They've been meeting consistently when Sid has been sober enough to talk. He does function well drunk, so even so, they meet often.
Now Gisa's made food for them both, and is setting the table. It must be a milk meal, because the plates are blue. There's white wine open, because she likes her wine, and he drinks like a fish.
Sid came to his grandmother's shop. It was late in the day and he seemed... groomed? Whatever it was he was clean, sober, and ...huh. He greeted her with a kiss to each cheek and was, well he seemed in a good mood. "Aaaaah Lulu's going to be sad she missed out on mothballs."
Laughter from Gisa then, that low rumbly sound that's so particular to her. She kisses his cheeks, one, two, and then pats a chair. "No mothballs today, I made latkes stuffed with goat cheese, and vegetables, and some other things. There was goat cheese on sale, so I got some to make something a bit different." Gisa admits with a sigh, "I miss fresh goat cheese." Not every memory disappears when you sell most of your childhood: some of the deeper ones remain. "You look good, Sidney. Sober, bathed, groomed? What is this boy doing to you?" She likes it, apparently.
Sid said drily having a seat, "Or, ya know, as I call it? Just cheese." Okay he had a humor about it at least though he did note, "Don't tell Lucky, please? The jokes? Will never stop." At the question of what was happening to him he laughed with an admonished grin and relented, point to Dawn court. "Pretty sure the answer is either trying to give me a heart attack, or trying to keep me distracted from the regular ballot clippings... and Miss Enid asked me to and she was... VERY good to me on all fronts in teh paper sooo I thought I'd say thank you aaaand I might have a date later tonight time permitting."
"I won't tell Lucky. Though he must know that I eat goat cheese and sheetp cheese." This seems very logical to Gisa. She shakes her head slightly as she settles in at the table. "A date? With Lucky, or with someone else?" She starts dishing out the latkes, asking, "Will you pour us wine?"
Sid hopped up and do as she asked. On a good note whatever pall was drawn last week seems to have faded a bit. She could ask him to write a thank you letter to teh post man for being on time and he wouldn't question the request. Man he was in a good mood by by contrast the smile hit his eyes at least. "Just because I have in the past, been one to kiss and tell, does not mean I am so inclined to now." He paused for a whole moment before confirming, "This time? Yeah. We talked when I finally texted teh correct person." He paused and looked at his glass and poured himself a little more wine. "yeeeeeeah... Awkward... Concert tonight though and he's seeing about winning tickets." Because half the fun of going was convincing people to let you go for free? He paused and simply say, "I convinced him to move out of the death trap. I feel better about this. How was your morning, bubbe?"
"If the date has not happened yet, you have not yet kissed on the date, so you would be telling, and then kissing. Not kissing and then telling. Also, can you not trust your bubbe? I understand if you cannot." Oh noo anything but that. Gisa finishes dishing up the food, waits for Sid to pour the wine, and says the blessing over the food so it's time to eat. "Mmm. I am glad. He seems good for you. Whatever works for the both of you and is healthy for you both will make me happy." She pauses, considering. "I am feeling -- clearer."
Sid paused and considered that and the fact that the concept of TMI for him was more a challenge than a threat. He split the difference and said , "Well to be fair we're still on our first date but it's been abotu a two, two and a half week one. We talked aaaaand as we're already entrenched in one pledge for the next year what's anyhting vs. that? So he's moving in. We're gonna see how it goes." He paused and nodded to her seeming to go back to the conversation the last week where he was a positive nervous wreck. Calmer he said, "It's what I want for me too. So, clearer? Nu? Goood! Dish." He's not minded taking her burdens withteh Aspersorium. For her he'd take on teh world. That was his Bubbe and he swore to himself to look after her. "Not that it's been any burden to me. Got Lucky learning things and frankly it's done my soul some good. I think perhaps, this is one of those burdens as blessings things I think/ Trust in one another. Trust in Him. Trust in ourselves?"
"A quick pledge can be soon regretted," and Gisa's voice carries the weight of experience there, "but I trust you that it is in your best interests." She cuts one of her latkes in half with her fork, considering Sid for a long moment. "Good. You are ... more even. Calmer. I appreciate that. If he is at all responsible for that, then he is a good boy." Almost a mensch. Almost.
"Trust in Him first, and all else follows," to this Gisa agrees. "But remember what the rabbis tell us about the lessons atheists teach us: we must act as though HaShem were not over us, and as if only we could solve the ills of the world. Which -- you do this." After a moment, she shifts in her chair, takes a bite of her food. "You lifted the burden of anxiety and the pain of not praying, and in doing so, the connection returned without the anxiety. It grounds me. I feel -- the connection is there, stronger, now, even with the anxiety, but that lifts itself when I pray now. It is hard to explain." But he understands, having taken on the derangement, what it felt like to miss prayers.
Sid countered with a quiet truth, "And it could all be gone tomorrow and I'd have missed this." He good a deep breatha nd said honestly, "He tries to do right by me in spite of his own wants... I likterally cannot ask for anything more than that. It's a ... good thing." Yeah. Which was huge but he's made peace with that too. He listened. He liked listening and he had much to learn, but there was agreement. "If we expected Him to fix all things it would be disrespectful." He listened furthat and pressed his lips togehter thoughtfully. "Love, with Him, with all things, should come from a want to be in that relationshipa nd revere it, not an obligation. That is duty, but not love. I'm glad this is giving you time to choose these things, rather than force yoruself to them. That is honest. That is the gift." This made him smile. THere were few things for him that were a genuine joy, and some were even not selfish in nature. It was an anathema to his nihilistic worldview that he was grateful for; that burdens could make something greater still for making peace with its existance.
For once, Gisa doesn't have a lot to say in response. She just listens, tilting her head to the side, and at the end of it, reaches over and places her hand over her grandson's. Blood or not, that's what he is, and her newfound connection to the world at large is at least in part a connection to him. Her warm clay hand squeezes his. There's nothing more to say on that subject, not really. She can't disagree at all.
Sid learned something and somewhere in this was finally learning to understand what his Faith was to him. He was learning and for a change in a world of giving up he did not shun the gifts of wisdom his culture offered to share with him a second time. He put his hand over hers and said, "If anything I think I see why I came to follow you here, and I'm still learning from you. I like...that it's difficult. I like that it makes us choose to be a part of this. I'm glad you let me take your struggle a while. I think... I think I may keep that for yoyself after the healing is done. Not a have to. Not because it's easier. It connects us." He drank his wine and gestured to the store, "I know Alonso is planning on a trip. If you need someone to watch the store you know I don't mind."
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