Mindy
Zahava and Chani Elman, 29 and 27, need shidduchim, while their flighty younger sister Mindy is married.
Mindy was beside herself. Pinny had just scribbled all over the living room wall and Shloimie had opened the fridge and toppled two containers of dips onto the kitchen floor. “I can’t!” she wailed to no one in particular. These kids are off the wall today! I’m already feeling so under the weather!
Mindy was under the weather a lot.
Who could she call? Sundays seemed to drag forever. No school or play group, no household help. Chezky always claimed Sunday was his only day free to have a little “me time,” and was always off somewhere with one of his buddies, thank you very much. Even her cleaning lady, Lucia, never wanted to work on Sundays. The nerve. For what she paid these Mexican girls you’d think they’d jump at the chance to work a few more hours. Sigh.
The magic solution finally came to her, as she grabbed the Bounty and wiped spicy onion dip and guacamole off the floor. Chani, that’s who she’d call! Her sweet, single, next-oldest sister who always seemed to have patience for her nephews. (Of course she had patience, Mindy groused inwardly; Chani didn’t have to live with them all the time, or clean up their messes or wash their sheets when they wet their beds – which was often – or cajole them to sleep only to have them wake up four hours later screaming from a nightmare or asking for a cup of water.)
The kids adored Auntie Chani too, for when she came she always took them to the park or sat on the floor to play cars with them. Sometimes she even took them to Kids in Action or the ice cream store. Unlike their mother, Auntie Chani had endless stores of patience and didn’t explode when Shloimy spilled his second yogurt all over the floor or Pinny refused to put away his toys. Auntie Chani just made a game out of it, like Mary Poppins, until before he knew it, snap! The toys were magically back on the shelves. Mindy wondered if Chani would be so patient once she had her own kids and childcare became a full-time occupation instead of a part-time hobby.
But thank heaven she had sisters, though, and at least Chani behaved like a sister, unlike Zahava, the oldest one. Chani always listened sympathetically to Mindy’s venting, even though G-d knows she probably envied Mindy her family and modest starter house. At 27, Chani still hadn’t found her bashert, which was perplexing and frustrating because she had a pretty face and enviably slender figure (Mindy sighed, contemplating the ten pounds of extra flub that refused to disappear after giving birth to two children). As for Zahava, well, she was still single at 29, and she might have lived on another planet. Too busy running their father’s house, running other people’s parties, and upgrading her wardrobe. “She’s just on her own program,” Chezky liked to say.
The call to Chani just took a moment, and 20 minutes later Chani’s pewter-colored Toyota pulled into her driveway. “Auntie Chani!” Pinny screamed, and soon enough Shloimie had joined in, bouncing up and down on his little feet.
“You’re saving my life!” Mindy said, as the boys threw themselves into Chani’s arms. “I’m so glad you weren’t busy!”
“Not busy? I have a zillion progress notes to do!” Chani said, following her through the house into the kitchen. She was a child social worker at the Jewish Family Agency and always drowning in paperwork. “But I was happy to have an excuse to take a break.” She kissed the boys’ sticky golden heads. “These two are the best excuse!”
“Help yourself to cookie sticks,” Mindy said, opening the cookie jar and grabbing one for herself before extending it to Chani. “The boys can have sour belts only after they clean up their toys. How are things at the family chateau?”
“Lol,” Chani said. “Same-same. Zahava’s in a particularly special mood.”
“Shidduch issue?” Mindy said eagerly. She was dying to hear that her sisters were dating.
“I wish,” Chani said. “I think it’s a money issue. Like she and Tatty will have to tighten their belts and she doesn’t want to think about it.”
Mindy raised an eyebrow. “Why doesn’t she get a real job, like you?” she said.
Chani sighed. “What could she do? She never finished college, she didn’t have the patience. And anyway, she does put in a lot of time taking care of the house and Tatty. I’m grateful I come home at night to a meal.”
“Yeah, except she’s a terrible cook,” Mindy said. Whatever her other flaws, Mindy happened to shine in the kitchen, and took pride in outshining her older sisters in at least one area.
When their mother had passed away, each of the three sisters had found refuge in something different. For Zahava, it was fashion. For Chani, it was books and psychology. For Mindy, it was food. She filled the void her mother had left by feeding herself, and anyone else who cared to share her creations. Only her youth and high energy kept her weight in more or less normal bounds, and Chezky was more than happy to help consume her output. That said, she was constantly “about to start a diet,” and the sense of superiority she gained from being a better cook than her sisters was offset by the sense of inferiority that she was 15 pounds heavier than either of them. “Well, I’ve had two children,” she’d tell herself by way of consolation (and others by way of justification).
But this financial thing was news to her. “Since when does Tatty have money problems?” she asked Chani.
“You know Tatty! He spends money like it’s water and never pays attention to credit card bills. Now he’s apparently really gotten himself in really big trouble. He thinks his investment dividends are always enough to pay for his lifestyle, but they’re not. He’s in la-la land. And honestly, I could give over my whole salary to him and it would barely make a dent.”
“You shouldn’t have to!” Mindy said indignantly. As the youngest, she had the fewest memories of their family’s life of ease before their father gave up the business, and she had married into a family that was prosperous and generous, but lived within bounds. Mindy, like Chani, was relatively low-maintenance, happy enough to buy IKEA furniture and supplement her better-quality basics with online fast fashion. “Why can’t Tatty cut back?”
“I think it comes down to his friends. He feels he has to keep up a certain standard.”
Mindy rolled her eyes. “So dumb,” she muttered. “Maybe he needs a new set of friends.” She poured coffee into a mug and downed a hefty swallow. “This discussion just made my headache even worse. I really have to lie down or it’s going to become a migraine very soon.” She hauled herself out of her chair, grabbed another cookie stick and headed out of the room.
“Have fuunnn!” she called as she disappeared up the stairs, leaving Chani with two little boys with cherubic, expectant faces.
She took their hands and led them to the playroom. “Okay,” she said. “What will it be? Magna-Tiles or racing cars?”
To be continued
