The Plain Envelope

Ages 12-15

The silver line runs around all four edges of the envelope.

Nechama holds her folded story beside it. Her cousin's name would fit in the middle, with silver above and below.

On the Bais Yaakov supply table, the envelopes lie in a packet beside the blank certificates.

"May I have one for my story?" she asks her teacher.

The teacher looks up from the class folders.

"Those are for the certificates. We need the complete packet. You may take an ordinary envelope from the tray."

Nechama puts her story down beside the tray.

The ordinary envelopes are large enough. One corner of the top envelope is bent. The next one is smooth.

She could use that one.

Instead, she picks up her story and returns to her desk.

After the lesson, the teacher takes the folders to the office. An assistant comes to supervise the girls clearing the supply table.

Nechama carries her story over again.

"May I have one of those silver envelopes?"

The assistant looks at the packet.

"For that folded page?"

Nechama nods.

The assistant picks up the packet and begins loosening its paper band.

Nechama keeps her story between her hands.

One end of the band lifts.

"I asked the teacher," Nechama says. "She said these are for the certificates."

The assistant lowers the end of the band and sets the packet beside the blank certificates.

"Then we'll leave them here."

She turns to help a girl stack the drawing paper.

Nechama looks at the ordinary tray.

The smooth envelope is still second in the pile. She takes it without moving the silver packet again.

At her desk, she opens the story to check the fold. The last line sits just above the bottom crease. Her cousin will have to unfold the whole page to reach it.

Nechama folds it back along the same lines and slips it into the envelope.

She begins writing her cousin's name.

Halfway through, she looks toward the supply table. The silver packet is beside the certificates, its band still around it.

Nechama finishes the last letter on the plain paper.

She closes the flap and puts the envelope into her bag.