Chapter 60 - A Delicious Dinner
A few months before Rico's 12th birthday, Rico, his team, and parents with their Pokémon are visiting their deceased relatives at one of Kawayan City's cemeteries. It was Friday afternoon and a few hours after school is done, and Lucas managed to get an early sign out from his work. There they searched their deceased relatives' gravestones thoroughly and carefully, looking at the names of those who had passed away. There's a separate Pokémon cemetery a few blocks away from that cemetery. After a few minutes of searching, they found their relatives' gravestones. They were the gravestones of Rico's maternal grandparents, who were natives to the Philas region. The gravestones are made of smooth marble and inscribed the names of Rosario and Lester's parents, Rey and Emmie, on the smooth surface, as well as their birthdates and dates when they died. The upper parts was curved and convex upwards with a smooth finish. Often, in Philas, neighbors and close friends funded most of the funeral expenses for the family of the deceased. Upon approaching the said gravestones, they put bouquets of flowers, roses and daisies, in front of them, and placed 5 incense sticks on a little bowl with sand and one candlestick next to it. They then used a lighter to light the incense sticks and the candlesticks, and put some melted wax on the foot of the gravestones so the candlesticks won't fall. After that, they turned off their lighter and stepped a feet away from it in respecting the deceased.
"Mom, dad, happy anniversary for your wedding," Rosario talked to them with a positive and pity expression.
"We had a good life here," Lucas added with the same expression as his wife's, "and our son had a great progress on a being Pokémon Trainer." This follows with a short silence while staring. Scratching his head a bit, Rico said, "Yeah, I am. And I got four Pokémon in less than a year, you know. Can't you believe that?" This follows with another short silence again.
"Yeah, your grandson was a good and loving Trainer to his Pokémon," Lucas said.
"And much more dedicated and smarter to it," Rosario added while lifting a finger for a bit. "He is such a good and loyal one to us."
"Yeah, he is," Lucas happily added. This follows with another short silence again.
"Well, we hoped to see Jonathan again," Rosario said with a promise. "We believed he is not dead."
"We know he is smart and had a strong body," Lucas added. "We didn't even sold his stuff. We had done everything we can to survive this part of our lives. As your son-in-law, I'll do anything for me and my family to survive this and keep our home here, which you had built with your hands, Pokémon, and friends." His Magneton then responded with a promise. Riolu and Litleo then responded with determination and a promise. Once again, this follows with a short silence. After that, they do the prayer gesture, mildly bow their heads in respect, and closed their eyes for a minute in silence. When 5 o'clock struck, all of them left the cemetery and to their last errand: shopping for food and supplies. Rico had been training well and good, increasing his time with Kolen, the gym leader, and his friends.
At the mall's supermarket, they searched for essentials like fruits, vegetables, and pastries. Their Pokémon are out of their Poké Balls to help them in their shopping list. Their one, big shopping cart was full of groceries they had picked up along the way. Every time they shop, they had different budgets to limit their spending on necessities and essentials. For tonight, they'll be making vegetable pot pie and soup, both perfect and hot meals for dinner. They had already picked up the main ingredients, so they'll be needing some small packs of seasonings and spices to spice up their dinner.
"Ah! Found them!" Rico mildly and positively exclaimed as his pinpoint towards a shelf of packed herbs, spices, and other seasonings. The rest then went to that said shelf and glanced at its available products, looking at it from left to right a few times in finding the best seasonings for their meal.
"So, should we buy the usual ones, or not?" Rico asked them. Getting a joint-pack of six, Rosario looked at the front and back for more info about it, before deciding to toss it in the cart. It was a different brand of seasonings, but it still serves the same purpose for the appropriate foods.
After some time, all of them went to the cashiers' counters to pay for them. Rico's parents usually used cash to pay, but sometimes used their credit cards for the remainder of their purchases, allowing them to save cash partially. Rico and his team, meanwhile, are at the benches across the corridor waiting for them to come out with the groceries, passing time by stroking on Riolu's skin and Starly's wings gently with positive love. Not much time was wasted, Rico's parents managed to come out of the supermarket with their paid groceries, meeting with Rico and his team, and they all departed to the mall's entrance together.
Later that night, at the street driving home, Rico and Riolu are looking towards the urban houses with normal-sized fences and gates of various kinds of materials, lining up with 2-lane streets, trees, lamp posts, and sidewalks complete with smooth sloped spots for convenient entering and exiting. At this time of night, a few people and their Pokémon are strolling around as adults and other people are sweeping the leaves and debris away from their yards and into big trash cans and preparing for dinner of various kinds. Rico and Riolu, joined by Piplup, are looking at them with emotional happiness. The atmosphere outside of the car was very good and harmonious without any discrimination nor harassment, as if the society was warm and full of harmony.
By 7:20 p.m., minutes after arriving at home, the family are helping with one another preparing for a hot and delicious dinner. Rosario and Lucas are cooking and stirring the pot and slicing, dicing, and chopping the ingredients, most notably, the vegetables, with a sharp kitchen knife with a smooth wooden handle. Rico and his team are preparing the table by putting white and blue ceramic plates small, red, ceramic bowls, metal spoons and forks, and fragile and clear drinking glasses on it neatly and calmly with a positive outlook. Then, finally, Rosario pulled the hot pot pie out of the oven and Lucas pouring the hot vegetable soup into a big, white, and ceramic bowl; they then served them to their son and placed them in the center of the rectangle table calmly. This delights Rico and his team a lot, and Rosario proceeds to give their Pokémon their special food on bowls. After that, Rosario and Lucas sat down with Rico and eat up, putting their food on their plates and bowls and slicing the big and hot pot pie into pie-style slices. Rosario then reached out for the refrigerator to get a jug of water and began pouring their drinking glasses with hospitality.
"Thank you, mom," Rico happily responded in embracing his mother's loving attitude. He then began digging in his vegetable pot pie and soup meal, eating and slurping with a happy look and feeling their complex taste and spices.
"Delicious, isn't?" Lucas asked him positively. Swallowing his food, Rico happily replied, "Yes, it's so good and yummy. Thank you, mom, dad." He then resumed eating the pot pie and slurping his soup with a happy satisfaction as his parents engaged in their delicious dinner with a positive atmosphere around them as the night goes on with a few big clouds sailing across the clear sky and the crescent moon shone on the sea horizon beautifully.