The Missing Ingredient

Jessica Marie G. Miranda

Heavy, hurried footsteps, then an angry voice, “Naddy!”

She removed her headset and looked at the woman, who walked inside her
room.
“When did you arrive?” Naddy asked surprised. She did not expect that her
parents would come home.
“What’s this?” her mother asked without answering her question. She was
holding a card that was about to crumple because of her forceful grip.
“A report card,” she said sarcastically, and returned her eyes on the screen
of her laptop.
“Look at your grades this school year! You are wasting your time in front
of your laptop! Why don’t you get your books and study your lessons instead?”
Naddy threw herself on her pillow and buried her face. This scenario was
not new to her. After a long absence her parents would come home and ruin her
peaceful life.

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 “Your teacher told me that you were always late in class. How hard is it for
you to wake up early in the morning?”
Naddy was a night owl, who stayed late at night to socialize in social media.
At twelve midnight, her eyes were still clear, and fully awake.
On weekends she would just stay inside her room, lights off and gadgets on.
“And aside from that, she said that you posted something bad about your
classmate on facebook. Don’t you know that that is cyber bullying?”
“Mom, do not over react, okay? I deleted that post.”
“So it’s true,” her mother said resignedly.
Naddy did not want to listen anymore. All the things that her mother were
saying went into one ear and out at the other.
That night, while Naddy was busy browsing her social media account, her
father, Roger, went to her room.
“Pack your things,” he instructed.
“Where are we going?” she murmured.
“Don’t you like to have a summer vacation?” Roger asked.
“Really?” Naddy could not believe it.
Without waiting for his answer, she went straight to her room to prepare her
things. “Maybe we are going to a beach somewhere in Cebu,” she thought to
herself. She needed to find the clothes that would fit her summer get-away.
Naddy put all her things inside her suitcase. She lay awake on her bed
turning from side to side for about an hour. She stared at the ceiling, a smile on her
face. Naddy could not wait for tomorrow to come.
“I’m ready! Where are we going?” Naddy asked the next morning.
“We are going to your Aunt Loreta,” Melisa responded. Naddy looked at
her mother annoyed and disappointed.
“What’s with that look?”
The excitement she felt popped like a bubble in the air. And her enthusiasm
to experience a promising summer vacation turned into dust.
"I don’t want to go anymore!" she exclaimed.
"Naddy," Melisa raised her eyebrow.
“But, there’s no wifi there!” she cried. How could she survive?

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 “Only two months Naddy,” her mother answered calmly, trying to be
patient.
Naddy’s face turned red. She seemed like an angry volcano that would
explode anytime.
Inside the car, everyone was silent. Naddy turned her face towards the
window and gazed out. As the car went on, the view outside changed from towering
buildings into tall trees and green fields.
A few hours later, the car stopped in front of a small house. A brown dog
came and barked at them.
“Brownie, wait!” a little boy cried. “Aunt Melisa! Uncle Roger!” he added,
when he saw the visitors standing near the car.

“Hi, Ato, how are you?” The eight-year-old boy hugged his aunt.

“Nanay! Tatay! They are here!” he called eagerly. His father and mother,
together with his sister Tina, came and welcomed their relatives.

“How are you?” Loreta uttered eagerly.

“I’m fine,” Melisa replied.

“So, this is Naddy?” She hugged her.

Naddy smiled at her Auntie awkwardly

Loreta and Melisa were sisters. They had a simple family, but their lives
became tough when their father died and their mother got sick. Loreta was a
graduating student in high school that time. After she graduated, she chose to work
in the market to help her family. With her help, Melisa finished her high school and
got a scholarship in a university in Manila, where she met her husband Roger.

“Shoo,” Naddy uttered when a dog approached her. She gestured it to go

away.

“Don’t be afraid. Brownie will not bite you,” Tina, a girl her age, said with
a friendly smile.

“Melisa, Roger, come let’s get inside. Loreta prepared a rice cake for us,”
Jerry invited.

