The Parcel at Number Twenty-Seven
Chapter 1On the Step
The parcel sat outside number twenty-seven.
It was flat, wrapped in brown paper and tied with green ribbon.
Rivky almost stepped over it on her way home from school.
"Mommy! Something came!"
Mommy came to the door with her hair covered by her usual scarf.
Rivky carried the parcel inside. It was light enough to be a book.
Her birthday was next week. Bubby sometimes sent things early.
Rivky slid a finger beneath the ribbon.
Then she saw the name beside the address.
Mrs. Miriam Levy.
Their family was Klein.
Chapter 2The Right Number
The parcel's label said twenty-seven Linden Road.
That was their house.
Rivky read it aloud twice.
"Maybe Bubby wrote the wrong name."
Mommy looked at the return label.
It named a shop Rivky had never heard of.
"We will leave the paper closed while we check," Mommy said.
Rivky took her finger out from beneath the ribbon.
Across the street, Mrs. Levy lived at number seventy-two. Rivky had helped carry a basket there once with Mommy.
"Twenty-seven and seventy-two use the same digits," Rivky said.
Mommy put the parcel on the hall table.
That was a useful clue. It was not yet an answer.
Chapter 3A Second Miriam
After lunch, Mommy and Rivky walked to number seventy-two with the unopened parcel.
Mrs. Levy, her hair covered by a dark scarf, read the label.
"I have not ordered anything from this shop," she said.
She looked at the name again.
"My sister-in-law is also Miriam Levy. She used to live in your house."
Rivky looked at Mommy.
They had moved into number twenty-seven two years ago. Rivky remembered empty rooms and a cupboard that smelled of fresh paint.
She had not known the previous family was called Levy.
Mrs. Levy did not take the parcel.
"I can check with her," she said. "We should make sure."
Chapter 4A Return Label
They brought the parcel home again.
Rivky set it back on the hall table.
The right house number had not made it theirs. The familiar surname had not made it the neighbor's.
Mommy wrote down the shop name and the reference printed on its label. She would contact the shop through its usual customer desk.
The next morning, Mrs. Levy stopped at their gate.
Her sister-in-law had ordered a packet of large-print recipe cards. The order still had her old address.
She had asked the shop to correct its record and could collect the unopened parcel that afternoon.
Mommy thanked the neighbor. She also checked the delivery reference with the shop.
The order matched.
Chapter 5The Green Ribbon
Rivky looked at the parcel after school.
Now she knew what it held, but the paper was still closed.
A small corner had bent during its trips across the road. She smoothed it without pulling the wrapping loose.
"Should I put it in a bag?" she asked.
Mommy found a clean paper bag that would hold it flat.
Rivky lowered it inside. The green ribbon made a bright loop above the brown paper.
A little later, the previous Mrs. Levy, wearing a hat that covered her hair, arrived with the neighbor from number seventy-two. Mommy met them at the door.
The owner brought her order note. The name and reference matched the parcel's label.
Rivky handed her the bag.
Chapter 6Not a Birthday Book
"Thank you for keeping it closed," Mrs. Levy said.
"I thought it might be a birthday book," Rivky admitted.
Mrs. Levy smiled.
"These are recipes. Unless you wanted a birthday book full of soup."
Rivky laughed. "Maybe cake would be better."
After the visitors had gone, the hall table looked bare.
"You noticed the name before untying the ribbon," Mommy said.
Rivky glanced at the front door.
"I nearly did not."
At supper, Rivky told Totty about the two Mrs. Levys.
"And the parcel?"
"It got to the right person."
