DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Kotiah-Yovanovitch International School
HTML https://kyis.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Landon-Burchard-Durren Union
*****************************************************
#Post#: 44--------------------------------------------------
That Other Family Table I
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 13, 2019, 12:05 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Tikvah sat still as a stone on the bus back from White Plains.
Despite the heat, her cheeks were pale. She stared out the
window. Corianne sat next to her, glad that Albina was tired,
hungry, and not nattering on endlessly. Corianne tried to figure
out what had happened. Tikvah was emotional. She cried easily.
She had a long phone call in the bathroom in WalMart. The phone
call was in a foreign language. Tikvah said she was from
Rockland County, but she dressed funny, which made her like a
foreign student. Well, that made the foreign language make
sense, but not the rest.
Well, maybe it did make sense. Families were a major source of
heart ache. It had taken weeks for Corianne to get over her
mother taking a job in the Emirates. She and the stepmother,
Cherie, had faught endlessly because Cherie was narrow minded
enough to think all kids were basically widgets produced in the
child factory, and Corianne was not much of a widget. "Why do
you have to make things difficult?" Cherie cluelessly
complained. It had taken a whole school year and a retched
summer, for Corianne to wear out her welcome. It was done and
over with, but Tikvah was probably just beginning things, though
it was true, Tikvah's situation could be entirely different.
Albina and her charges got off the bus in front of the Duane
Reade. "You are better off buying sundries here than online,"
Albina said to [Color=#004bdd]Suri[/color], the girl with the
lovely braids. They were still lovely even after a whole day.
"Now we have a long walk," the broad shouldered girl complained.
"Can you tell me what a sundry is?" Albina made a non sequitur.
Broad shoulders blinked. "Something you buy in a drug store,"
copper head picked up from the conversation. "Nice try," thought
Corianne who raised her hand.
"Little things that aren't food like soap, shampoo, toothpaste,
scouring powder."
"Did all of you hear that?" Albina asked.
There were tired grunts of assent. "Why shouldn't you buy
sundries online?" Buying sundries online sounded like a
perfectly good idea to Corianne, though what she still wanted
was a pajama keeper.
"OK, what happens when you buy something online?"
"You pay for it with your debit card," Copper Head answered.
"And then...."
"If it gets excepted Amazon takes the money out of your debit
card account."
"And then...."
"It gets delivered..."
"How soon..."
"In a few days."
"And what if it's toothpaste?"
"It's the same as anything else."
"What if you're out of toothpaste?"
"You gotta wait."
"And how many toothpaste tubes do you neeed?"
"One..." Copperhead blinked.
Albina took a breath. "OK, tonight one of you is going to try to
order a tube of toothpaste on Amazon while the rest of us watch.
You don't really have to order it. You can cancel but I want all
of you to see."
Corianne realized Albina's lesson had failed, but what ten year
old kids had experience with Amazon?
Corianne mused about this as the group made it's way back up
Hartsdale Ave. to Hillcrest to Ridge Road. Corianne called to
the girls to walk only two abreast which meant Corianne walked
near the end with Tikvah who was utterly consumed in her misery.
Albina made the broad shouldered girl tap open the gate to let
them all in at Kotiah-Yovanovitch and then it was off to
Landon-Burchard-Durren for dinner. It was quarter of six, and
there was no line. Tikvah begged to go to the bathroom and wash
her hands. Corianne thought that would be a good idea too. "You
aren't going to call anybody?" she asked.
Tikvah shook her head. The two girls climbed the stairs and
found Albina and the rest of the crew waiting "Tikvah," Albina
called out. "Want to find a table for us tonight?"
Tikvah blinked She glanced around and then headed straight past
the beverage bar to the two square tables by the window except
one was taken by two semi-adult girls eating happily. Tikvah
turned tdo the right and found two empty tables nearby. "OK,
let's put these tables together." Tikvah and Albina began
shoving one table while broad shoulders and
[Color=#004Bdd]Jupita[/Color] pushed the other into place.
"Maybe Tikvah was just hungry. That could be part of it,"
Corianne told herself. "Let's look at tonight's menu. They
change it every day."
Tikvah silently tagged along. It was only a single menu this
evvening:
LBD Dinner 8/30/20
Main Line
Roast Turkey
Blackened Pork Chops
Salmon Filet
Spinach Feta Baraka
Dressing
String Beans
Carrots
Cold Bar
German Potato Salad
Cranberry Sauce
Fresh Fruit
Assorted Baked Desserts
Specialty Station 1
Pizza by the Slice
Specialty Station 2
Sizhuan Stir Fry
Beef Fried Rice
Have a Great Week!
"I'm going to get the salmon?" Corianne squeezed out clueless
small talk.
Tikvah sighed. "You want to talk about it later?" Corianne
asked. "This is a really public place," she reasoned aloud.
"Pork," was the only word Tikvah said.
"You don't have to eat it if you don't like it. It's probably
real spicy cause it's blackened."
"That's what adults say," Tikvah found her tongue.
"It's true. We get choices here."
"I'm having pizza," Tikvah said. "See you at the table."
"Well," thought Tikvah. "That was kind of an improvement." She
got on the hot line, but then remembered to start at the
beverage bar first. Then she headed to the hot line for salmon
and both vegetables and got peach pie or dessert. "I'll get fat
as a house in this place," thought Corianne. The hot afternoon
was a distant memory, though Tikvah's voice echoing through the
women's bathroom in Walmart still eched through her head. "Do I
have a crazy roommate?" Corianne wondered.
Tikvah had red plain pizza, coconut cookies, and milk on her
tray. She sat next to Corianne, and Corianne noticed Tikvah was
slowly, silently crying. "OK, I need everyone's attention,"
Albina began. "After we get done with our little Amazon
experiment, we have a whole evening ahead of us before I call
curfew and light's out. What would you ladies like to do."
