The Tunnel That Took Two Turns

Chapter 1The Waiting Cup

Nachman's marble run crossed the classroom table on folded cardboard tracks. At the end, a red cup waited to catch the marble.

The marble did not care.

It rolled out of the dark tunnel, passed beside the cup, and dropped into the tray underneath.

"Again," Nachman said.

His partner, Shimon, rescued it from the tray. "The cup has been waiting very patiently."

Their exhibit opened after lunch. Visitors would release a marble at the top and watch it pass through their little cardboard town.

They had made a bridge, a shop, and a curved tunnel hidden inside a painted hill. Nachman had spent the longest time on the hill. It had trees, a winding path, and a sheep that looked rather like a potato.

Chapter 2A Higher Beginning

Nachman put another book beneath the starting track.

"It needs more speed."

This time the marble flew past the cup and struck the side of the tray.

Shimon looked at the red cup. "Now it is being ignored more quickly."

Nachman tried releasing the marble with a push.

"Our visitors aren't supposed to push," Shimon said. "The sign says to let go."

Nachman read their sign. He had written it himself.

He took away the extra book.

Chapter 3The Hidden Part

Shimon moved the cup sideways. The marble landed inside.

Nachman shook his head. "The cup belongs at the town station. We already glued the station sign there."

"Then something before the station needs changing."

Nachman pointed at the track leading into the hill. "That part is straight."

"What about inside?"

There was a flap underneath the hill, but Nachman had taped it closed to keep the whole thing neat.

Opening it would disturb his trees. One tree was already leaning.

For a moment he considered adding a taller fence beside the cup. Then he pictured every marble striking the fence instead of rolling into the station.

He brought the hill to the teacher.

Chapter 4Beneath the Sheep

Rabbi Adler helped loosen the flap without pulling the painted paper apart.

Inside, the tunnel track curved around the space under the sheep. Its exit pointed toward the corner of the tray, not toward the station.

Nachman looked from the tunnel mouth to the waiting cup.

"The marble goes where the tunnel sends it."

"Even if we ask very politely," Shimon said.

Nachman smiled, but his ears felt hot. He had blamed the starting track three times without looking beneath his best painting.

"I wanted the outside to stay nice," he said.

Rabbi Adler held the hill while the boys slid the loose tunnel track out.

Chapter 5Two Small Turns

They could not straighten the whole tunnel. The painted hill was too narrow for that.

Shimon held a spare cardboard strip against the exit. "Could this part turn back toward the station?"

Nachman bent the strip gently. Rabbi Adler helped fasten it to the existing track, making a second small curve before the tunnel mouth.

They tested it outside the hill first.

The marble followed one turn, then the other, and rolled into the cup.

Shimon lifted both arms. "The station has a passenger!"

The next marble caught at the join between the strips.

Nachman's arms stayed down. They were not finished yet.

He smoothed the overlapping edge while Rabbi Adler held the tape.

Chapter 6The Whole Town

They put the tunnel back inside the hill and closed the flap with one removable piece of tape.

This time Nachman tested from the original starting track, not just the tunnel entrance.

Five marbles rolled through the bridge, disappeared under the sheep, and reached the cup.

The sixth stopped before the hill.

Shimon found a fallen paper tree lying across the track. He set it back beside the path.

"That one really was the outside," Nachman said.

They checked the track once more before the visitors arrived.

Chapter 7A Useful Flap

A younger boy watched the first marble disappear.

"Does the sheep eat it?"

"Only for a moment," Shimon said.

The marble clicked into the red cup. The boy grinned.

Nachman showed him the flap underneath, opening it while the track was empty.

"There are two turns in here. We had to change the second one."

Then he closed it and put the hill back in place.

His best painting still looked like a hill. The sheep still looked like a potato.

And the red cup finally had something to do.