Celeste Xifeng Liu held her 3-year-old brother’s hand. It was a crisp fall day, and Dante Longwei Liu was having a ball with all the crunchy (or damp) leaves fallen into the New York City sidewalks, giggling in his high, sweet voice and exclaiming things in a mixture of Mandarin and English.
“Jaijai!” he exclaimed, holding up a particularly brilliant red leaf. Jaijai meant big sister in Mandarin. “Jaijai! Look! Pretty!” Xifeng broke into a wide smile.
“It is a pretty leaf, Xiaolong,” she said, admiring it briefly. Xiaolong meant little dragon, a nickname of sorts for Longwei, which meant great dragon. Xiaolong still had plenty of growing up to do, before he could grow into his name.
“Take Mr. Leaf with us?” he asked, spinning it by rubbing his fingers on the stem. Xifeng sighed through her nose. On one hand, the leaf was probably filthy from all the exposure it had since it fell off the tree. On the other hand, Xiaolong was giving her the best puppy eyes she’d seen since he told her that he wanted a scooter for his birthday, and it was pretty educational to learn about leaves, anyway. And it was free, which was a big plus to her corset-tight budget.
“Alright,” she said, smiling. “Make sure you don’t lose it, okay?” Xiaolong nodded eagerly, chattering animatedly to the leaf, who seemed pretty pleased with the attention it was getting. In a leaf-y sort of way.
Xifeng hummed. They were walking back to their little apartment from the subway station, where they’d gone to a few daycare centers. Although there was one on the college campus where she was going, she figured that she shouldn’t just settle on any old place for Xiaolong. Luckily for her, though, the college center was better equipped and overall safer than the other centers she had gone to, and best of all they were hiring students to help out.
She snapped out of her musings when she felt Xiaolong tugging a little on her arm. His head was down, and he was dragging his feet a bit. With another, fonder sigh, she grasped him under his arms and hauled him up with a grunt. He was getting pretty heavy, to the point where it was hard to walk long distances holding him. She could remember when he was just as big as a loaf of bread…
And today’s award for sentimental old women goes to Xifeng Liu, she thought sarcastically.
“Are you tired already?” she asked even though she already knew the answer, looking around to see if there were any cafes or fast food restaurants around where they could rest for a bit. She was pretty thirsty anyway, and a cup of hot chocolate that didn’t originate from a Swiss Miss or Nesquik powder was a nice treat after a long day.
Spotting a cafe, she walked faster, as Xiaolong blew wet raspberries in an attempt to make helicopter noises, which the leaf now was. She clumsily opened the door and walked in. There were several couples chatting sappily over mugs of overpriced coffee, but also several empty tables. Xifeng walked over to one with two chairs, setting Xiaolong into one and taking the other. A pretty blonde waitress went around taking orders and generally looked pretty busy, so she decided to wait for a while, talking quietly to Xiaolong (partially about what Mr. Leaf was doing and partially telling him about the information she found about the leaf from her phone) and Mr. Leaf (who had become either a Pokemon or a Pokemon Trainer) in turns.