Reflections E-Book

Mitchell Isaac Friedman

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

"The unexamined live is not worth living." Socrates in The Apology by Plato. Reflections is a collection of short stories in which the characters engage in examining their lives.

Leseprobe

Mitchell Isaac Friedman

Reflections

For Ilene, Danielle, and Jordan Friedman. In loving memory of my parents William and Lillian Friedman.BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

Charlie's Revelation

(The Wish)

The ice blue eyes peered out of the mirror at Charlie. He ran a hand over the smooth baldness of his head, and ran fingers through the gray streaked fringe of hair. He rubbed the stubble on his cheek, considering the patches of gray showing in his goatee.

At fifty-eight Charlie found himself with mounting bills, and unemployed.

He had always had a strong creative drive. He was always good with words, had some musical talent, could draw reasonably well, and had had some success in school plays. However, his real talent--and his real passion--was in the kitchen where he was a natural; there he truly came alive.

As head chef Charlie supervised a staff of ten; all brilliant chefs in their own right. He had always been proud of his work, and of his staff. He loved his work, and he loved the place where he did it. That is until a year ago, when the restaurant was taken over by a major conglomerate.

The new manager knew little and less about the culinary arts and had no appreciation for Charlie’s creativity. When he took over, he gave Charlie a thin tome that contained recipes for all the standard dishes offered in all of the restaurants in the chain. Charlie was instructed that this was to be what he and his team would prepare and serve from then on.

What had been a passion and a creative outlet had become a drudgery. For a year Charlie swallowed his bile, and toed the line. For a year he dreaded going to work each day.

He knew what had to be done, and today he decided to do it.

And so, At fifty-eight Charlie found himself with mounting bills and unemployed.

Sad, ice blue eyes stared out of the mirror at him. He lathered his cheeks, and picked up the razor, and passed it through the lather, scraping away the morning's stubble, leaving the trim, graying goatee.

"I want Mom and Dad back, so they can do the worrying about the adult shit," he said to himself, thinking of how great it would be to be a kid again, and not have to worry about bills and jobs and asshole bosses.

(The Wish Reiterated)

Charlie went into the manager’s office to hand in his notice, but before he could speak the manager said, “I was just going to send for you. We need to have a serious talk. Look, Chuck, I really need you to get on board and get with the program,"

"Name’s Charlie" Charlie corrected,

Before Charlie could say anything further, the manager said. "This is a business. A business needs to give the customers what they want, and ours want simple home cooking--nothing elaborate. If you can't can’t get that into your head we can find someone who will."

Charlie took off his apron and tunic, and tossed it on the manager's desk. "I'll save you the trouble of firing me." Charlie stopped at the door, turned and said, “And see if you can get this into your thick head. My name is Charles; Charlie to my friends. And to asses like you it’s Mr. Tovim.”

When he got home from work, Shayna commented that he looked troubled and wanted to know what was bothering him. He said that he didn't want to talk about it yet. He grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and set about preparing dinner.

Gently pushing him out of the kitchen, Shayna said, "You know you're not the only one in this house who can cook. Let me make dinner tonight. You take your bottle and go watch some TV for a while. Just try to relax."

Charlie didn't say a word. He just went. He settled into his favorite chair and put his feet up on the coffee table. Chava and Rachel were watching some nonsense on MTV. He couldn't be bothered to even ask what it was. He picked up his tablet and tapped into the copy of Kafka’s Metamorphosis that he had been reading.

He hadn't read more than four pages when he dozed off, sleeping until Shayna called everyone to the table.

As the girls went into the dining-room Charlie went into the kitchen to help Shayna bring the food to the table.

Taking the serving bowl with the kasha and noodles, he said, "I have to tell you something, but I don't want to talk about it yet. We'll discuss it after dinner. I just want you to know. . . ." He hesitated.

"What is it?" Shayna asked.

"I quit my job."

Shayna stood there, holding the serving plate of brisket, for a long moment, not saying a word. Then, pushing him into the dining-room, she said, "Well. It's about damned time."

After dinner Charlie and Shayna sat in the dining-room. Their coffees sat barely touched as they talked.

"I just couldn't take it anymore. He's such a jackass. I know what you're going to say," Charlie felt he had to defend himself. "I know we have Chava's tuition to worry about, and. . . ."

She reached over and took his hand, and looked directly into his eyes.

She said, as she squeezed his hand gently, "I saw this coming for a long time."

"I did something stupid, didn’t I?"

She shook her head, "I've been telling you, for months now, that you had to get out of there." She patted the hand she had been holding, "Tell me."

Charlie told her the whole story. How he went into the manager’s office to hand in his notice, and how the manager, without giving him a chance to say anything, gave him the "get with the program" lecture--again.

"Look," she said, "it's not going to be easy, but we'll get by."

"How can you say that?" Charlie looked into her dark eyes. "Have you seen the pile of bills on my desk?"

"Let's not worry about that for now," She took his hands. "You did what had to be done. You're free of that place."

"I've also got no job."

"True."

Shayna was silent for a moment. Charlie could see lights flashing in her eyes, as ideas raced around in her head.

Finally, she said, "This could be your chance to finally start your own restaurant--do things your way."

"Can we afford the risk? Maybe I should just find another position."

"No! No backward steps. Now's the time to move forward with those dreams you’ve always had."

"I don't know," he said.

"You were never really all that happy working in someone else's restaurant. We both know you'd be much happier running your own place."

Charlie just nodded, unsure.

She smiled at him with all her love and compassion.

Charlie slept fitfully. The wish echoed in his mind, "I want Mom and Dad back so they can worry about this grown-up shit. I want to be a kid again--carefree and oblivious."

(The Wish Fulfilled)

Charlie woke to the smell of chocolate blueberry banana pancakes.

“Charles, you get your tuchas down here and eat your breakfast.You’re going to be late for Hebrew School--again.”

Sunday.

Pancakes and Hebrew School.