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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"I can't reach them," Mei said.
Tyler was lying on his side on the grass, his head resting on his arm. He had been dozing that afternoon in the garden, but the sound of his father's voice caused him to open his eyes. His father and Uncle had propped an old wooden ladder against the trunk of the apple tree. His father was at the top, reaching toward the branches while his Uncle Timmy was holding the bottom of the ladder steady.
"I might be able to reach that one," Mei said, pointing to a lower branch on the other side, "if we move the ladder."
Timmy shook his head. "It will move it before we get there."
Mei made an exasperated sound, hissing through his teeth. "Stupid tree."
"Hey, I thought I'd find you out here," someone called. The brothers looked over their shoulders. Alex was walking down the path.
"Hi, Uncle," Mei replied as he backed down the ladder. He stopped at the fourth step from the ground and jumped the rest of the way, his shirt slightly messed up. It made Tyler smile.
"What are you boys doing?" Alex asked as he got closer.
"Trying to get the photographs of Mom away from the tree." Timmy replied, even though he was only doing it because Mei wanted to. Tyler noticed that his Uncle Timmy had been distracted lately. Today, his Uncle was wearing two diffefent slippers. A pink and a blue one. "It's been six weeks. I don't understand why it won't let us have them."
Alex looked up at the black and white squares sticking out among the leaves and apples on its highest branches. "Let it have the pictures. That tree always loved Samantha. Leave it be."
Mei put his hands on his hips. "I'm going to cut off its branches."
"The branches won't break," Timmy reminded him.
"It'll make me feel good to try." Mei smiled.
"It will throw its apples at you," Timmy sighed. "Maybe we could get Tyler to talk to it again."
"The only time we've even been close to getting to the photo was when Tyler said he wanted to see what his grandmother looked like," Mei explained to his Uncle. "It lowered a branch to show him but snapped it back when we tried to grab it." Mei turned to Tyler, who closed his eyes quickly. Ever since that night, the only time Tyler got to hear the good stuff was when no one thought he was listening. "Let's not wake him." Mei added.
"I can see that he's still wearing that pin," Alex replied affectionately.
"Yeah. He never takes it off."
Tyler wanted to touch the pin, like he did when he got worried, but they were all watching.
"What brings you by, Uncle?" Timmy asked. Tyler slightly opened his eyes. They had their backs to him now. "I thought you and Jun were having lunch with Mr. Koo today."
