Chapter 27: Egg Rolls

Ida and Josie are in China! It's a first for them both, although Ida has wanted to visit since she was a teenager. Ida is kind of into Chinese culture - her favorite food is egg rolls and her favorite music is Chinese.

Josie is just excited to see a new place and meet new people! Sunset Valley is so small, it can be kind of boring at times...

"Well, I've completed my longtime wish to visit the Forbidden City; what do you want to do now?"

Josie wants to have water balloon fights with the locals.

Liu Lu is totally awesome at water balloon throwing. She also knows some really cool Chinese songs, and teaches Josie to sing 'Ping and His Checkers."

Ida leaves the girls to their play and visits the bookstore. She's always wanted to learn how to make egg rolls...

Guess who's making egg rolls tonight!

Liu Lu suggests that Josie go see the Terracotta Army, so Josie and Ida head over there in the afternoon.

"Mom.... there's nothing here!"

They have to look around for a bit before they realize they have to climb a huge hill to see the terracotta soldiers up close. It takes most of the afternoon, but they finally make it.

Josie is bored. "What's so neat about a bunch of statues? There aren't even any people here!" she complains.

But Ida is very impressed. "Imagine! The ancient Chinese made this without any of the technology and knowledge the sculptors of today have! It's unbelievable, these sculptors must have been geniuses!" Josie just grumbles and shifts restlessly in place, humming the new song she learned.

Ida loves things, putting them together and taking them apart, figuring out how they work. Josie much prefers people, full of life and personality, each so different and interesting and fun. 

Now this is more like it!

During a quiet lull in their activities, Josie plops down next to her mom on the couch. She has some questions.

"Mom, do you and Dad love each other?" she wants to know.

Ida looks at her. "Of course we love each other, Marlin is one of my oldest and closest friends. And we both love you very much, and love each other for it. Where did this come from?"

Josie frowns. "Only, in books and in TV when people love each other and have kids they usually do kissing things and stuff, and you and Dad aren't like that. I know not all moms and dads love each other, because Lyndsey's parents are horrible to each other, but still..."

"Well.." Ida sighs. How to explain this? "There are different ways of loving someone, and sometimes Moms and Dads love each other romantically, and other times, they only love each other as friends. Sometimes, they don't love each other at all, like Lyndsey's parents." She hopes that was an okay explanation. 

"Okay..." Josie says. "So you and Dad, you love each other as just friends? Not rom... romantic-ly?" Ida nods. "But why?" 

Ida is quiet for a long moment. "We're just better as friends, I guess. Now, do you want to invite one of your new Chinese friends over to play?"

Josie brightens immediately, distracted from the uncomfortable topic. "Yeah!!"

Liu Lu and Ida listen to Josie's story about an evil cane-brandishing witch woman who eats husbands and little girls. She's basing the character on Kaylynn Zaidi, Lyndsey's scary mother.

Afterwards, Ida makes dinner.

Miraculously, she manages to not burn the place down, and even make the egg rolls taste pretty good!

Nighttime.

Day 2.

Ida thinks the scholar's garden is pretty fantastic, and uses the opportunity to check out the sky. It's pretty much the same as the sky back home, though.

"Mom, I'm bored."

Josie sunbathes, just because there's nothing else to do.

"Hey, my grandma can do that. Do you know my grandma? Miss? Can you hear me?"

Josie doesn't say anything because she doesn't want to hurt her mom's feelings, but she thinks China is pretty lame. There aren't any cool things to do at all, and the only fun she's had so far is playing with local children.

Ida senses her daughter's restlessness and decides to cut the trip short. She pretty much accomplished everything she wanted to, anyway.

Josie is glad to be home. She missed her Dad and grandparents. And even though she didn't like China much, it doesn't stop her from bragging about having gone.

She teaches her dad the song she learned, excited to finally be teaching him something instead of the other way around. She also gives Shanti a book as a gift, which is received with tearful thanks and much pinching of the cheeks. 

Shanti would not be so approving if she knew Josie pinched the book from the base camp bookshelf.

Josie follows up this thoughtful bit of gift-giving with a request to go out and meet some neighborhood kids. Shanti is admiring of her granddaughter go-getting nature and grants her permission.

Josie goes out and makes several new friends, including Nicholaus Frio, who loves to gossip, and Cory Sekemoto, who has the same hair.

She also meets Windy Mae, who lives across the street. They become good friends - Windy's mom, Edith, went to school with Ida.

Josie's just complimenting Windy's house decorations when Windy's grandmother, Ayesha Ansari-Wadsworth, falls backwards with a strangled shout... and then floats up from the ground.

Poor Windy is terrified and grief-stricken, but asks Josie to stay and comfort her.

While Josie has her first encounter with death and the mayhem that follows it, Ida is at home, talking with Marlin.

She never truly apologized for the way she acted "that day," and for not speaking with him after she was better. "I was so afraid that you hated me," she says, "and that you would hate me more when you found out about the baby. I thought.. maybe... you wouldn't want to be involved with a child who might inherit her mother's craziness."

"I would never... you know I would never..."

"I know! I know that now, but I was young, and I was afraid, and I'm so, so sorry Marlin."

Marlin looks at her and shakes his head. "You don't have to be sorry for a thing. I put that behind us a while ago.

"And if we're doing apologizes, I should be the one who's sorry. I shouldn't have listened to you when you told me to leave, you were clearly not in your right mind and I shouldn't have just left you like that."

"But I said all those horrible things! Of course you wouldn't want to be around me..."

"A stronger man would have stayed and helped you, no matter what you said," Marlin says fiercely. "But it doesn't matter now, right? I mean, you're better, you and I are getting along again, and we've got a happy, beautiful daughter. It's all turned out all right."

Ida nods. It's definitely turned out more than all right, but... "You know I didn't mean it, right?" she says quietly. "What I said to you, that day, I didn't mean any of it. It wasn't me, saying those things, you get that, right?"

"I do now," he says.

"Good." They hug for a long time, and Ida just holds onto him, wondering if she should push this thing, whatever it is between them, farther.

They pull apart a little reluctantly when Ida clears her throat, deciding that yes, she does want to push it, she wants to push it as far as it can go.

"So..." she begins, stalling.

"So," he says back to her, his eyes lidded and dark.

And then they are interrupted by their daughter banging open the front door wailing about death and the Reaper's scythe and ghosts and Ida is forced to shove her frustration and anticipation aside to hug and console her slightly traumatized daughter.

Over the top of Josie's head, Ida's eyes lock onto Marlin's. 'Later,' he mouths, and she nods, her heart thudding. They need to talk about this, whatever's going on between them - the confusing looks and glancing touches, all of it - but later. Always later.

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Notes -

A little short, maybe.

Gourmet goal is complete! *throws confetti* That is, unless I decide to move Marlin in officially before Josie takes over. I haven't decided yet.

Marlin and Ida hardly ever get time to themselves, but this talk was really necessary. Too bad they didn't get to finish what they started.. xD I like writing cutesy romance shit but this slow-burn stuff is new territory for me. I hope it's decent, lol.

Ida made top of her career during this chapter, too, she's now a level ten bot-builder and I have no desire to have her keep building bots so she's probably just going to kick back and relax for the rest of her life, maybe start dating again, who knows...;). Or maybe she'll take up a hobby, like Alex is with blogging (I make sure he doesn't ask for donations but he rolled a want for it so I figured why not).

Thanks for reading!