Everyone in the family loved Grandma Rosa's soup, but nobody knew her secret. One Sunday, eight-year-old Leo decided to ask.
"Grandma, what's the secret ingredient?"
"It's in the blue jar on the top shelf," she answered, without looking up from the onions.
Leo dragged a chair across the kitchen, climbed up and opened the jar. It was empty, except for a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and read a single word: "Time."
"That's not an ingredient," he said, a little disappointed.
"Wait and see," said Grandma.
So he waited. He watched her peel the vegetables slowly, stir the pot and hum an old song. She asked him about school and his friends, and she told him about her morning at the market. The soup simmered for three hours. When it was finally ready, Leo took a spoonful and closed his eyes. "It tastes like the whole afternoon," he said. Grandma just winked.