Earthenware

On an ordinary evening, a young mathematics tutor finds herself alone with her withdrawn fifteen-year-old student. The girl's mother, who is running late for work, has just
had a difficult morning with her daughter and asks the tutor to find out what's wrong. The girl hasn’t eaten the whole day, hasn’t spoken much, and is giving her mother the cold shoulder.
But instead of trying to “solve” anything, the tutor simply stays and gives the girl space, even saying that they need not study that day if the girl is not feeling up to it. Over the course of the evening, through shared silence, an impromptu conversation about books, a parcel of handmade clay tea cups, and a discussion about sculpture and poetry, the girl’s emotional walls begin to crumble. The tutor never pushes — but the space she offers allows the girl to slowly soften. Eventually, she chooses to study, and almost without realizing, she reaches for a snack.