That’s how it is, a lot of times, you need to have the darker colors to bring out the light. I made a blanket once for Shmueli — he’s my first grandson — and in between the yellow, I knitted a dark forest-green. It came out beautiful, just beautiful. Everyone loves a blanket from Bubby. It’s my special gift.

I’ve been doing this for a long time, knitted more blankets than I can count. Not just for my eineklach and uhr-eineklach, but for neighbors and friends too. Why, right here in this bungalow colony, you can probably see at least two or three of my Bubby blankets.

You’ll see, one day you’ll come to me and say, “My granddaughter needs one of your blankets.” And I’ll knit one special for you, pinks and purples, with dark flowers down the middle. You’re laughing now, but don’t think it won’t happen. Time has a way of flying right by. Your girls now, how old are they? Twelve, thirteen? Oh, yes — fourteen. That’s right, I remember when you brought that newborn baby up here, all wrapped up in the hot summer. And your big girl — what’s her name, Shani? She used to unwrap the baby just so she could play with her toes. She did love that baby didn’t she? She was so excited and proud to have a little sister. Seems like you can’t even remember it, with all that’s been going on, right?

How do I know? Well, I’ve been sitting here a long time, my dear. I can see what’s going on around me. I see those two girls of yours, growing taller and more beautiful by the day. Each year, your family pulls up, and I think, oh, here are the Brodys. I wonder how those beautiful girls are doing. Shani, with that bouncing ponytail, just so full of life, and eager to get on with it. The younger one — what’s her name again, Dassy? Her freckles add so much personality. You tell her she shouldn’t worry so much about the sun. A little color never hurt anyone. They’ve grown up real beautifully, your little girls.

No need to shake your head like that, I know how it is with sisters. I never had a sister myself, just two younger brothers. But like I said, I’ve been sitting here a while and I can tell you a thing or two about sisters. Here, pull up a chair. I’ll tell you a story.

It’s a good spot I have here, shady under the tree and just down the path from the store. It used to be much smaller, that grocery store, just a few shelves of food, and a small fridge with milk and some cheese. But we got fancier, and now they even stock sunscreen and shampoo. My daughter-in-law hardly ever goes to town, except on Erev Shabbos, to pick me up some kokosh from the bakery. The prepackaged stuff is too dry, and my daughter in law says she doesn’t have time to patchke in the kitchen, and it’s too hot anyway — she’d rather be by the pool. So she buys it for me instead.…

There you go, get yourself comfortable. Now, where was I? Oh, right, I was going to tell you about sisters. There was a family here once — I’ll call them the Katzes. They stopped coming years ago, but I’ll change their name just in case you might know them. It might be private, and they wouldn’t want everyone to know. They don’t even know I saw it happen.

So the Katz family, they had two girls. Well, really, more than that, there were two big boys, and then another girl, but the point of this story is those two sisters. Let’s call them Miriam and Yocheved. Miriam was the older one, by about three years, and she had a strong personality. In the morning, all the girls would gather around the Katzes’ bungalow and Miriam would say, “Let’s do a treasure hunt today.” Or, “We’re going swimming now, who wants to come?” and all the girls would just follow her around.

This was before we had the day camps and the programs and the night activities. It was just good old-fashioned fun, hiking through the woods and catching frogs and swimming. On rainy days, the girls would all pile into the Katz bungalow and do projects, coloring or needlepoint. She was a leader, that Miriam, a real koach. And her little sister Yocheved just worshipped her. She tagged along with all her sister’s games and adventures. And though she was three years younger, Miriam let her sister join in everything. They used to put on plays, Shabbos afternoons. Miriam would direct, and she always made sure Yocheved had a part. She loved her little sister and took good care of her....

Pass me that water bottle, will you? It’s getting warmer out here … aah, that’s better. You want some? No? What was I just saying? Oh, yes, those two sisters were close as can be, with Miriam running the show and Yocheved just thrilled to be allowed on for the ride.

