Deena tapped to answer Baila’s call.

“How are you?” Baila asked.

I’m tired, if you really want to know, and I’m sitting glued to my chair instead of taking care of this house, and I hope you’re calling to cancel the shoot today because I’m so not in the mood to smile at a camera.

The telepathy failed. “I was just thinking,” Baila said, “how about you bring along your girls for the shoot today? I always love to see them in your stories, it makes the videos so much more fun.”

Deena thought quickly. “I can bring my girls, but that will be an additional $300.”

Baila sounded a little surprised, but she agreed.

Deena hung up and took a deep breath. Her girls weren’t wearing matching clothes that day because Nechama had spilled milk all over herself at breakfast and Deena had to change her before taking her to playgroup. And she was wearing a meh dress, which meant that both girls would have to change when they came home. She’d also have to make sure they ate something normal if she wanted them to cooperate.

The $300 fee was completely reasonable.

And it was time to peel herself off the chair.

Four hours later, as the saleslady at The Top Rack stood in front of the tripod that held up Deena’s phone, there wasn’t a trace of fatigue on Deena’s face.

“Hey, guys!” Deena grinned broadly and waved with both hands at the camera. “I hope you’re all hanging in there with Pesach prep. I feel like, we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, now let’s have some cooking fun! I’m super pumped to be here with Baila Zeitlin at The Top Rack today and share an absolutely amazing slow cooked brisket recipe.”

Baila smiled and waved. “Hi, guys!”

“And I’ve got my two girlies here!” Deena squealed. “They love watching Mommy cook. Hey, Miri, Nechama, say hi!”

The girls waved but didn’t smile.

“I’ll be totally honest, I was inspired to make this brisket because of this really cool tool that Baila introduced me to.” She lifted two little pronged stainless-steel pieces. “Meat claws!”

She held up the gadgets in front of her face.

“Look at that, we’ve got contoured handles that make it really easy to handle large cuts of meat. It’s a great tool for lifting and shredding meat, and don’t laugh, but I even like to use them to toss a salad. And they’re dishwasher safe, which is always a biggie for me. Go ahead, guys!” She swooshed up in the air. “Swipe to get these incredible shredders.”

She put the claws down, but made sure to keep them within the camera’s range.

“Soooo…” she continued. “I made the brisket last week and served them in tacos, and even these two little cuties loved it. Right, Mir?”

“No!”

Ouch.

The saleslady paused the video.

Deena looked at Miri. “What’s up, sweetie? Why did you say that?”

“Because I did not like the brisket, only the tacos, and I don’t want to be in this stupid video!”

“Miri!”

Miri scowled.

Deena drew a deep breath. “Of course you want to be in the video, Mir. This is going to be so much fun! And we’re going to the pizza shop when we’re done.”

“I don’t want to be in the video! Then everyone sees!”

Baila’s eyes widened. “Oooh,” she whistled. “Camera shy?”

Camera shy, sure. Bubby shy was more like it. Bubby scared. Deena was engulfed with nausea. This was going too far. What warning had her daughter gotten from her mother-in-law? How dare Zev’s mother tell Miri to disobey her mother? Did she consider this good chinuch? Pushing an agenda through an innocent child? And why did she even care?

It took some gentle cajoling and a few warning glares to get Miri back on board. Deena held her breath throughout the rest of the filming. Baila was paying an additional $300 for her girls to be part of this. If Miri ruined the story, Deena was never going to forgive Zev’s mother.

It took at least ten takes and all of Deena’s stage talent to make it to the end of the story. When she finally left the store with her kids, it was completely dark outside and raining cats and dogs. The last thing she felt like doing was taking them to the pizza shop.

But she had no choice, she’d promised. So she took them, but they were too tired to eat, and they all arrived home grumpy and exhausted, but of course the girls wouldn’t fall asleep while Deena could barely keep her eyes open.

Still, when the kids finally fell asleep, instead of taking a hot shower and climbing into bed, Deena reached for her phone.

She went through her WhatsApp messages first, leaving most of the messages unread. There was one from her mother, following up again about her Pesach plans. She dared not tap on it. There was another one from a new number. It’s Ruthie Laufer. I’d love to talk when you have a chance.

She didn’t tap on that one either.

Before uploading The Top Rack’s videos, Deena checked her feed and her emails. There was nothing important on Instagram, and her email was filled with a bunch of promotions, a Tehillim petition, an email from her sister Tzippi with a video of her baby taking three steps and then falling.

There was one more email she didn’t recognize, someone Yochi Hersko. Deena tapped on the message.

Hi, my name is Yochi Hersko, and I’ve heard great things about your food business.

Food business, ha. What gift would she get this time?

She continued reading.

I’m sure you’ve heard about our tour company, Touring Together. We travel to interesting places around the world and offer luxurious accommodations as well as top tier catering and entertainment.

We have several trips scheduled, including an awesome Succos trip. I know it’s half a year away, but we’re already working on the program. My question to you is, would you consider joining us for Succos and hosting live cooking shows?

to be continued…

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 742)