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Hope you enjoy!
Apples to Apples (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"That's a lot of apples, Grandma Ang," DJ said, eyes widening at the colorful array of fruit on the kitchen table as he and Angie climbed into their chairs.
Ang grinned. "I may live in Hawaii now, but I'm from the Midwest, so eating lots of apples in the fall is in my blood."
"All da apples aw he'we," Angie said, reaching for a bright red one. "I have dis one?"
"We're going to try all of them, angel," Ang told her. "All of them?" DJ asked in amazement. "We're gonna be very full."
Ang chuckled. "Someone special is coming to help us eat them." At the jingle of keys in the door, she smiled. "And I think that might be her."
"Hi, Smokey," came Catherine's voice as the door opened.
"Mommy!" Angie cried, sliding out of her chair and running to greet her.
"Hi, baby girl," Catherine said, appearing in the kitchen a moment later with Angie in her arms. She leaned over to kiss DJ and then rounded the table to greet her grandmother.
"Mommy, you're done with work early," DJ said excitedly, always happy for more time with her.
"I didn't want to miss Grandma Ang's apple taste-testing lesson," Catherine said, setting Angie back in her chair and then sitting between her and Ang who beamed.
"My star pupil."
"Grandma Ang showed you different apples when you were a kid, Mommy?" DJ asked.
"She sure did. When I was just about your age."
"Now this is a Gala apple," Ang said, handing a slice to her young granddaughter. She waited for Catherine to take a bite.
"Mmm," Catherine said. "I like that one. It's sweet."
Ang nodded, eating a slice of her own. "They're good for making applesauce and cider, and of course just for eating straight out of the fruit bowl."
"What's this one?" Catherine asked, pointing to a yellowish apple.
"That is a Golden Delicious. It's quite sweet as well and is one of the best apples for baking." She cut a slice for Catherine to try.
"Ohh, I like that one, too. Wait! I'm going to make a list."
Ang smiled as Catherine jumped up out of her seat. She dashed to the nook for a pencil and pad of paper and returned. Putting her head down, she began to write.
"Go-l-din De-li-shis." She looked at her words and frowned. "That doesn't look right." Quickly erasing, she replaced the i with an e in Golden. "Grandma Ang, how do you spell 'Delicious.' "
"D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S."
Catherine smiled. "Thank you. At school we use stars to show how much we like something. One star is only a little bit and five stars is a lot."
"How much did you like the Golden Delicious?" Ang asked.
Catherine thought a moment, tapping the pencil on her chin. "Hmm, three stars." She started to draw and then stopped. "Oh! I could draw apples instead!"
Ang smiled, watching as Catherine changed her partial star into a rudimentary apple shape and drew two more of them. "And what about the Gala?"
"Ga-la," Catherine said as she wrote. She grinned at her grandmother. "I think I need to try another slice to remember."
Ang chuckled and passed over the slice.
"Mmm. Gala is four apples."
After Catherine had finished, Ang said, "Are you ready for another?"
Catherine nodded eagerly.
"These are Cortlands. I like to use these in fruit salads because they don't brown as quickly after they're cut." She handed Catherine a slice.
"Like that one," Catherine said, pointing to the Gala apple they'd tried first that was just starting to brown. "But it's okay to still eat it."
"It is," Ang acknowledged. "It just doesn't look quite as appetizing."
"Hmm … that one isn't so sweet," Catherine said, wiping a little juice from her chin. "But I still like it."
Ang nodded. "Cortlands are little more tart." She leaned forward conspiratorially and took a bite. "I like them, too."
"They get three apples," Catherine said, continuing her chart.
"I also like Cortland's when I'm baking cobbler," Ang said.
Catherine smile. "Mmm, I really like when you bake cobbler."
Ang laughed. "I know you do."
"Why do you use different apples for different recipes?" Catherine asked.
"Because different apples cook in different ways, especially in the oven. If I'm making an an apple crisp or apple cobbler or apple pie," Ang explained, grinning as Catherine's eyes widened with each dessert mentioned, "I want an apple that is firmer and will hold its shape after it's baked. But if I'm making applesauce, a softer apple is better."
"What apple do you use for apple pie?" Catherine asked excitedly.
"I usually use two different kinds of apples when I make apple pie, a sweet apple and a tart apple. And the tart apple I use happens to be my favorite apple of all." She picked up a bright green apple. "This is a Granny Smith apple."
Catherine laughed. "Is it really called 'Granny Smith' or are you teasing?"
Ang grinned. "It really is, I promise." She cut the apple and passed over a slice. "Now this one is even more tart than the Cortland," she warned, watching for Catherine's reaction as the little girl took a bite, knowing many kids did not like the taste.
Catherine straightened, surprised by the tartness, but smiled. "That's so good!" She quickly ate the rest of the slice and picked up her pencil. "Granny Smith gets five apples. No! Six!"
Ang beamed. "That's my girl."
As they told the story, Grandma Ang produced a folded sheet of paper. As she carefully unfolded it, Catherine said, "Is that …? Did you really keep it?"
"Of course I did," Ang said, proudly showing the apple chart Catherine had made all those years ago.
"Ohhh, Gram," Catherine said, blinking back tears. Ang smiled softly, reaching over to pat her hand.
"Can we see?" DJ asked.
Ang smiled. "Of course." She passed the chart across the table to DJ and Angie.
