Chapter 12.5 – October 2023 – A child's imagination...

Halfway through the autumn season, Rune was getting ready for school and the toddlers were sleeping safe and sound this morning, whilst Solvej woke up early to do some laundry.

Patrik had time to read some pages on the autobiography on the former football player Roald Gustafsson before getting ready to go to work at the police station. He had since last year quit his sports career to use his athleticism in the police force catching criminals, and maybe get some fame too in a different arena, following all the publicity surrounding last years human trafficking case... and, well, staying in one spot for to long just isn't in Patriks nature... which says a lot about how much he must truely love Solvej..

 

Whereever Solvej is, there's almost guaranteed to be music one way or another. Music makes everything better, and who knows, maybe it's even possible to play guitar along with the beat of a laundry machine! Music and rhythm can be found in the most surprising of all places, so why not...

 

She also found some time to tend to her garden before the twins woke up. The wolf bane seeds were doing fine, she just needed to remove some of the unwanted weeds..

It was the usual routine of feeding, bathing and changing diapers. Watching over a pair of energetic toddlers can be quite the task sometimes, and unfortunately Solvej found no time on her own to focus on teaching them how to talk or to do potty training..

 

When Runes school day was over, he was joined by Edny Sævik, whose mom Oda Sævik is incarcerated in the Sunset Valley prison where she is serving an 8 year sentence for kidnapping and human trafficking, including forced labour, child trafficking and child labour. Ednys mom has 7 years and 1 month left of her sentence. Oda going to prison was a traumatic experience for Edny and her family, since they were now left with only her father Vetle to care for her and her two younger brothers, Kolbjørn and Gøran.

Kolbjørn had to celebrate his first birthday without his mom earlier this year in July. To young to understand yet why mom isn't there, and as he gets older it's going to be the norm for him to not have his mom there for important life events. Birthdays, first day at school, and so on..

It would be some tough years ahead for the kids, when the only way to get a bedtime story from mom in would be to visit her in prison... this scene is from an earlier visit in February.

 

Edny has also had a bit of a rough time at school once the other kids got the news about her mom going to jail, but she has since then also found a new friendship in Bodil, who would often step up to defend her against the hazing and the bullies... which certainly helped to make her days much more tolerable..

 

Of course, Rune wasn't happy with having just Edny visiting. He still wanted to invite more friends over, so he called Samira whom he unsuccesfully had tried to invite over last month, and Jorunn Vaddelmyr, Selmas daughter. Way to early to say, but maybe this is the first sign that he's going to be a ladies' man like his dad.. or maybe he just likes their company.
    Now, we haven't seen to much of Patriks tendencies to chase down women ever since he got into a relationship with Solvej, but his wish to be with multiple women is still there.. so even though he has, surprisingly, managed to stay eternally faithful to her, Solvej better keep an eye on him anyway, just in case...

 

While Rune made the phone call Edny had gone into his room to locate his chest of wonders and dream away to a different world where she could be a powerful Queen, Feared and respected, ruling her kingdom from the back of one of her three dragons, and greeting the peasant folk from her exquisite high balcony. A balcony embellished with the most intricately carved balustrade railings and decorated with the most terrifying grotesque statues at each corner...

 

Just like in the fantasy movies and tv-series she had managed to catch sneak peaks of her dad watching after bedtime... One day she dreamt of becoming an actress in movies just like that...

    Rune listened to her talk about it, but he wasn't really to interested in old fairy tales or dressing up.. The costume chest was something his mom had bought him as a birthday gift, but he had never used it, except for a few times shortly after he got it. It was just sitting there collecting dust nowadays, except for when he had friends over who wanted to use it..

    He didn't have any issues with Edny though. She was a nice girl, and he thought it was unfair how she got picked on by some of the other kids at school. She was welcome to come over and play with his costume chest anytime... but he was still relieved when they got interrupted by the door bell ringing and he had to go answer it to welcome Samira and Jorunn...

 

Rune invited both of them inside, but Samira stayed outside where she was approached by Solvej who wanted to brighten her day.. Samira was just like her with that bright red hair on her head, and Solvej felt a little bit of kinship there and wanted to make sure she felt welcomed into their household..

 

Jorun wasn't shy to follow Rune inside and give him a warm friendly hug. It was always nice to be invited over to a friends house after school, and even though Jorun wasn't born and raised in the Appaloosian mountains like her mom, she still had some of that mountain friendliness in her and wanted to show gratitude.

Before she ventured into Solvej, Patrik and the twins bedroom to listen to the soothing tunes from Lilians music box. Usually the parents bedroom would be off limits to guests and walking into it like that was inappropriate, but.. Jorun is Selmas daughter so...

 

Edny didn't feel like hanging out with the other girls. She had a much better time still in her own world where she could pretend to be a respected royalty.. very much unlike in real life.. that is, until Patrik went downstairs to criticize her for making a mess of Runes costume chest. One of Patriks major flaws was his quick temper.. and his sometimes sudden dislike of children playing dress up....

