Ethan Jones' eyes light up—he finally remembered his plan.
Without hesitation, he went downstairs, and as he reached the living room on the first floor, he happened to see a girl walking in, carrying a handbag.
She wore a bell-shaped hat, her thick orange-red hair cascading over her shoulders. She had on a white sweatshirt with ERA printed on the left sleeve and PEACE on the right, paired with slim-fitting blue jeans and brown-and-white saddle shoes.
Seeing Thomas and Linda approaching, the girl spread her arms wide and gave them both a big, warm hug.
"Dad! Linda! I missed you so much!"
"We missed you too, Evelyn," Thomas and Linda replied, their affection overflowing as they each kissed her on the cheek.
Linda smiled and said, "Oh, Evelyn, you came back just in time! I've already prepared dinner—Dungeness crab and clam soup. Oh, and remember you once said that the California roll at Liben's was really good? Well, I asked around. Turns out, their California roll is made with processed avocado instead of sashimi, so it's extra crispy. I tried making some today—go wash your hands and try it!"
"Really?" Evelyn's eyes lit up. "Linda, I love you!"
"I love you too, sweetheart."
Just as the girl was jumping about to get into the restaurant, Ethan, who was standing behind Thomas and Linda, also entered her field of vision.
When she finally focused on him, Ethan greeted her warmly with a smile.
"Hi, Evelyn. Good evening."
"I'm not okay, Ethan," she shot back, her smile vanishing instantly. Her expression turned cold—like Ethan owed her millions.
She radiated an attitude that kept people at a distance, as though Ethan were nothing more than an unwelcome stranger.
Thomas frowned, clearly displeased. "What kind of tone is that? He's your brother," he emphasized.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Evelin raised her voice and rolled her eyes. "I know Ethan is my brother! But I don't want to be the sister of such a fool, okay?"
With that, she spun around and stormed upstairs. Thomas was left frozen in place. Linda tried to smooth things over. "Evelin, dinner's ready."
"I'm not eating! Just seeing him makes me furious!" Evelin shouted back, stamping her feet so hard that the wooden stairs groaned under the force of each step.
Thomas snapped. "Fine! Don't eat then! Missing one meal won't starve you to death!" His voice echoed through the house.
Frustrated, he turned to Ethan and Linda. "Let's go eat."
Ethan raised his head and glanced toward the stairs. Evelin's figure had already disappeared, but the brief exchange lingered in his mind.
Thomas had said Evelin was his sister—. But based on the memories Ethan now possessed, things between them hadn't always been this strained.
Her full name was Evelyn Johnson. She was born in 1954, the daughter of Thomas Johnson and his late wife. That same year, Evelyn's mother passed away due to an illness caused by Serratia marcescens.
Her mother's death devastated Thomas. Lacking parenting experience—and being a man who had neither the skill nor the patience to raise a child alone—he sought help from Linda, who at the time was a farmer working in his orchard. Over time, affection grew between them, and Linda eventually became Evelyn's stepmother.
Since Evelin was raised by Linda, their relationship had always been very close. Linda, who had fertility issues and was unable to have children of her own, cherished Evelin as if she were her biological daughter.
With no heirs of their own, Thomas and Linda poured all their love into Evelin, and the usual anxieties that often trouble wealthy families—like inheritance disputes or distant step-relations—never existed in their home.
When Ethan Jones was later taken in by Linda after his own parents passed away, Evelin welcomed him wholeheartedly. She cared for her new little brother with genuine affection. They went to and from school together, did homework side by side, enrolled in the same extracurricular activities, learned karate and horse riding together, and even attended SAT prep classes as together.
In Evelin's opinion, with her help, Ethan would surely get into a good university. She had paved the path for him, especially since she had been admitted to Stanford a year earlier—a prestigious school close to home. She fully expected Ethan to follow in her footsteps.
But things took an unexpected turn. After high school, Ethan abruptly abandoned his studies. He fell under the influence of some anti-intellectual ideas and insisted on "joining the real world" instead of pursuing higher education.
Evelin had been furious—almost to the point of losing her mind. For the next three years, she never gave him a kind word, nor did she bother to hide her disappointment.
There was no way, who could make him understand that Ethan's sister Evelin and aunt Linda were both right?
Studying may not be the only way to change your destiny, but it's certainly the easiest.
