Jello in sheep's clothing

In the early 70's, when I was a little kid, dessert was nothing special-- sometimes a few scoops of ice cream, but more often it was Jello. It evidently had been a family favorite for a few generations, because my mother and all of her female relatives had impressive collections of copper-colored Jello molds decorating their kitchens. It didn't take long for us kids to ascertain that, no matter how you prettied it up, it was STILL just Jello!

So my sister and I were pretty enthused when, one afternoon, my mother announced that we would be having 'parfait' for dessert. She had been reading a women's magazine and had decided to use one of the recipes in it, one that used tall glasses instead of the dessert bowls we were used to. My sister and I were sure that this 'parfait' must be something really special if my father had approved the purchase of the special glasses it was to be served in... money was very tight.

We got through dinner and eagerly awaited the arrival of the 'parfait'. I was a picky eater and I wondered if I'd like it-- but it HAD to be better than that crummy Jello we had almost every night!

My mother brought the tall glasses out of the refrigerator and set one in front of each of us. The dessert was composed of red and white layers. My mother gave us each a spoon, and we dug in-- only to discover that it was JELLO! With layers of Cool-Whip in between! We'd been had! This was the same crap we had every night, only in a fancier container! What a rip-off!

I'm not sure if my mother understood why I didn't want to finish my 'parfait'. I just felt really let down, because I had been looking forward to something new, and what I got was the same old thing. Later, I realized that adults had many different words for things, and calling something by a different name didn't change it. I was going to have to pay closer attention to these sneaky adults, and to what they said, before I got my hopes up too high.