Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Suddenly Alone: Day 3

Word Count: 24,003

Summary of Events:
Chapter 5:
Sofia's in-laws left at last and Axel went over to talk with Sofia about what she should do next, suggesting she look through the finances and she told him that Josef had managed the money by himself and showed him where Josef had done it. It was a disarrayed mess and Axel wasn't sure what kind of condition the money was in, so he asked to have Sofia's consent to move money as required. Sofia thought about and decided she would only do so if she got criminal and financial record checks which Axel conceded to.
Chapter 6:
Sofia then went to Josef's accountant to have him explain Axel's financial records and found out that Axel had been married for about four years, and the accountant also offered to organise Josef's finances for her which Sofia intended to agree to, however Axel told her Josef had taken notes in Swedish — which her accountant wouldn't understand — and he was the only person he knew aside from her who knew Swedish. Sofia got stressed out and decided to go visit the pastor and he prayed with her.
Chapter 7:
Axel continued to work on going through Josef's papers. Sofia came to Axel with a letter, it was from a custom seeding company saying they hadn't seen payment yet. Axel found the bill and told Sofia it hadn't been paid. Sofia was upset about it. Axel wrote a note of explanation to the company to explain to them. Sofia worried that there might be more unpaid bills and she talked a bit with Hendrick who then decided to go help Axel. Sofia came to get him at snack time and Hendrick fiercely insisted that Axel join them and he did, although reluctantly.
Chapter 8:
Sofia got to wondering about whether she wanted Hendrick to become friends with Axel as that would make her have to become friends with him and she wasn't quite sure if she wanted that, and she wondered why she even wanted to stay in Canada if she didn't want to make friends, but surmised that it was because of the fact that here she could decide when she wanted to hear from her family who were offering a litany of different ideas for her to choose from as to what she should do. The pastor's wife came over and talked with Sofia a bit before they decided that they should do some talking with Charlotte, being as she was taking Josef's death hard. Axel finished going through the bills and then started to go through the notes and found that Josef had taken a sheet of paper, written on it, and then torn the bits off, so he decided to work at piecing them together and finding out about when they would've been written.

Excerpt of the Day:
"They worked for quite awhile before Axel heard the door open and he had a feeling that it was opened in urgency. He looked up as Sofia hurried over on her tiptoes. She looked to be panicked.
"Have you– Hendrick!" Sofia exclaimed.
Her chocolate haired son looked up at her and smiled. "I'm helping the uncle Mama."
"You should've told me," Sofia said, putting a hand over her breastbone.
"Oh," Hendrick said, his smile fading.
"It's snack time," Sofia said.
Hendrick's smile returned and he carefully manoeuvred through the papers to Sofia who turned to lead the way through the barn and out. Axel took up the next paper and found a date on it. When he looked up Hendrick was back at the door.
"Aren't you coming?" Hendrick asked.
"I wasn't invited," Axel replied.
Hendrick turned and hurried away.
Axel found a bunch of dateless notes written on scraps and got up to put them on the chair. He heard feet running back.
"I asked Mama if you could be invited and she said yes," Hendrick said.
"It's okay," Axel said. "I'll just stay here."
"No!" Hendrick protested. "You're invited!"
"Thank you for your invitation," Axel said. "But I do have the right to refuse your invitation."
"I want you to come!" Hendrick said.
"There's still lots of work that needs to be done," Axel said. "So I'll just work on finishing it, okay? Maybe next time."
"No!" Hendrick cried, bursting into tears.
Axel sighed and looked up at the ceiling. He got up and stepped over the papers, reaching over to cover Hendrick's mouth to silence the sobs and cries.
"Shh," Axel said, hoping desperately Sofia wouldn't round the corner. This was embarrassing enough as it was. "I'm busy, I'll come tomorrow, okay? Can't I come tomorrow?"
He lifted his hand off of Hendrick's mouth a little to let him answer. Hendrick but Axel right on the side of his ring finger. Axel cried out and snatched his hand away, knocking Hendrick onto his backside and only adding to Hendrick's volume in his cries.
Axel swore under his breath and rubbed his finger, then he took Hendrick by the arm and helped him to his feet.
"I know I'm not your mom, or your dad," Axel said. "But biting is uncalled for."
"I want you to come!" Hendrick said.
"And biting me is not going to accomplish that," Axel replied.
"I want you to come today," Hendrick said.
"I'll walk you to the house, okay?" Axel asked.
"And you'll come inside for snack," Hendrick said.
"Maybe," Axel replied.
Hendrick wiped his eyes with his fists while Axel straightened. Hendrick reached up and wrapped his wet, grubby little hand around two of Axel's fingers tightly and walked with Axel to the house."

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