"You really made this, Mommy?" DJ asked.
Catherine smiled. "I really did."
"De'we no colow, Mommy," Angie said, stretching her neck for a better view.
"That's true," Catherine admitted. "I was just using a pencil so no colors. Good observation, baby girl."
"We'll have colors this time, though," Ang said, presenting DJ, Catherine, and Angie their own charts based off of young Catherine's.
DJ beamed excitedly. "We get to make our own?"
"You sure do."
"We' colowing?" Angie asked. She looked back at the apples in front of Grandma Ang. "We' not eating da apples?"
"Ohh, don't you worry, angel," Ang assured her as Catherine smiled. "We're going to eat plenty of apples. We're just also going to color."
Satisfied, Angie settled back into her chair and nodded. "I'm weady." She looked at her brother. "You weady, DJ?"
He grinned and sat up straighter. "I'm ready."
Over the next half hour, they tried several different kinds of apples. DJ happily colored in the apples on his chart from one to five based on how much he liked them. Angie, meanwhile, consistently asserted she liked each apple and colored all five on her paper, not yet old enough to grasp a rating system but enjoying the opportunity to both eat and color.
The last apple to try was the bright green Granny Smith. DJ beamed. "We're trying it last just like you did, Mommy."
"That's right," Catherine said.
Grandma Ang grinned. "Save the best for last."
As Ang placed slices on everyone's plates, Catherine said, "Remember from Grandma Ang's story, these are not sweet apples."
Angie eagerly took a bite. Catherine and Ang waited, as did DJ, gauging her reaction. Angie beamed. "I like dese ones," she said, taking another bite, and her mother and grandmother exchanged a smile.
DJ examined his slice and then took a bite, almost immediately making a face at the tart taste.
Ang chuckled. "Well, it was almost unanimous."
DJ grinned, placing the slice back on his plate. Catherine smiled softly to herself as he asked Ang for another Gala slice, his favorite of the apples they'd tried. She'd noticed during the first few months after DJ came to live with them that he would eat anything and everything put in front of him, even when she got the sense he didn't like something. It broke her heart a little each time, knowing it was because he hadn't been able to count on regular meals in the past or have any say in what was in them, and she and Steve had gently assured him he didn't have to eat something he didn't like. Over the last few months, she'd happily seen that while he still tried everything without prompting, he didn't force himself to eat what he didn't like because he knew he didn't have to.
"It's okay, honey," Catherine said. "Most kids actually don't like the tartness."
"I'll bet you'll grow to like them eventually," Ang said confidently.
DJ smiled back, nodding, then leaned down to color a single apple on his chart.
Catherine glanced over him toward the doorway and smiled. "And in the meantime, Daddy will be there to eat whatever you don't."
"That's right," Steve said, placing his hands on DJ's shoulders, surprising the two kids who hadn't heard him come in.
"Daddy!" DJ cried excitedly.
Angie waved, smiling around a mouthful of apple. Steve leaned down to greet both with a kiss.
"Now what am I eating?" he asked.
"We tried lots of different apples, Daddy," DJ told him. "Grandma Ang knows them all, and she taught Mommy and now she taught us."
"Nice," Steve said, nodding approvingly and flashing a smile at Ang and Catherine. "And what was the verdict?"
"Angie liked them all," DJ said for his sister whose mouth was full with another bite. "I liked them all except the Granny Smith one but Mommy said you'd eat it."
Steve smiled, but before he could take the remaining slice from DJ's plate, Angie reached over and grabbed it.
Ang chuckled. "Or Angie will."
Catherine shook her head in amusement, running a hand over Angie's hair as the little girl chewed. "Don't you want to share with Daddy, baby girl? He hasn't had any apples yet."
Angie looked between her two hands, one that held the partial slice of Granny Smith and the other with a slice of Honeycrisp. She dutifully held up the fist that held the Honeycrisp toward Steve.
"That's my girl," Catherine said, winking at Grandma Ang who laughed.
"Our girl."
Steve leaned over and bit the apple slice out of Angie's hand with an exaggerated sound, causing her and DJ to giggle. "Thank you for sharing," he said after swallowing the slice.
"Welcome," Angie said, beaming. She looked at her now empty plate and then up at Grandma Ang. "Dere mo' apples, Gwamma Ang?"
"No more apples for now, angel," Ang said, piling the remaining cores onto her cutting board. When she made to stand, Steve stepped over to pick the board up for her and she smiled gratefully. "We don't want to spoil dinner," she continued, looking back at Angie and DJ. Her eyes twinkled. "But for dessert, I have a special treat. DJ, I think you'll like Granny Smith apples when they're baked into a pie."
He nodded eagerly. "I will!"
"Pie wif ouse cweam?" Angie asked and they all laughed.
Catherine leaned over to kiss her head. "Leave it to you to make sure there's ice cream."
DJ slid from his chair and walked around the table to hug Grandma Ang. "Thanks for sharing all the apples with us, Grandma Ang." He handed her his apple chart. "You can keep this with Mommy's paper."
Angie quickly followed with her own. "An' my one!" she echoed, waving it.
Steve smiled at Catherine as they watched the scene.
"Maybe next fall we can try even more apples," DJ suggested.
Ang hugged them both to her.
"Count on it, sweet boy. Count on it."
Hope you enjoyed!
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