"Can we play games?" asked a small girl with curly hair
"What kind of games."
"Just game games."
"Board games?"
"No, games like in school or camp."
"What kind of games?"
Tikvah smiled, and yes it was fun to watch an adult be clueless.
"Rover Red Rover or Red Light Green Light," Tikvah spoke up.
"I was thinking Wolves and Bunnies," small and curly answered.
"How about limbo bar or Little George Washington," suggested
Suri
Corianne stared down at her salmon dinner. Fish twice a day was
great, but children's playground games were totally stupid.
"This is worse than the schools in Indiana," she thought as she
felt a black pit open up in her stomach. "Is crying contagious?"
she wondered.
Albina's voice came from far away. "Do you want to play in the
pent house, Rapinoe-Conolly-Brinker or outside.
"Is there a playground?" Suri wistfully asked.
"There's a soccer field we can use."
"And this is what I came all the way from Indiana for," Corianne
sighed, and Dad would not care, Cherie would say "Go along to
get along," and Mon was too far away. Crying, did not have to be
contagious.
#Post#: 49--------------------------------------------------
Re: That Other Family Table
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 16, 2019, 9:24 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Corianne decided to have cereal that morning like Tikvah. They
even had Grape Nuts, not in the big pour out containers, but in
boxes on the shelf along with endless energy bars which
according to Corianne's mother were just candy or cookies. There
was even honey for the Grape Nuts and fresh nectarines and
cranberry juice cocktail. Corianne realized she had not had
Grape Nuts in ages, because Cherie, the stepmother, forgot to
buy them.
Tikvah found Reeses balls on the top shelf. She had grapefruit
juice and milk with her breakfast. The two of them found the
table, Suri had chosen.. Albina was holding court, in the way
that adults in authority just love to talk. "...we need to set
up a schedule of activities for today. A lot of you didn't enjoy
your shopping and banking tour, so today we can just have fun.
What would you like to do?"
"Let's go to Playland," suggested the copper headed, African
American girl.
"Do you know how much that costs?" Money was a great way for
adults to say no.
"I think you better open your app," suggested a small girl with
very, curly hair.
"You mean my phone," copper head replied. Other kids also
reached for their phones. If Albina were a teacher, she would be
the kind who liked to show people. Had Albina been a teacher,
Corianne wondered. Tikvah was the first one to find the Playland
home page and how much it cost. "$30 unless you are a
Westchester resident or very short," she announced.
"That's almost a week's allowance," copper head caught on.
"I guess we play games then," Suri announced.
"We don't have to play games," Albina countered. "There are
activities in the art rooms and in the Anderson-Randazzo [The
handicraft building]. There's an on-campus nature walk, and one
of the Suite Advisors is teaching inprov drama, plus there's a
stage makeup demonstration. The pool is open."
"Let's go swimming," Corianne suggested. Swimming beat games any
day of the week. Suri and Jupita responded with dirty looks.
"How about an art or craft activity?
"Most kids can't draw," broad shoulders explained.
"Alright so what do we do."
"Let's take a vote," Jupita suggested.
That was how games won, for the morning. In the afternoon, the
girls would obey Albina by trying improv drama. Corianne did the
math. It only took three game loving girls to get one or two
other kids to make a majority. The girls who liked art or wanted
to go on nature walks or swim, would never have a chance. Who
said the world was fair.
#Post#: 53--------------------------------------------------
Re: That Other Family Table
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 17, 2019, 6:34 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
There was a long line for dinner in the dining hall. Tikvah and
the other girls from their suite eased into it.
"Just don't make us do that again," wailed Jupita. That as
improv class. Tikvah decided that Jupita deserved to be in big
trouble for mouthing off and walking away. So far, the other
shoe didn't drop. Albina, the mora, was being uncommonly nice.
Tikvah wondered if given a choice, whether she would go back to
improv. class. There wouldn't be an improv class for a while,
but dramatics would be an after school activity. Tikvah
remembered reading plays in her school in Brooklyn. She had
liked it well enough, but real acting meant you became someone
else, and you could forget who you are. You really could.
Tikvah glanced at her friend, Corianne, who had zoned out. Too
many big, strong girls loved sports to get much fun in the way
of activities, unless they could sign up for them as
individuals. There were all sorts of activities just as there
were all sorts of subjects. All those subjects were what Tikvah
had liked about her school in Brooklyn, and it was all those
subjects that she'd miss when she got back to New Square. Yes,
it was when, not if. "Patience," Tikvah told herself.
The line inched up the stairs. "Every game doesn't have to put
everyone out but the winner, and you don't always have to score
points," Albina made adult, trickery talk, except she had gone
to imrpv and been in the class with the rest of them, so that
put something behind the trickery.
"Yeah, but is the rest of the world like improv?" the copper
headed girl asked.
"Depends what you're doing." That was adult trickery.
It was pretty obvious you didn't play volleyball or Mother May I
all the time, but then again, a lot of activities were
competitive. There was always a best, or a shining star, a
favorite, and then everybody else. Tikvah wanted to go back to
New Square, as opposed to Muncey or Ramapo or Lakewood because
her father had been among the best. The Skverrer were not
Lubavitchers. They didn't just take any bal tshuva off the
street and let him in. They let in tati. They also let in mommy,
but that was a mistake. Mom loved dad. They married. They were a
perfect pair...sort of, or for a while and then....
But tati had proved himself a star in learning. He had turned
his back on language camps and drama camps, and a secular high
school where he was valedictorian and a year ahead. "When you do
what HaShem wants instead of what Tikvah wants, it means
something, really means something," he had once explained to his
first-born daughter.
