1 Old but happy bones

"Grandpa!! Grandma!!"

"We arrived!!"

Under the hot glare of the sun, two youths jumped down from a car that just stopped beside a narrow earthen passage. They jumped and ran along the passage and climbed a flight of earthen stairs towards an old but well kept two-storied house. The sound of someone slowly digging something could be heard behind the fence of trees. Then the sound of digging stopped immediately and the voice of an old grandma called out.

"Oh, my children. Just the right time. Come. Come to grandma."

The two youths ran towards the wooden gate and turned back to the source of the sound. There sat a smiling grandma holding a hand plow beside the fence. Beside her sat a water pail and an assortment of seedlings. She seemed to be digging to plant them. The younger girl of the two youths cheerfully ran toward the old woman while the older boy flinched a bit, but none the less followed the girl, albeit a bit slower than her. Then the voice of an old man could be heard from a distance, who came walking steadily, carrying a tray of fertilizers.

"Oi Oi Grandma. Do you know that they will be coming today? Is there a prophet inside your belly?"

"Ha Ha Ha. No. But my son phoned me yesterday. I just forgot to tell you."

The old man could do nothing but sighed helplessly and replied.

"Or it is that you just don't bother to tell me. If you told me earlier, I will just wait for their arrival before carrying this load of fertilizers. It is straining for my old bones, you know!"

The old woman disdainfully threw a glance at the old man before turning to the two youths, who were curiously looking at the saplings.

"Come here my children. Ignore that useless old man and help grandma plant these saplings. Grandma had prepared tasty sweets this morning. Let's go eat them after this."

""Yay. That's our grandma!""

The two youths cheered happily and started digging the ground earnestly, while the old man had a dumbfounded look on his face and his eye muscles twitched before he indignantly complained.

"Oi Oi. Isn't the sweets supposed to be my reward for this hard labor??"

"What hard labor? What did you do all morning? You just carry a pail of water and some fertilizers. You even haven't finished digging three holes."

The old woman snapped back. And then she turned her face upward and pretended to talk to herself.

"Hmm. Seems like I am too old and my beauty is all gone, where are the words and promises that he made "I can even scale the thorny mountain and swim across a flaming sea just to see your smile!" go? Humph. Now he can't even carry a tiny cup of water and a handful of sand to help this frail old woman for free and still have the face to argue about some sweets over his grandchild!!" the old woman sighed to herself.

The old man was already speechless from the starting line, but he tried his best to create the most radiant smile on his face and approach the old woman, placed the tray of fertilizers on the ground, and tried to comfort her with the sweetest possible voice he could produce.

"Aha ha. Don't be like that. You know that you are the most beautiful woman in my heart. And that promise still holds true. I will do everything that my bones allow me, to fulfill your every wish. This pail of water is nothing. If you want, I will carry fertilizers for you to plant the entire world to your heart's content. But let me have the sweets that were made with your own hands as my sole consolation, as there is nothing more delicious than you handmade delicacies. Right? Right?"

The old woman barely contained herself from bursting out and sniggered a response.

"Pft. Hmm. I even don't know whether you are carrying these things because you love me or you are just a gluttony. Ok. Ok. Stop this cheesy drama and just start working. The kids are here you know. Well just continue with the rest. I will go prepare the sweets."

The old woman left with glee evident on her face.

"..."

'When did you start caring whether there are other people in the vicinity??' The old man mused to himself.

The two youths were long accustomed to this love birds' daily drama and were just giggling without interrupting the scene. The old man then turned his head to their direction and bared his tooth. Yes, his tooth, as he only had one tooth left in his mouth. The others had long fallen off from their sockets.

"Oi Oi. You two. What are you doing instead of digging!! Don't look here and start your work. It's because of you guys that I am scolded!!"

The two youths stopped giggling and instead burst out laughing. And the older boy wiped his tears with the back of his hand and replied with a big grin.

"No. Grandpa. It's just you digging your own grave. We have no influence over this matter. We are just innocent lambs here. He He. You shouldn't put blame on us for getting minus affection points from grandma. He He."

"Grr... This brat. Who taught you to talk like this!? Hah... And ..."