Jerry was the husband of Loreta. They met in the market place where
Loreta used to work as a vegetable vendor. They were blessed with two children.

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 Everybody went inside the house. While they were all busy talking and
exchanging stories, Naddy was sitting on a chair far from them. She took her cell
phone out of her backpack and put her earphone to fill her ear with music. Her
mother asked her to join them but she refused. It seemed like she was lost in her
own world.

“It’s one of the reasons why she will have her summer vacation here. She’s
spending all her time with her gadgets. And because of that, she has no time to
study. I do not know what to do with her. When I talk to her, she will not listen.
She even disobeys us,” Melisa told her sister disappointedly.

“I will do what I can. Do not worry,” Loreta assured her.

After an hour of rest, Melisa and Roger were ready to leave.

“Are you leaving?” Naddy asked when her mother and father walked
towards her.

“Do not disappoint your Aunt Loreta and Uncle Jerry, okay?” Melisa
reminded her.

“But, Mom, Dad I…“

“Goodbye,” Roger kissed his daughter on the forehead.

The sun set below the horizon. It was evening. “Naddy, the food is ready,”
Loreta called from the dining room. Naddy was in her room, still hating the idea of
having a summer vacation in the province.

“Let us pray,” Jerry said.

While they were praying, Naddy was looking at the table disappointedly.

“Don’t you have fried chicken or bacon?” Naddy asked demandingly, when
the family had prayed.

“Hmmmm… I’m sorry Naddy but these are the foods for supper,” Loreta
explained.

Naddy had no choice. She was not used to eating vegetables, but she was
really starving. She forced herself to eat the unappetizing stuff.

“May I try?” Ato asked during the meal when he saw her cell phone. His
eyes sparkled as if it was his first time to see something like that.
“No, I am texting my friend.”

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 “Just a moment?” he begged with pleading eyes.
“I said, no,” she replied and glared at him.
“Please, may I?”
Naddy ignored her cousin but Ato grabbed her phone. Accidentally, it fell
into the dipper where they had washed their hands. She quickly picked up her phone
from the water. Naddy tried to turn it on but the screen was blank.
“I’m sorry,” Ato said apologetically.
“It’s your fault! Do you know how much it costs?” her voice was shaking.
Her cell phone was her only possession to escape from the boredom of that place.
She stood up and went straight to the room where she would be sleeping. Losing
her cell phone was like a tragic scene in a movie which made her want to cry.
Days passed. Naddy did nothing but eat and sleep. There were also times
when she could not sleep because of the mosquitoes, or the annoying laughter she
could hear from the room adjacent to hers.
One morning, Naddy was sitting in the terrace. She yawned; she stared
blankly at her Uncle Jerry, who was digging the ground. He was talking earnestly
to his children.
“What were they doing that seemed so important?” she whispered. She
stood up and craned her neck to see better. They seemed to be planting something.
“What’s so important about it?” she wondered.
“Naddy!” Tina waved at her. “Come, join us.”
“No, thanks. My clothes might get dirty.”
Tina and Ato were sowing vegetable seeds on the ground. Planting
vegetables was one of their ways to earn a living.
“Ate Naddy, do you want to come with us tomorrow?” Ato asked her one
evening.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“We are going to pick some guavas. And if we still have time, I will teach
you how to use a slingshot. Let us see if you can hit two birds with one stone,” Ato
challenged her.
“Ato, didn’t father tell us not to kill birds?” Tina reminded her little brother.
“Let us just go bird watching instead. After that, while eating guavas, we may also
figure out shapes that are formed in the clouds” she eagerly suggested.
“Yahoo! That will be fun!” Ato cried.

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 Bored and curious to know more about her relatives, Naddy joined them in
their activities. Gradually, she found out that life in the province was not
monotonous like what she had thought before. Together with her cousins she took
care of the goats and guided them towards the fresh, green grassland. She also tried
to milk the carabaos.

