Antons family tree (before aging up).
Daddy Knut wakes up next, well-rested and with a smile on his face, as he greets his boy and walks over to free him from his enclosed, yet safe, little world. The sight of his father being awake makes Anton realize he is hungry, so he calls out for his daddy as loud as he can.
..before sitting down on the comfortable couch to play some video games..
Knut is starting to feel a little disgruntled now about his wifes lack of taking care of their kids as he heads back upstairs to give little boy Anton a bath to make sure he is perfectly clean and ready for his big day.. but he says nothing about it to anyone and keeps it to himself..
While he is upstairs giving Anton a bath, he doesn't notice that Helene is busy herself downstairs doing laundry and cleaning the house to make it look as pristine as possible for the upcoming party..
-- Take a walk --
After Antons bath Knut wants to take him out for a stroll on this fine summers day to get some fresh air, while Helene stays back home to work with decorating the house and giving everyone the usual last minute notifcation that the party is happening today at three o'clock, more or less sharp, and that it is expected that everyone attending is showing up in their finest outfits, of course.
Him crossing
the road by the old divorcee house takes him straight onto the
parking lot outside the doctors' office where he decides to turn
around and go back home. Its saturday and he has no appointment
today, but this particular walk is one that he has gotten used to
doing on a weekly basis lately. The route home brings him through
Maywood Glen – a quiet little park popular among chess players and
others who wish to concentrate or just relax surrounded by
silence.
Once home he compliments Bjørn-Yngve
on his genius after he finished his homework in the kitchen, before
goes upstairs to check out the new bed that Helene has bought and
placed in what is soon to be Antons new bedroom.
Helene did a really good job here, he thinks. He gets so excited thinking about his sons future, he even does a university school cheer all by himself in the room.
This is going to be such a great day and there is no doubt in his mind that both of his boys will have a great future ahead of them.
-- The last laugh.. for now --
Grandma Frida is the first guest to show up already greeting her daughter from outside on the porch.
More guests arrive while Helene walks
outside to greet her and be enthusiastic about their common love of
books before inviting everyone in. Up on the porch to the right is
Sofie, who is married to Knuts brother Eivind, in a conversation with
cousin Ingrid and grandpa Ingmar (Knuts father). Ingrid can't be seen
as she stands behind Ingmar. To the right the paparazzi is in her
place again, taking pictures of anyone entering the party..
In
the front below the porch is aunt Ranveig discussing cartoons with
aunt Monica, both are Knuts sisters.
Holly
Bastiansen wasn't invited, but word had spread around about a
birthday party in the neighbourhood so she decided to show up. She
immediately takes a liking to talking to Knut as soon as Helene walks
back inside and he takes over the task of welcoming the guests,
something which gives Sofie a bit of a bad feeling.
Being happily married, or atleast as happy as one can be, and eternally faithful is important to Sofie and what she just witnessed doesn't impress her very much..
The
only one, besides Helene and Anton, that are truely engaged in the
birthday celebrations is aunt Kathrine who is standing right behind
them cheering as Helene helps him blow out the candles so he can make
his wish. Now that he is soon a big boy, it would be really awesome
to have a treehouse to play in.. if it can fit on their lot, that
is.
His grandpa, brother and
father are also present celebrating in their own way by pointing and
laughing. To them birthday parties are just downright hilarious and
as Anton ages up he inherits the same propensity to laugh at peoples
birthdays and other such things.. so we'll see who gets the last
laugh...
Antons notes
(now six years old):
Dad, Bjørn-Yngve and grandpa are really dumb. They shouldn't be laughing at me when its my birthday! I hope they fall and get cake all over their clothes!
"This isn't funny! You're stupid and rude!" I said to them. "If you don't stop laughing now, you're not getting any cake!"
Dad and Bjørn-Yngve got it when I told them. But grandpa was slower. Probably because he's so old. He didn't sit down to eat until I was done. And nobody else came either. They were just sitting in the living room talking. Don't they know it's my birthday?
On their birthdays I'll do the same.
I'll laugh at them because they're stupid. Or I'll sit in the living
room or be outside playing with toys. I don't care about them if they
don't care about me. Stupid adults, they're stupid. They're the
stupidest stupid stupid stupid. Why did they even come
here?
Narrators notes:
Well... I'm not gonna try to speculate about why excactly the majority of the guests doesn't seem to care about Anton and his birthday... but atleast Robert-Bråge seems to have some fun and hit it off really well with Holly. I guess he must have squared it off with Ranveig after his long stay out with Holly at the beach earlier, and that she somehow accepts their friendship. Even if it is perhaps a little odd for a teenage boy to become such good friends with an elderly woman, perhaps, but hey, I'm not gonna meddle. ;)
Ranveigs notes:
I felt bad for the boy having to blow
out the candles in front of dad and my brother, and even his brother.