Academic qualifications don't necessarily prove a person's ability, but they do serve as a signal—a filter that tells others you've passed a basic threshold of discipline and perseverance.
That's why, Ethan had been trying to mend his relationship with his sister—a sister who wasn't blinded by trendy ideas. Unfortunately, things hadn't gone as smoothly as he'd hoped.
With a quiet sigh, Ethan followed his aunt and uncle into the dining room.
Thomas was still angry. He sat stiffly at the table, his face pulled as long as a shoehorn.
As the head of the household, his silence set the tone. With him brooding, neither Linda nor Ethan dared to speak, and the atmosphere quickly grew heavy and suffocating.
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Linda got up. She plated a still-warm two-pound Dungeness crab, filled a bowl with clam soup, and picked up a California roll. "I'll bring her something to eat," she said softly.
"I'll do it," Ethan offered.
"You?" Linda blinked, surprised.
Even Thomas raised an eyebrow, giving him a puzzled look.
"Yes, let me go."
Ethan smiled, speaking with rare honesty. "We all know why Evelin's been angry with me for years. She thought my decision to give up college was childish and reckless. To be fair… I still think the traditional path might not have suited me. But I also have to admit—I handled it poorly. I was too stubborn. I owe her an apology. So please, let me do it."
"Oh, Ethan…" Linda's lips trembled, her eyes misting with emotion.
Thomas, however, cracked a rare grin. He reached out and gave Ethan a light pat on the backside. "Go on, boy. You're starting to act like a Texas cowboy now—though I still can't stand those idiots."
With their support, Ethan carefully carried the food upstairs. He paused in front of Evelin's closed door, balancing the tray in one hand while knocking softly with the other.
Knock, knock, knock.
A brief, sharp voice came from inside. "Who is it?"
"It's me."
--------
Two seconds later, Evelin's voice came again, calm but sharp as a blade: "Get out of here. I don't want to see you."
Her tone matched her harsh words, and the combination made Ethan chuckle. He leaned casually against the door and said,
"Evelin, I know you've been angry with me all these years, but I came today because I want to talk to you. It's also your celebration."
"I've got time now—I was fired from Magnavox. Because of Nolan Bushnell."
Silence. No response from inside.
Ethan wasn't discouraged. He went on, "You know what? At first, they didn't even want to compensate me. They tried to push me out by saying I'd caused huge losses to the company, trying to scare me into quitting quietly.
But I didn't back down. I fought back, and I ended up scaring them into giving me a compensation of 2N + 1."
He paused, giving her a chance to react—but the silence remained.
Still smiling, Ethan continued, "Do you know what I used to threaten them? It was something you said to Thomas a while back.
You remember? About a month ago, Thomas was complaining at dinner that the Liben Chambers of Commerce were deliberately lowering the purchase price of our navel oranges. You said at the time it was because Liben refused to accept the post-war status quo and wanted to use economic pressure to push for independence, as a way to test sovereignty.
I used that. I flipped it and accused them of being foreign capital trying to erode our domestic industries. I pushed the story hard enough to make them panic and offer me compensation."
To be honest," Ethan chuckled, "studying really does broaden your thinking. You had a good point."
He stopped there. For two or three seconds, there was only silence.
Then, a quiet voice from inside: "The door's not locked."
He pushed the door open. The entire room came into view—a square space, nearly two hundred square feet, with windows on both the north and south walls. Beneath the south window was a simple bed, a poster of Barbra Streisand taped above the headboard, with a wardrobe beside it. Under the north window stood a desk and a tall bookshelf stacked with books and cassette tapes.
Evelin sat at the desk, the soft glow of an incandescent lamp illuminating the pages in front of her.
Perhaps she didn't want Ethan to know what she was reading. Perhaps she was just too hungry to argue anymore.
As Ethan's footsteps approached, Evelin quickly closed the magazine in her hands and slid it to the corner of the desk. But not before Ethan caught a clear glimpse of the cover—a yellow background with bold blue lettering.
At the top of the cover, its name is written——Popular Electronics.
Author's Notes:
① Barbra Streisand: An Orthodox Jewish actress and singer, and one of the few performers to achieve the rare EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards). A cultural icon, especially during the 1960s and 1970s.
② Popular Electronics: A highly influential monthly magazine first published in the 1950s in the United States. It played a legendary role in popularizing electronic engineering and hobbyist projects.