"Hey dipshit the line is moving!" yelled Nelia who had broad
shoulders and who could almost knock the skin off a volleyball.
Tikvah entered the dining room doors with the usual trepidation.
"Too many choice just confuse people," she told herself, though
she knew she had heard it somewhere.
"Let's get a table first!" Albina called out. "Nelia, Jupita,
it's your turn.!" That meant they sat near the burlap covered
wall but blessedly close to the window.
"Let's check out tonight's menu," Corianne told Tikvah.
"You always get fish," Tikvah replied.
"You always get cereal."
"That or pizza, but maybe they won't have pizza. It's good to
know."
Corianne agreed.
LBD Dinner 8/31/20 -- Labor Day
Main Line
Baby Back Ribs
Bar-b-que Chicken
Popcorn Shrimp
Southern Fried Tofu
Corn on the cob
Herbed zucchini
Cold Bar
Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage
Tailgate Coleslaw
Fresh Fruit
Assorted Baked Desserts
Specialty Station 1
Pizza by the Slice
Specialty Station 2
Hunan Stir Fry
Chicken Fried Rice
Happy Labor Day!
"What kind of an animal do baby back ribs come from?" Tikvah
asked Corianne.
The girl shrugged. "You can ask the servers."
"That means I wait in the line for nothing."
"You won't eat the chicken?"
"It's treif."
"I won't eat the chicken either."
"Why not?"
"Just not my thing. I think I'm having the stir fry."
Both girls drifted toward the beverage bar. "Look, I'll wait in
the hot line and ask, if you're scared."
"I'm not scared. I'll handle it."
So Tikvah got in the hot line for the first time. When the line
reached the serving counter, and the server asked "what do you
want?" she asked:
"What kind of meat is in the baby back ribs?"
"Ribs?"
"Yes but from what sort of animal?"
"Pork," the server did not miss a beat.
"Can I just have an ear of corn then?" asked Tikvah.
"Sure," the server smiled.
Tikvah walked away with her corn on the cob on a small plate.
They were serving pizza at the pizza by the slice station, and
there was even plain, red pizza. There were no cookies on the
cold bar, so Tikvah found her way to the junk food bar and got
some animal crackers. Corianne was in line at the stir fry bar,
and after that she picked up some Chinese baby corn at the salad
bar and a piece of cake with cherry filling on top. They were
the last kids back to their table, but Tikvah didn't care. She
thought for the moment of her call to tati tonight. With
unlimited data, she could speak to him as much as she wanted.
"What'd you get?" Tikvah asked Corianne.
"Pork stir fry with lots of peppers and cabbage," Corianne
answered. "I don't keep kosher she confessed."
Tikvah told herself she always knew the time would come. Tikvah
glanced up and down the table. If she and Corianne were alone,
she would try to explain. Corianne was ignorant, and she needed
to hear it. She was Jewish, even if she knew nothing about her
faith and how to take care of her neshama. "Too bad I won't be
here long enough to teach her," Tikvah told herself. Then she
remembered to be patient.
Meanwhile, Albina explained about Tuesday before labor day which
was elective scheduling day. All middle schoolers were on one of
six teams in their grade. Everyone ate lunch at the same time,
so if your roommate or friend was on another team, it was not
so bad. There were 2,400 middle school students. That meant a
lot of kids. Because Tikvah, and a small girl with curly hair
both had electives that only met at 11am, instead of the usual
3pm slot, they would be on Team 6. "Does anyone else plan on
swimming for PE this marking period?" Albina looked up and down
the table.
"We get to pick what we do for gym?" Corianne asked a rhetorical
question.
"Yes."
"I'd love to swim."
"Would you like to do it at 11am?"
One time seemed as good as any other, "but isn't that beginning
swimming?" she asked.
"They have all levels. I can do an override to get you on Team
6. It will be good not to start school with all strangers."
"Thank you," Corianne answered.
"Too bad none of this will last," Tikvah reminded herself.
"OK, that's three of you, now for the rest of you. You need to
pick a PE plus one elective, and Corianne, Tikvah, and you just
need one elective. Open up your app and see what's available for
Fifth Grade Team 6. There were four choices, art, music, metal
shop, and mindfulness.
Mindfulness sounded like another religion. Tikvah was glad
Corianne was not interested. Art was the no brainer choice and
both girls decided to go for it. The other girls had more
choices. Tikvah did no envy them. "I won't be here for long,"
she told herself again and again.
#Post#: 63--------------------------------------------------
Re: That Other Family Table
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 21, 2019, 8:29 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday lunch was going to be a group affair. Connie was a
chatty and sociable type whose suite ate with several other RA's
including two who were male. It seemed only natural for Connie
to invite Albina to join the group. "How are we going to get the
tables together?" Albina asked. "With my luck, Kadie, will again
be in the group," Albina thought.
"We just pair up the tables and put them near each other. It
makes a nice big family," Connie explained.
Albina realized she was trapped. She wondered if she should warn
Connie that she just turned her charges loose at meal time and
didn't care what they ate as long as they had something on their
tray. The food was decent, and most of the girls liked what they
ate.
At long last, the group got in the dining hall. Two male Suite
Advisors were already inside, and the boys at one of their
tables chowed down on identical meals. "Here we go again,"
Albina thought. "Suri and Orielle, help Connie and me push two
tables together." The hungry girls were good sports and soon,
all of them were on their way to get lunch.
LBD Lunch 9/1/20
Main Line
Turkey Reuben
Spicy Italian Pita
Surimi Salad ona Bun
Corn Pudding
Mixed Vegetables
String Beans
Cold Bar
Potato and Egg Salad
Pepper Hash
Fresh Fruit
Assorted Baked Desserts
Specialty Station 1
Pizza by the Slice
Specialty Station 2
Hunan Stir Fry
Chicken Fried Rice
School Starts Tomorrow!
