Chapter 59: Writing Spring Festival Couplets
Luna Dawson came clattering down the stairs with her two little ones. Catching a whiff of the fragrance filling the house, she shouted, "It smells amazing! What are we having today?"
At the dining table, Rhonda Dawson and Hector were eating lunch. Hector’s mouth was red from the spice, and he called out between slurps, "Auntie Luna! You’re finally awake! We’re having pickled chili beef noodles today! Hsss... so spicy!"
Luna Dawson’s eyes lit up, and she headed straight for the kitchen. "Beef noodles? Smells so good! Where is everyone else? Where’d they run off to?" As she spoke, she dropped some noodles into the pot and gave them a quick stir.
Rhonda Dawson replied in a calm voice, a hint of resignation in her eyes. "Where else would they be? They all leveled up and were bursting with so much excitement they had to go out and practice their superpowers."
She reached out and ruffled Hector’s hair, her tone gentle but laced with anxiety. "I got up for a drink in the middle of the night and saw Brother Ian and Brother Finn still going at it in the training room. Everyone is racing ahead, but with my Healing Ability... I just don’t know how to practice. I can’t very well ask someone to get cut just so I can heal them. That would be absurd."
Hector put down his chopsticks and touched Rhonda Dawson’s face with his little hand. "Don’t be scared, Mommy," he said in his small, sweet voice. "Hector will protect you!"
Luna Dawson came out with her cooked noodles, ladled a generous helping of pickled chili beef over them, and drizzled two circles of chili oil on top. Her mouth watering, she said, "What’s the rush? We can just go to the scenic lake and practice healing the toads, little fish, and shrimp, right?"
A glimmer of light appeared in Rhonda Dawson’s eyes. Her voice remained gentle, tinged with sudden understanding. "That’s actually a great idea. I hadn’t thought of that. Or maybe... I could heal the people in the villa complex?"
"Forget about it!" Luna Dawson said, slurping a mouthful of noodles. "People are complicated. It’s much less trouble to just help little animals!"
Rhonda Dawson nodded gently. "You’re right. In the apocalypse, people are restless. It’s easy to attract trouble."
As they were talking, Aaron Palmer burst in like a whirlwind. He glanced at the table, then snatched up Rollo, who was busy eating, and ran off.
"Luna! It’s perfect that Rollo’s awake. Tina wants to play with him. I’m taking off!"
Luna Dawson shouted at his back, "Slow down! Don’t drop Rollo!"
Rhonda Dawson put down her chopsticks and wiped Hector’s mouth. "By the way, there’s been a lot of activity in the villa complex these past few days. Many people are driving in and out, either looking for supplies or searching for family. This morning, Mr. Owen Quinn even brought over some pickled radishes and chatted with Dad at the door for a long time."
Luna Dawson paused, thinking for a moment. "Mr. Owen Quinn? Oh! That’s the family who helped us clear out those zombies, right?"
Rhonda Dawson gave a gentle nod and added, "That’s them. The family of three are all very down-to-earth. They were a big help last time with the zombies."
Luna Dawson breathed a sigh of relief and picked up some pea shoots with her chopsticks. "That’s good, then. It’s best if everyone just keeps to themselves. As long as we can all survive, no one should be looking for trouble."
Rhonda Dawson’s tone became a little more subdued, tinged with concern. "But about ten of the households have moved a lot of relatives into the empty houses. People are complicated. It’s hard to say whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing."
"Eh, who doesn’t have a few relatives?" Luna Dawson said, unconcerned. "As long as they don’t bother us, they can do whatever they want. Once the base is established, we’ll have to take back those empty houses anyway!"
The two sisters started gossiping about the people and events in their community. For instance, that Mr. Howard who brought gifts had picked up a poor, lonely young beauty. There was a thirty-year age gap between them, and apparently, they were in their honeymoon phase.
Then there was that rich woman from who-knows-where and what she was doing with her bodyguards—not just one, but several of them...
They would gasp in amazement from time to time.
’You can even do that!?’
Seeing the two of them chatting up a storm, Hector rolled his eyes, utterly speechless. He picked up Little Tiger and walked away.
"Auntie Luna, Mommy, I’m going to go study plants with Grandpa. You two take your time chatting."
Just as the two were getting into their conversation, Wayne Dawson and Aaron Palmer returned.
Wayne Dawson smiled and said, "What are you two so happily chatting about? Oh, right, the New Year is almost here. We should have Grandpa write a pair of couplets to liven things up."
"The New Year?!"
