Grandma's Soup

Larissa scrambled around the kitchen, anticipating the arrival of one of her three children at any moment. With a sigh, she placed the large pot on the stovetop to start making her mother’s famous soup. This would be the first time anyone ever attempted it since her passing in April. Larissa still hadn’t truly come to terms with losing her mother. Though she carried around the dull ache of sadness with her wherever she went, she never let herself acknowledge it.

The recipe was never written down, so Larissa had to try to remember all the steps that her mother had taught her. Just as she was adding the vegetables and setting the stove to a low simmer, there was a knock on the door. She rubbed her hands on her apron and ran to the door, finding her youngest daughter, Liz, on the other side. 

Liz embraced her mother and stepped inside from the freezing air. “Did the prison finally decide to let you out for a few hours to visit your poor mother?” Larissa teased, though the slight tinge of bitterness in her tone did not go unnoticed. 

“Mom, it’s university, not prison. And come on, you act like I never see you. I was just here a few months ago,” Liz said with annoyance, having already anticipated this conversation. 

“I’m just saying, it would be nice to see my daughter more often,” Larissa said conclusively, and they left it at that. 

Rachel was the next to arrive, nine months pregnant with her first baby, and looking like she was about to burst. She entered the house like a tornado, threatening everything in her path. She barely managed a hello before she plopped herself down dramatically into the chair in the corner. 

“There goes Rachel,” said Liz with an eye roll. “Making herself impossible to ignore.”

Rachel glared back. “You try being pregnant and see how it goes for you,” she said sharply. 

“No thanks,” Liz snorted. 

Larissa rushed into the room and threw her arms around her eldest daughter. She excitedly put her hands on Rachel’s belly and wasted no time in asking question after question about the pregnancy. Rachel happily obliged.

Liz rolled her eyes again and left the room. The two of them could talk for hours, and she knew she wouldn’t get a word in edgewise. The delicious smells in the house led her straight to the kitchen. She went over to the pot of soup and inhaled the scent ravenously. She secretively snuck a taste, even though she knew nobody would see her. She decided it needed more salt, and added some before she found a cozy spot to read her book.

“So, where’s David today? He didn’t want to spend time with the family?” Larissa asked Rachel.

“He had to work today,” Rachel sighed. David had been working overtime lately so he could afford to take some time off when the baby arrived, but that meant they barely saw each other anymore. It was starting to take a toll on Rachel.

“I’m sure he didn’t try very hard to rearrange his work schedule,” Larissa said. “I know he doesn’t like me anyway.”

“Mom, stop it. It’s not exactly a secret that you’re not a fan of him either,” Rachel snapped back. “What did he ever do to you?”

“My daughter deserves the best, and I just think you could’ve done better,” Larissa confessed.

“Well, you’re stuck with him now so you’d better get used to it!” Rachel said as she stormed out of the room and into the kitchen. She and her mother were very close, but things had never been the same once she started dating David. Now that they were married, the disapproval from her mother was palpable any time they came to visit. It just wasn’t worth it to drag him along anymore.

She was drawn to the large pot of soup on the stovetop. She took a big slurp from the ladle and cringed from the saltiness. She hoped adding some sugar would cancel out the salt, so she dumped some in with a shrug.

Several hours later, just when everyone started to think she wouldn’t come at all, Maria came through the door without so much as a knock.

“Look who decided to show up!” Rachel called from the couch she was splayed out across, with her hands on her belly.

Larissa came in to greet her middle daughter. “Maria, I don’t know why you insist upon showing up late to everything. You didn’t even call,” she scolded. “I was starting to get worried that something happened to you.”

“You worry too much,” Maria said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Where’s Liz?”

“She’s disappeared with her book like usual,” Rachel scoffed. “Maybe she’ll come out when dinner’s ready.”

Having heard Maria’s voice, Liz ran into the room and warmly embraced her sister. “How are you?! It’s been too long, I’ve missed you!” Liz exclaimed with another tight embrace.

Maria smiled. Liz had always been special to her, and her undying devotion was comforting when everyone else always seemed to disapprove of her. In truth, she probably wouldn’t have come if Liz wasn’t going to be there.

“Yes, how is your art going?” asked Larissa with her usual air of disapproval. “Have you decided to get a real job yet?”