Albina began at the beverage bar where Tikvah and her roommate
were in their usual pre-meal huddle. Albina decided the menu was
not for her and grabbed a large bowl at the salad bar. She
filled it with spinach and peppers and cherry tomatoes with
ranch dressing and picked up a very full bowl of potato and egg
salad. Then she dug a fresh fall apple out of the basket, just
in time to bump into Corianne doing the same. "No pie today?"
asked Albina. "They don't have any I like," she complained.
Corianne already had peppers and cherry tomatoes in a salad bowl
with some kind of vinaigrette on her tray. Getting the cold food
first made sense.
As Albina passed the hot line she bumped into Connie with four
of her girls. "Where are your girls?" asked Connie. "All over
the place getting food. The first ones are probably at the table
eating."
Connie shook her head. Albina smiled and headed back to her
table. All the girls except Jupita were back. That was odd.
Albina turned to Suri though she asked the question to the other
six girls as well. "Does anyone know where Jupita is?"
Suri spoke up: "She got that sandwich in the pita and it was
really disgusting, so she had to throw it away." Just then
Jupita arrived. She had pepperoni pizza on her tray and a soup
bowl full of cheese doodles. "They just put new stuff in the ice
cream freezer," Jupita told everyone.
"There," thought Albina feeling vindicated.
"Now that everyone's here," a male Suite Advisor with a black
mustached like hog bristles, told all and sundry, "Let's plan
the afternoon's activities."
Albina knew where this would lead and it was not swimming,
crafts, or dramatics. She gamely offered to coach Concentration
and got an offer to call out Twister and/or help set the limbo
bar. "I find women have patience with girl games." "It's muscle
memory," Albina replied.
A female Suite Adivsir with a tortoise shell plastic hair band,
announced that everyone would have to cover, while each group
that hadn't gone yet, went to elective registration. Albina said
her group was scheduled for 4:45. That meant she would be useful
even if she did let her girls "run wild" in the dining hall.
After lunch, which the Suite Advisor with the tortoise shell
hair band insisted ended with her lingering over coffee, the
joint group drifted back to the gym. "You did really good with
that girl who had to throw her sandwich away," Connie told
Albina. "I know SA's who hate it when their kids waste food, and
having a kid complain about food... that hurts the whole suite.
Of course some of the problem is they offer too many choices."
"They do?"
"Yes, kids don't know what to get."
"I think my girls have been learning. They've had three days to
learn the lines and bars."
"You know they're going to change on Friday."
"Terrific."
"Maybe. I have to keep telling myself, there's kids from all
over the country and all over the world here. They have to have
something for everybody."
"Pretty much..."Albina answered.
"At least nobody in my suite has a food allergy," Connie said. I
know one SA who keeps an epi-pen in her kit.
"I have one girl who's a flight risk?"
"Spousal kidnapping."
Albina nodded.
"That must be rough."
"Not really. She's good in other ways."
"What will these kids do when they take their pizza away?"
"Suffer," Albina smiled. They were nearly at the gym and Albina
planned to introduce an oldie-but-goodie Chinese jump rope game
called Dumb Dumb Dodo. It was a calling game, and played with a
few comparative strangers, it would be positively brutal.
Brutality in small measures was a very good thing.
#Post#: 73--------------------------------------------------
Re: That Other Family Table
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 25, 2019, 6:13 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Albina shouldered her suite's pantry box. It wasn't really a
box, just a big vinyl bag, somewhat boxy that had a thick
shoulder strap. It was a deep aqua or muted turquoise and on its
vinyl exterior in indelible, Sharpie ink was written PANTRY BOX
11-B Al-Saigh, should the precious container ever become lost.
Several of Albina's girls were armed with empty soda bottles the
could fill at the beverage bar. As for the box, it would soon be
full of plastic bags of junk food and perhaps fresh fruit or raw
veggie sticks, depending on the girls' tastes. Dinner was early.
Nights were long. Girls get hungry, and there were not vending
machines. Therefore it was time for a pantry run.
A pantry run also helped Albina get the afternoon's meeting out
of her mind, at least for the moment. Albina shepherded her
girls into the line. She had kept them in the suite until
5:45pm, making them do homework for an hour after a brief game
of concentration, which meant a nearly free evening to do
anything that took their fancy. Most likely, they would head for
the penthouse where there were computers, craft supplies, a
Suite Advisor manning the stereo for social and/or line dancing
and a kind of open gym with either kick ball or floor hockey.
The penthouse was secure, Albina reminded herself as she
surveyed the girls. All eight of them were there.
"We should have gone earlier," wailed Jupita
"Why?"
"Everything will be gone."
"The line would be longer."
"You don't care what you eat cause you eat salad bar."
"What's wrong with salad bar."
Jupita snorted.
"We'll do a pantry run after we eat. I want to see you girls
bring home some snacks tonight," Albina announced. Shayla shook
her head. "What kind of snacks can we get?" Nelia asked.
"Whatever is out there and can go in a plastic bag. Junk food,
fruit, sliced vegetables, and soda or juice or ice tea."
"And a lot of the goods in the Junk Food bar are packaged so
just get them off the shelf. If there's no stool ask for it.
Short people rule the world."
"That's what you think," quipped Jupita. When the group finally
got in the double doors, Jupita made a bee line for the junk
food bar before Albina called her back. "Jupita and Tikvah,
let's pick out tables and put them together." The girls knew the
routine. "Now no one rush dinner, understand." She glanced over
all the girls. Tikvah was lost in thought. Dinner was a
challenge, but she rose to it. That was a good sign, Albina told
herself, but it did not change the twenty minute call to
Rockland County on Sunday or that Tikvah had been crestfallen
afterward or that she had checked her map application in the
middle of the call. Given the girl's spousal kidnapping in
April, the emotional phone call and map lookup were cause for
concern.
