The List With Her Name at the Bottom

Chapter 1Just the Lettering

By the time the list reached the bottom, Esther's name had appeared seven times.

It was not a list of prizes.

Mrs. Berger was dividing the work for their class exhibition. Every pair of girls had made a display about an old neighborhood building. There would be models, drawings, and short descriptions for the mothers who visited.

Esther and Malka had chosen the old bakery. Esther had planned a drawing of its round window, with trays of braided bread beneath it.

Now she had the bakery heading, the library heading, the fountain heading, and four other headings.

"You have such neat letters," Suri said.

"It won't take you long," another girl added.

Esther looked down at the seven places her name appeared.

"All right," she said.

Mrs. Berger folded the list.

"Tell me by tomorrow if a job is too large. We need to know while there is still time to change it."

Esther nodded.

She had already said all right. Surely that was the time when a job became the right size.

Chapter 2A Window Without Glass

After school, Esther spread the heading cards on the kitchen table.

Mama's hair was covered with a dark brown sheitel. She moved a bowl out of the way and asked whether Esther needed the whole table.

"Only this half."

The cards took three quarters.

Esther ruled pencil lines for the first heading. She measured the center. She wrote The Old Post Office and rubbed out the guide lines.

The letters looked good.

Then she started The Neighborhood Library.

Her own drawing waited inside her folder. So far, the bakery had a round window with nothing around it. There were no trays, no bricks, no bread.

At supper time, she had finished two cards.

"How many are left?" Mama asked.

"Five."

"And your drawing?"

"I can do it after."

After was a place where Esther had put a great many things. It had no walls, and apparently no closing time.

Chapter 3The Helpful Girl

On Wednesday, Malka asked about the bakery drawing.

"I need to know how much space to leave beside my model."

"It's not ready yet."

"Could you bring it tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Esther heard herself do it again.

Suri arrived with a new card.

"We changed our title to The Fountain That Disappeared. Could you use this one instead?"

Esther looked at the long words.

"You already gave me a heading."

"I know. This is better."

Suri waited with the card held out.

Esther took it.

She wanted to say she had a drawing of her own. The words sounded selfish while still inside her mouth.

At the end of the lesson, Mrs. Berger reminded them that jobs could be changed that day.

Esther put the new card into her folder.

Chapter 4What She Had Actually Promised

At lunchtime, Malka found her looking at the list.

"Are you counting again?"

"Eight cards now. Seven displays. One title changed."

"Did you tell Mrs. Berger?"

"I said I would do them."

"She said to tell her if it was too much."

Esther traced the bottom line with her finger.

"If I ask to stop, they'll think I only want to do the interesting part."

Malka leaned over the list.

"I want you to do the drawing. That's why we chose the bakery together."

It was an unexpected answer. Esther had been picturing seven disappointed girls and had forgotten the girl waiting for her actual work.

"Could you make our own heading?" Esther asked.

"Yes. My letters won't be like yours."

"They don't need to be."

For the first time, one line on the list looked lighter.

Chapter 5Three Choices, Not Seven

Esther brought the list to Mrs. Berger after the lesson. The teacher's hair was covered by a neat black sheitel.

"I agreed to too many headings," Esther said. "I've finished two. I still want to make our bakery drawing. I don't have time for all the rest."

Mrs. Berger read the list.

"Thank you for telling me today. Which two are finished?"

Esther showed her.

Mrs. Berger asked how long each had taken. She looked at the exhibition plan, then called the girls whose headings were unfinished.

"We have choices," she told them. "You can make your own heading. You can use simpler printed letters with a ruler. Or you can trade another task with someone who has time and wants to do it."

Suri looked at Esther.

"But hers are nicer."

"Nicer is not the only thing we are organizing," Mrs. Berger said. "We also need everyone's display to be ready."

Esther held her folder against her chest.

Suri did not look delighted.

Chapter 6The Card She Did Keep

Mrs. Berger asked Esther whether she could finish one more short heading by Thursday.

Esther counted the work left on her drawing.

"I can do the museum card. Not the fountain."

The answer came out smaller than her earlier all right. It also had edges.

Mrs. Berger wrote the change on the list. Malka took the bakery heading. The other pairs divided their own work.

Suri carried her new fountain card away.

"I'll have to do it after supper."

"I'm sorry I agreed before I counted the work," Esther said. "I should have told you sooner."

"I had counted on you."

"I know."

Esther did not keep explaining to make Suri smile. Suri was allowed to be disappointed.

That afternoon, Esther finished the museum card. Then she opened her drawing folder.

The round window was still waiting.

This time it did not have to wait behind five other buildings.

Chapter 7Bread in the Window

Esther drew the brick wall around the window. She added three trays of bread and a small cloth folded beside the counter.

She did not finish it in one breathless sitting. Mama asked her to clear the table for supper. She put the drawing away and returned to it afterward.

On Thursday, Malka set the model beside the finished drawing.

"The window looks as if light could come through it."

Esther liked that better than being told her letters were neat.

Across the room, Suri's fountain heading was straight but plain. Another girl had made a border around it.

Suri noticed Esther looking.

"We used a ruler."

"It reads clearly."

"It took longer than I wanted."

Esther nodded. "Mine too."

Suri went back to fixing the card to her display. They were not arguing. They were also not pretending the change had cost nothing.

Chapter 8A Name Beside a Window

At the exhibition, Esther's mother stopped beside the bakery.

"You finished your window."

"Malka did the heading."

"I can see both your names."

Esther looked at the little name card beneath the drawing.

Her name was still on the work list, beside three completed headings. It was also here, beside a picture she had wanted to make.

Before the next class project, Mrs. Berger asked who could help with the cover lettering.

Esther raised her hand.

"One heading," she said. "After I know my own job."

Malka glanced at her and smiled.

Esther wrote the new task down.

There was room beneath it.