The Yellow Tab

Ages 12-15

Bina lifts the short ruler by its yellow tape tab.

Her pencil line stays clean. She turns the ruler and draws the second arm of a corner on her notebook cover.

Three corners are finished. The fourth is still blank.

"Can I keep the ruler until the bell?" Bina asks.

Her friend, across the table, nods.

"Yes. Put it on my desk then."

The ruler fits along one arm of each corner. Bina has to turn it to draw the other.

She moves it to the last corner.

A girl at the next desk holds up a cover with four small flower drawings.

"Could I use that? I want lines under these."

Bina lifts the ruler by the tab. She holds it out.

The girl puts down her pencil and reaches.

Bina draws the ruler back.

"What?"

Bina looks toward her friend's desk.

"Would you ask her?"

The girl looks too. Bina's friend is at another table, looking through a book with two girls.

"I'll use my notebook edge."

She presses the open notebook onto her flower cover. The pages slide. Her first line bends beneath the last flower.

Bina lays the ruler on its owner's desk.

On her own desk is a strip of card left from trimming the cover. One long edge is straight.

"Try this side," she says, carrying it over.

The girl puts the straight edge below a flower. It shifts as she moves her pencil.

Bina holds each end. The girl draws a line, then moves the strip to the next flower.

Bina holds it again.

At the bell, she takes her strip back.

Her notebook cover still has three finished corners.

She sits at her desk and sets the card along the bare corner. She holds one end and draws beside the edge.

The strip shifts under her pencil. Her line bends halfway along. She lifts the card. The other arm is still blank.