The Shop Door

Ages 15-18

Yishai holds the shop door for the old man with the cart, and the door shuts on the wheel.

He sees it coming. The man is slow, with one hand on the cart and the other on the handle of a cane, and the cart has small wheels. Yishai has the door open with his shoulder. The man stops at the sill, and takes a step. The cart does not follow. The wheel is stuck on the rubber strip, and the door begins to swing back, and catches the back wheel with a thud.

Yishai pushes it open again.

The man does not say anything. He backs the cart off the strip, and tries again, and the wheel catches again.

Yishai stops holding the door. He steps out onto the pavement. He takes the front of the cart in both hands, and lifts it, and sets it over the sill.

The man goes in. Yishai steps in after him and catches the door with his shoulder.

Inside, the man pulls a bag from the bottom of the cart and puts it on the counter. He takes a long time. Yishai waits at the door, with his shoulder against it, and the cold coming in round him.

When the man comes out again, the cart is full. Yishai lifts the front wheels over the sill.