20:15 (Washington Time)
Friday, March 29, 1996 ‘C’
326 South Grove Street, Aurora Hills
Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A.
‘’Welcome home, Leonardo! How was your flight from Boston?’’
‘’Quite normal, Mom: there was no bomb in the baggage hold this time.’’
‘’You joker! Come in: your two sisters have already arrived from New York.’’
Dragging his suitcase behind him, Leonardo entered the main door of his family house, then took the time to share a hug and a kiss with Ingrid.
‘’It is nice to be home, even if only for the weekend, Mom.’’
‘’And it is great to see you again, my son.’’
Leonardo, who had turned nineteen only two weeks ago, couldn’t help chuckle then.
‘’That actually feels funny, Mom: you may be 71-years-old but you look as young as me and Nancy.’’
‘’And your sister Nancy is actually thirteen-years-old, despite looking to be eighteen, while my first adopted child, Hien, is now approaching fifty, is married and has a son. I know that we make for quite a weird-looking family, but we are a happy family, which is the most important thing about us. Go upstairs to your room and drop your suitcase and coat, then come back down to the kitchen. I have a nice bottle of champagne ready to celebrate the official end of the war with China. Nancy is also waiting to tell us about something else but she has been treating it like a national secret: she even closed her mind to me in order to hide her secret.’’
‘’Oh?! That should be something truly important, then. I will make it quick upstairs.’’
As promised, Leonardo showed up in the house’s kitchen three minutes later, finding his two sisters Nancy and Lucy waiting for him there with Ingrid. There was also a bottle of champagne and four flute glasses on the service counter. Taking the time to share hugs and kisses with Nancy and Lucy, Leonardo then gave a questioning look to Ingrid.
‘’Mom, I know that you want us to celebrate the end of the war with China but the medias have been quite avaricious about the terms signed between us and China.’’
‘’That’s because the medias haven’t been given yet the details of the peace accord, Leo. They will be officially announced tomorrow, once everybody involved will have signed the accord. However, knowing that you and your sisters can be depended upon to keep secrets, here are the main points of the accord: in exchange for us stopping all attacks on China, the Chinese have promised that they will never again initiate hostile military or terrorist acts against the United States or its allies. That includes Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines and Korea. The Chinese also renounced officially their sovereignty claims over the South China Sea. Such claims would anyway be impossible to sustain now that the Chinese Navy has practically ceased to exist, along with much of their air force and all of their nuclear forces. By the time that the Chinese asked for negotiations, we already had destroyed their navy and air force. Only their army is still intact but without its supporting defense industries, whose plants have been bombed to rubble.’’
Ingrid then turned and looked at Nancy and Lucy.
‘’Now that I have revealed my big secret, time for you two to reveal yours. What did you want to announce to me and Leo?’’
Nancy had a big grin on her face as she answered Ingrid.
‘’Well, my newfound celebrity as the Angel Girl has attracted the attention of a small music recording studio in Manhattan, Mom. I was able to sign a deal with them to record the first album of our band, which by the way is now called ‘The D.C. Six’. The studio will record and edit our album in exchange for a minor percentage of any sales or royalties we will collect for our music, and will also let us keep the masters for our album. On my part, I will pay the sound engineer and technicians involved in the production of our album, plus a minimal fee for renting the services of their studio. We will start recording our album there next weekend.’’
‘’But that’s great news, Nancy!’’ exclaimed Ingrid, overjoyed. ‘’Your band members must be ecstatic!’’
‘’Oh, they are, Mom!’’ replied Lucy, also smiling widely.
‘’And what will be the title of your first album, Lucy?’’ asked Leonardo, both curious and happy for his sisters. Lucy nearly shouted her answer then.
‘’Sometime, Somewhere! In view of our mainly historical and ethnically diverse repertoire, we thought that it would be a very appropriate title for it.’’
‘’ Sometime, Somewhere… That sounds great! I am sure that your album will have a great success.’’ declared Ingrid before filling the flutes with champagne, then raising her glass high.
‘’TO PEACE AND THE D.C. SIX!’’
‘’TO PEACE AND THE D.C. SIX!’’