Sim profile:
Full name: Morten
Kråke-Karlsen
Date of birth: 10.10.2010.
Personality
traits: Excitable, Good,
Ambitious, Easily Impressed
Family tree:
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Just a few days later it was another rainy morning in town. This day would be Mortens last day as a 7th grader and the last day where he would have his classroom in the west wing on the first floor..
While Morten was still sleeping his father had just gotten out of
bed to make breakfast in their kitchen downstairs. Jonathan had his
day off today, and Kathrine was on leave from her job at the hospital
to care for the newborn.
Morten looked up to his parents, like most kids do, and had noticed how both of them had excelled in their careers. He knew when he woke up that soon he would be old enough to take a part time job as well, and was already thinking about getting his first promotion...
Maybe one day he would be an austronaut, like his weird uncle Eivind hoped to be..
Their breakfast was mostly eaten in silence. Jonathan wasn't always the most talkative man, often preferring to stay in his own thoughts.
Jonathan is still a good father and husband to his wife, always being faithful and keeping the house clean and tidy. The latter which he had learnt from his mom, and the former which he had.. also 'learned' from his mom...
The school bus honked and it was off to school again for Morten.
School was always a little boring of course, but he still (atleast a
little bit) enjoyed going there when he could hang out with his
friends inbetween classes.. and tomorrow he would find himself in a
new class with all the teenagers in town..
The days after giving birth, Kathrine often felt more tired than
usual and needed to sleep a lot. She wasn't nearly as tired after the
time Ingrid was born, though that was a much scarier and more
exciting time... Doing those things then, that she had never done
before.. giving birth, raising a child and balancing it all with a
demanding job at the hospital. Amazing she could pull that off.. but
now, she just wanted to sleep...
And she was allowed to do so, because Jonathan was there on the
spot to take care of Caroline before she got to hungry or lonely, so
no baby cries were heard in the house, at least so far.
Then it was time for laundry. The sound of a laundromant humming
in the distance was sometimes like music to his ears.. because it
meant clean clothes. :P
There wasn't really that much of a need for Jonathan to constantly
be tidying it up and cleaning everything around the house, because he
had of course also made sure to hire a maid.. but still, he enjoyed
cleaning and it also served as a welcome distraction to keep his mind
off from.. other things..
Eventually, way past noon, Kathrine also woke up to a smell in the
room indicating that Kathrine was probably in great need of a bath,
so she took her to the bathroom upstairs to soap her in and clean her
in the sink..
Afterwards they met Jonathan out in the hallway and had a little bit of family time. :P
Kathrine couldn't help herself though.. even if she had days off from work, she still wanted to keep up by filling out reports and stay up to date on the latest knowledge in the medical field.. but alteast she could do so by working from home still in her underwear. ;)
When Jonathan didn't have anything better to do, he would just keep his mind sharp and play some chess, before they would begin to prepare for Morten's birthday party and wait for the guests to arrive.
On the invitation they had told the guests that the party would
begin at 18, just in time for Morten to come home from his boy scouts
after school activity. Of the invited guests the first one to arrive
was his grandma Lucie (fathers side) to the left, followed by his
sister Ingrid, grandpa Egil (mothers side), his cousin Bjørn-Ynge,
Kristina, his aunt Sofie (holding the umbrella), and of course...
himself, thinking about gardening.
And then a little bit by himself came George who is his best
friend among those that are still children.
Kathrine immediately begins to entertain the guests by playing guitar in the living room.
Grandpa Asgeir (fathers side) was the last to arrive at the party. Grandma Frida (mothers side) unfortunately couldn't make it, because the matrix worked against her and she got stuck...
Jonathan had just served everyone on the buffet table in the
hallway when Ingrid came inside and was happy to see her father
again. The feeling was also very mutual. ;) It was a strange
experience for them to have their first born move out on her own. It
certainly left a void there, which is probably why Caroline was
born...
The grandparents that were present had also made it into the room
to cheer for him. I'm sure Frida would have done the same if she was
there.
..and then.. it happens..
Grandma Lucie knows what's the most important thing now.. cake. This reminds her of her own wedding cake way back when she married her ex-husband Asgeir... It was the best day of her life until then when it happened... Unfortunately things went as they did, if only she hadn't been so... easily impressed by her sweet talking coworker at the hospital..
Nonetheless, another one that looks like he's having the best day of his life.. so far.. is Morten, the birthday child. Officially a teenager, but perhaps still young enough to play with toys for a few more years..?
Everyone gets a piece of the cake to sit down where they can to
eat their share. Jonathan found a place on the couch in the living
room, next to his daughter and Lise Veronica, a friend of the family.
