The Practice Room After Four
Chapter 1The Quiet Room
At four o'clock the small room beside the Bais Yaakov assembly hall became quiet. The younger girls had gone home. The caretaker finished moving chairs. Nobody knocked unless they needed something.
Hindy used the room to practice reading her part for Thursday's class presentation.
The words themselves were not hard. Saying them clearly before twenty-eight girls was harder.
Mrs. Adler had given her Tuesday and Wednesday from four to four twenty. She would stay nearby while Hindy practiced, and Hindy's mother would collect her afterward.
On Monday, Hindy wrote the two times in her notebook.
Tuesday, 4:00.
Wednesday, 4:00.
She drew a small box beside each one.
Two practices. That felt possible.
Chapter 2A Friend's Request
Leah caught Hindy by the cloakroom the next afternoon.
"Do you know if the small room is free at four?"
"I have it for practice."
"Could I use it? I'm supposed to explain our model to the judges tomorrow. Our kitchen is never quiet."
Hindy pictured Leah trying to speak while her brothers passed plates behind her. She wanted to be helpful. She also wanted Leah not to look worried in front of her.
"Yes," she said. "You can use it."
Leah's shoulders dropped.
"Thank you. I was going to ask Mrs. Adler about another room, but this is much easier."
She hurried off to tell the other girls in her group.
Hindy looked at the closed cloakroom door.
She hadn't asked how long Leah needed. She hadn't checked what she herself could give up. The word yes had escaped with all the useful information still behind it.
Chapter 3A Box Without a Mark
Hindy opened her notebook.
Tuesday, 4:00.
The box beside it was empty.
She told herself she could practice at home. Then she remembered why Mrs. Adler had arranged the room. At home, Hindy lowered her voice halfway through. In the empty hall she could practice standing, facing chairs, and finishing a paragraph without starting over.
She needed that practice too.
Perhaps Leah would only need five minutes.
Perhaps Hindy could squeeze her own work into what was left.
Neither perhaps was an arrangement. Leah had already gone to tell her group.
Hindy checked the clock above the classroom door.
It was a quarter past three.
If she waited until four, Leah would arrive expecting something Hindy had not thought through.
Chapter 4Before Four
Leah and two girls were fitting the model into its box when Hindy found them.
"Could I speak to you?"
Leah looked up.
"Is four still all right?"
Hindy's throat felt tight.
"I answered too quickly. I need the first fifteen minutes for the practice Mrs. Adler arranged. I can offer the last five, but I shouldn't have promised the whole time."
Leah set down the lid.
"Five minutes isn't enough for us."
"I understand."
"I already told everyone we had a room."
"I'm sorry. I should have checked before saying yes."
One of the other girls looked at the clock.
"We still have time to ask Mrs. Adler."
Leah picked up the lid again.
"We'll have to."
Chapter 5The Room Across the Hall
Mrs. Adler listened to Leah's request. Her hair was fully covered by a neat brown sheitel.
"The room across the hall is available. You can use it until four thirty. I'll be nearby."
Leah and her group carried their box across.
Hindy wanted to follow and help set up. Helping might make the uncomfortable feeling end faster.
Instead she asked.
"Would you like help moving anything?"
"We have it," Leah said.
Hindy let them go.
At four, the small room was hers again. Nothing blocked its door. The chair stood where Mrs. Adler had left it.
The first thing Hindy practiced was not the first line of the presentation. It was getting past the wish to go find Leah and ask whether she was still annoyed.
Leah was allowed to be annoyed. Hindy had a paragraph to read.
Chapter 6Fifteen Minutes
Hindy stood facing the empty chairs.
She read the first paragraph too fast. She tried again and swallowed the last word.
Mrs. Adler came to the door.
"Start at the next sentence. Keep going."
Hindy did. Her voice caught once, then steadied.
At four fifteen, she closed the page. Leah did not appear. The group still had the other room.
Hindy could have practiced longer now, but her mother was coming at four twenty. She used the last five minutes to gather her things and put the chair back.
In her notebook she marked Tuesday's box.
She had practiced. The mark did not say that her whole afternoon had been comfortable.
Chapter 7What She Could Promise
On Wednesday Leah handed Hindy a sheet she had left in the classroom.
"Thank you," Hindy said.
Leah didn't walk away immediately.
"The other room worked. But yesterday was annoying."
"I know. I made you change plans."
"Next time, say you need to think."
"I will."
Hindy nearly added that she would always help Leah whenever she could. Always was another large word, and she was still learning how much a small yes could carry.
"If you ask me for something, I'll check my own plans before I answer," she said.
Leah nodded.
They walked into class together. They did not discuss the room again that day.
Chapter 8The Next Request
Thursday's presentation went well enough. Hindy lost one word and found the next. Her part reached its last sentence.
On Friday a girl asked whether Hindy could help with a classroom display after dismissal the next week.
Hindy liked the display. She liked being asked.
"I need to check when my mother is collecting me,"
she said. "I'll tell you on Monday morning."
"All right."
The girl turned back to the paper on her desk. She had not looked insulted. She had not demanded an immediate promise.
Hindy wrote the question in her notebook and asked her mother that afternoon.
On Monday she could offer ten minutes, not the whole afternoon.
She said ten minutes.
This time the other girl knew what the yes contained.
