Rina put down the receiver with a wide grin.
"Now's my chance," she thought gleefully. She rubbed her
palms together, gave a little skip and danced over to her
many recipe books. She pulled them all out and placed them on
the kitchen table. Wtih a silly smile stuck on her lips, she
flipped through the pages.
"Hmmm," she said from time to time, as she hummed under her
breath.
Her husband knocked on the door and entered the apartment.
Rina hardly glanced up. He sat down. "Hi! What's up?"
Rina looked up, startled. "Oh!" she said with a little laugh.
"You frightened me."
"Ooops, sorry. Should I go back and try again?"
Rina shook her head and smiled.
"You look happy today," he noted, leaning over the table to
see what she was so busy reading.
"Uh, hunh," Rina said. "Your mother isn't feeling well..."
"Hey! What's the matter?"
"Oh, it's nothing serious.. I just happened to speak to Aidel
and she mentioned that your mother is stuck in bed with a
flu. So you know me, I offered to cook Shabbos for her and
Tatty," Rina explained.
"How thoughtful," said Yitzchok. He sat quietly in his chair,
than a crooked grin spread across his face. "Ahhh, I get it.
You're going to knock them off their feet with your gourmet
cooking, right?"
"Well," said Rina defensively, "I don't come close to any of
your sisters or sisters-in-law, you know."
Yitzchok raised an eyebrow all the way up to his hairline.
"No, actually I don't know."
"Oh, c'mon, Yitzchok. They're all so mega-talented. And me...
well, I'm just plain me. The average, regular plain Jane."
"That's not fair. You certainly are not plain. You've got
more spunk and goodness in you than three people put
together."
"Thanks, but you get the picture. Anyway, back to cooking.
The least I can do is to prove to your mother that I'm not
all that bad, and I'll cook up a storm in my own fancy way. I
can't wait to see her face!'
Yitzchok laughed as he patted his expanded stomach. "She sure
won't be disappointed in the food. Just look at me. I've put
on so much weight from your cooking that people can hardly
recognize me. What will be in ten years?"
Rina laughed. "So you think your mother will finally start
liking me?"
"But she does already!" Yitzchok nearly yelled.
Rina snorted as she put a tablecloth on the table. "Don't
think I haven't noticed the stern looks she's been giving
me."
"Nonsense."
They left it at that. Rina served the potato soup and they
ate in silence. After the dishes were washed, Rina ran to the
supermarket to get all the ingredients she would need to cook
a royal Shabbos. She stuffed her wagon and when she was
finally standing at the checkout counter, she remembered that
her mother-in-law ate only whole wheat challos.
Without a thought, she ran back to pick up a bag of whole
wheat flour and rushed back to finish unpacking the cart.
The cashier eyed the very young woman with the very large
order. "Cookin' a lot for the Sabbath, lady, aren't we?" she
said with a thick Southern accent.
Rina nodded. "It's for my mother-in-law."
"Good luck," she said, nodding in understanding as she handed
Rina the change.
As Rina was unpacking the order, Yitzchok walked in. He saw
the roast and the tongue sitting idly on the counter. "Should
I put these in the freezer?"
"Whatever for? I'm cooking them tonight."
Rina was up until two a.m. The next day, as soon as she got
home from work, she tied an apron around her waist and
continued where she had left off, working frantically. By the
time Yitzchok arrived, the bagels, side dishes, meats, soup,
dessert and two kinds of fish were done.
"I hope it's enough."
"Are you kidding?" Yitzchok said, eyeing all the dishes
spread on the counter.
"Would you mind picking up a container of cucumber salad and
coleslaw from Hoffy's tomorrow. I won't get around to making
those. Now, let's see. I'll put up the cholent in the
morning and you'll be able to take everything over by
noon."
The Shabbos was a success. The food was delicious and the
mother-in-law was very impressed. "Rina, dear, you have
overdone it. You cook very well."
Rina's heart swelled with pride. "So she finally realized
that I'm not all that worthless." The next few weeks found
Rina walking around with her head in the clouds, ecstatic.
She finally felt accepted.
Kislev came and a big family Chanuka party was planned. Rina,
the praise still warm in her heart, offered to make potato
latkes. The day of the party arrived and Rina's mother-in-law
called to find out how the latkes were coming along, and if
Yitzchok wouldn't mind picking up some extra knishes from
Hoffy's on the way home.
And so Yitzchok came home with a white box filled with
knishes that said `Hoffy's' in blue across the top.
"Mmmm, smells like Chanuka here," he said, sniffing the air.
"How're the latkes coming along?"
"I'm frying the last batch." Now how were they to transport
the huge pile? Her eyes fell on the white box. "We'll use
that. It's neater than a tray covered with silver foil."
Rina took out a large paper bag and carefully placed the
knishes in it. When the box was empty, she lined it with
foil, wax paper and then proceeded to fill it to the top with
the hot latkes.
When they were ready to go, she took the box while Yitzchok
carried the bag of knishes and off they went to his mother's
house. The place was teeming with family. Kids, babies, teens
popping out of every corner while the women fluttered about,
putting the finishing touches on the long, laden table.