"If she vanishes, I'm going to be blamed," Albina thought. She
knew that was not just, but she was scr------ed. "After dinner,
if I'm still up for it, we are going to have to talk."
Meanwhile, Albina went out to survey the menu. She doubted there
was much she wanted, but she was a finicky, mature woman. In a
world of ten year olds, someone in their twenties is mature.
LBD Dinner 9/2/20
Main Line
Ranch Chicken Enchiladas
Beefy Shepherd's Pie
Pollock with Red Salsa
Black Bean Burgers
Corn
Brussels Sprouts
Cold Bar
Marinated Cole-Slaw
Canned Peaches
Fresh Fruit
Assorted Baked Desserts
Specialty Station 1
Pizza by the Slice
Specialty Station 2
Cantonese Stir Fry
Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles
We hope your week has started well!
The buns on the black bean burgers would be godawful, thought
Albina. There were black eyed peas on the salad bar. She could
have salad with beans and a couple of pieces of bread and
butter. She'd need energy to help with the pantry run.
Six of her girls had already beat her back to the table. Suri
and Tikvah were the last arrivals. Albina noticed chocolate
sandwich cookies with chocolate fudge filling on her tray. "I
see you found the junk food bar," Albina started conversation.
"It's good they have it. I don't always like the desserts.
Albina, are pork rinds really made from pork?"
"Yes," she replied. "There's pork lots of places here, but it's
labeled. Is that a good compromise?"
Tikvah thought about it "I'm not sure," she answered. "Honesty,"
thought Albina. "That's the wedge I need."
During pantry run Rupinder, a small girl with a bowl bob that
almost reflected blue because it was so dark and shiny, asked
Albina if it was legal to take canned peaches on a pantry run.
"We don't have a container for them," Albina explained.
"But...you can always buy one."
"Where?"
"We can get containers at the Container Store or Walmart in
White Plains."
"How much would something like that cost?" asked Jupita
"Between two and six dollars."
"You want us to spend our own money," Suri thought aloud.
"You'll get the container back at the end of the year and can
reuse it."
"Do we take the bus to White Plains again?" Suri asked.
"That's the way we usually get there."
"Can we go to the bank and other stores too?" asked broad
shouldered Nelia
"Certainly."
"When do we go?" Corianne asked.
"Sunday afternoon, if you get all your weekend homework done."
"What if we don't have weekend homework?" Jupita asked.
"You do free reading or extra math problems." That settled
matters. That meant a deadline. That meant a child would face
the truth and sooner rather than later.
#Post#: 78--------------------------------------------------
Re: That Other Family Table
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 27, 2019, 12:02 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
"Corianne, Tikvah, it's your turn to find a table," chirped
Albina.
"There's no way out of this," thought Corianne who was still
jealous of Tikvah's success at mechanical drawing. "If I at
least knew why or where she learned it, that would be better,"
Corianne tried to reason with herself. She also imagined
spending the whole half year until electives switched at the
drafting table while lucky Tikvah flitted through the machines.
That would be unbearable.
"Where do you want to sit?" Tikvah had no idea of Corianne's
feelings.
"You pick," Corianne just wanted time to think, but she was not
getting that time. Tikvah picked a spot on the other side of
the dining room from where they usually sat. It was a long trip
to the beverage bar that was first stop and a longer trip to the
main line, but for Tikvah all meals were a challenge of
avoiding what was forbidden, and for Corianne they were a
challenge of navigating choice. For either of them a few extra
steps did not matter. For those who simply scarfed down the same
old same old, that was their problem.
Once the two tables were pushed together, Tikvah and Corianne
set off for the beverage bar, and then it was time for the menu
reading ritual. From there, they would split, Tikvah in search
of cookies, and Corianne toward whatever looked half way good or
the salad bar. Of course Tikvah could have a question... Today's
menu was:
LBD Lunch 9/3/20
Main Line
French Dip Sandwich with Gravy
Chicken Veggie Kebobs
Shrimp Sashimi Platter
Edamame Egg Roll
Cornell Beets
Sweet Corn
Cold Bar
Bok-Choi Salad
German Potato Salad
Apple Sauce
Fresh Fruit
Assorted Baked Desserts
Specialty Station 1
Pizza by the Slice
Specialty Station 2
Mongolian Stir Fry
Pepper Steak Fried Rice
Keep up the Good Work!
Corianne went with the pepper steak fried rice and some bok-choi
salad and a fresh apple for dessert since most of the pies had
pudding in them, and it was mostly iced cake or cup cakes. She
did not have Tikvah's liking for boxed cookies at the junk food
bar. Tikvah emerged with plain red pizza, milk, and chocolate
chip cookies.
"That's not pork is it?" Tikvah asked Corianne.
"It's beef. Pepper steak is a beef dish."
"OK..." Tikvah sounded far away. Corianne remembered last night
Albina had given her a chewing out that made them all come back
late from the weeknight station party in the penthouse. Tikvah
had her own troubles. Maybe she deserved all the fun she would
have in metal shop.
#Post#: 93--------------------------------------------------
Re: That Other Family Table
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 31, 2019, 11:30 am
---------------------------------------------------------
"Tikvah, are you up to eating?" asked, the mora, Albina as they
climbed the stairs to the dining hall. Tikvah found it a strange
question, but when she thought about it, she was not hungry. Her
face hurt a little. She was not sick to her stomach. It was just
not the time to think about food.
