The Spectacles Left in the Case

Chapter 1The Brass Letters

Yossi read the label beside the model locomotive.

At least, he read the first two words.

"Built in," he said.

The date was a blur.

His friend Dudi waited. They were visiting the small railway museum with their fathers on a weekday afternoon.

"Eighteen ninety-three," Dudi read.

Yossi nodded as if that was what he had been about to say.

In his pocket, his new spectacles were closed in a hard black case.

He had been given them for reading signs, the board, and other things the optometrist had explained.

He could put them on.

He could also keep pretending he didn't need them.

Chapter 2Not Yet

At the next display, Yossi bent close to a printed timetable inside glass.

He could see his own reflection better than the small numbers.

Dudi pointed to a train that took six hours to travel a distance their fathers said was now much quicker.

Yossi laughed at the slow journey.

He didn't ask how Dudi had read the distance.

Abba noticed him leaning forward.

"Your case is in your pocket?"

"Yes. I'll use them later."

"This looks like later to me," Abba said quietly.

Yossi felt his ears heat.

He looked at Dudi, who was already studying a picture of a snow-covered line.

Chapter 3The Green Signal

The museum attendant showed the boys a small signal demonstration. Visitors could use a handle while he explained what the colours meant on this model.

Yossi volunteered.

He squinted at the instruction card and reached for the handle.

"First read the instruction," the attendant said.

Yossi took one hand off it.

"I can't quite see the little print."

"I can read it aloud," the man offered.

Abba waited beside him without reaching into Yossi's pocket.

Yossi opened the case himself.

The black frames looked much bigger in his hands than they had in the optometrist's office.

Chapter 4The Question

He put them on.

The tiny letters became separate letters instead of a grey line.

Dudi looked at him.

"Are those new?"

Yossi tightened his grip on the empty case.

"Yes."

"My brother has brown ones."

Dudi turned back to the signal card.

That was all.

Yossi had imagined jokes, staring, and an entire afternoon about his face.

He had received one question about whether the spectacles were new.

He read the instruction before touching the handle again.

Chapter 5The Other Visitor

A younger visitor came over while they watched the demonstration.

"You look like a teacher," he told Yossi.

Yossi didn't know whether it was meant to be funny.

He nearly took the spectacles off.

"I'm here to read the instructions," he said.

The younger boy asked the attendant for a turn.

Nobody had promised that no one would comment.

Someone had commented, and the afternoon was still going on.

Yossi moved aside as the attendant asked. He could feel the frames on his nose and see the label beside the signal clearly.

Both things were true at the same time.

Chapter 6The Clear Date

They went back to the locomotive.

"Eighteen ninety-three," Yossi read.

"Same as before," Dudi said.

"I couldn't see it before."

Dudi looked at him, then at the brass label.

"I wondered why you stopped."

Yossi slid the empty case into his pocket.

He hadn't fooled Dudi as completely as he thought.

They read the next two labels together. One explained why this engine had such a large water tank.

Yossi asked the attendant a question about it.

For the first time that afternoon, his question was about the train rather than about whether anybody was looking at him.

Chapter 7The Morning Board

At school the next day, Yossi put the case on his desk.

Before the first lesson, he told his rebbi that he had new spectacles and when the optometrist had told him to use them.

The rebbi asked whether his place gave him a clear view of the board.

"With them on, yes."

During the lesson, one boy asked if he could try them.

"No. I need them, and I don't want them passed around."

The boy went back to his exercise.

Yossi used the spectacles for the board. He still made a mistake in an answer copied from it.

Seeing the words clearly didn't do the thinking for him.

Chapter 8The Case on the Shelf

At home, Yossi put the spectacles away as he had been shown.

Mummy, in her chestnut sheitel, asked about the museum.

He told her about the signal handle, the water tank, and the date on the locomotive.

Then he told her about taking the spectacles out.

"I thought everybody would keep talking about them."

"Did they?"

"A little. Not the whole time."

He would probably feel awkward again on another day.

The hard case could protect the spectacles when he wasn't using them.

It could not help him read a distant sign while they were hidden inside.

Tomorrow, there would be words on the board again. He knew where to find the tool he had been given to see them.