Freeze Frame

At Trader Joe's the other day, I was standing at the check out counter while the man behind me judged all that I had chosen to buy (it's ok, I was mighty fine with my simple selection: TJ's spinach tomato sauce and frozen latkes). "Are those any good?" He asked, pointing to the latkes. "Yeah, I like them." After a pause I added nonchalantly, "I mean, they're frozen, but they're pretty good." The cashier nodded. He liked them, too. Then Man and Cashier Man started chatting while I remained silent. It was all I could do to act cool and keep myself from telling both of them that the latkes actually make me shed silent tears of longing for the eastern European grandmother I never had each time I eat them.