Shtikl with three wise men

“Katya, Katya!!”

“Im coooooming Bubi!”

Little Katya hobbled into the old barn and sat down. She knew the drill - she took a deep breath and placed her infected knee on top-of the wooden stool.

“Time to clean the battle scars, meine schone punem”, Bubi said softly as she lifted the large glass bottle from under the stool and tipped some of the liquid unto a clean cloth. She then placed it gently on top of the scab , which even now, 3 days later was still filled with puss.

Katya still couldnt believe that when she fell , she didn't think of anything better than to listen to her friend Lisa and let her spit on some random green leaf and place it on top of the scrape.

“Ay, it stings Bubi!” Katya cried out as her eyes started swelling up again.

“I know, I know meine hearts, only a few seconds longer. Once we are done, we can go have some tea with shtikl. Your favourite , the apple one.

The trick worked, Katya’s mind was fully transferred unto the promise of the upcoming cake - the sweet taste and intoxication smell filled her mind with new sensations. With a new found sense of strength and determination, she gritted her teeth and started naming all the capital cities in the world that she knew, to distract herself from the unavoidable procedure.

Bubi picked up the bottle once again and free handedly poured the liquid directly unto the scab. Katya flinched, but did not stop the reciting.

“Baku, Minsk, Moskva, Cairo, London..”.

The child has such a good appetite. Katya clearly takes after Nikolai, not Anna, that one is too skinny- has no appreciation of good shtikl. Its like she has a shtekn up her bottom! Bubi giggled at her previous thought and looked at her Katyusha - her little granddaughter all grown up and will be turning ten years old this winter.

“Amsterdam, Berlin…”

Katya has gotten considerably plumper since the beginning of the summer when she came to stay here , Bubi noted to herself. It was becoming more and more obvious as all her t-shirts started rising above her little belly. So what, this is the grandma love langauge! Bubi has nodded in agreement with her train of thought.

“Meine pretty Printsessa, all done” Bubi said out loud and patted Katya on the head.

As she was closing the bottle of Vodka that was kept in the old barn for such occasions- she noticed that the usual inglorious team of village spectators has emerged outside the old barn.

“Look Bubi, they all came over today again to support me ” Katya exclaimed and started waving enthusiastically at the men that were gathering outside the barn.

“Look at Pyotr Sergeevich- how anguished he looks at my pain. We should invite him to join us for some Shtikl later.” She continued.

Bubi glipsed again at the entourage that have formed outside. Katyusha was right - Pyotr Sergeevich, a tall and solemn looking man, was by now dropping alligator sized tears unto the ground. He was profoundly shaken by the unholy actions that led to such large amount of of vodka being unnecessarily wasted.

His two companions - whom looked like they could have re-defined science, have they been born a few thousand kilometres out and a few vices short, were also shaking their head in tandem at such a blasphemous action that has just taken place.

“There is no good crying over spilled Vodka gentlemen!’ Bubi winked at the heartbroken trio. “Lets all move to the garden and celebrate with something warming”.

As their hopeful gaze fell upon the bottle , she moved it further under the stool, stepped out of the old barn with Katyusha and locked the door behind her.“I have even something stronger than this , a good Shtikl with a sweet black tea”.

The irony was, that many years later - Katyusha will still remember those gentlemen as the three wise men who came to visit on a starry night. This was largely due to Bubi who managed to see the smallest flicker of light in those around her and fan out those flames - even if only for a moment!

This talent has eventually passed unto Katya, and brought many unexpected and treasured moments into her long and happy life. Similar to her father Nicholai and her Bubi, she has not only developed a strong affinity for Shtikl , she has also avoided a shtekn so to say..