If you want to read this story, please let me know and I'll post it here for you 

If you want to read this story, please let me know and I'll post it here for you 

We lived in a tiny one bedroom Brooklyn apartment, when my sister-in-law let us know that she is coming. Well, it’s not what it sounds like.

The thing was that there were four of us, me, my husband, 6 year old David, and 3 years-old Mark, and my sister-in-law with her husband and 4-years-old daughter Marry was coming to us not for a diner but for immigration.

Therefore, soon a family of seven people packed a little space. 

All the way to America Marry was dreaming about her cousins, pretending that they would be noble knits. She was talking about them all the time. She also was dreaming about getting married, having a beautiful white dress, and then having a baby. 

We talked over the phone, while waiting for their arrival, and I knew my niece-in-law wishes. I was not able to buy her anything at that time, for we immigrated to US just a year ago, and were in needs as well, but I went to a synagogue, and found there a lot of useful things that people gave to charity. Therefore, when Merry entered our home she got all she wished for: a beautiful white dress, two knits – David and Mark, and a little adorable baby-doll.  

Mark cared less about a new coming Quinn, for he already had one – his mommy, and nobody could compete with her as of now.

David, our little “professor” as we called him, was more curious. Very soon he noticed that Marry was doing something different, when went to a bathroom.

“Hm! It’s interesting!” He murmured under his nose.    

He was following Marry around, and then asked out of curiosity.

“Marry, would you please show me your penis.” 

“What is it?” Merry didn’t understand.

“Your penis! Would you please take your panties off? I just want to see.”

Marry was very happy that older cosine David paid this much attention to her.

She energetically lifted her skirt, pulled her panties down, and watched an impression on David’s face.

David was shocked! He never saw anything like that before!

“Oh my God!” He said, and bended down to see better. “You have no penis, but second buttocks instead!”

“I do?!” Marry was very upset. She was absolutely sure that whatever she has is good enough, and suddenly she found out that she had two buttocks instead of one, not like all normal people do.

She slowly pulled her panties up, and was very disappointed. She dreamed to impress her cosines, but instead… such a prose. 

David was deep in thought. He pulled out a doll that I brought from a synagogue, strip it and looked in between its legs long enough, murmuring, “Hm! It’s interesting! Very interesting!”

Marry was confused. She approached her daddy, who was not aware of the incident, with a question.

“Daddy, do I have a penis?”

Her daddy got emotional, turned red and it did not escape Mary’s attention. He tried swallowing saliva in momentary drying out mouth, and squeaked, “No.” 

For the rest of the day Marry wore “what’s wrong with me?” face, and didn’t talk to anybody.

The next day David approached Marry again with the same question. “Marry, would you, please, take your panties off one more time? I just want to see your penis again.”

Marry was thrilled! If he asked again, it meant that he was impressed! She happily lifted her skirt, pulled her panties down, and gazed at David’s face. He bended down then stood up and concluded, “Hm! It’s interesting! But I think I know what it is. You just have a different structure!” 

My dear clever little boy! He got it without asking me a question. Good thing that I didn’t interfere with him, and gave him as much time as he needed.

I always give him time.  I started to give him time from the time he was just 18 months old, when he suddenly asked me “Mommy, can you buy me a pink elephant?” 

How in a world I could buy him a pink elephant, when we lived in Russia! There were no such things as color in Russia at that time. So I decided to negotiate with him, and find out if I could substitute it for something else.

“David, who told you about a pink elephant?

“Nobody, mommy.”

“Did you see a pink elephant on TV?

“No, mommy.”

“Did you see a pink elephant in a book?”

“No, mommy.”

“Did you hear it from somebody?”

“No, mommy?”

“So how do you know about a pink elephant?”

“I don’t know, mommy. I just want a pink elephant.”

“OK, but where did you get the idea about it?”

“Hm! It’s an interesting question! Where-where! From my little adorable head, mommy! Don’t you understand?” This was the way he always spoke.

So from that moment I realized that this “little adorable head” as I called it, had its own ideas, and I had to respect them.

Marry was excited! “What’s wrong with me?” face disappeared. Now she knew exactly that everything was just right, and she just had a different structure! She was standing in front of David with absolutely adorable naked butt, like two fresh made buns, holding her skirt in her little gentle hands. Good Lord! She saw that he was very interested in her. And she couldn’t hold it any more!

“So, David! Would you marry me?!”

“Yes, sure.” Said David. “Let’s go play Superman, and I’ll marry you, after I rescue you.

