you have more lukshen!
Gila: But thickness isn’t what takes time!
Rina: Hello, I have to make more batches!
1:30 Gila: A compromise is reached. We complicated mathematical formula involving number of leaves divided by batches times the eggs used etc etc. Neither of us is happy, a sign that we have the perfect compromise.
2:00 Gila: I am more than ready to call it a
night. I am drooping. But I’ve come so far, I’m not giving up now!
Rina: peat. If there is anything more to life, I don’t know it.
4:00 Rina: How perfectly illogical. Gila: Does anyone actually like eat- 5:05 ing lukshen? Suddenly, I’m doubtful. The idea of eating another one makes Gila: So my mother looks around me gag.
Rina: 4:30 Gila:
batch when—YIPPEE! There are no more eggs! I want to break out in a dance but I am too tired to move. Then my blood freezes as Rina suggests we GO BUY SOME MORE!
the kitchen kind of wide-eyed. She lifts up the overturned boxes (There are quite a few by now) and stares at the piles and piles and piles of lukshen.
Rina: She can’t talk. She tries to, but all that emerges is kind of a gurgle.
used up all of them? There were supposed to be cakes. And kugels. And—“
Rina: The grocery is open 24 hours. Rina:
(
) There are more
There are cases of eggs outside. The grocery is down the block. It is perfectly logical that we get some more. We must continue our important work. Nothing else matters.
Gila: My mother and father sit down
Gila: Too many eggs has given my
my lip. They begin to laugh. And laugh.
eggs in the grocery down the block. I can go get you some.
AT MY PILE and eat a blintz each. I bite
3:00 Gila: Ow.
sister bird brain. There is no way in the world my mother would allow us out at this hour.
And laugh. Then they sober up and
We argue. Loudly.
4:45
my teeth, but awaken when I swallow
My wrists. My legs. My arms. I’ve taken to fortifying myself with a blintz here and there. This is dangerous, as every blintz I eat sets me back. Luckily, I’ve noticed that Rina sneaks one every time I do. I consider fake-eating several but decide against it. I will win through honest means!
Rina:
5:00 Gila: It’s settled. We’re not going to
shiny frying pan with its golden circle of egg batter!
My father descends from upstairs holding a baseball bat. My mother stands behind him, armed with a vase. to save their innocent children (us) asleep in bed.
my mother sternly orders us upstairs to change. I fall asleep while brushing a mouthful of gross mint toothpaste. I rouse Rina who seems to be in some kind of trance, one hand in and one hand out of her robe. We make our way downstairs.
Rina: My mother’s been busy in our absence. The blintzes have all been cut into strips and packed away. We’ll never know who the winner was.
the grocery now.
45 Issue 112.indd 45
3/15/13 12:18 PM