The Order She Gave the Stories
Chapter 1First
Tamar found her story on page nine of the class booklet.
It was the story of a girl who discovered a hidden pocket in an old coat. Tamar had spent three afternoons revising its ending.
On page one was Chavi's story about a girl carrying soup upstairs.
Tamar read the titles twice.
Page one looked like a prize even though nobody had called it one.
Mrs. Klein had asked Tamar to help assemble the booklet. The pages were loose on the workroom table.
She could put her story first.
No one was watching the stack.
Chapter 2The Quiet Beginning
Tamar read Chavi's opening.
There was no locked door or missing key. A girl had a bowl, a staircase, and a grandmother waiting above it.
Tamar thought her own hidden pocket would make a stronger beginning.
She reached for page nine.
Then she saw the small numbers Mrs. Klein had written on the back of every page.
The order had already been chosen.
Her job was to assemble it, not to choose it again.
Tamar put the page down.
It still felt unfair to be so far inside the booklet.
Chapter 3What the Order Meant
Mrs. Klein returned with the cover sheet. Her burgundy sheitel framed her face neatly.
Tamar asked why Chavi's story was first.
"The booklet moves from ordinary settings to mysteries and then to two poems," the teacher said. "The order isn't a ranking."
"Mine has a surprise."
"It does. That's why it belongs in the middle group."
Tamar looked at the stack.
She had decided that first meant best before asking what first meant here.
"May I suggest a different order?"
"You may suggest one. I will keep this order for this booklet."
The answer was clear, and it wasn't the answer Tamar wanted.
Chapter 4One Useful Suggestion
Tamar showed Mrs. Klein that the first mystery began without a heading separating the groups.
"Some readers might not notice the change. Could we add a little heading?"
Mrs. Klein considered it.
"Yes. Write three possible headings and I will choose one."
Tamar wrote them on scrap paper.
The teacher chose STORIES WITH A TURN.
It wasn't Tamar's favorite wording.
It helped readers find the part of the booklet she had wanted them to notice.
A suggestion could be useful without giving her control of every choice after it.
Chapter 5Chavi's Bowl
At lunch, Chavi asked whether Tamar had read her story.
"I read the opening."
"The ending is my favorite part."
Tamar nearly said that it was fortunate to have the best position.
Instead, she read the rest that evening.
The girl in the story had been carrying soup for a neighbor, not for her own grandmother. The old lady upstairs had helped her when the bowl began to spill.
The quiet opening had held a turn Tamar hadn't waited to reach.
She still liked hidden pockets.
She could also see that another kind of story could earn a reader's attention.
Chapter 6The Folded Booklet
The next day, Tamar assembled the pages in the chosen order.
Mrs. Klein operated the large stapler while the girls checked the folded pages.
Tamar found one copy with page nine missing. She put it aside for correction rather than assuming it had been omitted on purpose.
There was a simple assembly mistake.
Mrs. Klein added the missing sheet and checked the fold.
Tamar held the complete booklet.
Her story was still in it. Being inside rather than at the front had not made the words disappear.
Chapter 7Page Nine
When the booklets went home, Tamar showed Mummy page nine.
Mummy, in her blue tichel, read it at the kitchen table.
"This ending is much clearer than your first version."
Tamar liked hearing that.
"It's not first in the booklet."
Mummy turned back to the contents page.
"I found it here."
The contents page named every story and its page.
Tamar had helped check those numbers herself.
She had done work that made all the stories findable, including her own.
Chapter 8The Next Cover
The following month, Mrs. Klein asked two girls to help with a new booklet.
Tamar was asked to draw a small border, not assemble the whole thing.
She asked where the border would be used and left room for the title.
When she saw the finished cover, another girl's drawing was larger than hers.
She noticed the old wish to measure her place by its size.
Then she looked at the border she had actually made.
It fit its job.
Her story had needed page nine. This drawing needed a narrow edge. Neither place told her everything about the work or about herself.
