A piece of fruit and a kiss on the head. Grandma Sophie stooped and smiled.
A single farewell - five tiny cherries. A growing crop from too many passions.
A banana for Will. May had an apple, Judith a plum. For Frank and George? A pear and a peach. Sophie sowed fruits and kisses. One of both. Each. But she wouldn’t see her seedlings grow.
“Please be good,” she begged as she blew away, never to be seen again.
Then Grandpa Hymie cut his shirt, sat on a stool and wept for a week. They do that in Jewish homes when someone passes.
“What happened?”, asked Abe, his friend next door.
“My love and trust died on Tuesday. Sophie stole them both. I didn’t mind the kissing and sharing. But she should have asked me first!”
Natalie Wood
(Copyright, Natalie Irene Wood – 08 October 2012)
4 comments:
I'm afraid this story went over my head. Perhaps it's because I don't know the customs, or because there were so many individuals in so short a space, but I was confused by who Sophie had stolen things from in the final paragraph.
Oh, dear! Someone else has told me they don't understand it, although other people have been more enthusiastic. Sorry! It's a literary take, if you will, on an event which happened to some distant relatives. Someone's grandmother is said to have left home one day without explanation and disappeared, never to be seen again. Before she left, however, she gave each of her five kids a kiss on the head and a piece of fruit. The theory is that her husband had caught her playing hooky with the lodger and then threw them out. It's thought the love-birds ran off together but that the cuckolded hubby observed Jewish mourning rituals for her when he heard she'd died many years later. So I'm saying Sophie had stolen Hymie's trust and love. Phew, this has taught me a valuable lesson as the explanation's been nearly as long as the story.
They never ask first. But I think if they did, the answer would almost always be "no."
Lovely sentimental piece, Natalie.
Thanks for your kind comments,Cathy and also for dropping by. Regards, N.I.W.
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