“You didn’t think,” Tammy snapped. “If you had, you’d have realized that editing off a part of someone’s face is rude and insensitive”

IT

was another golden morning in the Rosen household. Estee hadn’t gotten up before Yonah left, though — did that mean shanah rishonah was over?

She’d woken around ten, davened, made a coffee, and was just sitting down with her mug and the rest of yesterday’s cinnamon bun when someone knocked. Not many people came to their little side door, and Estee was so startled, she almost spilled coffee on her keyboard.

She took a quick peek through the glass. Omigosh, it was only Tammy.

She pulled open the door, laughing. “Tammy! I can’t believe you found me in this basement. Come in! Wow, I was totally not expecting anyone.”

She stopped speaking when she suddenly realized that Tammy hadn’t said a word.

“Tammy?”

She looked at her former coworker. Only the other day, she’d been so hyper at the photoshoot. Who was this cold, quiet woman now standing in the entranceway of her basement apartment?

Tammy followed her inside and perched stiffly on the small couch.

“Why’d you edit out Shani’s birthmark?” The words came out in a rush.

Estee felt the heat rush to her face. She coughed. “Oh! Ah, I thought… maybe… just to, uh, clean up the photo. Was editing off the baby’s mosquito bite and I thou—”

“No, you didn’t.”

Estee closed her mouth.

“You didn’t think,” Tammy snapped. “If you had, you’d have realized that editing off a part of someone’s face is rude and insensitive. It’s saying that the way Hashem made you needs to be improved. It’s also erasing 13 years of self-confidence that I’ve instilled in my daughter.”