The Space She Leaves
Ages 12-15
Breindy folds her practice sheet in half.
She draws a street on the upper half. The lower half stays blank.
At Bais Yaakov, the girls may each add a street picture to the class drawing folder. Nobody has to contribute. They have three drawing afternoons before the teacher collects the pages.
Breindy wants hers in the folder.
On the first afternoon, she spends most of the drawing time sorting her pencils. Near the end, she draws a shop, two windows and a doorway.
One side of the doorway slopes inward.
A girl beside her looks over.
"That door looks hard to get through."
"I barely tried," Breindy says.
She slides the page under her book.
On the second afternoon, Breindy puts the same folded sheet on her desk. She opens her pencil case and lines up the colors.
The girl beside her is already drawing.
Breindy sharpens a pencil that still has a point.
There will be time for a picture near the end.
She puts the pencil beside her paper.
The shop is there. The doorway is there. Below the fold, half the sheet has no marks at all.
Breindy unfolds it.
She turns it sideways and draws only a doorway in the empty space.
The left side slopes again.
She reaches toward her pencil case, then brings her hand back to the paper. Beside the first doorway, she draws a second one, looking from one side to the other before adding the top.
This one stands straighter. It is too narrow.
She sets the practice sheet beside a fresh page and starts her street.
At the end of the afternoon, the shop has two windows and an empty space for its sign. She hasn't colored anything yet.
On the third afternoon, Breindy finishes the sign and adds the doorway. She uses the second practice drawing, leaving a little more room between its sides.
The opening still looks narrow beside the broad shop window.
Breindy holds her pencil over it.
Then she sets the pencil down.
When the teacher brings the class folder around, Breindy takes the finished picture from her desk.
"A page to add?" the teacher asks.
"Yes."
Breindy puts it into the open folder.
The teacher lays the next girl's picture beside it and moves on.
Breindy folds her practice sheet along its old crease. The two doorways go inside. She puts it into her bag.