The Other Side

Mila put the cardboard template on a chair. Her pencil marks were still there. It looked smaller than it had when she was holding it between the cloth and the roller.

Aron nudged the chair aside with his foot to get past her to the table.

‘Don't throw it away,’ she said.

‘I'm not.’

He laid the template beside the loose blue threads and went round to the other side. Mila tucked her hands inside her sleeves. She had told them what she'd done. The fold was still there.

Grandma studied the wooden frame. Through its opening, Mila could see the ordinary back wall of the hall. All three rooms had vanished. The cloth itself still held a pale glow, brightest round the thick fold.

‘We'll take it right off,’ Grandma said. ‘I'll be able to reach the back properly on the table.’

Mila looked at the top edge. ‘Can we, with that lump in it?’

Grandma ran a finger along a clear stretch of the side, well away from the hollow. ‘This edge isn't caught on anything. We can carry it.’

Ilyas pulled the puppet case out from under the worktable. He shut the lid and put it beside the cupboard, out of their way.

‘That's finished for today.’

He and Grandma spread a clean, smooth protective sheet over the broad worktable. The wooden sewing box went into the cupboard beside it. Mila took the drinking glasses off the corner and moved them to another table. One had left a wet ring. She wiped it up, although the cloth wouldn't touch that spot.

‘Can you stand there?’ Grandma asked, pointing to the clear part of the table. ‘Tell us if an edge starts slipping. Don't catch hold of the fold yourself.’

Mila nodded.

Ilyas steadied one of the outer rollers while Grandma lifted the cloth away from it. On the other side they had to pause. An ordinary loop went round a support, exactly where it was meant to hold up the outer edge. Grandma undid it. The silver weave sagged in a broad curve between their hands.

Mila walked alongside them as they lowered it onto the table. The dark hollow stayed in the same place. By the time they had laid out the whole cloth, the frame was empty.

Ilyas put the rollers beside it, then moved the wooden frame against the wall where it couldn't topple over.

‘There. My arms can have a change of job.’

He shook out his hands. Grandma pulled up a chair and sat down. Only then did Mila realise how often she'd been shifting her weight back onto her heels during the last few minutes.

The front of the cloth cast a cool glow onto the protective sheet underneath. Its back looked mostly ordinary: grey fabric, coloured threads, a few thicker stitches. Only at the fold was everything piled on top of everything else.

Aron slid the cardboard template closer. ‘Does this go this way round?’

Mila held her hand above it. ‘The other way. That dot was at the top.’

He turned it without a word.

Grandma picked up her glasses. ‘Show me where you started.’

Mila pointed. She no longer had to hold a thread in place to explain it. The blue link was gone. Yet two yellow stitches crossed a patch that used to have only green ones.

‘I went behind here. Then I wanted it to stay up.’

She could feel Aron watching, but kept her eyes on the cloth. Grandma traced the route with the blunt darning needle. Where the weave lay clear, its tip skimmed the protective sheet. She hadn't put it through anything yet.

‘We can put that outer one back,’ she said.

Mila drew her chair in. Grandma showed her a loose yellow loop beside the pinched edge. It lay doubled over a green stitch. She eased a little space into it and held it open.

‘There. Now.’

Mila helped with the blunt end of the needle. It needed only the smallest movement. The yellow loop dropped back into its old place. One side of the cloth relaxed.

‘It's getting smaller,’ Aron said.

Mila leaned closer. The top layer lay a little flatter now. Underneath it, though, a second fold doubled back. From the side she could see three edges, one above another, like a badly folded letter.

She reached for the next loop. Grandma set a hand on the table beside her wrist.

‘Wait. This one's different.’

Mila stopped. She hadn't put any pressure on the needle. It was easy to draw it out, so she did.

Ilyas came in from the main hall with his phone. He'd spoken to Eva. She was on her way. He put a plate of sandwiches on the other table and went looking for the water jug.

‘I told her everyone could walk straight out,’ he said. ‘Before she sent three fire engines round.’

‘Mum doesn't send fire engines round,’ Mila said.

‘Then I wasted an excellent explanation.’

Aron took a sandwich and sat on the end of the bench. Mila nearly said they hadn't finished. Then she looked at the clock: a quarter to ten. The moment she glanced at the plate, her stomach rumbled.

She put the needle in Grandma's pincushion. It was a little red thing with a crooked seam, small enough to fit in her palm. She left it well back from the edge.

Eva arrived while Mila was eating her last crust. Still wearing her coat, she looked at the empty frame, then the table, then Mila.

‘Show me.’

Mila pulled up a chair for her. She began with the template. Eva listened without taking the cardboard out of her hands. When Mila reached the two extra wraps, her mother looked up.

‘So that was something you changed yourself.’

‘Yes.’

‘I'm glad you told them.’

That was all she said. Mila couldn't tell whether Mum was going to be angry later. At least she wasn't pointing towards the door.

Grandma showed her the smaller fold. ‘We've put this bit back. It's still caught inside there.’

Eva looked along the grey back of the cloth. ‘Couldn't we take it outside like this?’

Mila knew what she meant. The place was ready; they could return the light there. She looked at the three layers along the edge.

‘This bit would still be folded shut,’ she said. ‘Like that corner on Sunday. Only I can't just unfold this.’

Eva nodded slowly and walked round the table to look from the other side.

Ilyas moved the plate further away from their work. He brought over two empty chairs and switched on the ordinary lamp above the table. The hollow stayed dark. All round it, the yellow stitches were much easier to see.