The Twelve Pencils in the Shop Window
Chapter 1The Window Tin
The twelve coloured pencils stood in a red tin in the shop window.
A gold band ran around its lid.
Breindy stopped beside her friend Leah on their walk home from Bais Yaakov.
"That's the set I bought," Leah said.
Breindy had seen it on Leah's desk. The pencils made a lovely row beside her ruler.
She had an older set at home, kept in a plain cardboard box.
One blue pencil was shorter than her thumb.
She imagined the red tin on her own desk.
Chapter 2The Coins at Home
Breindy counted her saved coins after supper.
There was enough for the pencils.
There was also enough for the pattern book she had wanted since the summer. Not for both.
Mama, whose hair was covered by a plum tichel, asked which she was considering.
"Everyone likes the tin."
"Do you want the pencils?"
Breindy looked at the coins.
She liked the tin very much.
That wasn't quite the same question.
Chapter 3The Old Blue Pencil
She brought her cardboard box to the table and drew a small row of houses.
The short blue pencil worked until she reached the last roof.
Then it slipped under her fingers.
A fresh blue pencil would be useful.
She checked the other colours. They still worked, including the green she liked better than Leah's new green.
Her box looked shabby from years in the schoolbag.
She had been treating the box, the blue pencil, and her whole place beside Leah as though all three needed replacing together.
On the drawing, eleven colours were doing their jobs.
Chapter 4The Offer at the Desk
The next morning, Leah said the shop had another red tin.
"We could have matching ones."
"I'm saving for a pattern book."
"The tin isn't very much more. You can buy the book later."
Breindy looked at Leah's neatly arranged pencils.
Leah hadn't done anything wrong by wanting matching tins.
She also didn't have to live with Breindy's choice afterward.
"I'm not sure yet," Breindy said.
She didn't ask Leah to stop liking the set so it would be easier not to buy it.
Chapter 5One Pencil, Not Twelve
After school, Breindy visited the shop with Mama.
The assistant showed them a single blue pencil and let Breindy compare its shade with the one she had brought.
The colour was close enough for her houses.
Mama helped her check the price of the one pencil and the pattern book against her savings.
Breindy could buy those and keep a little money aside.
Or she could choose the complete tin and wait for the book.
Nobody called one choice foolish.
The money could go in one direction at a time.
Breindy stood beside the window long enough to think, not long enough to turn a preference into an emergency.
Chapter 6The Paper Bag
She chose the single pencil and the book.
The assistant wrapped them in a paper bag.
Breindy paid with the coins she had counted, with Mama beside her.
The red tin stayed in the window.
On the way home, she felt pleased about the book and a little sorry about the tin.
The sorry feeling didn't prove the purchase was wrong.
Every choice had left something behind.
At home, she put the new blue pencil in the old box and opened the book to a page of border patterns.
Chapter 7Not Matching
Leah noticed the new blue pencil on Monday.
"You didn't get the tin?"
"I bought one pencil and my pattern book."
"Oh. I wanted matching ones."
"I know."
Breindy didn't apologize for how her own coins had been spent.
She showed Leah a drawing with the first new border.
Leah liked the corner pattern and asked how it had been made.
Breindy explained.
Their boxes could be different while they talked about the same drawing.
Chapter 8The Lid She Still Liked
A week later, Breindy passed the window again.
She still liked the red tin.
She didn't need to declare it ugly to defend the choice she had already made.
At home, her pattern book lay beside a page filled with three borders. The blue pencil was long enough to use comfortably.
She put her remaining coins back in their envelope.
If she wanted a tin another time, she could save for it and decide then.
For now, the old box closed around the pencils she used.
It did not match Leah's.
It did match what Breindy had chosen to do with her money, and there was room on her desk for the book she had wanted before she ever saw the window.
