You already had a burger today and while you could probably go for some more take out, it'd be best if you head home. You pull your cellphone and with some care to not cut your finger on the cracked screen, you call your mom. "Hello? Doe residence." You hear your mom answer, the old traditional greeting of an era gone by.

"Mom...we don't have a land line anymore." You chuckle. "I even programmed your phone to show my name when I call."

"Oh honey. You know me. I just can't kick the habit." Your mom says. "What's going on? Are you working late again?"

"Not tonight mom. Roland threatened to write me up if I tried to pull back to back multishifts again like I did a few months ago. Says I need to have some kind of sleep schedule." You say. You're not sure what a write up from Roland would be like but given how lenient and easygoing he was you fear what his wrath would be when he finally got angry. You were sure the threat was less about the money and more about your heath. Still, you didn't want be the one to make him mad. "Have you made anything yet?" You ask.

"Not yet, I was thinking of just ordering out." She admits.

"Mom, it's not even friday yet." You say. "How about I make something? I'll swing by a shop to pick a few things up."

"Honey...I don't know." Your mom says hesitantly.

"I'm not that bad of a cook mom." You scoff. "It'll be fine. I'll even clean up afterwards."

"It's not that you're bad. It's just that sometimes you look up some rather different recipes."

"Mom, japanese food isn't that strange. Nor is greek." You laugh as you start to hail a cab. "It's going to be soup. We could use something to keep the chill out." You can feel your mom hesitate some more before she relents.

"Ok...but I just never grew up with these kinds of foods. Don't stay out too late ok?" She asks with the same hint of worry she always had when you were out after sundown.

"I won't. You know what they say though, variety is the spice of life." You promise.

---

The heat from the small pot fills the rather spacious kitchen/dinner area as it slowly comes to a boil. Much like the rest of the house, it was basically built and maintained by your father's hands. After his passing, you had to do a lot of studying on youtube to be able to at least maintain everything around the house. Even so, you don't think you'd ever compare to the handyman that your father was. It was just another reminder of his passing. Your mother sits at the table idly reading a book but you can't help and note that she looked up every so often to watch you cook. "I'm just adding tofu mom. It's made of beans and we use it as a meat substitute. Don't worry there's pork in this too." Your mother makes a face between supportive and apprehensive.

"Of course. I'm sure it'll be lovely." She says trying to sound supportive.