Dina Draws Her Own Shopping List

Every Thursday morning, Mama went to the big outdoor market at the end of the street. And every Thursday morning, Dina begged to go with her.

The market was Dina's favorite place in the whole town. It was full of colors and sounds and smells. There were stalls piled high with red tomatoes and purple eggplants. There were baskets of oranges that glowed like little suns. There were sellers calling out, "Fresh bread! Sweet grapes! Good cheese!" And there was always the warm, spicy smell of roasting nuts drifting through the air.

This Thursday, Mama had a cold. Her nose was red, and her voice was croaky.

"Dina," she said, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of hot ginger tea, "I need some help today. Would you like to be my special helper at the market?"

Dina jumped up and down. "Yes! Yes, please!"

"Good," said Mama. "I'm going to walk slowly, so you will be in charge of the shopping list. You can tell me what we need to buy."

Dina stopped jumping. She looked at Mama's shopping list. It was a piece of paper covered in neat, curly writing. Dina was five, and she knew some letters. She knew D for Dina and M for Mama. But she could not read all those curly words yet.

"Mama," she said quietly, "I can't read the list."

Mama sneezed into her handkerchief. "Oh dear," she said. "I forgot about that. Never mind. I'll just read it myself."

But Dina really wanted to be in charge. She thought hard. Then she had an idea.

"Wait!" she said. "Tell me what's on the list. I'll make my own."

She ran to her room and came back with a big piece of paper and her box of crayons. She sat down beside Mama.

"What's first?" she asked.

"Tomatoes," said Mama. "Six tomatoes."

Dina took her red crayon. She drew a tomato. It was round and red, with a little green star on top. Then she drew five more, all in a row. One, two, three, four, five, six.

"What's next?"

"Bread," said Mama. "One round loaf."

Dina took her brown crayon and drew a big round loaf of bread, with little dots of sesame seeds on top.

"Then eggs," said Mama. "A box of eggs."

Dina drew a box with lots of small white ovals inside. It was hard to draw white on white paper, so she drew them with a grey outline.

"Lemons," said Mama, "three lemons. And some mint. And one onion."

Dina drew three yellow lemons, a bunch of green mint leaves, and one onion. The onion was a bit tricky. She drew a round shape and colored it with her orange crayon, then added a little curly sprout on top.

"That's everything," said Mama, looking at the picture list. "Dina, this is wonderful. It's even better than mine."

Dina beamed. She folded her picture list carefully and held it tight.

At the market, everything was busy and bright. Dina held Mama's hand and her list at the same time.

"First, tomatoes," Dina announced, pointing to the six red tomatoes on her list. She led Mama to the vegetable stall of Uncle Mansour. He had a big moustache, a striped apron, and a kind voice.

"Good morning, little lady," he said. "What can I get for you?"

Dina held up her list. "Six tomatoes, please," she said, counting on her fingers.

Uncle Mansour looked at the drawing and chuckled. "That is the best shopping list I have ever seen," he said. He chose six shiny tomatoes and put them in a bag.

Next, they went to the bakery stall. Dina pointed to the round loaf on her list, and the baker handed them a warm loaf covered in sesame seeds, just like her drawing.

Then the eggs. Then the lemons. Then a fresh, sweet-smelling bunch of mint.

"Now the last one," said Dina. She looked at the round orange shape with the curly sprout on top.

Then she stopped.

There was a whole basket of oranges right in front of her. They were round and orange. Some of them even had a little green leaf on top.

Dina looked at her drawing. She looked at the oranges. Was her drawing an orange? Or was it an onion?

She frowned. Her drawing looked a lot like an orange.

"Dina?" said Mama, sniffling. "What's next?"

Dina didn't answer right away. She closed her eyes and tried to remember. She remembered sitting at the kitchen table. She remembered Mama's croaky voice. "Lemons, three lemons. And some mint. And one..."

"Onion!" said Dina, opening her eyes. "It's an onion. I colored it orange because I didn't have a light brown crayon."

Mama laughed, which made her cough a little. "You're right," she said. "Well done for remembering."

Dina went to Uncle Mansour's stall again and picked out one round, papery onion. Then she took her purple crayon from her pocket, and right there at the market, she drew little lines on her onion picture, the way real onions had, so it would never look like an orange again.

Uncle Mansour watched her. "A clever shopper fixes her own list," he said, and he gave her one small orange as a present. "For the best helper in the market."

On the way home, Dina carried the bag of mint and her orange. Mama carried the rest.

"Thank you for helping me today," said Mama. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"Even though I can't read yet?" asked Dina.

"You found your own way," said Mama. "That's just as good."

When they got home, Mama made tomato soup with mint and fresh bread, and they ate it together at the kitchen table. It was the best soup Dina had ever tasted, because she had helped to buy every single thing in it.

After lunch, Dina stuck her picture list on the fridge with a magnet.

"Next Thursday," she said, "I'll make the list again. And I'll ask for a light brown crayon."