The Bowl That Came Back Empty

Chapter 1Better Than Anybody's

Shimon had heard about his great-grandmother's barley soup all his life.

"Nobody made it like she did," Totty said whenever Mama cooked it.

Mama smiled. Her sheitel was pinned neatly away from her face while she worked at the kitchen counter.

"You're welcome to help with the peeling instead of making announcements."

On Wednesday, Mama made a pot for supper and put some into a covered serving bowl for Zeidy.

Shimon was taking it over before his afternoon lesson.

"Tell him it's the family recipe," Totty said.

Shimon wrapped the bowl in a cloth and imagined Zeidy tasting it. Zeidy had known his mother longer than anybody. If he said it was the best, that would settle it.

Not that there was an argument.

Except Shimon's cousin Pinny had said his grandmother's soup was famous too.

Two soups could be famous. They could not both be best.

Shimon carried the bowl carefully down the stairs.

Chapter 2The Half Sentence

Zeidy opened the door.

"Perfect timing," he said. "Put it on the kitchen table."

Shimon set the bowl down.

"Mama used Great-Bubby's recipe. Totty says nobody makes it like her."

Zeidy smiled.

"Your great-grandmother never measured the way your mother does. A handful of this. A little more of that."

"But it's the same soup?"

"It's made with her recipe."

Shimon wanted a more definite answer. His lesson would begin soon, though, and he had to go.

"You'll tell me what you think?"

"I'll return the bowl tonight."

That was not the same promise, but Shimon treated it as if it were.

When Zeidy came to their house after supper, he handed Mama the clean bowl. A folded note sat inside.

Shimon opened it.

For the soup. I wanted to tell you about the day your great-grandmother...

The sentence ended there.

Chapter 3No Report at All

"He forgot to finish it," Mama said.

"Maybe he didn't like it."

Mama looked at Shimon.

"The note doesn't say that."

"It doesn't say it was good either."

"No. It doesn't."

She put the clean bowl on the shelf.

Shimon had expected an empty bowl to be evidence.

Someone liked the soup enough to finish it. But a person could finish soup because he was hungry. Or he could give it to a visitor. Or he could wash the bowl without eating all of it.

He disliked each possibility more than the one before it.

The next morning, Pinny asked whether Zeidy had tasted it.

"He sent the bowl back empty," Shimon said.

"Good."

"He wanted to write about Great-Bubby."

"Good."

Pinny did not seem to understand how close they were to settling the matter.

Chapter 4A Question With an Answer Inside

Shimon went to Zeidy's apartment after school.

Zeidy was sorting papers at the table.

"I didn't finish the note," he said. "Your uncle arrived while I was writing. Then I brought the bowl and forgot to add the rest."

Shimon sat down.

"Was the soup as good as Great-Bubby's?"

Zeidy paused.

"It was very good."

"But was it better than other soup?"

"Other soup?"

Shimon explained about Pinny's grandmother.

Zeidy put the papers in a straight pile.

"Have you tasted hers?"

"No."

"Neither have I."

Shimon looked at the unfinished note in his hand.

"Totty always says nobody made soup like Great-Bubby."

"He's remembering his grandmother. He isn't judging every pot in the neighborhood."

Chapter 5The Day in the Note

Zeidy took the note and read the half sentence.

"I was going to tell you about a winter day when your great-grandmother made this soup."

Shimon leaned forward. A winter story sounded promising. Perhaps somebody important had tasted it and said exactly what Shimon wanted.

"A neighbor came in with two children," Zeidy said.

"Their stove had stopped working. My mother put three more bowls on the table."

"Was there enough?"

"She added water."

Shimon sat back.

"Water? Wouldn't that make it thinner?"

"It did. There wasn't a spare pot hidden anywhere.

She added water and shared what she had."

"And everybody said it was delicious?"

Zeidy smiled slightly.

"I don't remember what everybody said. I remember my mother cutting her own roll into pieces for the children."

For a moment, Shimon could not think of a question.

He had wanted a story about winning. Zeidy was remembering who had sat at the table.

Chapter 6What He Told Pinny

Pinny was waiting outside the classroom the next morning.

"Did your Zeidy like it?"

"Yes. He said it was very good."

Shimon stopped there, then started again.

"I wanted him to say it was better than your grandmother's. He hasn't even tasted hers."

Pinny raised his eyebrows.

"Why would he say that?"

"Because I wanted him to."

Pinny grinned.

Shimon managed a small grin back.

"I kept turning your grandmother's soup into something ours had to beat. That wasn't fair."

"Mine is still famous."

"It can stay famous."

The classroom door opened. Pinny picked up his books.

"You could taste it sometime."

"I'd like that."

Shimon didn't add that he would be judging it. He was no longer sure soup needed that sort of visitor.

Chapter 7Six Bowls

On Sunday afternoon, Mama invited Zeidy for supper. Shimon asked whether they could make the barley soup again.

"If you'll help with the table," she said. "I will handle the pot and the knives."

He put out six bowls.

Mama counted them.

"There are five of us with Zeidy."

"Could we invite Pinny?"

Mama said she would ask his parents. Later, she told Shimon that Pinny could come.

Totty came in while the soup was cooking.

"Nobody made it like my Bubby."

"What do you remember about eating it?" Shimon asked.

Totty leaned against the doorframe.

"Her kitchen window steamed up. I used to draw a little face on it with my finger. She'd make me wipe it clean afterward."

Shimon laughed.

"Zeidy remembers her adding water for three visitors."

"I wasn't there for that day."

A family could remember more than one thing about the same pot.

Chapter 8The Whole Sentence

At supper, Zeidy told the winter story again. Totty told the story about the window.

Pinny said his grandmother always set the rolls in a cloth so they stayed warm.

Mama passed the rolls. Nobody asked whose way was better.

The soup was thick that evening. Mama had counted the guests and made enough for everyone. Shimon helped pass the bowls.

After supper, Zeidy finished his note.

I wanted to tell you about the day your great-grandmother made room for three more people at her table.

Shimon read it twice.

He put the note in a drawer with the family recipes, where Mama said it would stay clean and dry.

Then he helped Pinny carry the empty bowls to the counter.

This time an empty bowl did not have to prove anything.