Night of the The Seventh Candle

Night of the  Seventh Candle evolved while ate I submerged myself with highly spicy Mexican food at the La Salsa restaurant. I begin my Sam Diego day with a ride on the 992 that takes me to second floor of terminal two of Lindbergh Field.  Observing the skyline of the major hotels along the coast with a hefty doze of spicy food is just the ticket for a good story, and besides it helps with my digestion.
    Obeying the Sabbath each Saturday cleansed my soul and changed the direction of my life. Located on I Street in the Chinese quarter and a block from the Horton Hotel, my stories sprang out obeying the sabbath in this little house of worship.  Each service ended with a  story that related with pasha of that month. The theme for this day dealt with Hanukkah..
      The Jewish Christmas began before the Christ Child was even born. In 168 BC, a single glass of oil burned for eight days, even if it was supposed to burn for only one. The Maccabees considered it a miracle so to commemorate it, the holiday of Hanuka began.
 
Stella lived most of her life in a small one bed flat close to a shop where men's clothes were manufactured. The first floor brick flat sat across the way from her best friend, Dina. During the cold snowy winter months they sent messages via a clothes line. They played dolls and tag, but most of all the loved to build a snow man.  She slept in a small crib at the foot of the bed of parents, Edith and Harry. Her brother Josh slept in the one bedroom
    Stella was small, with a pug nose and hazel eyes. Not great in her school work, she still made lots of friends as this gregarious one could not keep her mouth shut. She looked forward to sitting in her Dad's lap while he sang old time songs to her. Her Dad was made supervisor of the clothing plant and made supervisor. Her Mom Edith spent most of her time in the kitchen, cleaning the floors or cooking  kosher meals. Her Dad Harry, now a supervisor, sang old time songs every night. Edith her Mom presented second helpings of all types of meats.
   Stubborn, like a dog holding on to a bone, she shunned anything at the dinner table but sweat meats, and of course chocolate ice cream. She also loved to go on buses all over town to see the latest movie. Mom gave her extra money for candy. She loved all kinds of candy.
   She never received a grade higher than a C and her principal looked astonished when he delivered her diploma.. She loved to eat Yet, Her parents scorned on the first guy she fell in love with.
    Dad's new position made it possible to travel to the Catskills, across the border Not only was he not a Jew, but he was only a bank clerk.
     Both her parents hovered over her as if she was a new born chick about to hatch. When she returned from school, she sat on her dad's lap while he sang old time songs to her. To this day, she loves music and of course collecting dolls.
     Her first job was a a teller in the Bank of Montreal. She fell in love with another teller but since he was not Jewish without a good position, her parents frowned on the match. Stella was crushed. Yet it was a trip to the Catskill's in upper New York where she met her match. Her Dad had been made supervisor, and with extra money they stayed in a lodge with others. At night, they danced to the sounds of Harry James with Frank Sinatra as his lead vocalist.
     Stella had never learned to swim or dance, at least until a chap named Aaron tapped her on her shoulder and well, rather than me tell you, let's look inside the hotel and the ballroom at the Happy Valley hotel. She, at first didn't give her hand to him as he led her to the dance floor. The band played a new hit called Stormy Weather.
       "Name Stella, what is yours?"
       "Name of Aaron but my buddies call me Mr. Roosevelt."
        "Where you from Mr. Roosevelt?"
        "Born in Montreal. Dad from the Ukraine. Came here during the pogroms there. Started a plumbing business and did quite well."
        "Born in Montreal too."
    I tried to impress her with my dancing talents, but in an attempt to half swing and pick up the little powder puff, she screamed
       "Don't swing me, you hurt my back.

