The Loom Beneath the Dust Cover
Chapter 1Six Squares
The small loom stood on Nechama's desk beneath a cloth cover.
She had woven six squares on it since the autumn.
The first had crooked edges. The sixth was straight enough that Bubby asked to keep it beneath her little vase.
Nechama knew how to thread the loom now. She knew how to make the edges even and change colours without leaving a loose knot.
She also knew that she didn't look forward to it.
On Thursday, the craft club would begin another term. Her friends expected her to join.
She moved the dust cover back into place and opened a book about making notebooks.
Chapter 2The Form on the Table
Mama put the club form beside her plate after supper. Her plum tichel covered her hair.
"Do you want to continue? We need to decide before the new term begins."
Nechama looked at the boxes.
There were lessons on weaving longer pieces and combining patterns. They sounded interesting when somebody described them. They felt less interesting when she imagined spending every Thursday making them.
"I suppose I should."
"That wasn't what I asked."
"We already bought the loom."
Mama glanced toward the bedroom.
"We did. We also paid for the first term, and you learned what it taught."
Nechama's spoon rested beside the form.
Learning something had felt like the beginning of keeping it forever.
Chapter 3At the Cloakroom
At Bais Yaakov, her friend Toby asked which colours she would use next term.
"I haven't decided whether to go."
"But you've finally got good!"
Nechama knew Toby meant it kindly.
She also heard the sentence as an instruction. If she stopped now, perhaps the six squares would become six pieces of wasted time.
"I'm thinking about learning to make notebooks at home."
"You can do both."
Perhaps she could. There were homework, family plans, and ordinary afternoons too.
Wanting two things didn't create a second Thursday.
Chapter 4The Seventh Square
Nechama sat at the loom after school.
She thought she should make one more square to discover whether she truly liked weaving.
Then she thought of another colour combination, and another after that.
How many squares would count as enough evidence?
She had enjoyed learning the first steps. She was glad she could do them. She didn't want the next set of lessons.
Those were already three things she knew.
She took the form to Mama.
"I'm not upset because I made a mistake. I just don't want more of this right now."
Mama listened without trying to turn the answer into a secret fear that needed correcting.
Chapter 5What Was Promised
There was one thing still to check.
The old club term ended with a small display on Wednesday. Nechama had promised to bring her sixth square and help arrange the table.
Stopping before a new term wasn't the same as leaving that job unfinished.
She went to Mrs. Klein, the club teacher, whose brown sheitel was pinned neatly beneath her hat.
"I'll come to the display as planned. I'm not joining the next term."
Mrs. Klein nodded.
"You can take the loom home after the display. We borrowed it for the demonstration table, remember?"
Nechama did remember.
Her choice had a few practical ends to tie up. It did not need a seventh square.
Chapter 6The Table on Wednesday
At the display, Toby placed two long woven strips beside Nechama's square.
"I'm making a bag next," Toby said.
Nechama admired the little pattern Toby had worked into the blue strip.
For a moment she wondered whether admiring it meant she should sign the form after all.
Then she remembered she could like Toby's work without wanting Toby's next lessons.
She helped straighten the tablecloth and stayed until the agreed finishing time.
Mrs. Klein thanked the girls.
Nechama carried the loom home with Mama, who had come to collect her. They packed the tools safely in their box.
Chapter 7The First Fold
On Thursday afternoon, Nechama began the notebook project with Mama's help.
They used the instructions in the book and materials Mama had checked were suitable. Anything needing a sharp tool would wait for Mama.
The first folded pages didn't meet evenly.
Nechama wanted to call the whole new choice foolish.
Then she laughed a little.
She had stopped weaving because she didn't want the next term, not because notebooks were guaranteed to be easy.
She unfolded the pages and asked Mama to look at the marked line.
Being new at this wasn't a reason to pretend she wanted the old lessons back.
Chapter 8Beneath the Vase
On Sunday, they visited Bubby, whose floral tichel matched the cushion beside her.
The sixth woven square lay beneath the vase.
"Still weaving?" Bubby asked.
"Not this term. I'm trying notebooks."
"And are you glad you learned?"
Nechama touched the straight edge beside the vase.
"Yes."
That answer didn't send her back to the club.
At home, she put the covered loom on a safe shelf with its tools boxed beside it. She might use it again. They might later decide together to pass it to someone who wanted it. Neither had to be decided that evening.
On her desk lay a small notebook with slightly uneven pages.
Six squares belonged to what she had learned.
The unmarked club form belonged to a new choice she was allowed to make.