Three age groups on one couch, adult, young adult and teenager. :P
After everyone is done eating Morten follows his fathers example and walks around picking up everyones plates to put them in the dishwasher. He doesn't have the neat trait like his father or his grandma, but it's still fascinating how things appear to be passed down through generations still..
I think Morten is going to be a good boy and not as rebellious as
some of the other teenagers in town, maybe... I guess we'll just have
to wait and see..
While father and son is in the kitchen doing dishes, Mortens aunt
Sofie picks up the entertainment duties and plays the guitar for
everyone. Bjørn-Yngve and Lucie immediately begins to dance, while
Malcolm, Lise Veronica and Ingrid stand to watch.
George has discovered the Kråke-Karlsen familys expansive
bookshelf. Bjørn Sveum sitting next to him can't understand why his
friend is so boring.. he wants to be outside and play, not sitting on
the couch reading books...
Morten started thinking about Lise Veronica, so he asked her to go
to his parents bedroom for a pillow fight.. but they didn't get to be
there alone, because Caroline is also in there and both Kathrine,
Kristina and Egil had gone upstairs to check on the baby to see if
she needed anything..
Lise Veronica then suggested that maybe one day they should go to
the movies together, she already had some spare tickets to use.. His
grandpa Asgeir is much to caught up reading a book on his sons bed to
hear what the young teenagers are discussing. :P
Downstairs Sofie was still doing the guitar entertainment, and
Lucie was now dancing with her neighbour Egil. They were just dancing
though, like old friends, well.. more or less..
In the living room Bjørn-Yngve had inappropriately made romantic advances towards Kristina, which she clearly did not approve off. She told him it was unacceptable and that she, as he should know, was already in a relationship with Lise Veronica..
..and yet, being as friendly as she is, she asked him if they
instead could go outside for a while to watch the stars...
Bjørn-Yngve, now offended at her first reaction to him wanting to kiss her, only scoffed at her question... "Hmmph! That's boring! That's not what I want..."
Lise Veronica of course heard it all, and had her own reaction...
She wasn't going to accept that and immediately walked over to Kristina and said they should dance. "Remember, you belong to me!"
Now, Kristina didn't mind dancing, after all that was great fun,
but she did not appreciate the way Lise Veronica came over and pretty
much commanded her to dance, and to top it off with a
statement like that..
"Eeeh... I don't... think so.." she said as she backed
away. She didn't want to be treated like that, like she was someones
property.. there was something wrong about that! Kristina is still
young and doesn't know to much about love yet, so she wasn't thinking
in terms of 'red flags' and wasn't looking out for them.. but she had
seen and heard how mom and dad talked to each other, and it wasn't
like that.. Lise Veronica right now gave her a bad feeling, and
she lost all interest in dancing.. this wasn't very
funny..
"..but, but... why not?" Lise Veronica moped, not quite understanding what just happened... she didn't mean to push Kristina away, she just wanted to let her know that.. that she wanted her all to herself, that she wanted them to stay together.. just the two of them, and now.. she suddenly didn't want to dance and just walked away..? What did she do...?
Maybe she came on to strong, but just like Kristina, Lise
Veronica had heard how her own mom sometimes talked to her dad, and
she would say excactly something like that.. and it was no secret
that her dad liked it when her mom starting talking like that.. She
had heard a lot worse coming from their bedroom.. but clearly this
didn't work with Kristina..
So she started walking for the door, 'casually' making a remark to
Sofie as she passed her on the way that she had really enjoyed her
time at the party and that she was now going home. A little loudly of
course, because this remark wasn't intended for Sofie at all...
Her plan must have worked, because it didn't take long for Kristina to follow her despondently trudging along..
Lise Veronica kept a watchful eye on Kristina the entire time. She
didn't want to glare and be obvious, but she couldn't help it.. she
wanted her to follow her, and had to make sure...
Once she had walked down the stairs she turned her head quickly
just enough to see the silhouette of Kristina exiting through the
front door.. That's when she knew her plan had worked, but she didn't
want to make it to easy so she started to run towards her taxi that
was already waiting for her...
"No! No.. wait!" Kristina almost tripped down the stairs. She couldn't control her feet, they ran. The rain, the house, everything around her was a blur.
"Lise Veronica!!"
She only saw the taxi as it
drove off. She couldn't be leaving like that. Was it going to end?
Maybe she should've danced. Even if she didn't want to. Maybe she
shouldn't have been so friendly. Maybe she should've apologized. She
had to talk to her.
At the same time inside Egil had just called for a taxi too,
and had also made a promise that George could ride with him and that
he would insruct the taxi driver to first drive up to Amenas house to
drop him off...