Luna Dawson and Rhonda Dawson exclaimed at the same time, their voices shooting up an octave.
A flicker of melancholy crossed Rhonda Dawson’s eyes as she said softly, "That’s right. In the blink of an eye, it’s been over two months since the apocalypse began, and the New Year is really almost here. This time last year, we were in Southen, picking strawberries and camping in short sleeves. Now, we’re here in Kensington, just trying to survive together. It feels like a lifetime ago."
Luna Dawson felt a wave of emotion as well. She hadn’t celebrated the New Year in over two years, and her eyes began to sting.
’Isn’t that the truth? It’s only really the New Year when you have family. Now that I’ve been reborn into this life, I have to celebrate it properly this time!’
She asked excitedly, "Which day is New Year’s?"
"Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. Your mom was just mentioning it yesterday, worried you kids would forget and not come home to celebrate."
Luna Dawson was feeling happy, but then she turned and saw Aaron Palmer looking completely dejected. All his earlier energy was gone, and he looked completely deflated.
’She understood at once. Kevin Keane and the other two were orphans, and while Aaron Palmer wasn’t, the apocalypse must be hard on him.’ She decided not to press the issue.
Luna Dawson sidled up to him and asked with a smile, "Brother Leo, what do you want to eat for the New Year?"
Aaron Palmer forced a smile. "Anything’s fine. Dumplings would be good. I’m going to go train with Brother Finn and Brother Evan."
With that, he dashed off in a flash, even faster than when he’d been carrying Rollo.
Rhonda Dawson watched him go, her gentle voice filled with concern. "What’s wrong? He seems to have something on his mind..."
Luna Dawson shook her head and sighed. "He must be missing his family..."
「The next day was New Year’s Eve.」
Early in the morning, Luna Dawson’s booming voice echoed through the villa.
She was yelling directly at Miles Dawson. "Miles! You call this writing? It’s worse than Rollo’s chicken scratch! What a waste of my red paper!"
It turned out that Luna Dawson had pulled red paper, ink, and brushes from her storage space first thing in the morning. She had given them to Grandpa Olson, who wrote two neat pairs of couplets.
But who would have thought that Miles Dawson and Hector would get jealous and insist on joining the fun? They each snatched a sheet of red paper, and the characters they produced were progressively uglier, almost too hideous to look at.
"Sis, this is called ’personal style’!"
Miles Dawson retorted indignantly, the ink-dipped brush in his hand smearing his fingertips black.
Hector also held up his messily scrawled "couplet" and chimed in with his small, sweet voice, "Auntie Luna, mine is pretty, not ugly!"
Luna Dawson sighed. Just then, Kevin Keane’s voice drifted over lazily. "It’s the New Year. Don’t be so hard on the kids."
She turned to look and saw him wrapped in silk pajamas, sitting lazily on the floor with his back against the sofa. Beside him, Rollo was lying on his back with his belly in the air.
He was slowly cracking sunflower seeds between his fingers, his other hand stroking Rollo’s belly. A smile in his eyes, he quietly watched the siblings bicker.
The sunlight fell perfectly on his face, making him look like a big, contented dog that had just had its fur smoothed down.
Distracted by the handsome sight before her, Luna Dawson’s anger instantly dissipated. "But he can’t just waste the red paper!"
Kevin Keane let out a soft chuckle and suggested, "Why not just have him stick it on his own door? Then he can admire it for the whole year."
Luna Dawson nodded in agreement. "Fine. Stick it on your own door, but don’t you dare put it in the living room. I can’t afford the embarrassment!"
Miles Dawson immediately beamed. "You got it!"
Nearby, Rhonda Dawson walked over with freshly warmed milk. "Alright, alright, stop fooling around," she said gently. "If you keep this up, breakfast will get cold."
She looked at Kevin Keane with a smile in her eyes. "Brother Finn, you should come have something to eat too."
Kevin Keane nodded. He casually placed the sunflower seed shells onto a nearby plate and gave Rollo’s belly another gentle pat before slowly getting up.
No one knew that at this moment, his heart was filled with warmth.
’In previous years, he, Blake Blue, and Lynn Shelby had always just made do for the New Year.’
’After Aaron Palmer joined, it was just the four of them ordering some takeout, watching movies at home, and having a few drinks. Sometimes, if a mission came up, they wouldn’t even get to eat a hot meal.’
’This was his first time celebrating the holiday so boisterously with so many people, and the experience felt perfect. Even the sight of Luna Dawson jumping around and yelling at everyone struck him as exceptionally amusing.’