The Price on the Wooden Horse

Chapter 1The Red Mane

The sale was in Mr. Fried's front yard. He was moving to a smaller flat, and the tables held more things than Reuven had expected: cups, books, a bent umbrella stand, and a wooden horse with a dark red mane.

Reuven stopped in front of the horse.

It was small enough to fit on his shelf. The carved legs had narrow grooves, and one ear stood higher than the other.

He had brought twelve dollars. He had meant to look for a book. A book could not have looked more like something he wanted.

A paper tag hung from the horse's neck.

$2.

Reuven checked his pocket, as if the money might have changed while he was looking.

His cousin Nachum leaned beside him.

"Buy it before somebody else does."

Chapter 2A Number on a List

Mr. Fried was carrying an empty carton from the doorway. He put it beside the book table and rubbed his hands together.

"Good morning, boys. Looking for anything particular?"

"Just looking," Reuven said.

He was looking at something very particular.

A gust lifted the corner of a sheet on the table. Nachum caught it before it blew away.

"Your list," he said, handing it back.

Reuven saw two words and a number near the bottom.

Wooden horse - 20.

Mr. Fried put the sheet under a cup and went to help a woman at the other table. Her hair was fully covered by a navy headscarf.

Reuven looked from the list to the tag.

The tag still said two.

Chapter 3The Bargain

"Maybe he lowered it," Nachum whispered.

"Maybe."

"Or the list is old."

"Maybe."

Nachum picked up the horse by its base and turned it over.

"It isn't broken. Two dollars is a very good price."

That was certainly true.

Reuven could already see it between the bookends on his shelf. He imagined someone asking where he had found it. He imagined saying how little it had cost.

He did not imagine mentioning the list.

"The tag is his price," Nachum said.

Reuven held the horse. The higher ear fitted beside his thumb.

Mr. Fried came back with a paper bag for the cups. He stood close enough to ask.

Reuven's mouth stayed shut.

Chapter 4The Small Question

Reuven reached into his pocket. His fingers found two dollar bills.

He took them out.

"This tag says two," he said.

Mr. Fried held out his hand for the horse.

Reuven kept speaking before he could change his mind.

"But I saw twenty on your list. Is two what you meant?"

Mr. Fried brought the tag closer to his eyes.

"Oh. The zero didn't get written. I meant twenty. Thank you for checking."

He set the horse on the table and wrote a zero beside the two.

The horse was now eight dollars beyond all the money Reuven had brought.

Mr. Fried did not say Reuven could have it for two because he had been honest. He did not say it was suddenly free.

"My brother carved it," he said. "I hope someone enjoys it."

Chapter 5Eight Dollars Short

Nachum waited until they reached the book table.

"You could have had it."

"If two was right."

"He was about to take the money."

Reuven looked back at the red mane.

"He hadn't seen the tag."

Nachum pulled a book from the box, then put it back.

"You always have to make things difficult?"

Reuven didn't feel pleased enough to give a good answer. He had made the sale difficult for himself. He had wanted the horse, and he still did.

"I didn't know which price he meant," he said.

It was the only answer that fit.

He looked at the books. The first had a missing cover. The next was a volume he already owned.

Doing the right thing had not made every other thing on the table interesting.

Chapter 6What He Could Ask

Mr. Fried was fastening the new tag when Reuven returned.

"Could you keep it for me while I go home and ask my father? I don't have twenty here."

"For how long?"

"Half an hour?"

Mr. Fried looked at the other people in the yard.

"I can't promise a hold. I need to clear the tables today. If it is here when you come back, you may buy it."

Reuven nodded.

He wanted to argue that asking about the price should at least earn him half an hour. The thought embarrassed him, but it didn't leave simply because he noticed it.

"All right," he said.

Nachum walked toward the gate beside him.

"I'm staying to look at books."

"Fine. I'll see you later."

Reuven left without the horse and without a promise.

Chapter 7The Closed Gate

At home, Reuven told his father about the horse, the tag, and the list.

"I have twelve. Could I use eight from the money I'm saving?"

His father asked whether Reuven still wanted the horse at twenty, or only wanted to win back the bargain.

Reuven sat with the question for a minute.

At two dollars he had not needed to choose much. At twenty, the horse would mean waiting longer for another thing he was saving for.

"I still want it," he said. "But I would rather keep saving for the other thing."

"You don't have to buy something because you once wanted it."

They agreed Reuven would keep his savings.

He didn't return to the sale. Later, Nachum told him the wooden horse had sold to someone else.

Reuven felt the small pull of regret. He had already imagined the shelf.

Chapter 8The Empty Space

That evening Reuven straightened the books on his shelf. He left no special gap for the horse.

Nachum came over with a book he had found at the sale.

"Three dollars," he said. "The tag and the list agreed."

Reuven laughed. Nachum showed him the first page.

"Was Mr. Fried upset about the tag?" Reuven asked.

"No. He said it was lucky you noticed."

Reuven slid the book between them on the desk.

He was glad about that. He was still disappointed about the horse. Both fit in the room without anybody needing to carve a better ending.

They read until Nachum had to go home.

The shelf held books, and the twelve dollars stayed in Reuven's pocket.