The Small Voice

Ages 12-15

Bashie sits at the long lunch table with her shoulder turned toward the middle.

Someone there says a name. It is not hers.

Beside her, a quieter child leans forward.

"For the project, do we put the-"

At the center, two girls begin speaking together. Bashie turns farther toward them.

The child beside her sits back.

Bashie lifts her sandwich. A little scrap of paper rests beside her neighbor's plate, with one half-drawn roof on it.

Her neighbor folds the scrap and moves it away from the food.

"What were you asking?"

The child starts again. A laugh from the middle covers the last few words.

Bashie puts down her sandwich and turns her chair toward the child. She leans closer.

"That part again."

Her neighbor points to the roof.

"Do we put it over the whole box?"

Bashie looks at the drawing. Then she takes the empty snack box beside her plate and turns it sideways.

"Only this part. Otherwise it covers the window."

The child puts the drawing beside the box. She finishes its roof line.

In the middle of the table, another name is called.

Bashie stays turned toward her neighbor.

"There's a second window here," she says, tapping the other side of the box.

Her neighbor moves the drawing closer. Their two plates stay angled toward each other at the end of the long table.