One day, Tina taught Naddy how to plant vegetable seeds. Just like when
she was watching her favorite youtube channel, she did not notice the time. It was
already late in the afternoon when they were done planting.
"Children, why don't you take a break?"
“Let’s go Naddy. You should try our mother’s delicious banana cue and
camote cue,” Tina invited her.
During their free time, they played sungka, piko, and tumbang preso. At
night, they were gathered in the living room to listen to her uncle’s stories. On
Sundays, she went with them to church.
“Naddy, wake up!” Tina cried excitedly one morning.
“Why?” Naddy asked, still sleepy.
“Come with me.”
Lazily, Naddy got up and followed her cousin outside the house.
“Why did you wake me up?”
“Look at this.” Tina pointed her finger down the ground.
“Wow!” Naddy’s eyes widened when she saw a bud sprouting from the
ground. “I did it! I did it!” she exclaimed while jumping. She could not explain how
she felt. It seemed her heart would burst because of happiness.
“How’s your day children?” Loreta asked during supper.
“You know what, Mother? Sister threw a frog on my head.”
“You’re such a sissy, aren’t you?” Tina teased him.
“How about you Naddy?”
“This morning, the beans we had planted finally sprouted,” Naddy answered
joyfully.
“That’s good! If only you would still be here when it bears fruits.”
“Burp!” Everyone looked at Ato and started laughing.

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 Watching delightful scenes like this made Naddy wonder. How could they
be happy at such little things? What was the real source of their happiness? They
had no cool gadgets, could not afford to buy trendy outfits, seldom eat expensive
foods, and yet…
“Naddy, is there any problem?” a soft voice asked, which made her come
back into the reality.
“Nothing,” she said and smiled. “I was just thinking.”
“Naddy, I have a surprise for you,” Uncle Jerry said as he took her repaired
cell phone out of his pocket.
“Thank you, Uncle.” She accepted it gratefully. “I really missed this,” she
added.
“Tomorrow, we are going to have a picnic,” Uncle Jerry announced after
the meal.
“May I ask Mom and Dad to join us?”
“Of course, you may.”
Using her cell phone, she called her parents. She was really excited to see
them and be with them. But Naddy’s cheerful face became gloomy after the phone
call. Her parents told her that they could not join them.
One busy afternoon, Loreta was cleaning the yard when she heard the
beeping of a car. She saw a familiar vehicle stop in front of their humble abode.
“Ate Loreta!”
“Melisa,” she smiled and walked toward her younger sister. “Are you going
to fetch Naddy today?” she asked.
“Here,” she handed a plastic bag of pasalubong to her. “Yes. I’m sorry I
haven’t called you.”
“It’s alright.”
“Where is she?” Roger asked.
“She’s at the backyard with her cousins.”
They walked towards the backyard.
“You know what? She was very sad when you refused to join our picnic,”
Loreta told her sister.
“She should not be. She knows that we are busy people.”
“But still…”

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 “Melisa, look at our daughter!” Roger exclaimed.
Melisa stood beside him and watched their daughter playing and laughing
with her cousins. The three children were running, while Brownie was trying to
catch them.
Naddy saw her parents standing. “Mom! Dad!” She waved at them and ran
toward her parents.
Melisa and Roger smiled at her. A jolly girl came running, different from
the Naddy they left two months ago. There was an unusual glow on her face and
she was happy! No doubt about that. They were surprised and could not believe
what they were seeing.
“Are we going home?” Naddy asked. Still surprised at what she saw, Melisa
just nodded her head.
In the house, while Naddy was busy packing her things, Melisa was talking
her with sister in the living room.
“Sister, did Naddy misbehave?”
“Well, at first it was hard for her to adjust since we do not have the things
she got used to. But as the days went on she learned to adjust,” Loreta told her.
“It seemed like she enjoyed staying here. You know, I just noticed that she
had changed a lot. What happened when we left her here?”
“Nothing unusual. Just like what my family does, we ate together. She
helped us do household chores. We also went to church every Sunday.”
“Mom, I’m ready.”
Their conversation was interrupted when Naddy went out of the room
holding her suitcase.
“Goodbye, Auntie, I will miss the food you cooked for me. Uncle, I enjoyed
listening to your stories every night. Tina and Ato, I enjoyed playing with the two
of you. And of course, Brownie, I will miss you, too. How I wish to spend another
vacation with you!” Naddy told them and hugged her relatives.
Inside the car, everyone was silent except Naddy who was telling her
parents about her summer vacation.
“You know what, I like their family. Well no, I love them. You know the
feeling when we were eating together? We talked during supper about each other’s
activities that day, which was fun.”
Melisa and Roger looked at each other.