     They danced a few more times and her Dad told her it was time for bed She gave her phone number to Aaron and allowed him to kiss her cheek only. She really didn't care much for his looks, but her parents steered her on to marriage. She could not disobey her Dad, since he was the leading orthodox Jew in the town they lived in.  Aaron was tops in his class at Mac Gill University in Montreal.
      At eighteen she married in a lavish ceremony. Without much money and only a small grant from the college, they made their way to California. Just like a baby's first try using a fork, they had trouble making love, but sooner rather than later, they learned how to handle it.
They scrimped and had barley enough to eat as they lived in Pasadena. He enrolled at Occidental college. But good news was on the horizon. He learned about an opening at a new plant just south of Los Angeles. McDonald Douglas was hiring engineers and he applied. In no time he advanced to supervisor and was given the job of building a fuselage for the Stealth fighter in an area named Norwalk.
     Tirelessly he worked on its fuselage and shuttled back and forth to Palmdale with the crates of the fighter. the Antelope Valley where it was assembled and test flown.
   Stella scrimped and saved, buying early stock in Apple Computer stock. They bought a hilltop home with a view of Rolland Hills, she bore three kids and did any Jewish Mother would do. The boy went to Hebrew School and was tops in the boy scouts whereas the girls received scholarships to the most prestigious universities.
  Married life was a joy for many years but as Aaron's  success caused him to travel out of the country extensively, her marriage no longer simmered, but she learned to endure some of the roadblocks by traveling to distant countries.
 
Yet one evening while she watched Dancing with the Stars,  her life became a nightmare. During an intermission, she removed a bag of candy kisses from inside the refrigerator. That is when she heard what sounded like the voice of her husband.  It was her husband Irving speaking on a cell in the patio, while holding a cigarette
     "Who you talking with?"
     "Ah.. ah... I ah...ah."
     "Speaking to a women, and just after I gave you sex!"
    It was not the first time that this happened and as he didn't wish to go to counseling, she threw Aaron out of their house. She told no one. Her three kids lived elsewhere.  She didn't have too many friends so no one called.  She downed a bottle of sleeping pillsNot to let the reader suffer through the torment afterwards, she decided to throw him out and his things into a dumpster she had hired. The marriage of 42 years was over. Yes a dumpster ate Irving's family albums, clothes, books and even his Yamalka. The head piece had been a presented to him by his grand father.  She tried to down her sorrows with sleeping pills which almost took her life. Now all this transpired four years ago, and as she now says, 'Life goes on with no super expectations anymore.
    Her family celebrated the Holiday of lights in Escondido, a large city between Riverside and San Diego. Known as an Eve-ready battery, she dressed in a flash wearing her a bright blouse and pants that fit perfectly on her charming figure. Her walk-in closet housed over one hundred skirts and dresses. She used the wall closet for her many high healed shoes for this five foot two eyes of brown Jewish princess.
    She was excited but annoyed. Her husband  had left her for another, and that is after 42 years of marriage. She had ordered a large trash bin and hauled everything he owned inside the bin. Even old scrap books did not escape her wrath. She jumped into her Lexus and began her jaunt to the city of Escondido, a city just east of North San Diego County. She had brought presents for each of her 12 grandchildren and three of her own.
 
Yet Stella had another problem. She had met a bloke called George. He too met her at a dance but she found him boring and crude in dressing. Yet for some reason, she kept him around to badger and drive her to her many doctor appointments.  She still saw him but had no feelings of love for him. But she needed him as a bridge, and dancing partner.
    Sure he was handsome, what with blond hair and blue eyes, but no longer could she throw her heart away for another. No longer can she trust men since her husband moved east to Colorado with a much younger one and one that could sky.
    She drove down highway Five and took the cut off for Escondido, just east of Oceanside. The city is located in a dry aired area with temps at least ten degrees higher than the coastal ones. Her eldest Sandra, home was a ranch style four bedroom on an acre of property. A motorcycle and jeep stood in the driveway. Two other kids with her grandchildren also were present.
     A pool and several trees were in the backyard area, with two large figs that had grown so large that black birds made it a big trip each year to pick the choicest of the August crop. Inside the house there was the smell of pine and chestnuts were being roasted. The Fireplace was crackling. (More to come. unedited.)