"Who wants to put the tables together?" Albina called out to the
girls. Shayla and Jetta volunteered. They selected two tables
for four near windows with a really good view of the quad.
Tikvah realized it was time to go get food. No one was going to
serve her dinner. She had a choice, that was only half a choice,
in a fancy place that served ice cream.
In Tikvah's mind's eye, she saw a tree. The branches forked and
there was no turning back. "If I had run today..." Tikvah began.
"I'd be in New Square now..." "And then," the memory of Albina's
voice intruded. She was right, Tikvah concluded. That is why I
am here, like the guests at the big party in the Book of Esther,
drinking from the Bais ha Migdash' gold vessels and setting the
whole horrible, story of Haman in motion, except in this dining
hall the plates were melmine. There were cookies with hecshers
on the packages and ice cream novelties in the freezer and
pizza....
LBD Dinner 9/6/20
Main Line
Beef Tornadoes with Mustard Sauce
Chicken Breasts Florentine
Tilapia Francese
Cabbage Lasanga
Rosemary Potatoes Duchesse
Green Beans
Cold Bar
Marinated Tomato Medeley
Creamy Summer Squash Salad
Canned Apricots
Fresh Fruit
Assorted Baked Desserts
Specialty Station 1
Burger Bar
Specialty Station 2
Extended plant Protein for Salads
Have a Happy Week!
"Well that was a blow," thought Tikvah. The pizza had vanished
on Friday night too. Living on cereal was possible. It was
hardly a sacrifice when one thought about it. "I wonder what
Francese is," Corianne's words ended Tikvah's musings.
"Go ask," it was Corianne's own advice back at her.
"OK, but lets get something to drink first."
Tilapia Francese was made with wine which Corianne didn't like,
and the chicken Florentine was made with spinach which was not
the Jewish way of making chicken, besides all the chicken at
Kotiah-Yovanovitch was treif.
Corianne headed to the extended plant protein bar to make a
vegetarian salad. Tikvah wondered if cold beans and raw
vegetables would do it for her dinner. She thought about peanut
butter and jelly. She walked over to the bread bar and then the
condiment bar to assemble her sandwich. As with pizza, she
needed to find a water fountain to wash for bread. Since there
was no washing sink and she did not have a benscher, she was
excused from the more complicated forms of grace, or so she
reasoned.
Corianne had some sort of cold brown spaghetti with chickpeas,
cherry tomatoes, green olives, alfalfa sprouts and something
they called ranch dressing that tasted an awful lot like
mayonnaise. "You're eating hair," Suri said to Corianne as they
settled into place.
"You're eating dead cow!" Corianne replied.
"Ladies," Albina intervened. She was trying to set up a night
when they could all do laundry and wash their bed linen. She
cared about the suite staying clean. Tikvah took a bite of her
peanut butter and strawberry preserves sandwich on raisin
cinnamon bread. There was a lump in her throat when she tried to
swallow. She really did not care about laundry.
"We have metal shop tomorrow," Corianne reminded Tikvah.
Tikvah remembered she would probably graduate from doing
mechanical drawings to actually making something this week.
She'd have three classes to do it. Soon Corianne would graduate
too. The only question was what to make, and that was a lot more
interesting than discussing laundry.
Tikvah wondered what the bochur would have thought of the metal
shop. Her father might find it interesting. He might ask his
daughter if she considered making things out of metal women's
work. She would reply that you could make jewelry and
decorations. Down the hall both boys and girls worked fixing
cars and motorcycles. There was nothing unJewish about learning
to make stuff. That much Tikvah was sure about. Metal shop would
not saw up or drill away Yiddishkeit.
"What do you think I should do for my first project in metal
shop?" Tikvah asked Corianne.
"I don't know, probably some kind of decoration or a piece of
jewelry."
"If my mom were nicer, I'd make her jewelry."
"Why not make jewelry for your dad."
"Jewish men don't wear jewelry."
"What about cuff links?"
"What are those. Jewelry men use instead of buttons to hold
their sleeves together. They also wear class rings and lapel
pins and tie tacks and bars. I've seen it. Does your Dad wear a
tie to shul."
"To shul and when he works, but jewelry is for women."
"Women don't wear ties."
"You have a point," Tikvah replied. "And every time someone asks
Dad about his tie pin, he'll say his daughter made it. He'll
have to tell the world he has a daughter he loves. Everyone will
know that I can see my father," she thought. "Yes..." She took
another bite of her peanut butter and strawberry preserve
sandwich and felt profound relief.
"Want to do stations after dinner?" Albina asked the table.
"I'll staff Concetration and Chinese Jump Rope for the first
half."
Tikvah saw her suite mates smile. She could always read her book
on light. The bochur would like that book for its pictures, but
he probably did not read English well enough to understand it.
He also would not understand the math. Tikvah only half
understood it. She had had to ask Albina how to read powers and
exponents. They had not yet had them even in enrichment math.
Tikvah thought some more about the bochur. He was learned where
it counted, but she already knew more general studies than he
did, and yes women needed general studies to support husbands,
brothers, and sons who learned. Tikvah wondered if she wold
support someone like the bochur someday and something inside her
recoiled. He was not the least bit cute, and he really needed to
do something about his acne. Tikvah guessed he probably smelled
awful. Her own father smelled of deodorant. Tikvah wondered if
she could ask a husband she supported to see a dermatologist,
wear clean clothes, bathe, and deodorize. She would ask her
father that in private when she saw him next time.
#Post#: 103--------------------------------------------------
Re: That Other Family Table
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: January 4, 2020, 7:04 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Albina, the mora (She was in mora mode again), took everyone
back to Al-Sigh 11B for a half hour or more of homework. "We
either use this time productively or we wait in line." Put that
way, homework was better, though Tikvah would have rather read
her light book. She understood a bit about the very large and
very small units used to measure electromagnetic radiation now
and so understood what she was reading a lot better. Being in
enrichment math paid off, but Tikvah knew she could not get away
with free reading.