A fresh made buns disappeared under the panties and a skirt, and the next moment they run from one room to another back and forth pretending flying in the sky.

Superman was Mark’s favorite game, and as per Mark, nobody was allowed to play this game in his household without his close supervision. Also, Mark was the only one who knew better how to play this game. He had a special Superman cloak. As soon as he pulled the cloak out of his drawer, Marry switched over to him underneath the cloak.  David was betrayed and left behind. She was a real woman!

“Oh! Ok! Then I’m not going to marry you!” David yelled at her with anger. “I’ll divorce you instead.”

However Marry had under-the-cloak status, and cared less.

“Oh well, then I’ll marry Mark. Right Mark?”

Mark had no idea what she was talking about, and being in his own dream-world agreed, “Yes! Dj-j-j-j! Dr-r-r-r! Lois! Come with me! I’ll rescue you!”

“I’m coming, Superman!”

“Dj-j-j! Dr-r-r!” And they both run under the cloak to another room. David, dropped his toy on the floor, and turned on the TV, his favorite cartoons. That was the cruelest thing he could do to Marry, because Mark immediately forgot to land Lois the proper way from the sky, and rushed to the TV.      

Marry was standing in the middle of the room with a cloak on but without the Superman.

“Mark! Let’s get married! You promised!”  She positioned herself in between Mark and a TV, so he couldn’t see. She didn’t know yet, that he was a real man too!

“No!” and he kicked his leg, showing her that he wanted her just to go away.

She was all alone, very unhappy. Her gorgeous little face showed so much emotional pain! My God! I couldn’t let it happened.

“Marry, come over here, girl!” I called her to the kitchen, where I cooked a dinner for the entire family. She came.

“What’s the matter, baby? Why are you so upset?”

“Mark doesn’t want to marry me!”

“Oh dear! Believe me; it’s absolutely not necessary for you to get his approval to get married. You can do it without him.”

“Really?” and her eyes dried out. “How?”

“Just go, and put your wedding dress on!” She ran out, and soon came back wearing a new white dress that I gave her. I wiped my hands, unscrewed a handle from the broom, and faced her with a very important impression on my face.

“Dear Princess!” Her eyes widened. “This is a magic stick that gives me a special authority from the kingdom of magic. You are the only other one who knows about its magic power. By the power vested in me by the magic kingdom, I pronouns you a princes-wife! Let me kiss your hand, Princes!”

I kneed down, took her little hand, and kissed it.

She was stunned by the ritual, but I knew that it was not over yet, because she really wanted to have a baby. So I stood up, and pronounced the same manner.

“Dear Princess! Please be a savior of our magic kingdom! We beg you!”      

She looked at me with a question in her eyes. “Would you?”

She was not be able to speak, and just nodded.

“This little baby”, and I handled her baby doll, “our little Moses needs a good Princess mother. Would you be his Princess mother?”

“Yes!” she whispered, and it looks like her heart missed a beat.  She took a doll from my hands, and then I didn’t hear her for another hour.

The case was closed.

Thank you, Etan, for editing my story! 

She was...

...sitting in the next cubical and I overheard all of the conversations she had.

I joined the company, and was seated next to an energetic 53-years young Russian lady. I liked the fact that she was Russian; there was somebody right next to me that I could talk to without worrying about past, present, and future tense. From the very first day I realized that she was extremely popular. I was trying to find the reason, and soon enough I did.

“Her husband is a dentist. They have a lot of money. They have a house in Brooklyn, and another house in Long Island!” A girl in the next row whispered in my ear. And this was so true. People just flew to my neighbor like bees to honey. “You know this lady!... the one that ... her husband is a dentist?”

I was thinking about it… A Dentist! Is this that attractive to make yourself popular? I’ve decided to try. Now, when my son is in medical school, making me extremely proud, I can try. I was standing in her cubical talking about this and that, as four other women came in and, ignoring me, started to talk to her, rudely interrupting me in the middle of the sentence. Oh, I hate that! What is wrong with you people? Don’t you know that you have to stay in line or at least say, “Excuse me?” 

Well, my moment approached... and then “...my son is in medical school.” I said just at the right moment. I didn’t yell the command: face me! But to my flash confusion they all did. From that moment I became as popular as my neighbor. Nobody ever interrupted me anymore, while I was talking. Everyone fell over themselves to say “Hi” to me, and show me their smiling faces. It was so disgusting.

Oh well, this is not the main subject that I was going to talk here about… I was talking about her.

