Emma
Text / Yang Daxia
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"We wanted to make a birthday video and give it to Emma on her 18th birthday."
In the fourth episode of the tenth season of Friends, in the house where Joey lived for ten years, when Rachel saw Rose bring the camera, she excitedly told Phoebe about the idea.
That day was Emma's first birthday, the tenth year that six old friends had met, known, spent time together, and loved each other.
That day was the day when old friends were about to separate.
It was an ordinary day in 2003.
Phoebe happily responded, "It's like a space capsule! Come to think of it, she'll be watching the film on TV that hasn't been invented yet—with friends who are still babies; they'll live in the City of the Air to hide from Ant-Man. ”
At the time, one-year-old Emma was napping—babies never got enough sleep; and another one who never slept was Joey.
Probably woken up by a few people in the living room, Joey walked listlessly out of the bedroom. Rose held up the camera and walked up to him and asked him to say something about Emma's birthday.
Joey immediately stood up, came to the spirit, a "How you doing" is about to blurt out, Rose quickly stopped him: "When she saw this film, you were 52 years old!" ”
In the evening, Monica and Chandler arrive, followed by Rose's parents.
Rose's parents stood in front of the camera and happily said, "Happy 18th birthday, Emma!" It still seems far away, with 17 years to go. You'll be growing up and we'll probably be gone. This message may come to you from the grave..."
Emma's birthday party broke the Chandlers' vacation plans, so they looked unhappy when confronted by the camera: "Emma, it's 2020, do you still like to take a nap?" ”
……
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All in all, the birthday greeting that day was terrible.
It was also a mixed day: the shape of the custom cake was wrong; Joey, who hadn't woken up, forgot to prepare a birthday present; Phoebe sent a song with a strong sense of discord. Before Emma could wake up, everyone was in a hurry to leave; when Rose and Rachel, who had gone out to change cakes, arrived at the cake shop, it was closed.
But compared to the recent future, that day, there are still many beautiful things.
That day, Joey's agent, Ms. East, was still alive and smoking a cigar.
That day, Phoebe meets a good customer who allows her to come back after the party to give herself a massage.
That day, Joey's audition went well and he quickly rushed back.
On that day, Chandler and Monica, who did not go on vacation, reaped more joy and warmth than on vacation—they were ready to have a child.
That day, Rose made the cake herself. He and Rachel opened the door and saw none of their friends, not many of them, plus themselves, just six of them, as neatly aligned as they had been when they first met at the Central Café ten years earlier.
Of course, there was a seventh person in the room: Emma had woken up, and knowing that it was her first birthday, she compared a "1" with her small hand on the mound of flesh.
Rose lit a candle and brought the cake—Emma's first birthday cake.
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Soon, the candles went out and the birthday was over. Happy times always come and go in a hurry; and ten years seem to be only for a moment.
It wasn't long before East went to heaven to smoke cigars; Joey was with chickens and ducks that couldn't be sent; Phoebe found the love of her life; Rose and Rachel, who had been separated several times, finally reconciled and lived happily with Emma; Monica and Chandler adopted the child and moved into a new home.
The house, which had been noisy for ten years, finally calmed down. The pots and pans, tables and chairs, photo frames, and TV sofas that were once visible are all gone as if they had been looted; on the contrary, the six keys that everyone shared, which we usually don't see much, are now conspicuously lying on the small table in the door. They are so striking, as if they have been injected with life, that we can almost see that they are losing their temperature and slowly cooling.
Directly opposite the door of the house, is Joey's residence. In the days that followed, when he woke up alone and was ready to go out to shoot a scene, opening the door marked "19" on the door sign, the opposite "20" would come into view. This picture has been repeated for ten years, but now it feels different. The door number is still the same door number, but the laughter behind the door has become strange; and those familiar laughter, as if it were just yesterday, seems to be on the pillow with residual warmth, as if it is a step between "19" and "20", as if in the blink of an eye from 2019 to 2020; and a moment, it is already a vicissitude.
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At the turn of the vicissitudes, "Friends" has been completed for 17 years.
Emma, who had had a terrible first birthday party, is now 18 years old and just happens to be an adult.
Hey Emma, welcome to 2020, Happy 18th Birthday!
Did your mom Rachel keep her promise to bring you the recording?
Did you watch that video from 17 years ago with your friends your peers on the latest TV?
Did your grandparents go to the grave and message her in the grave?
Do you still like to take a nap?
Can you stand up to a bad laugh from a guy and a "How you doing"?
Do you go to Room 19 to see the warm place that gave birth to your sweet dreams and birthdays?
Have you taken a time capsule to experience the memories and good times of your father's and their friends' youth?
Is this a secret? Well; but one thing I'm sure —
Ant-Man didn't invade Earth, and we won't live in the sky.
In this human world, where joy and healing have been spread by the "Sixsome", who is willing to destroy it, and who is willing to leave?
（END）