The Part Before Lunch

Ages 12-15

Elky ties the waste-paper bag before the last piece goes in.

She opens it again.

The tables around her are already empty. At the classroom door, her friends carry their lunches into the hall.

Her own scraps lie beneath the unfinished display border.

She puts the scraps in the bag and goes after the others. Their table is full when she reaches it.

The next day, she folds a fresh waste-paper bag open beside her chair before work begins.

During the last few minutes, the border still has a little blank space. She looks at the clock, then lays down her scissors.

She gathers her own offcuts.

At the other end of the table, a classmate reaches for the bag.

"Can mine go in?"

Elky holds it open while the classmate drops her scraps inside.

More scraps stay beside another child's project. Elky leaves those where they are.

She sweeps her last paper curl off the seat, folds the bag's top, and ties it.

The bell rings.

She places the bag in its assigned bin and picks up her lunch.

In the hall, two friends are still deciding where to sit.

Elky walks with them to the table. One moves her bag from the third place.

Elky sits and opens her lunch.