loracs | Storytelling

wild_irises posted the idea of telling stories for the longest night. Check it out, there are some wonderful stories there.

I never met my maternal grandmother, but my mom told me scores of stories about her. One of my favorites took place after she was widowed and my mother was an adult. My grandparents emigrated from Italy. Grandma spoke very little English and could read even less.

This was shortly after the WWII ended and the start of the explosion of packaged convenience foods. My mother came home from work and, as usual, her mother had dinner ready. All though dinner my grandmother keep hinting about a surprise. When my mother asked what it was, grandma's eyes twinkled and she just smiled, but wouldn't say. The joy and playfulness my grandmother displayed that day was a window for my mom. She saw a rare glimpse of her mother as a young girl. Her husband died just before the Stock Market crashed. She raised 3 children in a foreign country during the Depression. Paying the rent and putting food on the table was serious business.

Finally the moment arrived. The table was cleared. Grandma put out a clean plate and silverware for both of them. Then she proudly produced a box of cake mix. “See we have a fancy dessert tonight.” she told my mom. Grandma was very confused when her daughter started to laugh. When my mom explained there was no beautiful, “ready to eat” cake inside the box. The pictured lied. At first, Grandma wouldn’t believe her. She opened the box and found only the dry ingredients. What kind of country was this, she asked her daughter, to play a joke like this on an old lady? This made my mom laugh harder and soon her mom joined in. This went on for a while; just when they were almost done laughing, one of them would point to the box and they’d start all over again. It was one of those long, side splitting, eye’s tearing, can’t stop laughing even if your life depended on it, moments.

Every time my mother told this story, I’d watch her eyes twinkle and we’d both laugh at the punch lines. Sometimes it even got us going and we’d have to wipe the tears away. Now, approximately 60 years after the Great Cake Deception, I sit here wiping away sweet nostalgic, salty tears.

Thanks Deb (and Bear) for starting this trip down memory lane.