taste
'My favourite taste by Gordon Tracy aged 8.
My favourite taste is my Grandma's hot chocolate. It is very sweet and tastes amazing. It is made of melted flakes of chocolate and warm milk. Sometimes we have cream on top of it and she makes cookies to eat with it. She makes the hot chocolate for special days like birthdays or if we get good school reports. Sometimes she makes it when we are sad like when John was sick or when Virgil was sad because Alan spilled juice on his painting. The last time she made it was because Scott got his first A for algebra. I hope she makes some for me soon.'
I look at the scrawled writing at the top of my elementary school book and smile. Age 8 and not a care in the world, despite the lingering desire for Grandma's hot chocolate. No girls, no arguments with brothers, no angst with Dad over career choices, and no death-defying rescues either.
But even as I've got older, my age 8 self is still very much present.
There's nothing better than the taste of Grandma's hot chocolate.
Well, that and the comfort that I guess I associated with it, though too young to really comprehend that side of it.
This book makes me smile, despite having been cursed with the worst cold and worse, being denied the chance to participate in possibly the best rescue ever…
The call came in this morning, from deep in the jungles of South America. A film team trapped in a rapidly disappearing strip of land between two surging rivers, fed by a massive thunderstorm further upstream. But this isn't any ordinary film team. Oh no, they are filming the new Dolorez O'Hara film…she is the most amazing looking actress. A bit of Mexican and a bit of Irish mixed together and you're left with this girl, stunning tall, tanned, long dark hair and amazing blue eyes.
I begged with Dad…I mean, I was on my knees! But he was adamant I had to stay at base and recover from this stupid little cold.
The worst bit was watching Scott and Virgil look oh so smug as they made their way to their Thunderbirds. Virgil even had the gall to suggest I was turning a colour remarkably like Thunderbird 2!
Well, ok I am jealous, but it's Dolorez O'Hara…the Dolorez O'Hara!
I don't want to think about it. Scott will be trying to give her his old (supposedly) charming chat up lines and Virgil will talk all romantic about art and how he'd love to paint a portrait of her…the girls love that. So I've retreated to my room and have spent a few hours mindlessly digging through childhood junk. I'd rather be swimming, keeping my mind on beating my previous length times, but of course the cold has stopped me doing that as well. I hate the cold.
There's a knock at my door and I hear Grandma asking if she can come in. I quickly get into my bed, to spare me the lecture on not resting properly.
"I've got something for you," she says, shuffling towards my bedside. I groan, expecting to be force fed more orange segments to keep the Vitamin C levels up. Or maybe it's that disgusting cold medicine she swears by…
Then I smell it. The sweet smell, the rich aroma that can only be…
…Grandma's home made hot chocolate.
I quickly sit up in my bed and see the most beautiful sight. A steaming mug of hot chocolate held between my Grandma's wrinkled fingers. I sit back against the headboard as she holds it out to me, my fingers already forming the curved shape to fit perfectly around my mug, anticipating the moment of consumption…
"Why the hot chocolate? Have I forgotten a special occasion?" I ask, suddenly afraid I'm not going to be getting a mug as punishment for my poor memory.
"No dear," Grandma says. "I thought you all deserved a treat is all." I take my mug, smiling widely as I gaze down at my hot chocolate, made especially for me. The brunette liquid below bubbles up around the white peak of whipped cream and I run my pinkie along the rim of the mug and taste the sweet blend of cold cream and hot liquid against my tongue, a prequel to the main event.
As soon as it touches my lips I can't help the sigh. It is so good. It always is and always feels like a comforting hug in a drink. The initial bitter taste of the dark chocolate is immediately followed by the sweeter taste of the cream mixing with the hot liquid and I can feel it trailing a warm path down my throat.
"Awh Grandma…this is just fantastic," I sigh. I hear another voice speaking rather than hers however.
"You feeling better Gordon?" I glance up, wondering who has dared interrupted this sacred moment of hot chocolate drinking and spy Alan standing in the doorway.
"A bit," I reply guardedly, suddenly very protective of my chocolate delight.
"Well I've got something that will make you feel even better," Alan said, his face glowing with delight. "You know that actress you were talking about? The one that needed the rescuing?"
"Yeah?"
"Scott and Virg just got back and I overheard the debrief. Turns out she'd got air lifted by her personal helicopter half an hour before they got there so they spent the whole time up to their waists in muddy water trying to help the remaining film crew get to dry land! They're soaking, covered head to toe in mud…"
"They didn't see her?" I interrupt, hardly daring this to be true.
"Uh uh. Not even a little glimpse!" Alan is giggling uncontrollably now as I hear Scott's sharp voice cursing at him for being immature. Grandma frowns at Alan, shaking her head.
"Stop annoying your brothers," she reprimands him. "Leave Gordon to recover in peace." Alan looks a little put out and huffs down the hallway, but it isn't before long that he's making jokes at Virgil's expense.
"Are you feeling any better darling?" Grandma asks me.
"Now I am," I reply. I sink back into my pillow, a slow smile of content creeping across my face. There's nothing like hearing my brother's moment of smugness being washed away by thick muddy waters to make me feel good. I take another sip of hot chocolate and am again overwhelmed with the delicious sensation, the perfect bitter-sweet balance, the added delight of the cold, fluffy cream to top it off.
Well, the taste of Grandma's homemade hot chocolate helps makes everything a little better too.