The Cats in the Doll Shop by Yona Zeldis McDonough

Plucky!
    â€œDid you do that?” Trudie says, peering over my shoulder so she can see, too.
    Shyly, Tania nods. She must have used the colored pencils Mama keeps in the shop.
    â€œIt’s really good!” says Trudie.
    â€œIt’s beautiful,” I say, and hand the drawing back. And it is. Even more than his ears and his paws, his tail and his whiskers, she has captured something else about Plucky. Something that seems to live inside him, not just on the outside.

    Tania pushes the drawing back in my direction. She must want me to keep it. A present.
    â€œThank you,” I tell her, taking the drawing once again.
    Tania smiles shyly.
    â€œCan I see?” Sophie asks. She has gotten out of her bed and is reaching up for the drawing. I am surprised. Since that night months ago when she tattled on Tania about the food, she has pretty much ignored our cousin. And Tania has kept her distance, too. Silently, I hand Sophie the drawing. She looks at it for a long time.
    â€œThis is the best drawing of a cat I have ever seen,” she says finally. “It’s so good it could be in a book. Or maybe even a museum.” She hands the drawing back to me. I am not sure whether Tania understood everything that Sophie said, but her face has a gone a deep, pleasedlooking pink. Then she does something else surprising. She hands Shannon to Sophie.
    â€œYou want to show her to me?” says Sophie. Tania nods, so Sophie takes Shannon and looks her over admiringly before handing her back. “She’s a very special doll,” Sophie says.

    Soon it is the first night of Chanukah. We light candles in the menorah at sundown, and the smell of Mama’s crispy brown latkes and cinnamon-laced applesauce is in the air. There are small gifts for us to share, too, like a bag of almonds, an orange and, best of all, pieces of chocolate Chanukah gelt, wrapped in shining gold foil.
    We use the gelt as part of the game we play with the wooden dreidel that always comes out of cupboard on the holiday. It’s a game of chance that involves winning and losing the chocolate coins. First Sophie is winning, then Trudie, and finally Tania. But when we are done, we divide up the gelt again, so everyone gets the same number of pieces. I eat two of mine right away but decide to save the rest. I’ll be glad have some left for tomorrow.
    Later, Papa comes in to say good night. He sits down on Trudie’s bed, and starts telling us the story of Chanukah. We all know it of course. But it’s fun to lie in bed and listen to Papa tell it again. A long, long time ago, Papa begins, the holy temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the eternal flame was in danger of going out. Papa explains how the flame had to remain lit all the time. The Jews of that time knew that they needed eight days to make more purified oil. There was only enough oil left in the lamp for a single night. But the oil miraculously burned for eight nights, long enough for new oil to be pressed and the lamp to be filled. So now we celebrate those eight nights by lighting candles to remember the miracle. As Papa talks, my mind drifts. Maybe there is room for a little miracle in our lives. Maybe Plucky will come back, safe and unharmed, and Papa will let him stay. Now wouldn’t that be a miracle? I cannot help wishing.

    Once Chanukah is over, Papa, Mama, and the O’Learys really have to buckle down to work. There’s not much time until Christmas, and there are still plenty of dolls to prepare. Night after night, the four of them stay late in the doll shop, cutting, stuffing, gluing, and sewing. We girls help, too, though Mama does not want our schoolwork to suffer, so she will not let us stay up too late, and sends us up to bed.
    The stress takes its toll. First Papa gets a cold, and as soon as he is better, Mama gets it, too. Kathleen and Michael come down with it at the same time. They have to stay home. I miss Michael’s whistling and