The Vote with One Small Hand

Chapter 1The Three Themes

Morah wrote three themes on the board for the class drawing display: gardens, shops, and snowy streets.

Each girl would make her own picture under the theme the class chose.

Esther pictured a garden at once. There would be a crooked path, a birdbath, and flowers too tall for a rabbit to see over.

Beside her, Chaya whispered, "Shops. We could make a whole street."

At the next table, two more girls wanted shops.

Esther looked at her blank page. The rabbit in her head was still looking for a way through the flowers.

Chapter 2Hands for Gardens

"Hands for gardens," Morah said.

Esther started to lift her hand, then looked around.

Only two other girls had theirs up.

Perhaps she should choose shops. Chaya would notice, and it was going to win anyway.

But Morah had asked which theme each girl wanted. Esther still wanted the garden.

She raised her hand.

Morah counted it with the others and wrote the number on the board.

Chaya kept her hand down. Nothing terrible happened between the two desks.

Chapter 3The Chosen Theme

Shops had the most votes.

Morah wrote Shops across the top of a large display sheet.

Esther lowered her shoulders. Her flowers and birdbath would not fit the theme as she had planned them.

"You voted for gardens?" Chaya asked.

Esther nodded.

"I like drawing shop signs."

"I like drawing plants."

Chaya looked at Esther's page. "What will you do now?"

Esther did not know yet. She could refuse to start, but that would not put the garden on the board.

Chapter 4The Closed Pencil Box

Around her, shops began appearing on paper.

There was a bakery, a hat shop, and a shop with more windows than walls.

Esther kept her pencil box closed.

Morah came to the table.

"Are you deciding what kind of shop to make?"

"I wanted the garden."

"I know. Your vote was counted. Now we are all working within the chosen theme. What could you enjoy drawing in it?"

Esther looked at the list of shops again.

None sold flowers.

Chapter 5A Door for the Rabbit

She drew a small flower shop.

The crooked garden path became a path to its door. Tall flowers stood in pots outside the window.

The rabbit sat beside one pot, now able to see past the leaves.

Chaya leaned closer.

"Will the rabbit buy flowers?"

"He is checking whether the carrots are hidden behind them."

Chaya laughed and drew a carrot on a scrap for Esther to copy.

Esther still would have chosen a full garden. A flower shop gave her something she wanted to make today.

Chapter 6The Street on the Wall

The class display became a street of different shops.

Esther's flower shop went beside Chaya's hat shop. A penciled vine nearly touched the largest hat in Chaya's window.

"That hat needs watering," Chaya said.

"Only if it grows leaves."

Morah stepped back to look at the display.

The gardens vote had not won. Esther could still find her own picture among the shops without wishing she had hidden her hand.

Chapter 7One Counted Choice

Chaya asked what Esther would choose if they voted again.

"Gardens."

"I would choose shops."

Esther smiled. They had shared a carrot joke and a pencil without needing the same first choice.

She kept the tiny carrot scrap. Next time, she hoped to raise her hand without checking other desks first.