Concert

    Nellie's nephew gave a spring concert on her birthday weekend, and when I came on Tuesday I asked how it had gone. Usually her response is that it was absolutely wonderful, positively miraculous, and I really should have been there. This time I got a slightly different answer.
    "Well, they came about 4:30 to pick me up and we went to this restaurant where they serve sandwiches. I got some sort of roll with kitchen in it." She used the English word "kitchen" and I raised my eyebrows at her.
    "Are you sure? Kitchen is kukhnya (kitchen)."
    She wrinkled her forehead and thought. "No, that's not right. It was...let me think...chicken." English again.
    I laughed. "Ohhh. That makes much more sense."
    "And then we went to the university and they had to set everything up, so I rolled around and watched them and waited and waited and then finally it was time to start. So they played lots of music and it was very nice and then there was an intermission and I thought, What are they going to do in the second half? They've already played everything! And when they came back, they started congratulating everybody who was graduating. If it had only been two or three, it would have been alright, but they went on and on and on. And everybody had to say something, and everybody had to give presents and get presents and I was so tired I just wanted to go home. I was nervy and overexcited...you know how I get! Finally they were done, but then he had to clean up. So we waited and waited, and I said, 'Karik, can we please go?' and we went out to the car and then he couldn't find his keys so he had to go back inside and look for them and at last he came back and we left and THEN they wanted to go to a restaurant!"
    I was laughing so hard at her telling that she chuckled a little herself.
    "You're laughing, but it wasn't funny! So I said, 'Why can't we just go home?' and Karik said 'It's your birthday! We have to celebrate.' So we went to this restaurant, and it must have been a very fancy one because it was so dark. So there we were, sitting in the dark, trying to read the menus like this." She held her hands like a book a few inches from her eyes and peered at her imaginary menu. "And then finally we ordered...at five 'til eleven!"
    I could hardly catch my breath from laughter. "So was it good?" I gasped.
    Nellie waved her hand. "Oh, it was fine, I guess. I just wanted to go home!"

C-A-K-E

    Friday is Nellie's 88th birthday. She asked me to brush and style her wig on Tuesday. "I'll need to wear it on Friday and then again on Sunday for my nephew's concert," she informed me.
    "What are you doing on Friday?" I asked.
    "I don't know."
    Confused, I tried to get some more information. "But you need your wig?"
    "Yes," she answered. "I don't know exactly, but I heard some of the women talking. 'Nellie's birthday is on Friday,' they said. So I think they're planning a surprise. Maybe cake. They had a cake for another lady."
    A few minutes later, Melissa poked her head in Nellie's room. Melissa is one of the residents who tries to take care of everybody. "You know Friday is Nellie's birthday," she began, and I nodded. "Well, she doesn't know what we've got planned and I don't want you tell her..."
    I stopped her. "Better be careful what you say! She understands a lot of English."
    Melissa looked worried. Whispering behind her hand, she spelled it out. "Do you think she'd understand c-a-k-e?"
    I laughed. "Yes, I think so."
    "Ummm..." she thought for a moment. "Um...we're going to sing Happy Birthday to her on Friday."
    After Melissa wheeled away, Nellie nodded to me wisely. "I told you!"

    Happy Birthday, my Babushka.