The Seat She Had Saved

Chapter 1Beside the Window

"I saved you the seat," Gitty said.

She moved her bag from the chair beside the classroom window.

Leah smiled and sat down.

The Bais Yaakov sewing lesson was easier in good light. Gitty had remembered that Leah was still learning to thread a needle without chasing its tiny hole around the room.

Last week, she had helped Leah untangle a whole length of thread.

Leah had thanked her twice.

Now Gitty put a half-finished sampler on the table.

"You can finish my border today. I helped with yours."

Chapter 2The Extra Border

Leah looked at the sampler.

Gitty had a row of neat blue stitches and three empty sides.

Leah's own sampler had two sides left. Their teacher wanted each girl to practise all four herself.

"You could use some of the break," Gitty said.

Leah liked sitting beside her. She liked not having to ask every time she needed help.

Perhaps that meant she ought to agree.

"I have mine to do."

"I spent ages on that knot."

Gitty didn't sound angry. She sounded certain, as though they had arranged a trade last week and Leah had forgotten her half.

Leah hadn't known there was a trade.

Chapter 3What They Had Agreed

Mrs. Gross called the girls together to demonstrate the next stitch. Her floral tichel covered her hair completely.

Leah watched carefully. She didn't want to leave the lesson with another piece of work she couldn't do alone.

Afterward, she asked Gitty about last week.

"When you helped me, did I say I'd finish your sampler?"

"No. But it would be fair."

"I appreciated the help. I didn't agree to do your stitches."

Gitty pushed the sampler toward herself.

"Then I won't help again."

Leah felt that sentence more sharply than the first request.

She could still say yes and make it go away.

Chapter 4Not the Stitches

Instead, Leah asked Mrs. Gross what help was allowed with the samplers.

"You can show a stitch on a practice scrap, or help untangle thread," she said. "Each girl does the stitches on her own piece."

Leah nodded.

That answered the schoolwork question.

It didn't answer what would happen between her and Gitty.

At break, Leah offered to hold Gitty's thread straight while she untangled it.

"I can help you with this. I can't sew your border."

Gitty shrugged and let her hold it.

They worked without talking much.

Leah didn't turn the small help into a new claim on tomorrow.

Chapter 5A Different Seat

The next lesson, Gitty put her bag on the window chair.

Leah waited a moment.

Gitty didn't move it.

There was another open chair near the middle table.

Leah sat there beside Shira.

She was hurt. She could name that without deciding the hurt proved she should have done the border.

When threading became difficult, she used the teacher's demonstration card and asked for another look at the practice needle.

It took longer than asking Gitty had taken.

She finished one side of her sampler.

The blue stitches were hers.

Chapter 6Thank You Was Still True

At home, Leah told Mama about the seat. Mama's dark sheitel was covered by a light scarf while she prepared supper.

"Was it wrong to accept help last week?" Leah asked.

"Had she asked for a trade?"

"No."

"Then you accepted help. You can still be grateful for it."

Leah had almost decided she must never need anyone again.

That would make every knot very lonely.

She could ask what a person was offering. She could agree to a trade when it made sense and was permitted. She could also decline a request that came afterward.

None of those choices rubbed out her first thank you.

Chapter 7The Practice Scrap

On Thursday, Gitty stood by the box of scraps.

"Have you learnt the corner stitch?"

"I'm still practising."

"Mine keeps bunching."

Leah could see a tangled patch on the scrap in her hand.

"We can ask Mrs. Gross to show us together."

Gitty hesitated, then came with her.

The teacher showed them how to leave space at the turn.

Each girl tried on her own scrap.

Gitty's second corner lay flatter.

"That works," she said.

Leah nodded.

Helping didn't always need one girl to become the expert and the other to become the person who owed.

Chapter 8A Clear Offer

When the finished samplers were ready to mount, Gitty brought Leah a loose strand she had found beside her chair.

"This looks like yours."

"It is. Thank you."

They weren't sitting together every lesson now. Gitty had not apologised for the window seat, and Leah wasn't ready to pretend the whole exchange had felt fair.

Still, they could talk and work in the same class.

Later, Shira asked Leah to hold a backing sheet while she pinned her sampler to it.

"Yes, for a minute. Then I need to mount mine."

Shira nodded.

It was a small offer with a clear ending.

Leah held the sheet steady.

She didn't add a price to it afterward.