4D

"Are you ready?" my father asked him.

He waved his hand, as if swatting invisible flies.

" Are you ready?"

This time he gave a slight nod and a short babble, his neck muscles too weak and his vocal cords too under-developed.

Taking out a cassette tape case and pouring its content in my sister's hand , my father smiled.

"Then let us begin."

The neatly folded pieces of small red hong bao paper in my sister's hand was given a shake.

The joy of having a new-born member of the family join us for CNY was evident in the faces of all who were there at my grandmother's house. Between fussing about the baby and having too much coke, my father decided to put his gambling luck to the test. Hong bao pieces were cut out and folded ,numbers were written on their backs. The baby was brought in.

It was time to let Dalkin choose 4 digits.

"Are you ready?" my father asked.