Cerefina, as usual, is distressed by the albeit faraway and intermittent firecrackers. She is taking refuge inside my captain's cabin bedroom, and I suspect that Kichiro Mayuzumi is  inside Angelique's bedroom upstairs.

Having said that, the compound and the neighborhood are unusually quiet and as still as a graveyard. No one is in the driveway and in the streets. Everyone seems to be in bed or has gone elsewhere to meet the New Year.

Until 11:55 PM, perhaps. I'll go outside, and I know that everyone else will.