He was excactly the same way towards Bodil when they still shared a household with Leya and Gaute... It was such nonsense, he thought, to play pretend to live in a silly fairy tale world like that, when kids were much better off doing and learning something much more practical and tangible...something that could be useful around the house... the farm...

"It's ok dad" Rune said on his way to check under the bed for monsters "I told her she could play with the costumes all she wants..."

"I'm sorry Mr. Rasmussen" Edny began to apologize "I didn't know.. I should have asked first.. I didn't mean to just take.. I uh.."

Edny felt guilty there for a while, for having just taken something that wasn't hers.. was it true what everyone was saying..? That she was going to be.. just like mom..? A criminal..? A th.. a thief? She didn't want to think about such words.. Mom wasn't a.... and she wasn't either..

"Don't think about it" Patrik said, his temper having cooled off just as quickly as it had flared up "I'm the one that should apologize. My son is right.. it's his chest after all, not mine."

 

"...so I can still play dress up?" she asked him, not sure if he meant what he just said.. since he so clearly said the excact opposite just a few seconds ago!

"Oh yes, of course.. go right ahead.. actually, why don't you come upstairs with me and Rune, we could play more up there.." Patrik said, doing his best to sound genuinely friendly. Rune had other thoughts now though... there were monsters under the bed! And right now he just wanted to get out of the house quick!

 

Samira was still outside talking to Solvej, so he found her and asked her for a pillow fight – in the greenhouse! He wasn't under any circumstance going back into the house until he was absolutely positive that the monsters were gone!

 

While they were playing in the greenhouse, Solvej walked back inside to find Jorun listening to the music box in the bedroom. Solvej had bought the music box to teach the toddlers at an early age to appreciate music, another very important thing in life. She didn't want to scold Jorun for walking into their bedroom just like that, though, but rather seize the opportunity to talk fondly of music to her as well, after she had found her being so caught up in listening to the notes from the music box.

 

Upstairs Patrik had stayed true to his word and let Edny play whatever she wanted, whilst he tried to entertain her by telling her a spooky ghost story by doing his best to make something up on the fly. It wasn't the most coherent story as it started by some old sailors – pirates of course – looking for a treasure that was buried underneath an abandoned house in a lonely isolated cove, when, upon sailing out of the same cove – treasure in hand – they got visited by a.. uh... mermaid!
    A mermaid of course, with long dark hair, sharp teeth and green glowing eyes.. and the mermaid spoke with a dark hissing voice, telling them that the treasure that she, of course, knew they had on the ship was a cursed treasure.. and that a terrible, terrible fate would await if they didn't return the treasure before dawn...

Edny only listened with half an ear. She was still much more fascinated by the world she had created.. a world where she was on top, and where there were no pirates.. or ghosts.. or mermaids...

 

Rune had gotten hungry, and had eventually dared to venture back into the house.. only to find his father telling the most terrifying story of now dead pirates, sailing a ship on the ocean for all eternity! Not what he needed or wanted to hear when he was still trying to tell himself that the monsters under the bed was gone!

After having eaten Rune did his homework with Edny, of course, while complaining a little bit about his fathers sometimes sub-par cooking skills.. It was always nice to do homework with Edny, not only was she very imaginitve, she was also one of the smartest, if not the smartest, kids in school.. If Rune was stuck on something, she almost always knew the correct answer..

Solvej had found Jorun again, and was now doing the same thing she did to Samira earlier outside. To brighten her day and make her feel welcomed as a visitor to their household..

 

Samira, for some reason, still hadn't gone inside, and was still out in the greenhouse playing with the sprinkler..

 

While everyone else now preferred to stay inside where it was dry and warm, Patrik had gone outside to engage Samira in a water balloon fight..

 

Bedtime was getting closer, and Solvejs talk had made Jorun feel quite welcome, and then some, so much so that she asked Solvej to read her a bedtime story... Solvej said she would like to do that, but Rune wasn't necessarily to happy about this..

 

Jorunn was Selmas daughter, and she should probably be on her way home to her own mom... Edny had already taken the hint after finishing her homework perfectly and was on her way downstairs, even though she would've liked Solvej to read for her as well, probably even more so than Jorunn.. atleast Jorunn had a mom to come home to...

 

"Good night, Jorunn. See you in school tomorrow!" Rune did his best to give her a friendly goodbye, even though he thought she was bordering on being a little inappropriate. He didn't want to make her upset..

"Good night, Rune...." she said as she turned to walk down the stairs, slightly rolling her eyes for a split second... disappointed she wasn't asked to sleep over.. She knew they had plenty of spare room in the guest bunk beds upstairs.. She would've really loved to spend the night in a bunk bed and scaring each other with stories of ghosts and ghoblins and dead sailors..

 

..but Rune wanted the room with the bunk beds to himself to get a good nights sleep, and certainly didn't want to hear anymore ghost stories tonight..

 

"Ghosts and haunted ships were not real... they're only in my head..." he tried to tell himself before going to sleep... not something he wanted to think about or dream about... there was no white barque around, forever sailing the ocean.. until the sea shall give up her dead...it was simply not true..

 

Good night.. ;)

 

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