"AND when did New Year's Day start being in February?" Grandma grumbled.
"It's in February because the Chinese have a different calendar, Grandma. It's called a lunar calendar. That means it's figured by the moon." I felt so smart to remember all the stuff we learned in school.
"Well, that's really something -- you teaching me, honey."
"Can you remember what color Daddy's shoes are, Grandma?" I pulled on her hand.
"How you expect me to remember what color your daddy's shoes are, child? You're the smart little kid. You should be better at remembering things than I am."
But suddenly I remembered something else Miss Peng had told us. "Chinese dragons can fly through the air without even any wings. Did you know that, Grandma?"
"Your teacher said that too?"
"Yes."
There was a clanging sound. Metal hitting metal.
"Sounds like the parade is starting!" I looked down the street. There were high school kids beating drums in time to clanging cymbals. They moved their feet up and down as if they were marching but didn't move.
"See, the drums beat the rhythm for the dragon to dance to, Grandma. He welcomes in the first day of the new year."
"He's going to dance? Well, I never saw a dragon dance."
Now things started coming. A man driving a red convertible went by. He waved to everyone and threw candy money wrapped in bright gold foil. The red streamers on his car fluttered. There were Chinese words on them.
"You know what that says, Grandma?"
"I surely do not, but let me guess. Could it say, 'Happy New Year' ?"
"That's right. In Chinese you say, '\o7Gung hay fat choy\f7.' "
"Miss Peng told you that?"
"No, Daddy did. When is the dragon coming?"
Suddenly there was a loud snapping, a popping and a craaak!
*
Wednesday: What is making that noise?
\o7Author's note: The Chinese New Year is based on a lunar (moon) calendar. Each moon cycle is a month. The years are divided into cycles of 12. Each of the 12 years is named after an animal: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, cock, dog and pig. Feb. 18 starts the year of the pig.\f7
"The Day the Dragon Danced" is a Kids' Reading Room Classic that first appeared Feb. 11-15, 2002. It has since been published as a book in 2006 by Shen's Books, Fremont, Calif. The story will be on The Times' website at latimes.com/kids.