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 “I really do not like vegetables but Uncle and Auntie convinced me to eat
the stuff. They said that it was good for my health. And they are right because I feel
stronger now than before. Mother, you did not tell me that Aunt Loreta is a good
cook. I think I gained weight because I ate a lot. And before we went to bed, Aunt
Loreta would kiss us goodnight,” Naddy continued.
Melisa smiled at her awkwardly.
“I also like Uncle Jerry. He often told jokes to us. I know some of them, but
I laughed anyway. We also went to church and I felt an unusual feeling while we
were praying. I want you to experience that, too.” Naddy sighed. “If only you have
free time,” she added in a low voice.
When they arrived home, it was already dusk. Because she was so tired,
Naddy went straight to her room to rest. Her parents went to the dining room to
drink coffee.
“Honey, is there any problem?” Roger asked.
“I’m just thinking of our daughter,” Melisa replied.
“She has changed.”
“Did you notice?” his wife asked.
“Yes,” Roger nodded and sat beside her. “But in a good way,” he added.
“I was so happy when I saw her like that. But at the same time, I felt guilty.
We are giving her what she wants, aren’t we? Yet I haven’t seen her happy.” She
smiled painfully. “Where were we lacking?” And tears started flowing on her
cheeks.
Roger hugged his wife and rubbed her head gently with his hand.
That night, Melisa and Roger went to the room of their daughter. Melisa
knocked gently. She opened the door and walked towards Naddy.
“Mom, are you crying?”
“Naddy, my daughter,” her mother could not continue what she wanted to
say. It seemed like her heart felt hard and heavy. She started crying.
“I’m sorry, we did not know.”
Naddy sat up and looked at her mother, confused.
“When you were young, I and your father promised to give you a better life.
We did not want you to experience the life we experienced before. But we
disregarded our very own reason why we are working so hard.”

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 “Yes, we gave you all the things we thought you wanted but we overlooked
what you really need,” her father said.
“Mom, Dad,” Naddy was also crying.
“We thought that all the things we gave you would compensate for the time
that we are not with you. We believed that those things would make you happy,”
he added.
“But we are wrong. Those only created distance between us.”
Melisa and Roger hugged their daughter tightly. The night was filled with
tears of joy.
The next morning, when Naddy went to the living room she saw a box on
the table. She walked towards it and saw her name written on the box.
“Is it for me?” she murmured. She opened the box and was surprised when
a puppy came out of it.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes,” she said joyfully. “But why are you giving me this?”
“Because we know that you will surely miss Brownie.” Aside from that,
Roger and Melisa thought that if Naddy had someone to play with, she would not
spend all her time with her gadgets.
“Thank you, Mom. I’m so excited to play with her.”
“You can play with her, later. Call your Dad, and tell him breakfast is
ready.”
“Aren’t you going to work?”
“Sweetheart, we are going to the park today.”
“Really?”
Her mother nodded. Naddy giggled, ran towards her mother and hugged her
tightly.
“May I join you?” her father asked with a playful smile.
Naddy ate her breakfast not on her bed, but in the dining room together with
her parents. After enjoying the delicious meal her mother cooked for them, they
went to the park. They strolled and played with her puppy named Timmy.
That time she spent with her parents was unforgettable to her. But it was not
the last time. It was only the beginning.

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