Chapter 10.2 – October 2023 - Evening Waltz.

 

October came as it often does in this town, with heavy rains hammering down non-stop, making everything look grey, dull and.. wet.. as people hurried as quickly as they could from point A to point B in their rain coats and under their umbrellas, only taking time for a quick "Hello" as they passed each other by...

 

Atleast for a while, until the weather cleared up and the sun popped out again, making it possible to stay outside for longer than 15 seconds without getting soaked... and this day appeared to be one of those beautiful days..

Bhavan wanted to make the best of it and called up his girlfriend to hang out for a while in the park before
going to work...

Bhavan just wanted to hang out and chill there for a while, but Beate appeared super excited this morning about his job as a fire fighter, so he had no choice he thought, but to take her with him to the fire station...  ;)

Since the weather was so fine this morning the fire station was just a quick runners distance away, and there was no need to pollute the environment more than necessary by going by car..

 

After a quick and simple lunch Beate decided to entertain the fire fighters by playing the piano, which appeared to be a good idea, making the the fire fighters enjoy the day and making the environment pleasant and relaxed...

Beate is just one of many creatives in this coastal town, hoping one day to make it as a succesful artist. Jamming with others is of course fun, but so far Beate aspires to break through as a solo artist, maybe as a warm, but also slightly mysterious soul or jazz singer..

 

The chatter and gossip was lively among the colleagues as she played, until the quarreler among them had to ruin the mood..

 

Vemund was jealous of Bhavan always getting his spot in the sunshine, whereas he always had to make do with standing in his shadow – even if Bhavan never cared for his position, and would gladly have given it away to Vemund if he could.. but that would require Vemund to learn a pretty basic skill in 'charisma' – to not constantly try to start fights with pretty much everyone around you...

 

Bhavan thought it was enough of that nonsense and wanted to spend the rest of his day by himself and doing something useful around there until his workday was done..

 

..while his girlfriend spent the entire day entertaining by the piano, much to the amusent (and welcome distraction) for atleast Bjørg and Sofia. ;)

 

At the end of the workday the sun was gone and it had started to rain again, so instead of taking her to the park (or anywhere else outside) again, he invited her to his house for dinner. A restaurant would be much to crowded for him, not to mention the risk of getting recognized and not left alone by the usual line of people wanting to get their piece of him... dinner at home in peace and quiet was a much better option..

Let's go. ;)

..and speaking of options, the narrator thinks it would be a much better choice for her to move in with her boyfriend in this house that he lives in, instead of still living with her parents in her old child bedroom.... but I'm not going to push the matter to much, I'm just saying it... ;)

 

There is hope maybe, because it looks like she's finding herself a little bit at home as she goes to take out the trash while he's inside cooking.. sharing house chores already, maybe.. :P

Dinner is served, please have a seat madam... Bhavan is far from an excellent cook yet, so the best thing he could make for his girflriend was a simple mac and cheese, however that doesn't appear to spoil the mood.

Bhavan isn't very talkative, he never really has been, so it's on Beate to start the conversation by starting to talk about a new song she just listened too by some jazz band that she was sure Bhavan had never heard of.. even though he had, he just didn't tell her to leave her with the feeling of being the musical connoisseur she thought she was. ;)

Then brash as she sometimes is, she jumped straight to the next topic and suggested they should have some fun and make a baby...

 

Bhavan, who had just finished eating because he had focused more on it, than on talking, once more said nothing as he got up from his chair to walk over to the kitchen benches to do the dishes and put the leftovers in the refridgerator...

 

Beate, after doing the dishes and splashing water on herself, has to stop for a moment and chuckle to herself while thinking about how she heard Marianne Skurchkh died while working out earlier this year.. pretty safe to say that Beate isn't really a mourning person, but more the kind that would need a good coffin to start the day....

 

Ah yes.. nothing lift ones spirits and set one in the mood for a little romance like cracking a few jokes to oneself about funerals and death and stuff... Bhavan was more in the mood for hiring a butler to take care of the more homely tasks...

Beate had a different goal in mind.. this man was just so alluring, he didn't really need to much but simply exist to push all of her buttons and turn her on...

