The Weight Beneath Her Hand

Ages 15-18

Yehudit tips the oval wooden paperweight with her left fingertip.

Click.

Her right hand writes a figure on the page.

She tips the paperweight again. It clicks against the desk. Her pencil writes another figure beneath the first.

At the other desk, Ayala looks up, then back to her page.

Yehudit's pencil lifts above the line.

Her left fingertip tips the paperweight. A click comes from the desk.

Yehudit lays her whole left hand flat on the paperweight. The clicking ends.

Across the room, Ayala's pencil scratches, the only sound.

Yehudit's left hand stays flat on the paperweight. She writes the next figure under the last.