Which Is Prettier

Ages 12-15

Tirza's classmates put two drawings beside her.

"Which is prettier?"

Each picture has a little pencil smudge on its frame. One has a bright garden. The other has a narrow street.

Tirza looks at the garden, then the street.

One classmate leans closer.

"Mine?"

Tirza keeps both drawings flat.

"I'm not picking."

She points to the street's pale window line.

"This is hard to see from here."

Its owner turns it toward the light. The line becomes visible.

The garden's owner lifts her picture.

"And this one?"

Tirza points to the little path.

"That line shows."

The first girl picks up her street. The second keeps the garden against her folder.

Tirza moves her own pencil off the space where the drawings have been.

At the edge of the table, the street and the garden leave in different hands, with a pencil smudge on each frame.