"Beautiful, Ma," Rina complimented, laying the box on the
kitchen counter. Her mother-in-law eyed the box suspiciously
for a moment and carefully opened the lid. The perfectly
fried latkes smelled delicious.
Aidel said as much, popping a second one into her mouth. "You
must have worked very hard," Shira said, "but we're glad you
did." Rina beamed. She wanted to live up to the family's
reputation of perfection and talent. She glanced over at her
mother-in-law. Her lips were pressed in a tight line. Rina
stole a peek at her plate. There were three cookies and a
jelly donut on it.
Rina shrugged. She could have tasted them for my sake,
she thought.
When the party was over, she went over to thank her mother-in-
law and kiss her cheek. It felt cold.
It was a windy night. Rina pulled her coat tightly around as
they walked quietly along. "You know, your mother didn't even
thank me for the latkes."
"She probably forgot."
"Maybe."
"I'm sure she appreciated it. I remember how she hated frying
all those latkes but loved to eat them," reminisced
Yitzchok.
"Oh, did she? She must have lost her taste for them since.
She didn't even try a single one."
"Impossible!"
"I was watching her from the corner of my eye all night."
"That's strange..."
Two days later, her sister-in-law Devora called. They chatted
for about five minutes when Devora dropped the bomb. "Why did
you do that, Rina?"
"Do what?"
"You know. To say you made the latkes yourself when you
really bought them from Hoffy's."
"Huh?"
"We all know already. But you know what Ima is really upset
about? Remember how you offered to cook Shabbos for her when
she had the flu? Well, she's furious. She says you probably
bought everything from Hoffy's then, too, and pretended that
you cooked it all. She remembers seeing the label on the
salads but now she realizes that you must have bought
everything else there, too. Why did you do that, Rina? You
fooled her! You deceived us all!"
Rina's tongue lay flat in her mouth. Her eyes became moist.
She didn't hear Devora say good-bye. She held the receiver a
long time, clutched tightly to her ear.
"What!!!" she finally whispered to the dead phone.
Yitzchok came home after a long day. He found Rina in the
bedroom, the drawers all open and empty and clothing piled
high all around her.
"Hi," he said.
Rina mumbled a greeting.
"Pesach cleaning already?" he asked in bewilderment.
"No," Rina said without emotion. "I'm mad."
"Oh." Considering the mess, she must be real mad. "Care to
tell me about it?"
Yitzchok's jaw dropped as Rina filled him in. He stared at
his wife in disbelief.
"You know what really annoys me? I stood for two nights on my
two feet, giving up sleep and making sure that everything was
perfect. I so wanted to please her. And she has the nerve to
suggest that I BOUGHT the whole Shabbos? Where is her trust
in me? Why should I lie? Never mind the latkes I fried for
two hours. Big deal. What does she care? Oh, it's so
unfair!"
The anger and pain landed smack in the center of Yitzchok's
heart. "I'm calling my mother right now."
"No, you're not. You're going over to her and I'm coming
along." And Rina walked out of the messy room.
Her mother-in-law was surprised to see the young couple
popping into her house unannounced. When they sat down in the
living room, she knew they had something up their sleeve.
As Yitzchok spoke, Rina scrutinized every muscle in her
mother-in-law's face. The older woman apologized, but Rina
found no trust or respect in her eyes. That was not a
sincere apology, her heart told her.
*
Years passed. At first, Rina felt insecure and angry in her
mother-in-law's presence but as the children came along, she
realized that the woman was beginning to warm up to her. Her
confidence jumped from rung to rung until she was able to
look into her mother-in-law's eyes and smile. She realized
that every relationship takes time to build, and to win a
mother-in-law's trust demands plenty of patience as well.
When her oldest daughter was six, Rina did something she
thought she would never do again. On the afternoon before the
annual family Chanuka party, she rolled up her sleeves and
fried a huge batch of potato latkes. When Yitchok called home
to find out if she needed anything from outside, she asked
him to bring home two plain white boxes from Hoffy's.
After candlelighting, Rina lined the two boxes with wax paper
and filled them to the top.
"What is the exact plan?" he asked with a twinkle in his
eye.
"No plan. Just making peace with myself."
Rina found her mother-in-law in the kitchen, sprinkling
powdered sugar on the doughnuts. "Here, Ma," she said. "I
brought you some latkes."
Her mother-in-law glanced at the boxes. "Hoffy's" was written
in blue across the top. She looked up and met Rina's eyes. A
smile spread over her face.
"You know, I owe you an apology." Rina encouraged her with a
nod. "Many Chanukas ago, you made latkes for our party and I
accused you of buying them. I also accused you of buying that
whole Shabbos you sent over for me when I was sick."
"You know, after you and Yitzchok came over a few nights
later, I made one phone call and I knew the truth..."
"Really?" Rina asked. If only she had known earlier...
"Yes. I called up Hoffy's and asked them to send me a box of
potato latkes. They told me they don't make them, not even on
Chanuka." And then she opened one of the boxes and
sniffed.
"Yum! I can't wait to taste them. Thank you, Rina." And the
two women began arranging them on platters to be brought
in...
