There was a slight pause, in which Tammy’s overtired imagination leaped to everything from a heart attack to being kidnapped by terrorists

ZeeZee’s adrenaline had been pumping ever since she’d entered the ambulance, and two hours later, still sitting with Miriam in Shaare Zedek’s crowded ER, that high hadn’t abated.

She wasn’t anxious like most of the people in the waiting room; the EMTs had splinted Miriam’s leg so she was no longer in terrible pain. Now they were waiting for it to be x-rayed — apparently low, low priority on the triage list. Luckily, ZeeZee had packed lots of snacks, and she was keeping up a constant stream of jokes and observations about their fellow patients for Miriam’s entertainment.

But between the jokes, ZeeZee took some moments to breathe in the energy around her.

“How cool would it be to become an EMT?” She turned to Miriam. “You think they give courses in English here?”

“I’d rather stay as far away from hospitals as I can,” Miriam grumbled.

ZeeZee leaned forward in her hard plastic seat. “Look at that girl over there,” she said, pointing to a girl with a clipboard who was talking to an elderly couple a few rows away. “She looks like she’s our age, no? You think they’d take me as a volunteer?”

Miriam shook her head. “You’re still looking for a chesed placement? I don’t get why you don’t just go to a family like the rest of us. My chesed family is so cute!”

A week had passed since ZeeZee had informed Mrs. Edelman that working with children with special needs wasn’t for her. Meanwhile, all the other girls had already started their chesed, and the hock in the dorm lounge the past few days had been all about their families — who had the most kids, who had the schmooziest mothers, and who’d already been invited to stay for dinner and bring their laundry.

ZeeZee wasn’t at all jealous of this experience, but she was desperate to get started on her own. She was trying to figure out how to ask that girl with the clipboard about volunteering when Miriam said, “D’you think Tziri got lost or something?”

Their madrichah had left to find out how much longer they had to wait. ZeeZee was surprised to see she’d been gone 15 minutes already.