ANOTHER OUTING - SONIC

To allow Reina see something that was typically American, today we took her to Sonic.

What's special about this fast food restaurant is that, you park by the menu and order food through a speaker. A waiter rides up to your car on roller blades to bring you your food!

Sonny was in a bad mood. 

He kept repeating to me: "This is all your fault!" The fact that he parked badly and scraped the menu board with our car's mirror when it was time to leave, as well as me making everyone come out of the car to eat at the picnic tables, where the wind blew paper napkins and bags away (too different from the calm, familiar environment of his room, where he spends 99% of his time) - all of that was MY FAULT!

Sonic is famous for it's shakes, so Reina and Sonny enjoyed them very much!

I couldn't get a good picture of a waiter rollerblading,

but here are his feet in roller 

blades.

I think, I took too long to get the food, so even Roberta was feeling testy. After she ate her cheeseburger though, she became in a better mood.

Here she is telling our waiter that, in 1950 (!) she worked at a place in Sacramento, waitressing on the rollerblades too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY. MOM!

     Today is mom's birthday. Happy Birthday, mom, wherever you are! You are never far from my mind!
     Here is an excerpt from my story Rimka. It's about my mother, whose nickname was Rimka and my father, Meyer. You can read all of the story if you go to the posts from May, 2013. 

Meyer felt the warmth of the sun on his shoulders through a thin civilian shirt. After seven years of soldiering, the civilian shoes still felt strangely light on his feet. The clanging of the trams and the women's voices on the street thrilled him. He was safe. He survived the war, the bombings, the cold and the hunger, the German attacks and the anti-Semitic bastards in the Russian army. After Germany surrendered, he was sent to the Far East. 
     The Russian Army marched for hundreds of miles through Mongolia to the Japanese front, but the Americans bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the war was over. The army sent him to Siberia then, to build some fortifications. He survived that too, although carrying giant logs and living in constant cold and wetness undermined his health in ways that he didn't even start to understand. But he went to war as a bookish, sickly young boy and came back as a strong, reliable 
     As my future father neared his destination, he noticed that the houses were getting shabbier and shabbier. The place where he was going was, really, just a little shack sitting next to an apartment building. He knocked on the door - the lock was broken - and came inside. The pile of blankets on a bed in the darkened room moved, and a girl 's face showed up. He took in the huge, hungry green eyes, the hollow cheeks and a full lower lip. She was lovely. He introduced himself to her and the Grandmother who slept on a large bed behind the stove. He made himself useful by chopping wood, then, for a little while, made small talk. young man. After a couple of years at home, his mother began to nag him to find a good Jewish girl and get married. In fact, right now he was going to meet a young lady recommended by a matchmaker.
     The next day, he came back and repaired the lock and some other things in the house. After that he kept showing up, hoping to understand whether they belonged together. Most of the time, she was shy and even a little bit cold. When he met her relatives, he felt 

Rimka's (mom's) Grandmother, Velya (in front),
father (directly over her), step-mother (to the left of her)
and aunt and uncles.

out of place. They had a cultured air about them, and he was from a simple family of craftsmen. Rimka didn't encourage him too much, but she was always there when he called. 
     One day, in the winter, they went to the store together. The new snow just fell, the streets were quiet and the air was crisp and almost ringing with anticipation. They started to throw snow balls at each other, then, breathless with laughter and exertion, they stopped and kissed in the gateway.

Happy couple, Meyer and Rimka

                                                      

                                                              

                                                                             My mother is the second from the left in the front row, with my sister
                                                                             in her lap. My dad is the third from the left in the back.

                                                                                     

SHELTER

     The General's Jeep roared onto the  farm's area, where Sawanni's men and my small family were hiding out. It drove in crazy zig-zags and finally ran into a bush and stood with one wheel resting on top of it. The General and his son sprung out of it and ran toward a large tree, screaming: "Roaches, run!!!"
    The soldiers who sat peacefully at a table in the yard or went about their errands, peered at the Jeep and the two men on a tree. The entire car was covered in seething mass of insects! They roiled on and around the vehicle, then, as if pulled by an invisible thread, began to move towards the tree with it's occupants. Some of them got excited by the raised in alarm voices and running men and went after another prey. 
     Amur, Dular and the rest of us, alerted by the yells and all the hubbub, ran out of the house. We saw the General and Aishi in the tree and a swarm of brown roaches moving at them. Amur was the first to reach the tree. He stepped into a path of the invading insects and was immediately covered by them from head to foot!
     And then the roaches lost a will to attack! It looked like some central thought which was guiding them stopped its urging, and they just melted away! Amur still wriggled madly on the ground. The General and Aishi climbed down and stood panting by his small figure. The General pulled my son to his feet, then watched him scamper away to the outside showers, spitting and making disgusted noises.
     "Those roaches were sent after me!" - Yokoyama hissed. "I don't understand, how did your son stop them? I thought, we were all lost, for sure!"
     He grabbed Dular by the shoulders and stared into his face. "I heard how you stopped the bear from killing us. Are you some kind of a mutant or a god?"
     A little put out by this aggressive inquiry, Dular freed himself and fled to see if his brother was alright. Yokoyama turned to myself and Sawanni:
     "I will need an explanation for these occurrences, as well as why you and your men are not where you are supposed to be! 
                                     I will hear it NOW!"