Outside Kristina was relieved to see another taxi arriving so quickly. She immediately jumped in and told – no, she commanded – the driver to follow the other taxi ahead of them.. Once in her seat, she felt a different sensation.. She clenched her fists as she grabbed the seatbelt and pulled hard on it, only to have it stop with a sudden jolt. She had to talk to her.. and then she would tell her..
you.... You!
..belong to me!
If that's how she wanted it, that's how she would get it. This was very unlike Kristina. She didn't know how to handle this. She had never been angry about anything like this before.
Bjørn-Yngve had seen what just
happened, how Lise Veronica all of a sudden decided to leave and the
look on Kristinas face as she did so.. That's not what he meant,
that's not what he wanted to happen.. He just suddenly got this..
feeling that welled up inside of him and just wanted to kiss
someone.. He didn't mean for anyone to get hurt.. Maybe it was time
for him to leave too now, he thought as he skulked his way out,
hoping that no one would notice him...
Completely unperturbed by the teenage drama, Sofie was still having fun entertaining those that still hadn't left the party with her now slightly better than mediocre guitar playing...
Morten hadn't seen any of this as he had gone upstairs to check on
Caroline. Though it was a little late, Jonathan had gone to look for
him to find him there, because he had something he wanted to give him
as a birthday present.. A stereo to keep in his room so that he could
play whatever music he wanted without his parents interfering.. :P
Downstairs again Asgeir, who was tired of waiting to get a chance to dance with his ex-wife, decided to leave the party and go home, without knowing that her dance partner was just about to do the same and that he might just have gotten his chance..
That leaves only Ingrid, reading a book by the chess table, and Lucie, who decided then to join Jonathan and her daughter-in-law to eat another meal, as the last remaining guests.. after which Jonathan just had to come with a snide, and somewhat bitter, remark to his mother about how she never would've had it in her to become a successful author like his dad..
"Was that really necessary Jonathan?" Kathrine asked
rhetorically before taking another mouthfull of the pasta carbonara
she was eating.
"Well you know mom has never been much of a team player..." Jonathan said just loud enough for Lucie to hear..
"Jonathan!" Kathrine said giving him a small kick on the
leg.
"Well, it has certainly been nice coming here, celebrating
Morten...and having such a lovely supper with you..." Lucie said
with a hint of sarcasm as she picked up her bowl to carry it to the
kitchen and put it in the dishwasher. "I would've like to stay
longer, but you know.. I'm getting old and my head can only take so
much before it needs to rest..."
"That went well didn't it..." Kathrine said after the awkward moment of silence that came before they heard Lucie closing the front door behind her..
"You know how embarassing I think it is when mom always keeps flirting with these other guys... even guys that are much younger than her..." Jonathan tried to explain.
"Let it go, Jonathan.. just let it go.. you know, I think
I'm going to bed..." Kathrine said not bothering to explain it
to him.. again....
It was 37 years ago that his parents
divorced... and they've been friends and living under the same roof
for the past 19 years... which is much better than anyone back then
would've hoped for.. much better than anyone thought they could've
hoped for considering how it all ended.. and he still wasn't
completely over it...
Sofie had overheard what Kathrine said after she put the guitar down and was about to leave the party. She thought she knew what Kathrine referred to.. She knew it more than anyone else. She was there. Sometimes her brother could be just so pathetic.. He wasn't there. He didn't see it, he didn't hear it, he didn't feel it like she did...
After mom moved out, it was
always him that went
out fishing with her and being her 'little best friend', when she
hated her mom for what
she did.. It took years
for her to be able to even talk to her again, and now.. he
was the one that couldn't get over it.. Pathetic,
that's what it was... Just pathetic...
Ingrid had finally finished reading the book and went to put it back in the bookshelf as she heard her father being on the phone with someone in the kitchen. She could sense that something was a little off, as it sometimes could be in this family..
No one had ever directly told her, but she thought she knew anyway what had happened.. why the relationships in her family sometimes seemed a little.. strained..
How everything was always so fine.. on
the surface.. She thought she knew how her grandma had always enjoyed
working in the garden and getting her hands dirty, yet they were
always so clean.. Seemingly, both literally and figuratively, grandma
always knew how to clean her hands and tidy up after herself ..
Ingrid thought she had figured out that grandmas hands weren't at all
as clean as everyone wanted them to be, as everyone wanted it to
appear...
Everyone knew how important it was for
this family to have everything appear clean, smooth and shiny..
Everyone knew.. but they also knew that bruises and bloodstains can
leave their marks, long after they're gone... It doesn't matter how
much you clean, those marks may never go away...
Eventually Jonathan had finished his late night phone conversation (and cleaning up the remaining dishes) to join his wife sleeping upstairs when they had to wake up again because Caroline had soiled herself...
..and who knows, maybe in the future the family will actually be as clean as it wants to be, and there will come a time when there are no more stains to haunt them..
Good night...
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