Twenty-Four Pieces for Twelve Plates

Chapter 1The Red Pencil

Malky counted the bread pieces on the tray.

Twenty-four.

She wrote the number on a slip and put a red pencil beside it.

At the school lunch, the older girls were helping prepare twelve plates for a younger class. Each plate needed a bowl of soup and bread.

Mrs. Berger, her hair covered by a neat dark scarf, had cut twelve large rolls into halves. She left the bread tray on the side table while she checked the soup.

"Count the bread portions and start the plates," she told Malky.

Malky liked jobs that came out exactly.

Twenty-four bread pieces. Twelve plates.

She began placing one piece on each plate.

Chapter 2Bread Left Over

After twelve plates, half the tray remained.

"We have lots extra," Malky told Simi.

Simi looked at the bread.

"Shouldn't each girl get a whole roll?"

"Mrs. Berger said a portion. I put a portion on every plate."

Malky pointed at her slip.

"Twenty-four. I counted twice."

Simi touched one of the pieces with the serving tongs.

"This is half a roll."

"It's one piece."

For a moment, they stood facing each other across twelve plates with twelve half-rolls.

The count was tidy. The lunch did not look quite right.

Chapter 3A Second Class

A helper from the next room came to the doorway.

"Do you have bread for our group too? Mrs. Berger asked me to check."

Malky looked at the twelve remaining pieces.

"We have twelve extra portions."

The helper picked up the empty serving basket.

Simi put down her tongs.

"Wait. We should ask before sending them."

Malky felt annoyed. She had counted carefully. She had not dropped anything or mixed up the numbers.

"Why ask again?"

"Because we don't mean the same thing by a portion."

The helper left the basket on the table and went to find Mrs. Berger.

Chapter 4What Was Counted

Mrs. Berger returned with a soup ladle in her hand.

Malky showed her the slip.

"There were twenty-four. These twelve are ready. These twelve are extra."

Mrs. Berger looked at the plates.

"The younger class needs a whole roll each. I cut them so the girls can manage them more easily."

She set down the ladle.

"When I said portions, I meant bread for one girl. That is two halves today. I should have said that."

Malky looked from the slip to the tray.

"So my twenty-four isn't wrong?"

"It is twenty-four halves. It isn't twenty-four lunches."

Simi picked up the tongs again.

Chapter 5No Extra Rolls

They put a second half on each plate.

The bread tray was empty.

Malky wrote halves above the number on her slip.

Below it, she wrote twelve whole rolls.

The helper waited by her empty basket.

"Nothing left for our room?"

"Not from this tray," Malky said. "I told you there was extra before I knew what each plate needed."

Mrs. Berger pointed to a covered basket on another table.

"Your group's bread is here. That is why I wanted you to check with me."

The helper carried the proper basket away.

Chapter 6The Little Marks

Malky and Simi finished the plates together.

Before the girls arrived, they counted the bowls, the spoons, and the rolls.

Malky made small pairs of marks on her slip, one pair for each plate.

"Two halves," she said as Simi checked the first plate.

"One girl's bread," Simi answered.

At the fifth plate, one half was much smaller than its partner.

They showed Mrs. Berger. She replaced it with a fuller half from the kitchen reserve rather than letting the marks decide whether the meal was enough.