Con Cebolla? Or, A Mother's Day Story

My mother has beautiful olive skin and pitch black hair. We had gone into a Wendy's after visiting Wild Waters, the local water park. She was as dark as she had been all summer. My sister and I told her what we wanted, and we approached the counter to order.

My mom is hard of hearing, but she can read lips fairly well. Most of the time, though, she has master the art of smiling and nodding and asking me later what went on. She looked directly into the face of the cashier and the woman said "Como Estas?" my mom answered fine, and then she was asked if this was "para aqui y vendes?" My mom answered "for here, please." She asked for a baked potato, a cheeseburger, and a small bowl of chilli. The cashier took another look at my mother and said "Con Cebolla?" asking if we wanted onions on the chilli. Knowing my mom, she didn't hear and knowing she couldn't have anticipated this question, I opened my mouth to answer no. My mom smiled and said "no onions, please."

Good Guess, I thought to myself, knowing my mom took French and had no idea what this woman just said to her. I also thought it was amusing that this woman thought she was hispanic with her two incredible white children. It certainly validated the story she always told about how them almost didn't let her back into the country after she visited Mexico. They asked her how long she was visiting America, she said she needed to go throw up...they let the "gringa" through.

The cashier then gave her the total...in Spanish. My mom gave her the amount, having seen it on the registar. The woman behind the counter told in, in spanish, that her order would be out soon, and to have a nice day. She ended with a "thank you for coming," and my mother said "Your welcome."

By this time my sister and I were almost in tears on the floor. She had answered every question correctly, not knowing that this women wasn't even speaking the same language. The cashier was looking at my mother funny, not understanding why she didn't just answer her in Spanish.

Mom looked at my sister and I and asked "What?!?!"

Happy Mother's Day