The Rolling Pin

Sherry pounded both fists on a ball of dough to flatten it out before rolling it. She wasn’t going to bake bread, just roll the dough long enough to contact her dearly departed grandmother. The rolling pin had been the tool her grandmother used to make bread for the family when she was alive, but Sherry had found a different use for it.  She discovered by accident that it had the ability to dial the dead one night when using it to roll dough. She was feeling sentimental and thought she might start baking bread as a family tradition. However, instead of a loaf of bread rising, the rolling pin managed to raise the spirit of her dead grandmother.

“You should use a better cutting board,” a voice from behind Sherry spoke that day in a thick Bronx accent. Startled by a voice that sounded familiar Sherry turned to find no one standing behind her. “It must have been my inner critic talking,” she thought silently to herself. “Put more elbow grease into it. Roll from the center out and roll in a circle,” the voice stated much louder this time.

“Who’s there?” Sherry demanded, “What do you want?”

“What do I want?” the voice replied, “You called me. I didn’t call you!” The voice seemed a little put out and Sherry really felt like she might be hallucinating, but the voice sounded so much like grandma that she couldn’t help asking, “Nana, is that you?”

“Of course, it’s me. Who’d you expect? Betty Crocker?”

“But you’re dead. What are you doing here?” Sherry went over to the sink to rinse the dough off her hands and dry them on a towel. She felt a little weak at the knees and leaned on the counter for support.

“Make us a cup of coffee and I’ll tell you.” Nana said. Sherry walked over to the coffee pot and started making a pot. “Can you drink coffee, Nana?" she asked.

“No” said Nana, “but I like the smell. Go ahead and brew some. You know, I have been watching you. Living here in this place all alone. It’s not good for you. You need to find someone. A man.” Nana Angela was never one to mince words. She always got straight to the point.

“Is that what you came back from the dead to tell me, Nana? Don’t you think I know that?" Sherry rolled her eyes at the idea of getting dating advice from a ghost, but that first conversation with Nana had wandered to various subjects. The no-good great uncle the family had written off in life was there up in “heaven” and had made amends for his derelict ways. Nana was still crocheting blankets and dancing with grandpa, who now had the hips of a 30-year-old.

Tonight, Sherry was rolling the dough because she suspected someone had placed the evil eye on her and the only person that could remove it was Nana Angela. Unfortunately, Nana was no longer alive so how this would work, Sherry had no idea.

“That’s no problem. I can tell you how to remove the evil eye. It’s very simple.” Not only could Nana communicate audibly, it appeared she could also read minds. Sherry was glad this rolling pin brought Nana back into her life, even if only ethereally.

“Hi Nana. Thanks for coming through. I have been really worried about this. I have had a bad case of recurring pink eye and someone at work suggested I might have the evil eye.” Sherry got out a pad of paper and a pen and sat down at the table ready to record the instructions for spell removal. Her Nana relayed the steps involved and the tools needed. The process involved a fresh egg, stored in a Tupperware container, and placed under her pillow at night. This would be interesting, Sherry thought. “If the egg white is cloudy the next morning, you had the evil eye. But no worries. By morning it will be gone.” And with that Nana disappeared into the ether. She never stayed very long. Just long enough to get her message across.

Sherry wasn’t sure exactly how she became cursed, but she heard that being the object of someone’s envy could bring it about. Who could be envious of her? She was single, in her 50’s, working a boring job and with little prospects for change in career or marital status.

“That’s why you are cursed.” Sherry realized Nana hadn’t left after all. “What do you mean, Nana?” She asked.

“You spend all your free time doing exactly what you want to do. No one tells you what to do. You go where you want, shop when you want. You do everything you want to do and answer to nobody. The married women at your work are jealous. They act like your friend to your face but behind your back they talk crap. You should watch out.” Nana advised. Sherry was touched by her grandmother’s protectiveness. She was also worried about going back to work on Monday. She would follow this egg protocol just to be on the safe side. Maybe look up some jewelry to protect herself from the evil eye in the future.

When did I become so superstitious, Sherry thought silently. And once again, listening to her thoughts Nana answered. “You know this isn’t superstition. Remember when you were 15 years old, and I took the evil eye off you back then. Got rid of those bad cramps you had, didn’t I?”

This was true. Adolescent Sherry suffered each month with a bad case of cramps. One morning, she and Nana walked downtown to a little cafe for breakfast. Sherry wasn’t aware of a man staring at her while she ate, and she was totally oblivious to her grandmother casting the evil eye at him on their way out. But when they got back to her grandparents’ condo, Sherry started feeling the usual abdominal pain and asked to go lay down. Nana asked her what was wrong, and Sherry explained she had gotten her period and was having cramps. “Is that normal for you?” Nana asked. Sherry nodded and went to lay down on one of the twin beds in her grandparents' bedroom.

Back then, aspirin and Midol were the only over the counter drugs available and neither of them worked for her. She accepted the fact that she would feel like crap for the next 24 hours. As she lay in bed trying to fall asleep a drop fell on her eyelid. Then another and another. Sherry assumed it was condensation from the air vent in the ceiling, but then realized the A/C units in the condo were window units. Sherry opened her eyes to see her grandmother standing over her with a bowl of water motioning with her hands and whispering some words. Nana looked at her sternly as if to say, “Don’t make a sound.” That’s when Sherry realized she was having an exorcism from the evil eye. She’d heard the story her parents told of getting cured of the evil eye when she was a baby. She was too young then to remember. Now she had figured out what was going on and she panicked. Outwardly she appeared calm, but inside adrenaline coursed through her body. She thought to herself, “Nana is just doing this to make herself feel better. I’ve just got to go along with it.” And that is what Sherry did.

When her grandmother left the room Sherry tried to go to sleep for the second time. While she lay there staring at the air conditioning unit under the window, she noticed she no longer felt any pain. She slowly sat up to see if the pain would return, but it didn’t. It was completely gone. What should she do? Should she go out into the living room and reinforce her grandmother’s superstitious beliefs? “What’s the point of staying in bed if I feel fine?” Sherry asked herself out loud.

She got up and left the bedroom to find Nana in the kitchen rolling dough. There waiting for Sherry was a plate with a piece of toast and a cup of hot tea. She suddenly found an appetite again and sat down to eat looking up at her grandmother. Nana must have known she would be back to normal or why would she have made tea and toast? Later, her grandmother told her that she removed the evil eye from Sherry because she believed the man who had been staring at her in the cafe was the cause.

“Yes, Nana. You did get rid of those cramps. I wish you would have told me the secret before you went to heaven.” Sherry sighed. Her grandma remained silent. She sat there and wondered about who her grandmother had been in life and where she got this skill and if Sherry would ever have it herself. She glanced at the rolling pin. Was it really the rolling pin that contacted her grandmother. “No, sweetie. It’s all you,” came the voice of her Nana before she left for good this time.