Huanying! Welcome to Shanghai, China. The place of all the peculiarities. Where everyone have their own stories about the families living there, especially the Xu's. Their ancestral house that they own for many generations have an infamous garden w...
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Shanghai's National Day celebration was held every October 1st to 5th on the green field of Century Park. Friends and families sets up tables and canopies and brought food so everyone could sample delicacies, like a big potluck, before the fireworks display. The Xu's always brought honeysuckle wine so people could see in the dark, but whether or not the town knew it, the wine also brought about a few revelations every National Day. A side effect of being able to see in the dark, after all, is being aware of things you weren't aware of before.
The Xu's had a table off to the side, a most popular table, to be sure, but set apart from everyone else. Mei fidgeted in his seat. Tyler is in the supervised children's area, getting his face painted so it was just Mei, Timmy and the honeysuckle wines. People would quietly come by for small paper cups of honeysuckle wine, like it was somehow hallowed, and every once in a while, the Mayor would stroll by and ask if it's non-alcoholic and Timmy would answer no, poker-faced.
When Mei was a teenager, National Day celebration always meant spending the day at a friend's pool then showing up on the fields for the fireworks. Mei felt older than other people his age now, people like his old high school friends, most of whom had obviously doing pool parties and barbecues right now. He saw Kelly at the church's table talking to Grace. Knowing what he knew now, Mei didn't envy that life of privilege anymore. Curious then, that he felt sad for losing something he never had. Maybe he just missed friendship in general, the camaraderie of people his own age.
Mei looked away. "I can't remember the last time I sat here at the Xu's table," Mei said to Timmy.
"Yeah. It's been a while."
Mei took a deep breath, "It feels okay."
"Why are you so uncomfortable? No one's going to throw rotten tomatoes at us." Timmy smiled.
"Yeah, right." Mei replied. He could be like Timmy and not care what anyone thought. He was even starting to dress like Timmy, over-sized long sleeves and jeans, monochromatic shirts, plaid shorts, he just can't copy Timmy's habit of leaving his shirts unbuttoned at home. His brother changed his mindset completely. Finally, he felt like a Xu, a real Xu. Right now, Mei felt like living in a strange town where he didn't speak the language yet. He could dress like the natives, though it was nice, it was a little lonely too. "It's okay to be strange. I can get used to this." Mei added.
"We're not strange. We are who we are. Oh, hello, Uncle Alex!"
Alex walked up to them and took a cup of wine. "Whew, I needed this," he said then throws the cup. "I've got so much to do. I need to give something to Tyler," the old man said and started looking at his tote bag. He brought out an old brooch made of crystal.
"He's having his face painted right now," Mei replied.
"Okay, I'll stop by there. Jun is helping me organize my house. He's been a real help. I found this in an old jewelry box we came across and when I saw it, I knew I had to give it to Tyler."
