Solicit — A Vocabulary Story
The Secret Ingredient
Sergio had decided that his grandmother's birthday present would be a book of every recipe the family had ever cooked, and he had decided it on Tuesday, with the birthday on Sunday.
"That's a lot of recipes," his mum said.
"That's why I need help. I'm going to solicit them."
Solicit means to ask for something formally or earnestly, or to try to obtain money, help, or support from someone.
"You're going to what?"
"Ask. Politely. From everybody."
He made a list. Tía Carmen: the yellow rice. Tío Luis: the fish stew with the secret ingredient. His cousin Pilar: the churros that were mostly sugar. His mum: the soup for rainy days.
Soliciting recipes, it turned out, was much harder than it sounded. Tía Carmen said the rice had no recipe, you just felt it. Tío Luis said the secret ingredient was a secret. Pilar sent a photo of a churro and nothing else.
Sergio did not give up. He rang Tía Carmen back and made her cook the rice on the phone, spoonful by spoonful, while he wrote it down. He told Tío Luis that the stew would be written as "fish stew with a secret" and that everyone would think he had forgotten it, which produced the secret ingredient in under a minute. It was orange peel. Sergio had solicited a family secret and felt slightly dangerous.
By Saturday night the book had fourteen recipes, three sketches and a cover made from a cereal box.
On Sunday his grandmother turned the pages very slowly. When she got to the fish stew she looked at Tío Luis, who looked at the ceiling.
"Orange peel," she said. "I knew it."
Then she hugged Sergio for such a long time that the rice went cold.
Word Definition
solicit
meaning
to ask for something formally or earnestly; to try to obtain money, help, or support from someone
synonyms
request · seek · canvass · petition · implore
antonyms
refuse · reject · decline
example sentence
The charity wrote to solicit donations from local businesses.