Chapter 109 A Small Gathering in the Town

"Hey Carter! Take a look, these are all my treasures! I usually don't let others play with them, but Carter can!"

Just before noon, in Chris's room.

As young Chris pulled out his toys one by one to show Carter, Carter's expression became rather peculiar. To describe what he saw in front of him in three words: truly criminal!

As if it were destined, this kid should deal with guns for the rest of his life. Among Chris's toys, apart from a limited number of building blocks, the most common toys were guns. No, you couldn't even call them toys. Maybe an air gun was considered a toy in the eyes of Americans, but in China...

Based on the photos of Chris Kyle's childhood often seen in his autobiography, the appearance of guns was extremely high. In this drawer alone, there were enough air guns to merit a life sentence (this part is not fabricated; looking at the childhood photos of Chris Kyle in his autobiography, guns appeared frequently).

While marveling at the "simple" folk customs of Texas, Carter fled downstairs and began to help prepare lunch with everyone. As for playing with toy guns with the little guy, why bother? He wasn't a child anymore. What was the point of playing with air guns when you could play with real ones, especially considering that those things weren't even pumped up.

Perhaps still feeling guilty about Carter, the lunch prepared by the Wayne family was extremely lavish. Besides the rich variety of dishes, there was a common characteristic on dining tables across Texas: portion sizes were huge!

In America, there are two sayings about Texas that are widely circulated. One is "Don't Mess with Texas," don't mess with Texans; the other is "Everything's bigger in Texas," everything in Texas is bigger.

With plates, bowls, and coffee cups all being one size larger, naturally, the portion sizes of the food were also one size larger. No problem at all, right? Absolutely no problem!

The group, including Victor and his companions, ate heartily. Carter felt uncomfortably stuffed. After secretly tucking $500 under Chris's pillow as payment for the meal and accommodation, Carter rubbed his aching stomach and staggered into the car.

"Haha, Carter, you need to build up your appetite! A man needs to eat a lot to grow strong! I talked to your grandfather on the phone this morning, and we're having a barbecue tonight. You'd better make sure you have room to eat. A lot of friends are coming, and it would be embarrassing if you couldn't eat much!"

As soon as Victor started the car, Carter, who was slouched in the passenger seat rubbing his belly, looked up with a pained expression. Victor teasingly said.

"Embarrassment is better than stuffing yourself to death! Oh, please stop talking for a moment, let me rest."

After saying goodbye to the Kyle family, it was already evening when Victor and his companions returned to Grape Wayne. Many unfamiliar faces were scattered in front of the grandfather's house.

"Hey, Mr. Grays! You're here so early?"

"Haha, nothing much to do at home during the holidays, so I came over to liven things up!"

"Let me introduce you, this is Chris's son, Carter! Carter, this is Mr. Grays, the big farm owner in our town!"

Introduced by Victor, Carter shook hands politely with the other party, exchanged a few pleasantries, and moved on to the next guest. Men, women, old, and young, totaling at least twenty or thirty people.

Groups of three or five gathered together, chatting or playing around. Melis also ran around with two other little girls and Lester.

Accompanied by Carter entering the group of old ladies, the oldest of whom was sixty, they immediately started discussing and evaluating Carter. Handsome wasn't a compliment for men in Texas, but facing this group of old ladies who were at least three generations older, what could Carter say? He smiled bitterly and dealt with it.

"Hey, what kind of work do you do?" "How are your grades?" "What are your plans for the future?" "Go and meet my granddaughter," and other similar questions came one after another.

After a while of joking around, Carter hurriedly excused himself and left. Sometimes he went to help O'Neill and the others clean the pigskins and pig hair, sometimes he went to his grandfather's place to see how he was preparing the barbecue sauce, sometimes he went to Victor's place to see how he was making a barbecue stove. Time passed quickly.

After dark, with half a paint bucket lying horizontally, filled with charcoal, a thick iron skewer was rotating with prepared wild boar meat, making a "sizzle" sound in the flames.

Occasionally, oil stains falling into the flames would also make popping sounds. The winter in Texas wasn't very cold, and with a bonfire, everyone could sit outside comfortably. Sitting around the charcoal fire, eating and chatting, was the goal of tonight's people.

Compared to the hustle and bustle and coldness of the city, the simple liveliness of the small town fascinated Carter. Especially after a few rounds of drinks, Lester and a few uncles picked up their guitars and casually played melodies, singing some crude, improvised lyrics. To say that it lingered in the ears might be overstating it, but it certainly suited the occasion.

The softly humming folk songs, accompanied by the crackling of oil in the fire, aimed for relaxation. To make oneself relaxed was the pursuit of tonight's people.

And this relaxed and cozy atmosphere continued until the eve of Christmas, amidst the abnormal rise in gold prices.

It was the night of December 24th, starting at 9 p.m., just like in the previous year when people would call each other to wish Happy New Year, Carter received calls from many people. There were Carlos, the sheriff of Douglas; Trifari, O'Neill, William, Mayor Benjamin; and from New York, there were Peter Lynch, Rogers, and others calling to wish him a Merry Christmas.

Carter was puzzled. Where did these people find the phone number of his grandfather's house? He remembered that before leaving, he only gave the phone number to Julian and Goodman.

And where there's smoke, there's fire:

"Merry Christmas Eve! Carter, have you received your birthday and Christmas presents?"