Entertaining Children

When Xiao Yao asked these words, the faces of the four members of the Smith family all changed. Mrs. Smith paused, then smiled awkwardly at Xiao Yao and said, "Yang, let's go home."

Seeing that Mrs. Smith avoided answering his question, Xiao Yao, who originally thought that Mr. Smith did not show up because of work or other reasons, also discovered that there seemed to be some hidden secrets in it. He wisely did not ask, but nodded with a smile. Hello.

"Dean, shouldn't you help with the luggage? Jan is a guest." Mrs. Smith looked at the huge suitcase beside Xiao Yao, and said to her second son beside her.

"No," Xiao Yao said before Dean could answer, "I can do it myself. I don't want you to treat me as a guest."

"Mom, you saw, he said I don't need to take it." Dean shrugged while holding the big card.

Mrs. Smith shook her head helplessly, and walked towards the parking lot of the airport with a few children.

Mrs. Smith's car is a very popular Ford sedan family car in the United States. After Mrs. Smith walked to the front of the car, she took the key and opened the door and the trunk. Dean walked quickly to the back of the car and threw the big card in his hand into the trunk, and then sat in the back of the car with Samien. In the back seat.

Xiao Yao then put the suitcase in his hand into the trunk of the car, and closed the door of the trunk. Seeing that Sammy and Dean had already sat in the back row, they sat in the passenger seat of the car. Three 17-year-old and 18-year-old children are crowded in the back seat, and it is obviously inappropriate for a 12-year-old girl to sit in the co-pilot seat alone. It is better to let the three of them sit in the back together.

It's about an hour's drive from Los Angeles Airport to Calabasas. Along the way, the older Samien and Dean didn't talk much, but the youngest Elena pestered Xiao Yao to ask a lot of questions about Huaxia, and Xiao Yao patiently answered them one by one Got the answer.

"Yang, there is something I think I should tell you." Halfway through the car, Mrs. Smith, who was driving, finally couldn't help but said.

"Is it about Mr. Smith?" Xiao Yao asked, as if he had expected it.

"Yes." Mrs. Smith nodded, and continued, "Paul and I are divorced. However, neither West Bridge High School nor I deliberately lied to you or your school in Huaxia. When the host family information was sent to Huaxia, it was two A month ago, and Paul and I divorced last month. In fact, it was my idea to apply for a host family for exchange students. West Bridge Middle School also thought that even if Paul left, I could take care of your life alone. , so I haven’t changed the host family for the time being. Of course, if you don’t want to live in a single-parent family, West Bridge Middle School can also re-arrange a host family for you.”

"no need,

"Xiao Yao shook his head, "Single-parent families are no problem for me. In fact, I myself had the experience of having children from single-parent families for several years. "

"How come?" Mrs. Smith asked in surprise.

"When I was more than three years old, my biological mother passed away in a car accident." Xiao Yao said.

"I'm sorry," interposed Mrs. Smith comfortingly.

"Thank you," Xiao Yao continued, "My father remarried when I was eight years old, so I was a child of a single-parent family for almost five years. These are not written in my information."

The three children in the back seat didn't interrupt when their mother was talking with Xiao Yao, but they heard Xiao Yao's words verbatim, and their expressions showed some surprise.

"In that case, I don't think I have anything to worry about." Mrs. Smith said with a relieved smile, "I think you will have a very pleasant year at my house."

Xiao Yao smiled, but did not answer. Looking at the two older children in the back seat through the rearview mirror, Xiao Yao expressed some doubts about Mrs. Smith's words in his heart.

The Smiths' residence was a typical wooden single-family home for middle-class Americans. The two-and-a-half-story house has a not-so-low attic under the sloping roof. Xiao Yao's room is in this attic.

Although the room is on the attic on the top floor, it is very clean and tidy. There is a big single bed, wardrobe, bookshelf, desk and other furniture and furnishings. A green plant in a pot, with a skylight in the sloping roof, is just above the bed. Because the area is not too large, the whole room has a more warm feeling.

"Is this room okay? If you are not satisfied, I can find a way to rearrange your room." Mrs. Smith asked Xiao Yao.

"No, no need, I like this room. I love this sloping roof. You can see the stars directly through the window when you lie on the bed at night. It must be very romantic." Xiao Yao waved his hands.

"He still thinks about looking at the stars, and he still says words like romance? It seems that he is not completely a nerd." The three children of the Smith family are also in Xiao Yao's room at this time. From the performance in the room, both Samien and Dean began to feel that Xiao Yao was not as "nerdy" as he had imagined.

"It's fine if you like it," Mrs. Smith said with a smile. "Then you can pack your luggage and take a rest. We'll go down first. I'll call you when dinner is ready."

"Okay, thank you Mrs. Smith." Xiao Yao nodded his thanks.

After seeing off the Smith family, Xiao Yao collapsed on his bed in all directions. The setting sun sprinkled a touch of gold in the room through the window, and Xiao Yao also began to look forward to his American life in the coming year.

