A New Place for the Drawing Bench

In August, Ines and Dev had claimed a courtyard bench as their drawing spot. An awning shaded it from the hot afternoon sun. Other students soon joined them with clipboards and pencils. Ines liked hearing everyone talk while she sketched. Every day after lunch, she carried her clipboard straight to the bench.

By October, the bench was mostly empty. Ines rubbed her cold fingers beneath the awning. Dev stayed for five minutes, then tucked his pencil away. "My hands are too stiff to draw," he said. Ines looked across the courtyard. A bright patch of sunlight lay beside the brick wall. Their old shady spot no longer felt comfortable.

That evening, Ines opened her sketchbook. She wrote the heading "A Place to Draw in Autumn." Beneath it, she drew the courtyard and marked the sunny patch. She was reluctant to leave their bench behind. They had spent so many happy afternoons there! Then she looked at the empty space beside the wall and had an idea.

The next day, Ines asked Dev to test the spot with her. They sat there on their folded jackets. Soon her fingers felt warmer, and the wall blocked the cool breeze. Dev finished a drawing of his shoe. "We need our bench here," he said. Ines grinned. That was exactly what she had been thinking.

Ines showed her sketch to Ms. Bell, their teacher. Moving the bench was a job for adults, so Ms. Bell asked the caretaker to help. Together, they carried it from beneath the awning to the wall. Ines and Dev brought their clipboards over. Two classmates saw them drawing in the sunshine and came to join them.

"I thought autumn had ended our drawing group," Ines told Dev. "It just changed where we sit," he replied. That afternoon, Ines added a picture of the busy bench to her sketchbook. Below it, she wrote a caption: "Same friends, sunnier spot." She left the next page blank for whatever winter might bring.