The Sleeve With the Silver Thread

Chapter 1Half an Inch Too Far

The silver stitch was supposed to rest just below Devorah's wrist.

Now it rested above it.

Devorah pulled the sleeve down. The shoulder pulled too. When she let go, the silver stitch climbed back.

"Try the other arm," Mama said.

The other arm had apparently grown at the same speed.

It was the winter coat Bubby had made for her two years ago. Dark blue wool, deep pockets, six buttons, and a little silver branch on each cuff.

Devorah knew where every button belonged. She knew which pocket held a tiny fold in the lining. She could find the silver branch with her eyes closed.

"Maybe Bubby could make the sleeves longer."

Mama's hair was covered with a brown sheitel. She smoothed the shoulder seam without pulling it.

"We can ask. But a sleeve isn't the only part that has to fit."

Devorah looked in the mirror.

The coat still looked like her coat.

Surely that ought to count for something.

Chapter 2The Empty Hem

Bubby spread the coat on her worktable on Tuesday afternoon. Her flowered tichel was tied neatly, and her sewing scissors lay shut beside the measuring tape.

Devorah stood beside her.

Bubby measured the sleeve. She examined the seams inside and the hem at the bottom.

"There isn't enough extra cloth here. And the shoulders are too narrow for you now."

"Could you add a piece?"

"Not in a way that would make this a comfortable coat for you."

Devorah rubbed the silver thread with one finger.

Bubby had stitched it while Devorah sat at this very table. Devorah had chosen the branches instead of flowers. Bubby had changed one branch because Devorah said it looked like a bent fork.

"You made it for me."

"I did."

"So how can it stop being mine?"

Bubby sat down.

"You haven't stopped being the person I made it for. But you have grown."

That answer was true and entirely unhelpful to the sleeves.

Chapter 3Another Pair of Arms

Mama mentioned the coat at supper.

"Your aunt says Hindy needs a warm coat. Would you be willing to let her try this one? We can find you one that fits."

Hindy was Devorah's younger cousin. She liked everything Devorah liked, often with more noise.

"Will she keep the silver branches?"

"We don't know whether it fits yet."

"If it does?"

"Then we will ask what repairs it needs. We won't decide without talking to you."

Devorah imagined Hindy in the coat, waving her hands so the branches flashed.

She tried to imagine feeling pleased.

Nothing happened.

"Can I think about it until tomorrow?"

"Yes."

The coat stayed on its hook that night. Devorah did not put it on again. She did open both pockets and check that they were empty.

Chapter 4The Wrong Kind of Thank You

Hindy came with her mother on Wednesday. Her mother wore a dark green tichel, and she waited beside Mama while Hindy tried on the coat.

The shoulders sat where shoulders should sit.

The sleeves reached Hindy's wrists.

Hindy looked into the mirror and turned once, then twice.

"It has such big pockets!"

Devorah stood by the door.

"Bubby made those."

"I know. Look at the silver!"

"Don't rub it so hard."

Hindy dropped her hand.

The room became quiet in a way that had nothing to do with the coat.

Mama said, "We have not settled everything yet. Let's take it off for now."

Hindy slid out of the sleeves.

"I can be careful," she said.

Devorah almost told her all the rules. Never leave it in a heap. Never put sticky things in the pocket. Never say Bubby made it for you.

That last rule did not sound like caring for wool.

Chapter 5Not a Loan Forever

After their visitors left, Mama sat beside Devorah.

"Do you want it to be a gift, or do you want to keep it for now?"

"I want to give it. I also want it to stay mine."

Mama waited.

"Could she borrow it every winter?"

"What would happen when she needed a repair or wanted to use the pockets? Would she have to ask you every time?"

Devorah pictured Hindy holding a permission slip beside each button.

"That would be a lot of asking."

"A gift can be cared for without keeping the person who receives it on a string."

Devorah looked toward the hook.

"I don't feel happy about it yet."

"You don't have to pretend that you do. We do need to be fair to Hindy if you choose to give it."

Devorah folded her hands.

"I was sharp with her. She hadn't done anything wrong."

Chapter 6Something That Was Already Loose

Bubby came to check a small tear inside one pocket before the coat went anywhere.

She turned the pocket out. A narrow strip of worn blue fabric had come away at the edge of the lining.

"This part needs replacing," she said. "It won't do its job much longer."

Devorah watched Bubby carefully remove the worn piece. She did not touch the scissors.

"May I keep that?"

Bubby held it up.

"It's only the old lining."

"I know. I used to find that fold whenever I put my hand in."

Bubby set the little strip beside her.

"This can stay with you. The coat needs a sound pocket."

Devorah asked if they could stitch the strip onto a scrap of card. Bubby showed her a blunt sewing needle and helped her make two small stitches.

Devorah wrote beneath it: The pocket that held my hands.

The cloth looked rather ordinary on the card.

Her hands knew it anyway.

Chapter 7What She Gave

Devorah brought the repaired coat to Hindy's house with Mama on Thursday.

She carried the card in her own pocket.

"I'm sorry I spoke sharply when you tried it on," she told Hindy. "I was upset that it didn't fit me anymore. You didn't hurt it."

Hindy looked at the coat.

"Are you sure I can have it?"

"Yes. Bubby fixed the pocket. It's a gift, not a loan."

Devorah took a breath.

"Please take care of it. But you don't have to ask me every time you wear it."

Hindy nodded solemnly. Then she put it on and pushed both hands deep into the pockets.

The coat looked different with her in it.

Devorah felt a small pinch under her ribs. She had given it, and she still noticed that.

Both things were there.

Chapter 8Two Warm Coats

Mama found Devorah another coat that fit. It had no silver branches. It did have buttons she could fasten without pulling the front tight.

On Sunday, the cousins walked with their mothers to Bubby's house.

Hindy's sleeves moved up and down as she talked. The silver branches flashed just as Devorah had imagined.

"I have something in the pocket," Hindy said.

Devorah nearly asked what.

Then Hindy took out a clean handkerchief.

"For Bubby. Mama embroidered her initials."

Devorah looked at the repaired pocket. It could hold something new without forgetting what it had held before.

At Bubby's door, she touched the little card inside her own coat.

She still missed the old blue wool around her shoulders.

She did not ask Hindy to take it off.

Inside, Bubby made room on the hooks for two warm coats.