 

She indeed felt lucky to have captured the heart of this man that everyone else more or less secretly wanted to do a little tango in the hay with too.... but she had to promise him they would be doing it the safe way, and that there would be no babies...

 

"No babies..." she whispered to herself as she followed him to the bedroom...

 

..before undressing and putting on her cute little bunny slippers. ;)

 

"Just imagine the most sensual of jazz tunes playing, while I guide you through this little evening waltz...."

 

Oh I want you, I want you, I want you
On a chair with a dead magazine
In the cave at the tip of the lily
In some hallways where love's never been
On a bed where the moon has been sweating
In a cry filled with footsteps and sand

-'Take this waltz', Leonard Cohen

 

Then it was time for relaxing on the bed.. atleast for Bhavan. Beate was now satisfied, and felt her mission was complete, and so with great pride she decided to stride on out of the bedroom to go back home to her mommy and daddys house again...

She already had a baby crib in her old kiddie bedroom and now she knew that in nine months time it would be useful again.. and, unless something happened in the meantime, Bhavan would have to cash out for his monthly child support!

 

Really, young miss? I must say.. this, err... this isn't what I hoped for just yet. You're doing things in the wrong order! If you ask me....

 

..and Bhavan, still in the dark about the trick she just played on him, and perhaps wondering about why she's behaving so oddly by leaving already after their little bedroom dance, returns to his usual evening routine of playing a little guitar to himself next to an unlit fire place before going to sleep... in his bed, alone...

 

Oh well, good night... 

 

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Chapter 10.1 – September 2023 - Get famous.. or not...

 

Now autumn was here finally. It was early september, but the leaves on the trees had already turned to a dark tangerine mixed with a bright marmalade colour. It was a regular monday morning and Palashs brother Bhavan was on his way to work at the fire station as usual.

 

It looked like he had the ground floor of the fire station to himself this morning, which suited him just fine as he would rather have his solitude than be surrounded by people all the time. A marked difference to his older brother who loved to be surrounded by others, atleast as long as they were family, that is.

 

However he expected that his solitude wouldn't last that long as he could hear voices from down below int he basement. His coworkers were already up and about and far into their daily chatter, watching tv and killing time while waiting for the next alarm to go off. Especially Sofias voice appeared to pierce above everyone elses as she bragged about a new vase she just bought. Sofia had so much talking to do, having been away from her workplace for almost a year now..

 

After a quick meal Bhavan set out to walk his usual route around the fire station to check if everything was working as it should – a very important thing in case of emergency – when he was approached by his colleague Ali Gates stopping him in his tracks to talk about his latest trip to the library. Ali was the bookworm of the fire fighters and had tried in his spare time to write a few novels, but so far has never found anyone willing to publish his writing in between a pair of covers.

Bhavan did his best to encourage him to keep writing, while simultaneously wanting to get away from the conversation. Not because he didn't want to talk to his colleagues one on one, but because he knew that this was very likely to end up as it often did – with everyone literally queueing up to get their piece of him.... Bhavan had recognized that he was quite the handsome man, sure enough, but still he had never understood excactly what it was about him that would leave people always lining up like that... why was it that people never seemed to get the hint that he was perfectly fine alone, in his own solitude..

So he did the most sensible thing he thought he could do after the conversation ended, and decided to spend most of his work day upgrading one of the toilets – since everything else seemed to be work just as it should, and well, since the toilet stall atleast gave him some privacy...

 

While Bhavan was inside alone tinkering, Sofia had gone outside in the autumn sun to throw some ball with her friend and coworker Bjørg Krag-Baker. Finally she could throw the ball with someone other than her husband. It was the perfect thing to do for her while at work – it was fun, social, kept her in good physical shape and maintained her figure. Of course.

 

Bhavan was still inside working on the toilet when Bjørg wanted to go inside to get a bit of rest and Sofia wanted to go inside to continue gossiping with her coworkers about anything from local wanna-be celebrities to the actual celebrities found on the big screen...

She was pretty excited because she was going to spend the upcoming weekend on a long date in the city with her husband. She had booked the most expensive hotel room she could find, and of course, it was important that everyone knew about it. Especially the price tag, the view and all the exclusive accomodations found in the hotel room...
Since Palash didn't do anything to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, after a while she decided to take matters into her own hands... and the baby and the dog would be just fine, because just like on their honey moon, Palashs parents had agreed to babysit for a couple of days..

