No principal, teacher, or mother ever behaved condescendingly because of my secular background. It was just the energy and concentration it took to keep up with all the nuances.
That was the truth, the decor was amazing — clean lines, but rounded edges for softness, fresh colors, big dressing rooms, room for Mommy and kid and carriage, a play area for little kids. The prices were also amazing — in the literal sense.
Before is your cookies and cupcakes, sesame chicken and sweet-and-sour meatballs, Wednesday night schnitzel. Roast on Yom Tov, a second potato kugel for Friday afternoon, and spelt challah every Shabbos. After is the rest of us divvying up Shabbos duties.
I smile at the A+, but why, why did I pick some relative stranger in a far-off town as the object of my 15-year-old admiration?
There lay the most wonderful gift I could ever have imagined, far better than any nosh or stickers or even a lolly
“But here’s the thing. We need this to go over well. Very well. And that’s not going to happen with a principal out for surgery”
