Every morning, the school cafeteria filled with familiar sounds — clattering pots, the smell of fresh bread, and the echo of children’s voices drifting in from the hallway.
Ivan, the cook, arrived earlier than anyone — by six in the morning. He didn’t just prepare food — he knew every child by name.
He knew who always asked for seconds, who frowned at oatmeal, and who sat quietly in the corner, eating faster than the others.
Ivan never threw leftovers away. Every day he poured one extra bowl of soup — thick, hot, homemade — and placed it on the edge of the table by the window.
“Just in case,” he would say, though he didn’t know for whom.
This went on for weeks. Sometimes the bowl remained untouched. Sometimes it disappeared when Ivan turned away.
He only noticed that someone always placed the spoon neatly back, as if out of respect.
One winter afternoon, after classes had ended and the school was nearly empty, Ivan stayed a little later. It was frosty outside, the windows fogged over, and suddenly he saw — a small figure flicker past the window.
He stepped outside.
There stood a boy, about eight years old, in a worn-out jacket and a backpack clearly passed down from someone older. In his hands — that same bowl.
“You… you’ve been eating my soup?” Ivan asked quietly.
The boy nodded.
“I’m sorry. I’m not a thief. It’s just… sometimes there’s no dinner at home.”
The cook crouched down to his level.
“And your parents?”
“Mom works until late. There’s no dad. I just… sometimes after school, I come here. I always put the bowl back so you wouldn’t think…”
Ivan said nothing. He simply went back to the kitchen and returned with a bundle — bread, fruit, and hot tea in a thermos.
“Then starting tomorrow, this will be your dinner. But promise me you won’t hide anymore.”
The boy nodded — and for the first time, smiled.
From then on, Ivan began arriving half an hour earlier. Not because he had to — but because someone was now waiting for him.
And every day, he placed that same bowl on the edge of the table — only now, it was never left empty.
