The biggest latke ever

SARA NUSS-GALLES SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

Arlie was the youngest in the family. There was Mowser their Siamese cat. He was nearly eight years old and had a very, very long tail and slept a lot. And Jeremy, her brother, with his yukky sailor cap perched on his head. He was going to be six years old very soon. And Mommy Sara, she was not little at all. She was five feet and three inches tall and had lots of long brown curly hair (it was a perm). But she didn't talk about her age except that she was 30-something and old enough. Daddy Arie was biggest of all. He had a full beard, loved wearing hats and was a year and a half older than Mommy. He was so strong that when they played monster, he grabbed Jeremy in one arm and Arlie in the other and swung them around till they gave up.

In her family, Arlie was the smallest. She was four years and five months old and bigger than her friend Lisa but everybody treated her like a baby. Sometimes it was OK, like when she broke something. Then Mommy said, "She's but a baby." Or, when Arlie spilled something or forgot to take her plate to the sink, Mommy didn't mind too much. Arlie was her one-and-only baby, she said.

But when Jeremy said it, it sounded bad. "You're such a baby," he said when they played a game and she forgot what came next. "Just like a baby," he said when Arlie fell and hurt herself and tears began. Or when she wanted to play soccer with him and his friend Jason, he said, "This isn't a baby game." Then he pretended that he knew how to head the ball like Daddy. He didn't at all and he looked really silly when he tried.

Always it was the baby thing. "Here's a special, tiny chicken drumstick, just for my baby," Mommy would say at the dinner table. Then she'd picked out the smallest piece and put it on Arlie's plate, even though Arlie was very hungry. And Bubbe, her grandmother, had a special little green bowl just for her zeece (that was sweet in Yiddish) little Arlie. She filled it to the top with curly noodles and chicken soup and Arlie always asked for seconds. Bubbe had a bigger blue bowl for Jeremy and he almost never wanted seconds of soup.

Bubbe and Zayde went to flea markets every Sunday and sold socks and underwear. Sometimes when they visited Zayde, he was busy carrying boxes from here to there. Arlie and Jeremy liked to help him. Zayde always said they were big helpers and gave them each a nickel or a dime or even a quarter, both exactly the same. Zayde was the only one who treated them the same. They were his strong einiklach," he said. That was Yiddish for grandchildren.

Chanukah was coming and Arlie was very excited. She loved the curly, colored candles. They were so much daintier than the stubby white Shabbat candles. Each night, she and Jeremy got to pick out the candles and make the pattern on the menorah. Each night, they lit one more candle and said the prayers together. She loved playing dreidel for pennies or peanuts. She loved the shiny silver dollars they got and the little toys that were wrapped in Sunday comics. Mommy didn't believe in wrapping paper.

"It's a waste and bad for the environment," she said.

But best of all Arlie loved the latkes, the potato pancakes that they ate on Chanukah. Arlie could smell the frying potatoes the minute she walked in the house. She could hear the popping and sizzling oil as the batter hit the giant black frying pan. Except for Passover, Chanukah was Arlie's favorite holiday. Jeremy said it was because she was a baby. When she got bigger, he said, she would not think only about her stomach. Arlie decided to be grown up and not start a fight. She just stuck her tongue out at Jeremy. Then she got the sour cream out of the refrigerator as Mommy asked her to and brought water and milk to the table.

The table was already set and right in the centre stood the menorah, ready to light. The shamash and all eight candles were in place and a metal plate was underneath, in case a candle fell. There was also a big bowl of home-made apple sauce with cinnamon.

"All set," Mommy called, "everyone come to the table for the last night of Chanukah."

Daddy lit the match and the shamash. He passed it to Mommy who lit two candles. Jeremy and Arlie lit all the rest. The green and gold menorah from Israel glowed as the rainbow of candles danced their cheerful fire dance.

Then Daddy carried in a big platter heaped full of latkes.

"I want six," Jeremy said, when he spotted the pile of golden-brown little circles. "Then, I'll start with six, also," Daddy, said, laughing at Jeremy. "In that case, I'll have six, too," Mommy said. "Me, too," said Arlie. "I want six latkes, too."

"Not tonight, little lady," Mommy said winking at Daddy. "Tonight, our little treasure gets only one latke."

Arlie felt the tears in her eyes. This was not fair. She loved latkes and she wanted a big pile of latkes like every one else had.

"Tonight, Arlie gets one latke," Mommy repeated. Then she went into the kitchen and came back holding the big black frying pan. Arlie could hardly believe it. Inside the frying pan was the biggest latke Arlie had ever seen. The steaming, sizzling potato pancake filled the black pan from end to end.

"This is the biggest latke in the universe," Arlie shouted as Mommy slid it onto her plate. The latke hung over the plate. Arlie couldn't see the sides of her plate anymore. She covered the latke with plenty of apple sauce. Then she ate a big mouthful of hot latke and cold topping. "Mmmm," was all she said.

"I have six," Jeremy said, happily building a latke mountain on his plate.
"And I have the biggest latke in the universe," Arlie said, proud as can be.

Sara Nuss-Galles is a freelance writer living in New Jersey.

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