Since her English story, like most short stories one had to read
for English was just plain awful, and not particularly relatable
when one came down to it, she decided to work on enrichment math
which did not take part in the school's craze for word problems,
ratios, unit conversions and other practical math. Enrichment
math started off with set theory/symbolic logic. It required
concentration because the more complicated problems (nested with
parentheses) could get tricky. Corianne worked on her geography
as the girls sat next to one another in a corner of the lounge.
Tikvah felt bad when she had to go to dinner. Working on math
was a nice flow that took her away from the low grade spiritual
conflict she had fought daily for the past fifteen months in the
"secular world." It was not the "modern world." Everywhere was
both old fashioned and modern when one thought of it. Tikvah now
remembered that if she had not been such a coward yesterday, she
could have returned to New Square. All she would have had to do
was run, jump into her Dad's car...and....
"You know what would have happened," Tikvah told herself, as her
stomach knotted up with memory. "There is only so much a kid can
take," she decided, but the good mood from working on set theory
had evaporated, leaving a piece of dark, smelly, crud in its
wake. Worse yet, it was Tikvah and Corianne's job to find and
set up the tables. This was supposed to feel like family dinner,
but no family had a big restaurant menu.
LBD Dinner 9/7/20
Main Line
Ham Tetrazinni
Chicken Breasts Divan
Crab Croquettes
Broccoli Quiche
Wax Beans
Yale Beets
Cold Bar
Potato and Egg Salad
Carrot Apricot Salad
Canned Pineapple
Fresh Fruit
Assorted Baked Desserts
Specialty Station 1
Burger Bar
Specialty Station 2
Extended plant Protein for Salads
Welcome to a New Week!
And no mother who served pizza for dinner would take it away
either. Of course there was peanut butter and fruit preserves,
and plenty of cereal. Quiche was probably meatless. Ham came
from pigs, and crab was... "Why is every meal a mine field!"
"Weird," Corianne said of the menu.
"What are you going to get."
"Maybe the quiche. It's vegetarian."
"But pie crust."
"Why should that be different from pizza?"
"No reason," Tikvah offered and she stood in the line with
Corianne who in the end did not want the quiche either but got
the wax beans and beets, neither of which Tikvah wanted or would
have stood in line for. Corianne could eat off the cold bar and
salad bar. She fixed herself chick pea, cherry tomato, and green
olive salad with ranch dressing and also got a small bowl of
potato and egg salad. Tikvah had peanut butter and strawberry
preserves, which really wasn't so bad, three oreos, and lettuce
with Thousand Island dressing and a few cherry tomatoes.
Corianne was a hog for cherry tomatoes, when you thought of it.
No one complained though. "They'll always put out new ones,"
Corianne told Tikvah as they arrived last at the table. "We
chickened out at the hot line," Corianne explained.
"I don't blame you," sighed Jupita. "You should have gotten a
burger."
"Corianne wants to cut the cheese," commented Suri.
"Where did that come from?" asked Albina who was caught flat
footed.
"Chick peas. They make you..." Suri caught herself. This was
after all a table with a Suite Advisor.
"That's disgusting," commented Rupinder.
"You're right," Suri answered "Chick peas are disgusting."
"So are those ready made hamburgers," Corianne responded.
"So what do you want sirloin?" asked Suri
"How about sausage or chorizo."
"Isn't that pork?" Suri
"I'm not vegetarian or kosher. I just like vegetarian food
better than meat sometimes."
"Weird."
"And who are you to judge," the Suite Advisor awakened.
"Some things are just weird," Suri pressed her luck.
"I think eating hamburgers day after day is weird."
"No you don't."
"Look at what's on my plate Suri" Albina tipped her plate up.
She had something that was brown on the outside and white on the
inside set on top of zucchini, shredded carrots, black olives
and raw mushrooms.
"I don't know what that is," Suri was honest.
"Baked tofu," replied Corianne.
"Toe food."
"Excuse me."
"I'm sorry."
"You're not. Tell me back home did everybody eat the same food
and like the same food?"
Suri had no answer. For Tikvah, the answer had been yes which
was what made the cafeteria so daunting in a low level day after
day stressful way.
"Alright," Albina continued the lecture that had been coming
since yesterday "Then it's the same way here. You have kids from
all different backgrounds and all over the world."
"Yeah but who eats beans for lunch and dinner?" asked Suri.
"Someone who doesn't like what's on the hot line."
"Then you get a burger."
"Or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or cereal, or vegetarian
salad. How many entrees does that make if we just look at broad
categories." Albina really sounded like a mora now, but a high
and mighty mora, maybe a rav.
"You can add in the hot line to get a total," Albina added.
"That's eight choices," offered Jupita. "It's a lot more because
you can have different side dishes and desserts and drinks."
"OK, Suri why do you think the dining hall staff serves eight
choices at lunch and dinner."
"Because some kids are weird."
"And would you want us weird kids to starve?" Tikvah dove into
the fray.
Suri blinked. "You at least have cookies for dessert and
you're... OK, but don't make me eat beans, or fish, or hair, or
toe food."
"Who would make you eat hair?" Tikvah was baffled.
"She means alfalfa sprouts," Corianne explained. "They look like
hair."
"But hair is brain food," Suri sing-songed.
"I thought fish was brain food," Albina picked up on the mood.
"That was in the old days," Suri explained.
"Well no one will make you eat anything you don't like but on
Friday, the burgers disappear."
"Just like the pizza," thought Tikvah.
"That will be pretty bad," Suri realized aloud.
