After a fight with her ill sister Alice, eleven-year-old Sadie is sent to the hospital waiting area and then to the game room, where she finds Sam, an injured boy recovering from a devastating foot injury, playing Super Mario Bros. They talk easily, share jokes about dysentery from Oregon Trail, switch to Duck Hunt, and discover a natural rhythm as playmates. Sam laughs for the first time in weeks despite pain, and Sadie leaves feeling seen.

A nurse tells Sharyn that Sam’s engagement with Sadie is a breakthrough, and Sharyn asks Sadie to visit again, suggesting it could count as Bat Mitzvah community service. Sadie returns, and the two continue playing and talking; the narration frames play as an intimate act that requires trust.

Over many months, Sadie and Sam copilot games, exchange stories, and teach each other skills—Sadie shares BASIC and Pascal; Sam broadens her drawing techniques. Sam begins crafting intricate mazes for Sadie, ostensibly hopeful puzzles but in truth gifts designed with her in mind, reinforcing their bond.

After each visit, Sadie quietly submits a timesheet to nurses for signature. Her grandmother, Freda, questions the morality of mixing charity with friendship, warning that “friendship is friendship, and charity is charity.” Sadie recognizes the risk but continues, enjoying the praise and the ritual, while not telling Sam.

Fourteen months into the routine, Sam discovers the existence of the community service timesheet. The revelation ends their friendship, which Sadie’s log totals at 609 hours plus the initial four uncounted hours. Sadie receives recognition from Hadassah for her service, even as the relationship that service documented collapses.