She was...

...sitting in the next cubical and I overheard the conversation she had.

This is how I knew that... She was...

...a wife of a man who never respected her. Whatever decision they made together, was disregarded by him, if it was not the way he wanted it to be. And by doing this he made it even worse. “If you don’t like it this much, why did you agree with me?” She asked him over the phone, while I was trying to concentrate on my computer program.

“I told you from the beginning what I wanted.” He replied.

“But I explained to you that this is not good, and you agreed with me, and we decided to do it my way.”

“Well, I didn’t like it.”

“But why did you agree with me then?”   The tone of her conversation went on and on and on...

She was...

...a sister of two other women. One of them was younger, and very ill. For the past 4 years her sister was treated due to cancer and her chances on survival were very slim. She spent a lot of time talking to her sister, and her husband, and doctors, and social workers... and unwillingly I became a witness of her family matters. Her sister died at age of 49, leaving behind two small children. 

She was...

...a mother of a grown and married son, who had a beautiful young wife, and a little adorable son.

She was...

...a mother of a 15 year old daughter, who drove her nuts all the time, due to her age, and disagreements between her mother and father.

If the girl wanted something she calls her mother at work, and asked for permission. The mother would not approve for some reason, but the girl insisted. The conversation could last for 30 minutes, and then she hung up the phone. However the very next moment the phone would ring again, the girl never gave up easily. The girl simply wore the mother out. But she never gave up. Ever! She was ready to die, but not let her daughter do something she won’t approve of. The girl, however, did what she wanted anyway. After taking two to three hours of her mother working-day time, and getting “no”, she confronted her father with the same question, and he never told her “no”, regardless what her mother said.     

She was...

... also a daughter of a very old mother, who lived with her. Therefore, her household had three generations, and it was not an easy task. The old mother was not very sanitary, produced smells that irritated her husband, and granddaughter, and she lived like in the middle of three fires, trying to be good to everyone in her house.

She was...

...an employee in a brokerage company, that gave a lot of pressure to employees. She had a shitty boss. He came to her cubical very often, and ordered her around as badly as he possibly could. He didn’t give a damn that she was a dentist wife. He needed a job to be done, and in spite of the fact that she spent too much time on the phone she managed to perform her task in a timely manner.     

She cried a lot. Actually she was crying all the time if she was not on the phone or in a conversation with anyone. As soon as someone entered her cubical, she managed to wipe her tears, and look happy, nice, and energetic as usual. But I was sitting right next to her, so I knew everything.

I approached her, “Listen, you’ve got to quit crying. You are killing yourself. People who cry this much don’t live too long!”

She looked at me, as if I said something funny, not realizing that I was telling her this in absolutely serious manner, I was not in mood for a joke, because her endless crying, tense telephone conversations about her sister’s health, daughter’s problems, husband’s betrayal, mother’s behavior... got me too. I’m a human being, and I can’t just sit there and not speak to all these never-ending hassles. 

I tried to convince her to quit. “You see that whatever you are doing is not working. So why bother doing the same thing over and over again… if you already know that the method you are using is not good enough to fix the problem? It’s just a waist of your energy, so you have to either quit or think of some other method. If you can’t think of some other approach… just let it be. Stop killing yourself.”  Unfortunately I was not heard.

She became my client. I calculated her taxes, and suddenly I saw her life in absolutely different perspective. She made just $45,000 and for a computer programmer it was a pitiful salary, especially taking into a consideration that she worked for the company for 8 years. Her dentist husband made just $70K.

I’m a professional and would never approach my client with an inappropriate questions unless he/she wanted to talk to me about it on their own accord.

She spoke herself. “You see how much money he makes!”

I was not sure what to say, “Well, it’s a good salary, especially comparing with yours.”

“He has his own practice! But he doesn’t want to work. He works only 4 days a week, 4 hours a day! But when it comes to spending, he is a king! He just bought to our daughter a diamond ring for $5000! Tell me, as an accountant, is it appropriate to buy a $5000 ring to 15 year old girl!?”

I hate when my clients approach me with this kind of questions.

“...and we decided that I’ll buy for her a little ring and he agreed, and then in the morning, she ran to me yelling: “Mom, look what my daddy gave me for my birthday!” and she showed me this huge rock! And I didn’t know what to tell her, because the ring I bought was much smaller, and cost just $200 –something reasonable for her age and our pocket. And I asked him: why did you do that...”

And then I heard the same conversation as before... And then I heard her crying.

