Mennonite in a Little Black Dress (Memoir) (2010) by Rhoda Janzen Read Free Book Online

compelling dinner topic: Plan B, Personal Finance and Failed Marriage. "So, Rhoda. Can I ask what your house payment is? What on earth are you going to do with that house? Can you even afford it on your salary?"
    "I like this bean soup," said Caleb.
    "I haven't made any decisions yet," I told Staci.
    "Does everybody at the college know that your husband left you for a man? Do you think they're judging you? Are you worried that they're gossiping about you and Nick and his gay lover?"
    "Maybe she doesn't want to talk about it," Caleb said. "Great curry squash, by the way."
    "I taste curry in this soup," my father said.
    "That's because it's a curry squash soup," I said. "Don't you like curry?"
    "I like it," he affirmed, "as long as it doesn't make the house smell like curry." He sniffed, suspicious.
    "Oh, Si," said my mother. "She made it at our house. Not here. It's our house that smells like curry." She took a sip of sparkling apple cider before adding, "I liked curry much more before we went to Calcutta. In Calcutta they prepared meals down in the courtyard. They sat on the ground and cut up meat right there with the flies and chickens. In Calcutta, when you blew your nose, the mucus was so thick and black-"
    "Mom!" This appalled protest was shouted by everyone present, except my father. My siblings and I may have our differences, but we were united in our determination not to visualize the black mucus of Christmas past.
    From the kids' table in the other room came the sound of one of my many nephews whining. There was a slap and an impatient reprimand from the oldest granddaughter, Phoebe, who was now old enough for Uggs and eye-rolling.
    Her cousin Jacob nonetheless shouted, "Mommy, Zach called me a goob again! He doesn't like this soup! He says it tastes"-stifled giggles all around-"like a dirty Pop-Tart !"
    "Dirty in your diaper !" shouted Danny.
    Staci looked exasperated. "That's curry!" she called over her shoulder. "It's a flavor. It's supposed to taste like that!"
    "Boys," said Caleb in a stern voice that sounded exactly like my own father's thirty-five years earlier. "Do you want me to come over there?"
    Little Joon suddenly materialized, tugging her daddy's arm. "Knock knock," she whispered shyly.
    "Who's there?" said Caleb tenderly, bending way down to her ear.
    "Boo."
    "Boo hoo?"
    "Baby stop crying," she mouthed ecstatically, and ducked her head into Caleb's armpit.
    "What do you think of the broccoli cheese?" Staci asked me. "Because I didn't even taste it. I can't eat my own cooking. I don't eat cheese. It bloats me like you wouldn't believe. How did you manage to not gain weight when you were recuperating from your accident? Because you can't be back at the gym yet, can you?"
    "Not yet," I said.
    "She can't even reach around to do up her own zipper," said my mother. To my father she added, "Try some of this bacon-potato."
    He did so with preacherly gravitas. "I can taste some kind of pepper in it," he said. "It has a kick."
    "That's cayenne pepper," my mother affirmed joyously.
    "Rhoda," said Staci, "I hear you've been dating again. Do you mind if I ask if it's serious? Because maybe you should think about waiting a while before you start dating again."
    "I've tried all four soups!" my father said.
    "When you have a broken tooth," said my mother, "soup is exactly the right thing to eat. There's a space in your mouth that your tongue keeps feeling for, and it's so tender that the best thing for it is soup."
    "Cures what ails you," agreed Caleb.
    "Well, I hope nobody at this table is ailing," said Staci, looking at me pointedly. "I hope nobody has anything contagious ."
    "It's the cold and flu season," said Aaron. "At school they were dropping like flies. There was a Group A streptococci going around."
    "Your immune system is probably really vulnerable right now," Staci told me, "because of the amount of stress you're under. Are you feeling the stress? Because you look kind of stressed and run-down. Going through