"Maybe something else good will come along."
"Like the toe food."
"Yeah or maybe the pizza will come back."
#Post#: 119--------------------------------------------------
Re: That Other Family Table
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: January 8, 2020, 4:49 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Corianne decided the best defense was a good offense. "How was
social studies Suri?" she asked.
"It sucked," Suri replied. "And how's Team Project?"
"Useful," Corianne answered liking the one word reply that
wasn't either good or bad.
"Tikvah was off by herself yesterday," Suri explained.
"I have an indepndent," Tikvah boased. "I'm learning about
angles. It's just arithmetic but it's fancy."
"Math just sucks," commented Suri replied.
"So does kick ball," Tikvah replied.
"It's better than Beginner Aquatics. How's the water?"
"I wasn't in the water today. I had metal shop," Tikvah reminded
Suri.
"Shit, it's not a gym day for you is it?"
The line began to move. It moved four places and then stopped.
"They'll be out of food by the time we get in," Suri complained.
"But I'm sure there will be plenty of toe food."
"Can't you even pronounce it right?" Corianne asked.
"You know you girls are annoying," a nearly adult boy refused to
mind his own business.
"Ever hear of Clearasil or Clinique?" Suri asked the boy who had
interrupted her polite conversation.
"Isn't that makeup," clueless, nearly adult boy responded.
"It's for zits. I hear when they serve pizza again, they're
going to make it out of your face," Suri told the boy. "And you
should shave. I can see your beard hairs and they're
disgusting."
"I didn't know they let brats into this school."
"They let in assholes." Suri rocked on her heels.
"They surely do," nearly adult boy answered.
"Takes one to know one," Corianne piled on. Then the line had to
move. They managed to get all the way to the top of the stairs.
For a brief second, the dining hall door opened and a Suite
Advisor poked out his face. He looked worried.
"Could there be a riot or a food fight like in that movie that I
can't remember?" thought Corianne.
A few seconds later Ms. Albina, the Suite Advisor, sauntered
out. She mouthed numbers but did not say anything. "Are they out
of food?" asked Corianne.
"Not yet," Ms. Albina replied. "And it would only be a few
things."
"Burgers...boogers...burgers," Corianne let the "some things"
dance in her mind. Some adult somewhere had said that revenge
was a dish best served cold.
#Post#: 120--------------------------------------------------
Re: That Other Family Table I
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: January 9, 2020, 4:23 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
"This is the first weekend with a lot of visitation," Albina
chirped as Nelia and Lianne pushed together the tables and the
other girls stood around supervising. That means two of you
can't vote for activities because you'll be with your parents
all day Saturday and Sunday. Corianne wondered who the lucky
girls were. She knew it was not her roommate, because her father
only had supervised visitation, due to a really, ugly divorce,
the kind that would have made Corianne's mother's hairs stand on
end.
"What about me?" asked Tikvah.
"Your father is coming to station party around 9pm on Saturday
night, so you can still vote."
"Is that fair?" Lianne a short girl with curly brown hair cut
fairly short, but grown out full asked.
"It is because you won't be here to do the activities," replied
Albina. "So start thinking activities while you get supper.
We'll discuss and vote over our food."
LBD Dinner 9/11/20
Main Line
Irish Stew
Tomato Basil Chicken
Pacific Cod Supremes
Chili Relenos
White Rice
Lima Beans
Cold Bar
Spinach Raisin Salad
Carrot Money Salad
Canned Pineapple
Fresh Fruit
Assorted Baked Desserts
Specialty Station 1 -- Quick Bread Bar
Dill and Cheddar Bread
Banana Bread
Specialty Station 2 -- Deep Fried Delites
Mozzarella Sticks
Fried Okra
T.G.I.F.!!!!
Tikvah decided the last line of the menu on the easel was a
chilul HaShem. Still Friday was the end of the school and work
week, which was why Albina had made them all fetch the pantry
box after doing homework in the lounge.
As for the menu itself, she could deduce that Irish stew was
made with red meat, either beef or pork. Cod was a fish, and
chicken was poultry, so Chili Relenos was meatless and probably
spicy. Quick breads were bread, so they might be OK.
"Your beans are gone," Tikvah told Corianne.
"They're still on the salad bar, just no more tofu."
"What are you going to get?"
"Cod Supremes." It was an easy answer. Tikvah envied Corianne as
she slunk off to make a peanut butter and strawberry preserve
sandwich. She checked the junk food bar and found oreos with
coffee filling among the endless varieties of boxed and bagged
snacks on the high shelf accessible with a thoughtfully placed
step stool. She got her milk and headed to the mora Albina's
table. Corianne had cod supremes, rice, lima beans, some kind of
carrot salad from the cold bar, a peace of peach pie and a tall
glass of brown soda. Tikvah had extra cookies to make up for the
lack of side dishes. "A good mother supplies cookies," she told
herself. "A good mother also cares what her kids eat," she added
mentally.
Albina was a mora, not a mother. At the moment the Suite Advisor
was holding forth on how parental visitation worked and how you
had to set up the app to allow it. You still had to have your
phone with you. None of this of course applied to Tikvah unless
her mother arrived on campus and wanted to take her somewhere,
but where.... Her mother had not mentioned coming to visit in
two weeks, and this was going to be her father's second visit in
a week. Tikvah wondered if her mother had washed her hands of
her.
The only consolation (And yes that was a wonderful word) was
that Corianne's parents did not visit either. Corianne's mother
was in the United Arab Emirates and her father was in Indiana.
That was too far to drive more than a couple of times a year,
and flying was expensive. Corianne was just unlucky, Tikvah
decided, as she pushed thoughts of her mother out of her head.
*****************************************************
Page 1 of 2
DIR Next Page