While the old man was preparing to lecture the two youths, chatting voices could be heard from the gate. A man who looked in his early forties and a woman in her early thirties passed the gate with various boxes and bags in their hands. The woman chuckled and teased the man.

"Oh Ho. Seems like you definitely inherited that straight man trait from your father. Hee Hee"

"..."

The man couldn't counter a word and he instead looked ahead to his father and muttered.

"Father, can't you be a little more serious with your grandchildren? You will be 83 tomorrow. But you still love to fight with them as if you are a teenager."

The old man raised one of his drooping eyebrows and replied with a smug.

"Hmm. Who gives you the courage to lecture me! Who are you? My father? How I interact with my grandchildren is nothing to do with you. Just mind your own business and carry the luggage to the house already."

"..."

'Pft. It's a mess.' The two youths thought.

The man stuck his head into his clothes and left the three silently. He can't possibly talk reason with his own father, who even though already way past his prime and set one point nine foot into the graveyard, acted like a youth and love playing straight man all the time. Seems like he has to try hard not to be like his father from now on, he sighed. The woman tried hard to not laugh out loud and bowed her head to the elderly and tugged the man toward the house.

"Just come, darling. We have to help Mother. Just leave father with the kids."

"..."

After the couple left, the old man turned to the youths again with the smug still on his face. This time completely forgetting about his argument with them already.

"Damn son of mine. So nosy... Oh and lads where had I left earlier?"

"The part where grandpa proposes grandma!" The girl quickly replied.

"Oh really? I think we were talking about something different?" The old man scratched his head.

"No. We were really talking about that topic the entire time. The part where grandpa is kneeling with one knee and took out the ring and ..." The boy quipped.

"Oh! That's the climax. Ho Ho. You definitely have to listen to it attentively. You might even get a perfect reference for your future endeavors. This will never get old and tiring no matter how many times I retell others. It actually is like this. When I ..." The old man enthusiastically talked aloud.

But the sound of a flying pan flying through the air could be heard and the sound of metal colliding with the old man's hand rang out followed by a shriek of an old woman, before the old man's complaint finished.

"Hey, that's dangerous. What is ..."

"If you talk another word about that topic, the next flying dagger will not be so easy to catch barehanded, mind you old bones!!"

*Sweat drops*

"Grandpa please stop. We can listen to it later if we make it out alive today. Even if you don't mind dying, we mind it." The boy hurriedly stopped the old man seriously.

True. Even if the old man could dodge or deflect the supposed love pecks of the kitchen knives, they definitely can't. What if the knife accidentally changed it's target to them after deflected by the old man, they will definitely not come out unscathed. But to their horror, the old man was headstrong.

"Ho Ho. Such is the life and love of our daily lives. Don't worry my children. This old bones will dauntlessly accept the calls of love even if he had to ascend to heaven. Fear accompanies failure most of the time. If I shrink back here, the future generation will never know the true journey of love. Thus I shall stake my life on the line to spread the words of love to prevent it from extinction."

'No grandpa, you definitely will ascend to the heaven like this.'

The two youths thought while distancing themselves from the old man. It is the right choice to distance themselves from a potential bomb, after all. The old man turned his head to the scurrying youths and sneered with disdain.

"Hah. You guys are spineless. Seems like you have to learn a thousand years to listen to my gallant stories. The proposal is just the beginning. The stories later are much more juicy and breathtaking. But it's a pity that ..."

While he was continuing with the story, the sound of three sharp objects simultaneously flying through the air could be heard. But the old man easily dodged them without turning back, as if he had eyes on the back of his head. The three kitchen knives lodged themselves on the fence. The two youths felt an immense chill traveled down their spine and into the ground.

'Oh my gawd. That is the place where our heads would have been if we stayed there without moving. Grandma is trying to silence all the witnesses and the source of trouble altogether!!'

"..."

But as there had been no extra knives after that three, the two youths heaved sigh of relieves. But before half of their sigh went out from the mouth, the old man started his boasting again.

"Ho Ho. Seems like your grandma's love for me has increased again!! She will not stop until there is any knife left for her to throw if it were ten years ago!! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!"

'He really did it this time!!' The two youth thought and ran away twice their fastest speed ever.

Immediately after, the sound of steel, wood, stone, and other identified objects rang out from the front of the house.