The Teapot That Would Not Close

Chapter 1The Best Place

The white teapot had blue flowers and a curved spout. Tzippy put it in the center of the charity-sale table.

She had saved that place all morning.

Her cousin Faigy was sorting cups at the other end. A small brown teapot waited beside her elbow. Its handle had a pale scratch, but its spout was whole.

"That one can go behind the bowls," Tzippy said.

Faigy looked at it. "Someone may want a small pot."

"They will want this one first."

Tzippy lifted the white pot's lid to wipe the rim. Faigy lifted the brown one's lid too. They put both lids on a clean cloth while Mrs. Berger, her hair covered by a burgundy scarf, brought a basket of saucers.

Tzippy reached for a saucer with flowers.

By the time the basket was empty, the lids were back on the pots.

Chapter 2A Little Wobble

Mrs. Berger asked the girls to check every item before attaching price tickets.

"If something does not fit or is cracked, bring it to me."

Tzippy turned the white pot's lid. It tilted. One edge sat high above the rim.

She pressed it with two fingers.

It sprang up again.

"It was fine before," she said.

Faigy looked over. "Maybe it is not sitting the right way."

"I know how a lid sits."

Tzippy turned it once more. Then she placed a folded napkin beside the pot so that a shopper looking from the front would not notice the raised edge.

She did not attach the ticket yet. She only set it nearby.

The brown teapot's lid looked rather broad too.

Tzippy did not look at that one.

Chapter 3The First Shopper

The sale opened after lunch. A woman wearing a dark headscarf stopped at the white teapot.

"May I see the inside?"

Tzippy moved the napkin.

The woman lifted the lid, looked at the clean inside, and replaced it. The lid tipped sideways.

"Does it close?"

"Usually," Tzippy said.

She heard her own answer. It sounded like something she knew from long experience. She had only met the pot that morning.

The woman took her hand away.

"I need one that closes properly."

She moved on to the bowls.

Faigy said nothing. That was worse than a comment.

Tzippy picked up the napkin. She did not put it back.

Chapter 4The Wrong Explanation

"It must have changed shape in the basket," Tzippy said.

Mrs. Berger came over.

"What changed shape?"

Tzippy showed her.

Mrs. Berger did not push on the lid. She lifted it away and held it above the pot.

"Was this the lid that arrived with it?"

Tzippy almost said yes. The flowers on the knob were blue. Surely that settled it.

Then she remembered two lids on one cloth, and her hand reaching for a saucer.

"I did not watch when we put them back."

Faigy moved the brown pot toward them.

Its lid had one tiny blue flower hidden near the knob. Most of the lid was cream, which had looked brownish in the shadow beside the cups.

Tzippy stared at it.

Chapter 5Two Good Fits

Mrs. Berger held each pot steady while the girls exchanged the lids.

The cream lid settled on the white pot without wobbling.

The mostly white lid had a brown ring underneath. On the brown pot, that ring fitted neatly inside the rim.

Faigy smiled. "It was waiting in the wrong place."

Tzippy felt both glad and small.

"I told someone it usually closed," she said. "I did not know that."

Mrs. Berger nodded toward the bowls.

"She is still here. You can tell her what happened."

Tzippy would have liked Mrs. Berger to do it.

Instead, she carried the white teapot over, with both hands under its base.

"We mixed up the lids. This is the right one. I should have told you I was not sure."

The woman tried it twice.

Then she looked toward the small brown pot.

"How much is that one? I only make tea for myself."

Chapter 6An Empty Space

Mrs. Berger set a price after checking the brown pot again. The woman bought it.

Its empty space beside the cups was surprisingly large.

Tzippy moved the white pot to one side so a small green jug could be seen.

Faigy brought another cloth.

"Shall we check the sugar bowls?"

There were three bowls and three lids. This time the girls kept each pair together while they cleaned.

One lid really did have a chipped edge. They took that bowl to Mrs. Berger instead of turning the chip toward the wall.

Later, someone bought the white teapot too.

Tzippy wrapped its lid separately and put it in the same bag.

She checked the bag before handing it over.