm place in it. If she says no now, will the warm place disappear?

Chapter 3The practice pages

That evening, Mirel opens her math notebook on the bed.

Thirty fraction problems wait for her. She has done nineteen. The last eleven are the hard ones, with mixed numbers.

She counts Thursday afternoon in her head: pick up the twins from gan, give them snack, play, wait until Aunt Sheindy returns at five-thirty.

There is no place in that afternoon for eleven mixed numbers.

She could study late. She could study Friday morning. She could hope the test is easy.

Mirel puts her pencil down.

On Sunday, nobody asked what she needed. Nobody made her say yes. She said it herself.

Chapter 4What she can say

Mama sits on the edge of the bed with a basket of folded towels.

"You look like someone doing math without enjoying it," she says.

"I told Aunt Sheindy I'd watch the twins on Thursday. I have the fractions test Friday."

"Do you want to watch them?"

Mirel looks at the towels. "I don't know. I think I do want to help her. I just don't want to do it Thursday."

"That is a real answer."

"But everybody says I never mind."

Mama hands her a towel. "Do they say it because it is true, or because you always say sure?"

Mirel has no answer for that.

"You can mind this time," Mama says. "It does not turn you into somebody else."

Chapter 5The sentence

On Monday after school, Mirel walks to Aunt Sheindy's door.

She practices the sentence in her head on the way. She does not want to blame the twins. She does not want to make a speech about everyone always asking her. She does not want to prove anything.

She only wants to say what is true.

Aunt Sheindy opens the door with a twin on each side and a dish towel over her shoulder.

"Aunt Sheindy, I said yes on Sunday, and I should have thought first. I have a math test Friday, and I need Thursday afternoon to study. I can't watch the twins that day."

There is a pause. One twin tugs the towel.

"Oh," Aunt Sheindy says. "I did not realize."

"I'm sorry for the change."

"I wish you had said at lunch."

"Me too," Mirel says. "I should have."

Chapter 6The warm place

For a moment, Mirel waits for the warm place to vanish.

Aunt Sheindy sighs. "I will ask Mrs. Frankel. Thank you for telling me now, while I have time to arrange something."

"Could I come on Sunday afternoon instead? For an hour?"

"That would be lovely, if you have room. Only if you want to."

"I want to," Mirel says, and she notices that this time, the word is her own.

On the walk home, she feels less pleased than she did on Sunday. She also feels lighter.

She goes back to the notebook and finishes three mixed numbers before supper.

Chapter 7Easy is not a promise

On Tuesday, a cousin mentions the Thursday change at school.

"I heard you said no," she says. "Is Aunt Sheindy upset?"

"She had to ask someone else," Mirel says. "I told her as soon as I could."

The cousin shrugs. "I just thought you never said no."

Mirel thinks about the word easy. It is a label, not a promise. People hang it on a person because it fits on some days.

She does not need to prove it wrong. She does not need to prove it right.

She can still help. She can also say when she cannot.

On Thursday afternoon, she sits at her desk with mixed numbers spread across the page, and feels like herself.