After getting up and packing his luggage, and taking a short rest, Xiao Yao heard the sound of bouncing up and down the stairs. Then came Elena's cry: "Jan, dinner is ready."

"Okay, I'll come down right away." Xiao Yao got up and opened the door to go downstairs, but saw Elena bouncing up after shouting, and she had already reached the door of his room.

"Don't you already have dinner? Why are you still here?" Xiao Yao looked at Elena at the door and asked.

"Have you packed your luggage? I want to visit your room and see if you have brought any mysterious oriental items." Elena tilted her head and smiled.

"There's nothing mysterious," Xiao Yao said with a smile, "You can visit, but you have to hurry up, we shouldn't make Mrs. Smith and your brothers and sisters wait too long." Saying that, Xiao Yao moved away.

Elena walked into Xiao Yao's room with cheerful steps, and after looking around, she found that there was really nothing special in Xiao Yao's room, so she backed out with a little disappointment.

Dinner is more American-style food, chicken, mashed potatoes with long beans, and Mrs. Smith also specially prepared some pasta for Xiao Yao. Xiao Yao didn't feel uncomfortable with these foods, and ate them very happily.

After dinner, Mrs. Smith took Xiao Yao to visit and introduced the whole house except the garage next to it, and then told Xiao Yao some family rules. Although she came to board as an international exchange student, Mrs. Smith still asked Xiao Yao like she would her two children in high school. What things are not allowed to do, what regulations cannot be violated, and even the punishment regulations such as foot restraint are the same for Xiao Yao.

It can also be seen from this that although Mrs. Smith is very enthusiastic and kind, she is still a strict mother in essence. Xiao Yao originally came to experience the study and life in the United States, so he naturally accepted them one by one without any problem.

In the evening, I talked with my parents on the phone for a while, and told about my impressions and feelings about the host family, and Xiao Yao fell down on the bed with ease. Through the window on the sloping roof, Xiao Yao was delighted to find that he could really see the stars directly. Thus, Xiao Yao fell asleep while counting the stars, a very childish and boring act.

In the early morning of the next day, Xiao Yao, who was affected by jet lag, got up later than usual, so he canceled his long-term morning exercise.

When Xiao Yao came downstairs fully dressed, he heard noises in the kitchen on the first floor, and walked directly to the kitchen. In most American homes, the dining table is placed in the larger kitchen, where meals are eaten. So when Xiao Yao entered the kitchen, he immediately saw five dinner plates and several empty glasses on the dining table, while Mrs. Smith was busy in front of the kitchen utensils on one side.

"Morning," seeing Xiao Yao coming in, Mrs. Smith greeted, "Sit down first, breakfast will be ready soon." Then she raised the spatula in her hand and went to the kitchen door and shouted upstairs: "You three Is the guy alright? Today is the first day of the new semester, so don't be late."

When Mrs. Smith returned to the kitchen, the toaster just dinged, and two slices of toast popped out. Mrs. Smith swiftly picked up two dinner plates from the dining table, put a slice of toasted bread on each, then took out two slices from the side and stuffed them into the toaster, turned around and scooped out fried eggs from the frying pan, Covered toast. Then he took two slices of sliced ​​tomatoes from the chopping board on the side and put them on the dinner plate.

Putting the dinner plate in front of Xiao Yao, Mrs. Smith asked Xiao Yao: "Do you want coffee, milk or juice? The milk and juice are in the refrigerator, and the coffee in the coffee pot is brewed. You can pour it yourself. But I don't Advise boys your age to drink coffee in the morning."

"I drink juice." Xiao Yao nodded, got up and went to the refrigerator to take out the juice and poured himself a glass, then sat down and began to eat his own breakfast.

When Xiao Yao was halfway through eating, the three children of the Smith family walked into the kitchen one after another. Seeing that Xiao Yao was already eating at the dining table, Elena immediately said good morning to Xiao Yao, and happily ran over and sat down next to Xiao Yao. Samien and Dean also greeted Xiao Yao politely, sat down at the table, picked up the juice and poured it into their glasses. Judging by the expressions of the two, although they are not as enthusiastic as Elena, they are not as indifferent to Xiao Yao as they were yesterday.

The five of them had just finished their breakfast when a car horn sounded outside the door.

"The school bus is here, Ellie, get your schoolbag, it's time to go." Mrs. Smith got up and said to Elena.

"Mom, can you drive me to school today?" Elena said coquettishly to her mother.

"No, mom is going to send Yang to school today, plus you, one of them must be late." Mrs. Smith shook her head and refused.

"Let's go, who told you that you are only in the seventh grade and you are not in the same school as us." Dean said to Elena with a smile.

"Hmph!" Facing her brother's complaints, Elena snorted, and angrily picked up her schoolbag and went out to take the school bus.

"Let's go too." Mrs. Smith, who watched Elena board the school bus at the door, turned around and said to the three older children in the room.

Mrs. Smith looked at Xiao Yao, and asked again: "The first day of school in the United States, are you nervous?"

"Not nervous, but looking forward to it." Xiao Yao smiled. (To be continued.)