But then Yocheved got older and there were things she wanted to do her way, and Miriam wasn’t having any of it. And so they got to arguing and squabbling, and then out and out fighting. You see the walls of these bungalows are flimsy, so I could hear every word. “You took my hairbrush” “I did not.” “Why did you eat the last of the ices?” “Mommy, she’s bothering me…”

You know the rest. I’m sure you’ve heard it with your own girls. Not that I’ve heard anything in particular. The walls are thin, though.… I used to sit out here and I would see those two, they would get up in the morning and go their two separate ways — no more playing together, no more games. Then Yocheved went away for camp and I only ever saw her on visiting day, when she came back to the bungalow to do her laundry. Meanwhile Miriam would go visit her friends on that day, so it was a while before I saw the two of them together again. But I always thought it was real shame. They had gotten along so nicely as girls. You see what I mean, don’t you? So these two sisters, they grew up and went their own separate ways.

There were a few years we didn’t come up to the country. My Dovid’l had his bar mitzvah, which we did with my parents, in the city. And the next year my husband had his bypass surgery. So it was a while before we came back. The summer we finally got back up to the country, my kids were all in camp and I was able to relax. That’s when I first became friends with Mrs. Walder and she taught me this loop stitch here, like I’m doing on this blanket.

Anyway, when we came back to the bungalow, we found that the Katz girls were married, and they came back to bungalows of their own. I had heard they were married, and it could be they even sent me chasunah invitations. In fact, they probably did. Mrs. Katz was a real mentsch, even though we weren’t that close. But it was a hectic few years with my husband and all, and I probably just put aside the invitation and never showed up. But here were the two girls, Yocheved and Miriam, married and settled, with bungalows right next door. Miriam had two little boys, and Yocheved was expecting her first that summer, and it was just beautiful to see them all grown up and settled.

Well, I’ll tell you some other things I heard that summer that surprised me. Aside from growing up, and putting on tichelach, those two Katz girls grew close as sisters could be. They spent every day together, schmoozing, sitting at the pool. They went walking together, too, and on Fridays, their husbands would play paddleball against each other. It was the most beautiful nachas for me to see those two, who used to fight like cats and dogs, acting as close as that.

They had wonderful husbands — you know, the kind who will take out the garbage or pitch in if the kids are all crying at once. Not everything was completely rosy though — it never is. I picked up a few times that money was tight, and they were only able to come up to the country because their parents helped them out with renting the bungalow. They would go to flea markets for toys for the kids, and clothing got passed around as hand-me-downs. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. Some of my kids’ best toys came from garage sales. I’m just explaining that there was not a lot of money in either family.

Anyway, they had this arrangement with Mr. Horowitz at the store here, that they set up an account and they would buy on credit during the summer, then pay it off over the year. Mr. Horowitz was fine with that. Like me, he knew these girls since they were kids. So that’s what they used to do. Each family kept a bill, and then over the year they paid it back.

Anyway, it was coming to the end of the summer, one of the last days when everyone was packing up to leave and I was sitting out here. I was working on a blanket for Malky, my great niece — she had just given birth to twins, and I wanted to give her both at the same time…. So, I was sitting here knitting, when I saw Yocheved coming up the path and heading into the store. I knew she was leaving that day — I saw her loading up the car — but I figured she just needed some last-minute snack for the trip, and I was going to follow her and offer her some of my chocolate-raisin cookies, because I had just baked extra, when I heard her say to Mr. Horowitz, “Here’s $500.”I was surprised she had the money to pay up right then, but then what I heard next was just amazing.

She asked Mr. Horowitz, she said, “Can you please put this money to my sister’s bill?” And then she walked out without another word. I didn’t say anything, just sat here, knitting away, when an hour or so later, Miriam herself came up to the store. I was so curious then, what she would say when she saw her bill. But she went into Mr. Horowitz and instead of asking for her bill, she took out a few hundred dollars and she said, “Can you please put this money towards my sister’s bill?” And Mr. Horowitz did not say one word.…

Well, I was blown over, but I kept my mouth shut. Even though I hear a lot of things, I know how to keep a secret, I tell you. I have never told anyone this story, not even my husband, I just kept it in my head. And every year, come Av, when I think about rebuilding the Beis HaMikdash and I remember the story of those two brothers who each put wheat to the other’s field, I think of those two sisters.

The only reason I’m telling this to you now is maybe you shouldn’t worry so much about your Shani and Dassy … and look at that, I just finished up the last of this yarn, right on time. Do you want to see the finished blanket? Isn’t that beautiful?

Here, give me a hand out of this chair … Ah, there we go. You have a good day now, and cheer up, you never know how sisters will end up.…

Names and indentifying details have been changed

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 303)