She had just told Ali that she had in the very last minute secured tickets – best seats in the house - to "Death of the Talisman", a musical set on the Movie Cineplex, when they got interrupted by a loud ringing sound...

Sofia was quick to react as she ran for the pole to slide down and begin organizing the crew. Finally an opportunity to show everyone how brave she was, how good of a fire fighter she could be. It had been way to long..

Secretly she hoped it was a pretty big fire, so that she could get her name in the newspaper as the local heroine of the town, get awarded by the mayor and applauded, celebrated and loved by everyone...

Bhavan loved his job too, but it was not because of the potential for fame and glory.. something which he would rather avoid. It was more about the challenge of facing a dangerous situation, whatever it was, combatting the flames or rescuing people out of car wrecks or other more or less serious emergency situations. It was the thrill of facing and overcoming danger that drove him, not hiding away repairing toilets or being lauded by the people..

 

Unfortunately for both Sofia and Palash (but not whoever could've found themselves in an actual emergency..) it was just another one of those false alarms and there were no opportunity to rescue anyone to receive praise or challenge oneself facing danger, and it was back again to the same old routines...

 

Gossiping with their coworkers or upgrading the toilet until their shift was over and it was time to go home...

---

 

Bhavan lives on the same street as a house locally known as "The Party House", because.. well, there used to be quite a few parties there.. it's also the house where most of the band members of "The Bushweeds" have their residence...

 

...and just as Bhavan returns home one of the members, lead singer and guitarist Gerda is seen returning home from another band rehearsal and song writing session at the community theatre..

"The Party House"

Things had to calm down a little in 'The Party House' ever since Gerda became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy called Øyvin, and now she has also gone to adopt a little puppy called Petunia.

Neither of which is very compatible with a true rock and roll or partying lifestyle.. If the band should ever get a chance to go on tour one can only hope that Gerda will have some nice relatives that can agree to do some babysitting for a while.. and that her baby boy will grow up just fine, of course..

 

Bhavan, in spite of coming from a very creative and musical family, is not very rock'n'roll. When he gets home he wants to go out in his backyard to finally experiment with his brand new chemistry table..

 

While waiting for it to arrive by mail order he had assembled a small shed in the backyard to keep it in. As a fire fighter he had learnt to have safety as a top priority and having a chemistry table indoors didn't seem like a good idea in case something should explode....

So this is how Bhavan wanted to spend this afternoon, geeking out by the chemistry table all alone in tranquil solitude. Absolutely perfect. ;)

 

And Eureka! After several hours of mixing various chemical substances he discovered how to make a stink bomb potion! This had to be celebrated, so he wanted to call up his girlfriend and take her out on a date in the park..

 

..and put on his fire fighting gear, always ready and on duty in case someone else should end up in an emergency...

Unfortunately she couldn't meet him there yet as she still had a couple of hours left of her shift at the theatre. He promised to keep the hot dogs warm for her though, while waiting for her.. and it would probably be alright. Nothing would end up being burnt or catching fire, he knew what he was doing. He was a fire fighter after all...

..but he got another disappointment when he called her again to ask where she was at...

She was to tired after her shift to hang out at the park and wanted to go home to sleep, but maybe they could hang out another day. He could call her anytime, except perhaps when she was at work or when she wanted to sleep...

 

However being stood up by his girlfriend didn't mean Bhavan would spend the night completely alone as there would always be a line of women waiting to get their piece of this handsome, young fire fighter..

 

..but that wasn't what Bhavan wanted, so it was probably better for him to just head back home and wait for another day...

 

The ladies could have what was left of the hot dogs, he was already more than satisfied...

 

It was much better for him to spend some time playing a slow ballad to himself by an unlit fire place before bedtime...

 

In his own bed in his big fancy house, while his girlfriend still lived with her parents and went to sleep in her childhood bedroom...

 

Good night.. ;)

 

Other happenings:

 

Tron Østreng is now a young adult and his mom Kjellaug fixed him a job at the consigment shop.

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