FRIDAY NIGHT PIZZA

GREAT -GRANDMA SOUP

GREAT-GRANDMA SOUP

Grandma smiled as she showed me

the Little Orphan Annie doll she bought.

Yarn hair will never again be looped so perfectly

or stitched so tightly to a rag doll head.

My sister and I had to take turns with her.

She came outside with us,

downstairs, on picnics, until we grew older.

More and more, Annie was left in dark corners

until she was altogether forgotten.

We played other games, then--

speech competitions, basketball games, prom,

high school graduation.

College. Marriage. Having children of our own.

I took my girls to see Grandma.

She pulled Annie out of an old tub of toys, wrinkled

and unraveling with the force of years

but still powerful enough to reach the hearts of children.

My daughters had to take turns, too.

Then Grandma made tuna salad sandwiches

and canned tomato soup for lunch.

Annie came to the table with us.

She was an awkward centerpiece between the bowls and plates.

This is my favorite soup, my daughter said.

After that, Grandma made it every time we came.

Annie came less and less to the table with us.

One day, she didn't show up at all,

but my daughters were engrossed in their soup

and they didn't notice.

Buy that kind, my daughter said one day,

pointing to canned tomato soup in the grocery store.

That's Great-Grandma Soup.

We ate it for lunch with tuna salad sandwiches.

I wondered, for a moment, who was missing,

but my daughters were talking about Grandma

and I thought she was there, after all.