They're all the same, they just don't know how to.. or maybe they
just don't care. I know it's not on me to start doing dishes and
cleaning around the house, but when I saw him getting up to collect
them I had to step in.. The birthday boy shouldn't be doing dishes.
Helene looks like she has
forgotten all about him after she helped him blow out the candles,
like her job was now done and I wouldn't trust Knut with it.. He's
just like dad, he'd probably clean himself along with the dishes.
Right there in the kitchen, even using the same sponge. Nobody should
witness something like that on their birthday.
Antons notes:
Grandpa isn't even downstairs with everybody else. Mom says he is probably on the computer working on something. Even if he's an old man he's still working. We only have one computer in the house. It's upstairs in moms room. Mom likes to work alot too, but now she only uses the computer for games. She says painting is work now, but that's weird. Painting isn't work.
I wanted grandpa to know its my birthday so I had to find him. Everybody should know its my birthday. They don't have to eat to much cake though. Its not good for them. Its better for me because its my cake.
My
laughing grandpa and aunt Kathrine wants to join us. Kathrine is very
happy, my laughing grandpa is not. Moms room is very small. Its only
made for one person, so we shouldn't all be in here.
My laughing grandpa says we should go downstairs and we go downstairs. I think aunt Kathrine folllows us. Working grandpa has more work to do. Someone rings the doorbell, maybe somethings broken again. Dad could fix it, we only need a repair man when dad isn't home.
Its uncle Eivind and cousin Walter. Uncle Eivind can't join the party, he probably has something broken at home. Mom and uncle Eivind wants me to play with Walter, but I don't know him. His t-shirt is ugly and he wears it outside his sweater. He's weird, I don't like him.
I want more cake so I go to our dinner table to eat. I watch grandma Eirin and grandma Frida through the doorway. They're way to old to be pillow fighting. They're funny. They're acting like children!
-- Blame --
Narrators notes:
I
would agree with Anton here, funny and cute, so I decided to take a
short video of them..
..and while I did so, I missed what was going on behind them. Monica and Ranveig were in a conversation about their jobs when Knut did something almost everyone would find to be quite deplorable...
"So yeah, Landgraab decided to
cut field work. More time spent at the desk modelling, less dirt
under the nails" Monica said to Ranveig, feeling disappointed
her plant research wasn't going anywhere.
"That sounds
completely wrong. Like covering a flood with
spreadsheets."
"Excactly. But its cheaper."
Monica sighs. "How about you? Did the Gazette survive another
week?"
"Barely."
Ranveig respons. "We're running a case that the town hall
planted the wrong trees in the park. People are furious.
Again."
Monica chuckles briefly. "You should write
about something pleasant for a change."
"That's not
what I'm paid f-" Ranveig says before interrupting herself.
"Don't turn around!"
"What?"
"Don't turn around.
Seriously."
"What!?" Monica freezes for a
second. "Is it...? Are you..?" Monica lowers her voice,
almost whispering. "Are you seeing them again?"
"No...
no, not this time. This is something different. Its Knut. He's
kissing someone."
"But... but how can he? Who is he
kissing? Helene is right over there talking to Ingr-"
"It's
Holly!" Ranveig interrupts. "He's kissing Holly! I don't
know what that woman is up to.."
"I can't watch..." Ranveig says before turning away. "I should've known there was something wrong with her...and Robert is right there too."
"Are you gonna tell Helene?"
"I don't know.. but if I don't, someone will. Theres no way this can go by unnoticed.."
Further back in the room Antons oldest cousin Ingrid was in a conversation with Helene about the latest book in the "Archives of Persephone" series.
"Oh my god!" Ingrid exclaims in a sudden disbelief.
"Yeah" Helene laughs. "I never saw that ending coming, what a great book!"
"No... this isn't about the book." Ingrid said with a serious tone, having already forgotten that Helene just spoiled the ending of the book series to her.
"What? What is it then?" Helene chuckles with excitement, wondering what her niece is all about. Have they been planning something behind her back? Has Knut bought a really expensive gift for Anton and brought it in without her knowing? Feeling thrilled about her husbands potential public display of wealth scenarios about how this night could end begin playing in her head.. if he has a surprise for her, than maybe she will have one for him as well.. a little later when the guests have left and the kids are in bed asleep...
"I... I think you should.."
Ingrid hesitates noticing the expactant expression on Helenes face.
She doesn't want to tell Helene what she just saw. Not now, but
everybody else has seen it, so someone has to say it.
"I
just saw... Knut.. he's there with Holly and they just.. they just
kissed.. like that, in front of everyone."
"Oh..."
Helenes face went blank as the potential joy evaporated from her
face.
She quickly turned on her heel to walk across the room in his direction. She wanted to confront him about what he just did – this was crossing the line, by far. But she couldn't do it here, in front of everyone, and she couldn't do it at Antons birthday party. Yet the painter in her wanted to learn graffiti, to paint it on the walls and let everyone know with screaming colours what a rear end Knut was...
