The Long Blank

Ages 12-15

Pinny writes Winner at the bottom of the sheet.

He draws a blank beside it, long enough for a name and a careful underline.

His cousin Zalman puts two folded pages on the dining-room table. Their fathers sit at the far end of the table with open books.

"Same ten riddles," Zalman says. "One point for each right answer?"

"Yes. We check the answers when we're both finished."

Pinny writes that rule at the top of his sheet. He makes two columns beneath it, one for each name.

They begin.

The first riddle takes Pinny three tries. He crosses out two words and writes the third more firmly.

Across the table, Zalman is still reading.

Pinny moves down the page. At the ninth riddle, he stops with his pencil just above the paper. Then the answer comes to him.

He writes it and finishes the tenth.

"Done."

Zalman holds up one finger without looking away from his page.

Pinny puts his pencil beside the long blank. He waits.

When Zalman finishes, they unfold the answer key.

For each riddle, they read the printed answer and check both pages before marking the columns.

Pinny misses the fourth.

Zalman misses the seventh.

Their ninth answers are different words for the same thing. Both are printed in the key. Each gets a point.

At the bottom, Pinny counts his marks.

Nine.

Zalman counts his.

Nine.

Pinny touches the blank beside Winner.

"I finished first."

"You did."

"Then I win. If we have the same score, the faster one wins."

Zalman looks at the rule above the columns.

"We didn't say that."

"It's a good way to decide."

"Now it is. You already know you're the faster one."

Pinny brings his pencil to the top of the sheet. There is room after the words one point for each right answer.

He starts to write an f.

The short stroke stops on the paper.

Pinny lifts his pencil and moves it back to his own riddle page.

Its tip rests beside his ninth answer. The check mark is there, just like Zalman's.

He lays the pencil down.

Zalman keeps his page on the table.

For a moment, neither boy reaches for the key.

Pinny picks up the pencil again and crosses out the unfinished f.

Beside Winner, he draws a brace. He writes his own name on one line and Zalman's beneath it.

There is plenty of room.

Zalman gathers the two riddle pages while Pinny folds the score sheet.

The brace fits inside the fold. Both names stay beneath it.