Chapter 27 Part Two Chapter Five Mother's Skills (2)

Saturday dinner is a festive meal.The Nolans will eat fried meat!A loaf of moldy bread is made into a paste with hot water, mixed with ground meat (with chopped onions already mixed into it), and flavored with salt and a penny of ground coriander.These moms make little balls, pan fry them, and eat them with hot tomato sauce.There was a name for these meatballs, Franny Rays, after Francie and Neeley had fun and tied their names together. Their staple food is this kind of moldy bread, condensed milk, coffee, onions, potatoes, and condiments bought impromptu at penny by penny.They can also occasionally eat bananas.But Francie always wanted oranges, pineapples, and especially oranges.Oranges are only available to her at Christmas.

Sometimes, when she saved a penny, she bought some crackers.The grocer would take a piece of hair-rolling paper and make her a horn and fill it with broken biscuits that couldn't be sold whole.My mother's rule is that when you have a penny, don't buy candies or cakes.buy apples.But what is an apple?Francie thought raw potatoes would taste just as good, and she could get raw potatoes for free. But towards the end of the long, cold, dark winter, there were times when Francie, no matter how hungry, had a bad appetite.That means it's time for pickles.She would take a penny and go to a store on Moore Street.The store just had some kosher pickles in a spiced brine.An old man stood by the vat.Old men with long beards, yarmulkes, toothless mouths, and large wooden forks in their hands.Francie asked for the same thing as the other kids.

"Give me a penny old pickle cucumber." The Jew looked at the Irish boy.His eye circles were red, his eyes were small, and he looked vicious despite being persecuted. "Gentle dogs! Strange dogs!" he spat at her because he hated the word "Jew." Francie didn't mean any harm at all. In fact, she didn't even know what the word "old Jew" meant.She just thought it was referring to some kind of alien yet beloved character.But the Jews obviously don't know this.Francie had been told that he had a bucket with stuff that was sold only to Gentiles.He was heard spitting in it every day, and even worse.This is his revenge.But there was never any proof that the poor old Jew did it, and Francie did not believe he would.

He was stirring with a wooden fork, and the mouth behind his dirty white beard was swearing.When Francie asked for a piece of pickle from the bottom of the bucket, he flew into a rage, rolling his eyes and pulling his beard.In the end, he fished out a thick, top-quality pickled cucumber with firm yellow-green ends and placed it on a piece of brown paper.The Jew was still cursing, and while he was cursing, he took her penny with his vinegar-soaked hands.Then he returned to the shop and slowly calmed down.He nodded and nodded, his white beard curled up and down, and he lost himself in the past of his homeland again.

Pickled cucumbers last all day.Francie sucked and gnawed slowly while holding it.She is not really eating.She just wants to have it.After eating bread and potatoes so many times at home, Francie was obsessed with dripping pickles.She didn't know why.But after a day of pickled cucumbers, the potatoes and bread were delicious again.Yes, the day of eating pickles is something to look forward to.