To Be Continued

Copyright Protected

     

REINA AND THE GIIAT FRIES

REINA'S ADVENTURES TODAY:
     Reina stayed home alone while I took Roberta to a physical therapy appointment and Sonny to BART. I also had a meeting with Mr. P.

In the meanwhile, Reina went exploring around the yard. At first she encountered Goldie.

Then - a giant snake! Did Goldie kill it? No, it was just something that Taka put in the garden. 

Reina got hungry, running after wild cats and fake snakes. She walked to a restaurant nearby, called Val's Burger. When we finally came home, she was sitting at the table and trying to finish this giant pile of French Fries. 

She looked exhausted!

SHELTER

     Sawanni's elbow was set, and he had to start exercising it almost immediately, so that the joint would remain useful. The captain and his men could not reveal that they abandoned their duty and returned to the city, but one of the doctors from the military hospital was Sawanni's friend and came to see him at the small farm, where we stayed. Amur, Dular and I could go and check on the General as often as we wished, though. 

     General Yokoyama was in a coma.The man's injuries were very serious, and the doctors didn't have anything hopeful to tell. 

     We came to visit the General the next day and the next, but his condition didn't change. 

     Sawanni, who relied on his relationship with General Yokoyama, felt it was a huge setback. My sons and I tried to reassure him, that everything could change any day, and the General could still recover.

     Four days later, as we approached the room, where the General and his son, Aishi, stayed, we saw a group of doctors crowd around the bed. The General was awake, but we were told to let him gain some strength, before he could receive any visitors.

     Another week passed. Sawanni discretely contacted a few other officials in the command center, but couldn't tell, if he could trust them enough to approach them freely. We stayed in touch with Aishi, and, as soon as his father recovered enough, he told us to come to the hospital.

     As we showed up in the General's room, his eyes opened wide to see Sawanni in a "borrowed" doctor's robe and with

a stethoscope around his neck. Aishi already told his dad, how we rescued them from a bear, but he didn't know that one of us was working under his father and was supposed to be deep in the Taiga at the moment, "cleansing" the area for some purpose or another. Still, the General trusted the captain  and now turned his attention to Dular and myself.

     He thanked us, sincerely, but with a few words. Aishi, probably, told him how the bear seemed to have calmed down after encountering Dular, so Yokoyama's eyes kept returning to my son. Dular went to the bed and took the General's hand in his own. 

     We had to leave soon after that. It was another week or so before the General was well enough to come and see us at the farm. 

     

To Be Continued

Copyright Protected

     

LIFE IN PICTURES

Here's what's been going on in our household:

Reina and I filled out her application for the F-1 (student) visa. She needed a photo, and Sonny took one of her, but the website rejected it. I think, it's cute!

As a sudden surprise, Sonny served some ice cream. Roberta already went to sleep (she is sporting a nightgown here that I gave her), but readily hopped out of bed for such an occasion!

I swear, Taka becomes more and more into sweets! 

The little Goldie keeps coming for food. Or is she? Could she really get hungry every two hours or so? Perhaps, she wants a home? But she runs away every time I open the glass door to give her food.

CODEPENDENCY IS A DOG

     Nothing much to report here. On Sunday I got ready and went to the pool, thinking to find Mary there. Alas - she was not! I called        her and heard: "Oh, Dina, I forgot! I'll come right away! It's just that I have a dizziness and can't think straight!" I asked her if it was OK for her to drive or go into a cold water pool. She replied that, she wanted to get out of the house anyway, but was not sure, if she should go swimming. I told Mary then that, I'll exercise alone and will meet her later for lunch. The week before Mary treated me for a meal, and now it was my turn.
     W-e-l-l, I did intend to go into the pool, I swear! I undressed (I wear a swimsuit under my dress, you see, when I go to the pool), then walked to the pool and... stopped in my tracks. There were five or six guys there, swimming in all the lanes! A lone elderly lady smiled at me sweetly from under the built into the wall shower. I couldn't! It was just too much for me to pass under the gazes of all those men, get in the water and walk up and down the lanes, bumping at them for the next hour! 
     I went back, changed out of the swimsuit and called Mary. 
     We decided to meet right away, but, as I drove up to the restaurant's plaza, I saw that, there was a small fair going on in a park near it, and the whole shopping plaza around the restaurant was plugged with cars! I called Mary again, - she didn't leave yet (fortunately), and we decided to go to Denny's.
     After all that driving (It took quite a lot of maneuvering to get out of the plaza and get to the Denny's) I felt like I was cooked! We ordered food, blabbed for an hour and then it was time to leave. I looked at the bill... and...Mary thought that I was having a stroke!
    
 $44.00 + tip! At Denny's! For two people!
     Before I came to the restaurant, I stopped at the bank and withdrew $40.00. Now I had to pay even more than that with my debit card! When Taka sees this, he will take my head off!
     But, you know, I didn't really have to go to Denny's with Mary. I knew, I had no money. I didn't have to try to get quite as much food to make sure that Mary is satisfied! Codependency is a dog of the female gender!