The Outer Petal

Ages 15-18

Shifra opens the tissue around her rose-shaped soap.

She touches the thin tip of the outer petal. Then she brings the tissue back along the same crease and sets the soap on the bathroom shelf.

Downstairs, the plates are going onto the supper table.

Shifra turns on the tap.

The old bar of plain soap is a sliver. She wets it and brings her palms together.

It breaks.

Half skates across the basin and lies flat on the porcelain. The other half slips out beside it.

Shifra presses one piece between her hands. It slides across her palm and drops again.

She turns off the tap.

In the cupboard beneath the shelf, she finds another piece in a little cardboard box. It is the size of a bean.

She holds the cupboard door open.

Above it, the tissue covers the rose.

Shifra closes the cupboard. She takes the rose from the shelf and opens the tissue.

Her thumb rests beside the outer petal.

She lays the tissue on the shelf, turns on the tap and puts the soap between her wet palms.

She rubs it, sets it on the soap dish and rinses her hands.

Then she turns off the tap.

The rose rests on the dish. Its outer petal has a curved corner now.

The soap is wet. The dry tissue lies beside the dish.