She thought about Anton too, and didn't want to ruin the birthday party any further by making more of a scene... but she wanted to keep close to Knut from now on, to keep an eye on him and to possibly intervene if he should try something stupid again.
Now
that Helene had noticed Knuts actions Ranveig saw no need to hide how
she felt in order to protect Helene. Knut deserved every bad thing
that was coming at him right now. He had everything Ranveig had ever
wanted, a stable, simple family life under one roof.. and what did he
do about it!? Wasting it all in a moment of selfishness. This is what
made her most furious. Not only was he betraying Helene in the worst
possible way, in front of everybodys eyes, but his lack of care, his
recklessness... how he can just throw away what she could never hold
on to..
Ingmar, who just noticed what Knut is
doing, watches his son with mixed feelings. He recognizes the
temptation, yet he has never done anything like this. Not necessarily
because of his morality, but simply because it would have been to
much out of his comfort zone. Especially in a crowded room like
this... His shyness was what held him back, a shyness which Knut
doesn't have in him...
Ingmar looks at his son and feels an
unpleasant kinship... This could have been him if his own shyness
hadn't been there to stop him in his tracks. As his father he knows
that the right thing would be to indisputably condemn Knut for his
actions, to look him in the eye and let his disappointment be clear
enough to not be misunderstood. This is wrong, this is betrayal.
Yet somewhere in him was something else, something he found difficult to admit and put into words. It was almost like a feeling of some peculiar sadness.. or jeaulosy. Not necessarily of this particular act, that would be to much, to wrong, but the boldness to take action. The ability to live out his more inappropriate sides without a care for what others might have thought of him.
"What if it was me."
He immediately suppresses this
thought before its allowed to hit him to hard. This is excactly what
he doesn't want to think about, but what if he, in another life, with
less fear could have taken his chances to feel wanted and desired
in this way, to feel alive and get carried away...
Ingmar tightens
his jaw, this is a place he cannot allow himself to stay in. He knows
its wrong, but cannot feel it. He knows that if he entertains this
thought, he will only feel bad about himself. Not because of guilt,
but because of his own inability to act on his impulses and do
something about it...
He would be blaming himself for the
wrong thing.
Now however, maybe somewhere there was a hint of regret.. maybe she should have atleast said something. Given her daughter a warning, even if it wouldn't have worked at first.. then maybe she would have been a little more careful, maybe she would have reconsidered..
Knuts mother Eirin is the first to let her opinion be heard, loud and clear, as she boos at her son. What she just witnessed was very disappointing. Life wasn't always easy in the Motorsen household when Knut, Eivind, Monica and Ranveig grew up, but she stood by her mans side and remained faithful, as did her husband. So how could her son grow up to do something like this, in front of everyone? So incredibly disrespectful. This certainly couldn't be coming from her side of the family.. she remembers her own mother, who stuck it out through thick and thin with her own father, even if he would often pay more attention to his friend in the bottle than her, and how her mother struggled to keep it a family secret... until his heart stopped when Eirin was 18 and her mother fell into a deep depression.
Meanwhile in the background Knuts eyes rested on Ingrid, who was just about to put "Proserpinas fruit of death" back into the bookshelf...
Ingrid had noticed Knuts inappropriate stare and tried to keep her distance by walking away from him. It was as obvious as day what he was thinking, and she didn't want to get involved in that..but he followed her across the room..
"You disappeared a little quickly there" he said in a teasing tone. Ingrid only gave him a cold stare before taking a step backwards. "I was just putting the book back in its place, thats all."
Knut follows her step as if it is some
kind of game before lowering his voice to make it appear more
confidential. "You're always so...reflected. Its not many your
age who..."
"No" she interrupts while pulling
away yet another step. "Don't do that."
"Do
what?"
"Look at me like that" she says while
holding his gaze. "Its uncomfortable."
He laughs softly, as if she has
misunderstood something. "You're overreacting a little, don't
you think?"
"No." she says briefly before
looking around to find something else to talk about, to shift the
focus..
"Anyway, your home. It looks very nice." she
says soberly, almost professionally. "It feels complete in a
way. Cozy. You can tell its been lived in."
Just as she has finished the sentence
Knut moves in closer and extends his arms to give her a hug as if it
was his right all of a sudden.
"No, no, no! What in the
world do you think you're doing!?" Ingrids voice is sharp now,
devoid of any politeness. This kind of behaviour from a colleague in
the political career wasn't anything new for Ingrid, as she has on an
earlier occasion been flirted with and even stalked by the towns
mayor, but still...
"Don't touch me!" She stares him down, before stepping away once more and turning her back on him.
Continue reading - cleaner (13+) version.
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The difference between the two versions is in the language. The ratings are based on an AI analysis of the text. Due to the topic, and using a strict analysis, it,s not really possible to give it a lower rating than 13+ without changing the text more than I'm comfortable with. If you're more leniently minded, the rating is 10+ on the cleaner version and 13+ on the mature version, as per the AIs suggestion.
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