“Actually, my art is going quite well, thank you very much. I’m starting to really build up a client base,” Maria said defensively.

“I’m glad it’s paying the bills for now, I just want you to think about your future, that’s all. I won’t always be around, you know,” Larissa said.

Before Maria could argue, Liz chimed in, “Well I’m really happy for you! I think it’s great that you’re doing something you love.”

“Yeah, and what is it that you’re majoring in again, Liz?” Rachel asked pointedly.

“Humanities,” Liz responded quietly, with no desire to defend herself from the usual skepticism.

“Sorry we can’t all have a boring office job like some people,” Maria retorted, looking directly at her older sister.

“At least Rachel can take care of herself. It’s not always about living your dream, whatever that means. This is the real world,” Larissa said.

“I don’t know why we’re even talking about this again,” Maria said angrily and stormed out of the room into the kitchen. Her stomach growled at the smell of soup that permeated the air, and she walked over to try a taste. She found it rather bland, so she added a few dashes of cayenne pepper, just the way she liked it.

When dinner was almost ready, Larissa busied herself in the kitchen getting the table set. She wanted everything to be just right. After all, this was the first time she had all of her family together since her mother’s funeral several months ago.

At the thought of her mother, she went over to the pot of soup to add the finishing touches. Her mother had shown her the secret ingredients, which nobody else knew of. She added them to the pot, not daring to test it yet.

When everything was ready, she called her daughters to the table. As they sat down, she looked thoughtfully at each one. Truthfully, she really did worry about them all. It was heartbreaking for her that she couldn’t take care of them anymore, and they didn’t always do a great job taking care of themselves.

“For supper tonight, I have prepared Grandma’s famous soup, which I know you all love,” Larissa announced proudly. “Someday, I will pass down the recipe to you girls as well.”

The girls hungrily started on their soup, and in turn, each one tried to hide a grimace. Liz couldn’t hide the rush of red to her face and water to her eyes. She couldn’t stand spicy food. Uncontrollably, she let out a loud cough.

Larissa furrowed her eyebrows. “Is something wrong?” she asked. 

“No, sorry, it’s delicious, Mom,” Liz forced out with a raspy voice. The girls proceeded to eat in silence.

When Larissa finally tried a spoonful of her soup, her eyes widened in horror. “This is NOT Grandma’s soup! What in the world went wrong?! I followed the recipe exactly as she showed me. I guess nobody will ever have her famous soup again.” Tears welled up in her eyes and she promptly left the room before anyone could see them fall. 

The three sisters stared at each other in silence, wondering what to do next. Rachel was the first to get up, always ready to comfort her mother. To her surprise, the door was locked. Usually, Larissa was eager to be comforted, but this time she didn’t want company. Seeing as dinner was spoiled, Maria ordered a pizza. 

After a while, Larissa came out of her bedroom fully composed with her face freshly powdered. She said nothing of their failed dinner as she sat down to eat some pizza. 

It was Liz who finally broke the silence. “I may have added some extra salt to the soup… I’m so sorry, mom, I hadn’t realized it was Grandma’s recipe.”

Maria added, “Yeah, and I was responsible for the spice.”

“And I added the sugar,” said Rachel sheepishly.

Larissa was frustrated but mostly relieved that she hadn’t messed up the recipe herself. “I just wanted everything to be perfect,” she sighed. “It’s not every day that I have all my girls together. And it was my mother’s recipe…” she trailed off.

“We miss her too,” said Liz, reaching her hand out to comfort her mother.

The mention of their Grandma softened the tension in the room and made Larissa burst into tears again, this time with no time to run away. Rachel came and hugged her mother, and even Maria extended her hand out to her.

“You know, tonight is the first time I’ve cried since she died,” Larissa admitted. “I guess I just haven’t let myself think about it until now. It felt like that recipe was the last thing I had of her. Now it finally feels real.”

Rachel stroked her mother’s back. “You know, you still need to teach us her recipe. Why not now?”

Larissa smiled through her tears. “That’s sweet, honey. But it’s already 9:00!”

“What else have we got to do?” Maria said with a grin. 

“I’ll get the pot!” Liz added.

Soon, there was a pot of soup on the stove, this time made exactly as the recipe called for. They all worked together to make it just right. It was 2am before they decided it was ready enough to eat. When they all dug in, it was as if Grandma was right there with them.