Her sister knew which knots needed a gentler hand.
The Last Wrapping
The box was open. The little comb was still refusing to be unpacked.
Tess sat at the table in her new flat, peeling the last cloth from a blue-and-white ceramic figure. Her older sister, Anna, stood beside her, folding the empty sheets of packing paper into a pile.
Around them, boxes waited with labels that had become less helpful as the move progressed. One said Kitchen. Another said Also Kitchen. Tess had opened both while looking for a spoon.
Anna’s coat hung over the chair by the door. Her shoes stood neatly beneath it.
“This is the last of the fragile things,” Tess said. “Then at least one shelf can look finished.”
The cloth fell away from a small seated girl holding a flower. Behind her, an older girl rested one hand against a sweep of blue hair, a comb held in the other.
Tess lifted the remaining corner of cloth.
Something held.
Don’t Pull Yet
A loose thread from the frayed edge had caught between the little comb’s teeth. More fibres rested in a hollow beside the glazed hair.
Tess drew the cloth a little farther. The thread tightened into a pale line.
“Wait,” Anna said.
Tess stopped.
For a moment, neither moved. The cloth hung from Tess’s fingers, still caught at its other end.
Anna set down the paper. Her hand came toward the figure, then paused.
“Would you like me to hold it?”
“The bench, please. I’ll do this bit.”
Anna steadied the base on the table while Tess brought the cloth back toward the comb. The taut line loosened into a small loop. She let the rest of the cloth settle onto the table so its weight no longer pulled at the thread.
“There,” Anna said.
“Not quite.”
“I meant you’ve found where it’s caught.”
Tess bent closer.
Which End First
The loop lay across two tiny teeth. With the cloth slack, Tess could ease it away from one, then the other. She stopped once to change the angle of her hand. Anna kept the bench still.
A few pale fibres remained beside the blue hair. Tess gathered them with her fingertips, leaving the smooth ridge clear.
As she worked, she looked at the ceramic sister’s hand resting above the comb.
“You used to hold my hair like that.”
“Otherwise you moved your whole head.”
“You pulled.”
“Sometimes,” Anna said.
Tess glanced up. Her sister was smiling at the small girl with the flower.
“I learned to hold it above the knot,” Anna said. “You still said ow before I started.”
“I liked to give you notice.”
The last fibre came free. Tess laid the cloth aside and ran her eyes along the comb before sitting back.
“All right. You can let go.”
Anna lifted her hands from the base. Tess turned the figure slightly, and both sisters leaned in to look at the little flower they had uncovered.
Before You Go
Tess carried the figure to the low shelf beside the sofa. There was room for the whole bench, with the smaller girl’s feet clear of the edge.
She stood back, then moved an unopened box away from the front of the shelf.
“Better,” she said.
Anna folded the frayed cloth and laid it on the table. Tess sat on the sofa, looking at the two figures. For the first time that afternoon, she wasn’t holding something that needed putting somewhere else.
“The other boxes can wait,” Anna said.
Tess nodded. Anna glanced toward her coat.
“Would you stay for a bit?” Tess asked.
“Of course. What do you need?”
Tess moved a cushion to make room beside her.
“Just this.”
Anna tucked her shoes farther beneath the hall chair and came to sit down.
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