EdItoR's NoTe

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HOUR FREE" " "" .

I CHILDCARE WHEN YOU I
NEED IT MOST.
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Quality Hourly Drop-In Child Care Where Kids Can Have Fun.

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Try us for one hour FREE. See what your family has been missing.*

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Hours: Monday-Thursday 8am-1 Opm; Friday 8am-1 am
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Saturday 9am-1 am; Sunday Noon-8pm

2

3610 W. Maple
0
(at Lahser)

just for kids

1 (248) 540-5702

ASK
ABOUT
OUR
ALL-NIGHT
NEW YEAR'S
EVE PARTY
FOR AGES
38 UP.

7305 Orchard Lake Rd.
(Just north of 14 Mile) 171

(248) 737-KIDS

For children ages 2 mths. to 12 years. Reservations needed for 2 1/2 years and under.
*Two hours minimum stay required with coupon. Limit one per family per visit.
Not valid with any other discounts. Exp. 11/15/97

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Call The Sales Department (248) 354-7123 Ext. 209

DETROIT =WISE NEWS

'TN

OF

THE GREATEST BIRTHDAY
PARTIES ANYWHERE!

Offer Good Monday lin Thursday • Minimum 10 10ds

BLACK & WHITE AND COLOR PHOTO BOOTHS
PARTY
4 1° 0 fOR 4 FREE QUAitre

RENTALS
AVAILABLE.
THE LATEST
IN ARCADE
GAMES.

10/31

1997

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WE HAVE AN
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to,

1 Coupon
Per
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Must be used at Marvin's
Expires 10/30/97

31005 ORCHARD LAKE RD, SOUTH OF 14, BEHIND F&M • 626-5020
MON. - THURS.10 TO 9; FRIA SAT.10 TO 11, SUN.11 T09

J

everal weeks ago my daugh-
ter was invited to a birthday
party. Less than a day before
the big event, I had yet to buy a gift.
So right after the first two days of
Sukkot and then Shabbat there I
was, still garbed in all my finery
(which is pretty negligible, since I'm
not a very snappy dresser), when
off I went to Kmart.
It's strange entering the world after
a three-day holiday with no TV or
radio or driving. Everything sudden-
ly looks interesting. It's kind of like
one of those huge, egg-shaped
floating tanks in which I once spent
an hour (what we journalists will do
for a story...) You're surrounded by
nothing but water and darkness,
and when you emerge it's as
though you're seeing the world for
the first time: colors are more
intense, sounds are sharp, smells fill
your every pore.
So while usually I disdain shop-
ping, I didn't mind this trip. I took
my time about selecting the gift (I
went with stickers), and also
browsed through books.
I was finishing my shopping
extravaganza when I passed the
card section. Remembering I need-
ed something for an acquaintance
who just had a baby, I stopped.
Directly ahead of me was a
young woman who looked about
25. She was lovely, with pale skin
and dark eyes and a touch of lip-
stick, nothing else.
It wasn't her beauty that caught

my attention, though. It was the
way she spoke to her child, who
looked about 2 and who sat in the
cart with her back toward me.
"Oh you are so dear, you are so
sweet my little girl," she hummed. .
Like me, she talked incessantly
about everything and nothing.
She went on and on like that,
singing to and loving her daughter.
Often, she stroked thegirl's hair.
I selected my card, then went
back to get something I had forgot-
ten. At last I was done, really done,
and I got in line to pay.
Two rows down I saw the pretty
mother again. And then, for the first
time, I caught a glimpse of her
daughter.
Something was terribly wrong.
She had some kind of physical
deformity, a too-high forehead, too-
wide eyes, a thin, tight face. She
was not ugly, but she looked
strange and unfamiliar.
It was painful to see, because I
could only imagine what lies ahead
for this girl. The medical treatment
and the bills, of course, but also the
teasing, the constant questions, the
always having to explain, "I look
like this because..."
I continued to think of the girl for
days afterward, though with the
passing of time I focused less on
her deformity and more on her
mother, and the tenderness with
which she loved her child.
It is a hard life ahead for the little
girl, without a doubt. But she has a
extraordinary gift, too: someone
who loves her to the very depth
and breadth of her soul.
It is this I will remember when I
think of that night, an extraordinary
moment in an otherwise everyday
experience. And it will stay with me
like that — unchanging, as a photo-
graph, but fresh and pure, too, like
spring.

Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

cc,

