Ada's Black Humor

I’m currently knitting Ada a scarf. I bought the needles and wool so that she could knit, but she had no interest. So I knit, and she holds the wool. It’s something for her to do, and she loves it. She calls it her job, and I pretend I’m a slave driver.
“Be quite and concentrate on your job!” I yell in her deaf ear.
Every time she forgets to give me wool, I fire her. Then I have to re-hire her and negotiate a new rate of pay. (Is this a Jew thing?)

“How long you make it?” she enquires.
I hold it up.
“I will hang myself on it!” she smiles.

Joking about committing suicide is her favorite creepy thing to do.

She will often be heard yelling, “I will throw myself off!” as she looks out towards her balcony. Or simply “I want to kill myself.”

And when she gets her medication she yells “Ha! My poison!”

I’ll laugh nervously, while Jean will smile, shake her head and say “Ada, I’m going to put you in jail!”

That’s their little joke. Jean will threaten to throw Ada out on the street or put her in jail most days. And it never gets old. It’s their humor to a T. No wonder they can get along.