And Speaking of Chewing Gum . . .

When Marash Girl was growing up, all the cool ladies from Harpoot (Kharpert), the prettily dressed ladies either born in Harpoot, or born of parents who recently arrived in the United States from Harpoot -- all of those ladies would chew gum.  Marash Girl so admired Aunty Bea, her favorite auntie.  Auntie Bea could chew her gum and talk at the same time -- snapping her gum as she chewed in rhythm to the conversation she was having -- whether that conversation was in English, Armenian or Turkish.  She and her sisters were so pretty, so nice, and so talented -- both with their cooking and especially (for little Marash Girl) with the way they could snap their chewing gum as they chatted and laughed.  Marash Girl tried, but to no avail.  To this day she has never been able to achieve what those ladies achieved . . . not in cooking, not in snapping gum!  But then, Marash Girl had no Kharpetsi genes.  Maybe that is the problem . . .