The Word No One Wants to Speak

Grandma Frieda is standing in front of the house, wearing an apron that covers her whole dress. She is smiling and waving as they pull into the driveway. Diana jumps into Grandma’s arms which are reaching down to her. They walk holding hands past the Petunias to the door. “Fritz, look at Diana. See how she has grown!” They stand in the tiny living room, which has a bed made to look like a couch with large pillows along the back wall. There is also a television, and a stuffed chair for Grandpa Fritz. He leans forward tucking his book down into the side of the chair. Diana steps in front of him. He smiles and then pats her on the head. “Let’s go into the kitchen, Diana. I have baked something you like,” Grandma Frieda says smiling. Al speaks with his father in German and their conversation continues while Frieda leads Diana into the kitchen. Then she opens the oven to reveal the small cake with hollows of buttery, sticky, sugar topping. “Would you like some sugar cake and Kinder Coffee?” Kinder Coffee is child’s coffee, mostly milk and a small amount of coffee. Years later Diana realizes Kinder Coffee must be the reason she likes coffee ice cream so much. Grandma Frieda brings the cake to the kitchen table, cuts pieces, and puts them on two small plates. Al has left his father and now walks through the kitchen carrying hedge clippers. He opens the screen door and thumps down the back-porch steps to the yard. Diana reflects on living just 3 houses away from these grandparents until several months ago. She would walk over by herself to see Grandma Frieda. There was always the smell of something cooking. Today, they sit and eat cake without speaking, listening to the snap-snap sound of the hedge trimmer as Al cuts the weeping willow tree’s branches. Grandma Frieda takes Diana outside and shows her the flower garden that runs along the backyard fence, stating the name of each flower and bush, proudly pronounced in English.