“Mindy needs special medicine to help her feel better, so she has to stay in the hospital overnight,” he explained to Eli

The first thing Eli noticed when he came home from school one Tuesday afternoon was the smell of apples. The second thing was his grandmother, bustling around the kitchen wearing the apron that Mommy kept on a hook and never wore. There was an enormous pile of apple peels on the pareve counter.

“Bubby?”

“Hello, Eli, how was your day? Come sit down.” Bubby pointed at the table, where a plate of brownies and a glass of milk waited.

“Yum,” Eli said. He nibbled at the brownies. They were soft and fudgy on the inside, not like Mommy’s, which were hard like cookies.

“Why’re you here, Bubby?” he asked curiously. Then he realized that sounded a little rude. “I mean, where’s Mommy and everyone,” he clarified quickly.

“Mindy wasn’t feeling well, so Mommy and Tatty took her to the doctor,” Bubby said. “And Leah is at a friend. No one else is home yet.”

Eli frowned. Mommy and Tatty took Mindy to the doctor? When he wasn’t feeling well, he usually stayed in bed for a day or two. When he had to go to the doctor, Mommy was always the one who took him.

“Mindy will be fine, b’ezras Hashem,” Bubby said, sweeping the brownie crumbs into a napkin. “But they might be out for a while. If you do all your homework before supper, you can have a special dessert, okay?”

“Apple pie?” Eli guessed. Bubby winked.

In the end, only Tatty came home that night.

“Mindy needs special medicine to help her feel better, so she has to stay in the hospital overnight,” he explained to Eli, who was sitting in bed reading — Bubby had let him stay up to wait for Tatty. “Tomorrow, she’ll be able to come home if she’s feeling better. Would you like to come in the car when I go to pick her up?”

Eli nodded. “What’s the matter with Mindy?” he wanted to know, pushing his book aside and snuggling under the covers.

“She had a bad stomachache,” Tatty said. He tucked the blankets tightly around Eli. “Good night, Eli.”

Eli didn’t have much time to think about Mindy until Tatty came to pick him up after school. They were going to drive straight to the hospital, where Mommy and Mindy were waiting.

“Eli!” Mindy squealed when she saw him. “You have to see what I got!”