She was talking about divorcing her husband. It sounded silly to me. She lived with him for 35 years! Divorce? What divorce would do in this situation? These were just desperate thoughts and hopeless desires.

However in spite of all the problems she had in her private life, she was very sociable. She was never alone during lunch-time, and walked long distances with her coworkers, who adore her company. I rarely participated in their lunch-time walks, being bored of their job or family problem related conversations. Her stroll was always very energetic, and by looking at her you would never say that she cried this much.  

She loved to dress up, and wore very expansive and extravagant outfits. All her girlfriends   always used this opportunity to give her a compliment. And she shined. This was probably the only time when she shined.  No, I’m wrong. She had a grandson and she always shined when she talked about him. He was a sweetie pie. She also was very proud of her daughters achievements. Her daughter was in a dance school travel team, and the mother and daughter spent a lot of time traveling together for different competitions. It helped them in their relationship, but was very stressful as well because of generational contradictions.

Her husband was not just a dentist; he was a big fan of different kind of alternative medicine; and she always was talking about some new vitamins, substitutes, procedures she was taking for immune system, to feel good, and to be healthy.  All her lady friends listened to her with their mouths dropped open, asking for the name of it, and references...

I was the only one, who cared less about all this. I’m a very strong believer that I need a supplement only if my body can’t handle a normal food; and I need a special procedure only if I have a problem and my doctor prescribes it for me. Otherwise, I just kick my own butt by telling myself:  Just take a hike… Go to a gym! 

She loved talking about different kinds of lamps that her husband bought with black light and red light, to feel better. ... And then she cried. Once I told her, trying to cheer her up, “You’ve got to take this lamp, and break it on his head! It won’t help you to solve the problem, but at least you’ll get a good laugh, looking at his upset over the lamp on his face.”  She smiled weakly, but ... nothing happened. She continued crying.

I left the company in one year, couldn’t stand the boss, didn’t want to stand up to pressure. The working atmosphere was gloomy; people were stressed out and depressed. A 45-year-old father of two, died of a heart attack after a yearly evaluation. There were no raises, no bonuses, just pressure, pressure, and pressure.

She called me in a couple of months, and sounded very merry. But then I found out that she called me ...from a hospital.  

“What’s happened?!”

“I’ve got leukemia.”

“Oh, no! How bad is it?”

“It’s very bad. I’m in a hospital for already a month and a half, having chemo therapy. I lost a lot of weight, and all my hair. You wouldn’t recognize me if you see me.”

“Oh, dear! I would! Believe me! You sound the same! So I would just call you, and then follow the sound!” I was trying very hard to make it funny. I’ve been through therapy, so to me the best way to go through it was with a good positive conversation and laugh.

Actually, laughing is always my favorite treatment. Just laugh about anything at all, make stupid, silly, inappropriate, idiotic, unsuitable jokes and laugh your head off, and you’ll recover.

And then she started talking to me about her daughter, and her husband, and her mother... again

She was...

...sad. She said, that they started to understand how important she was in their lives. They started to recognize their mistakes...

And then....

She was...

... not there anymore.  She cried herself out at the age of 55.

If you want to read this story, please let me know and I'll post it here for you 

My father brought home a new toy for me one day. It was an unusually colored, sparkling, almost weightless tennis ball. He explained to me that one of his students, whose father was an officer of the Soviet army, gave it to him.

I examined the ball and found out that it was very unusual. I could easily stretch it as much as I wanted and shrink it squeezing it in my palm and it always returned to its original shape.  It bounced when I threw it against the floor or wall, but bounced slower than a normal ball. It bounced in slow motion, making playing with it a lot of fun because it was easy to catch it. It was impossible to destroy the ball; I couldn’t rip out a piece, cut it, or break it… Neither could my father. In spite of its very lightweight it sunk in water and when I removed it from the water it was dry.  I couldn’t draw on it with either pen or pencil and couldn’t stick anything to it… even glue.

I got very involved with different kinds of experiments. I held the ball on one side and put the other side above a fire. The part of the ball that was near the fire became hot, but didn’t change color, burn, or evaporate. When I removed it from the fire it cooled down quickly, not burning my hands. When I took it outside and put it in snow it became ice cold, but when I took it in my hands it warmed up quickly, not chilling my hands.  It looked like the ball didn’t use the outside temperature to change temperature, but measured the outside temperature and changed its temperature to match. ...

If you want to read the rest of the story, please let me know and I'll post it here for you 

Let me know if you want to read it. I'll post it here for you.