Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 6

Word Count: 36,074

Summary of Events:

Axel got up and checked his social media account — which he hadn't done the night before on account of tiredness — only to get upset by seeing posts by his former girlfriend flaunting her new boyfriend as if to deliberately incite him. Madeleine was reclining in the hammock Erik had gotten as an anniversary gift for her when she heard a frightful noise like a metal building collapsing; when she called Erik he reassured her that he was fine. Axel, having dumped a load of silage at the farm, headed south to the field they were working on to load up again, observing the fields around him as he made his way there . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

As that fourth field came into view, Axel saw something else and a dread horror came over him.

He immediately started gearing down; it appeared an accident had happened, and the closer he got, the clearer it became.

A large, mangled wreckage was out in the middle of the field, there was a damaged semi truck in the middle of the intersection, and there was more carnage toward Uncle Morten’s barley field that drew expletives from Axel’s mouth has the horror started to reach to his every neurone.

Bringing his truck to a full stop, Axel immediately put on the hazard lights and swore as he took in the damage.

A big truck, such as the type he’d be driving once they started hauling grain — often called a semi-truck in North America, less commonly called a highway tractor, which was mostly an engine and a hitch that was not made, like pickup trucks, to drive on its own, but built to haul, not unlike farm tractors — was pointed to the west and damaged, with shattered windows and an unnaturally twisted rear frame where the large hitch was.

A long, flat trailer was twisted, looking like it’d been wrenched from the hitch by the force of the impact, as well as having some more significant damage toward its rear end, was further into the field, but furthest into the field was a great, big pile of bent and twisted metal, with gaping openings where large windows would’ve been, and big, heavy-treaded tractor tires.

The colour of the paint on the piece of wreckage was green; and not just any green either, but John Deere green, which was the most grass-tinted shade of green used for any farm machinery — Claas also used green, but theirs was more of a lime green, and it was paired with a grey-white and red, while John Deere’s green was paired with lemon yellow.

Uncle Morten used exclusively John Deere tractors. Not all the implements he used were John Deere, but all the tractors were.

This hulking wreck in the field, however, wasn’t a tractor of the sort that pulled implements or hauled things; based on its overall rectangular shape, the fact that both the front and rear tires were coarsely treaded with the typical herringbone tread, and the front tires being larger than the rear ones, proved the ruin in the field was a combine harvester, such as commanded nearly half a million dollars brand new.

Axel knew where the combine harvester was to have gone, it was proved by the still-visible logo on the door of the truck, which was that of the John Deere dealer in Swift Current, from which Uncle Morten had just bought a third combine in July.

Having not stocked up on combines just yet, the dealer had needed to wait for one to be shipped from the US, and Uncle Morten had reported to Axel not that long ago that the combine would be on the farm by the weekend; based on this wreckage, however, that was not going to be the case.

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 5

Word Count: 30,017

Summary of Events:

Mrs. Mueller, the pastor's wife, stopped by to visit, giving Madeleine some appreciated advice on how to express her concerns about his coworker to Erik. Axel was invited over to his uncle's house for dinner, only to be served a casserole he didn't enjoy and get into a minor argument with Cheryl about how well he cared for himself. When Erik came home Madeleine told him about Mrs. Mueller's visit, hoping to use it as a segue into her concerns about his coworker . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“She was concerned,” Madeleine replied. “She’d seen me not looking so happy on Sunday and wanted to know what was going on.”

“And what is going on?” Erik asked, looking concerned.

“It’s like I told you the other day,” Madeleine said. “You talk about her too much.”

“Kaira you mean?” Erik asked.

“Yes,” Madeleine replied.

“Are you really sure I do?” Erik asked.

“Yes,” Madeleine replied. “And I want to know how much time you actually spend with her.”

“Not as much time as I spend with you,” Erik replied.

“No, that’s not what I mean!” Madeleine cried, tears springing to her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Erik said, although he sounded bemused.

“I mean compared to everyone else you work with,” Madeleine said.

“Well, I don’t really know,” Erik replied. “I’ve never paid attention, but it’s probably a good part of the day.”

Madeleine sniffed, trying to bring herself back together. She dabbed at her eyes with the sides of her forefingers.

“Why is it suddenly a problem?” Erik asked.

“Because you’re my husband,” Madeleine replied.

“I have to interact with other women sometimes,” Erik said. “Just like you have to interact with other men.”

“I know,” Madeleine said.

“I didn’t ask to be put with her,” Erik said. “Mr. Kjeldsen told me I was working with her and that arrangement hasn’t changed yet.”

“I know,” Madeleine said.

“Then why are you crying?” Erik asked.

“Because you’re mine,” Madeleine replied.

“Of course I am,” Erik said. “No one’s questioning that, or trying to change that.”

Madeleine certainly thought they were, but Erik didn’t seem to understand, and he sounded like he was getting frustrated.

“I don’t understand why you’re fussing like this,” Erik said. “I don’t fuss at you going to church or when you talk about other men. You never fussed about it before either. I don’t understand why the change. What is different? Has somebody been telling you stories and making you think badly of me?”

“I’m not fussing,” Madeleine sobbed.

“It seems like you are,” Erik said. “You’re making no sense to me with this.”

“You just don’t understand,” Madeleine wept.

“Are you going to explain it to me then?” Erik asked.

“I’m trying,” Madeleine cried.

Erik sighed and Madeline heard him moving. This wasn’t working, and Madeleine had a sinking feeling she’d forgotten the advice Mrs. Mueller had given her, at least in part, but she wasn’t going to try and call Mrs. Mueller to get it straightened out now, she didn’t know that she had a cellphone number for Mrs. Mueller.

With soft and gentle touches, Erik drew Madeleine to her feet and against his chest.

“Do I need to tell you I love you more?” Erik asked. “Do I need to take you out to dinner? Get you flowers? Buy you a ring or a dress? Do you need a vacation?”

Madeleine shook her head against his chest. She wanted him, completely, exclusively, all her own, forever.

Pronunciation:

Mueller: myooler

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 4

Word Count: 24,029

Summary of Events:

Madeleine was still feeling troubled the following morning, so she told Erik she didn't like how much he talked about his coworker; Erik apologised and reassured Madeleine that he loved her, which made Madeleine grateful. Axel delivered a load of silage back to the farm and was asked by his uncle to bring his uncle's girlfriend back to the field when he returned — as she liked to personally deliver his uncle's lunch — Axel didn't like to do it, and he was particularly annoyed when his uncle's girlfriend tried to make him talk, which he wasn't really in the mood to do . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Approaching an intersection, Axel could see a truck he knew too well approaching from the south; it was a bright red Ford with a bold black stripe down the middle of it and it belonged to Murray Rowland’s oldest son.

It was to Axel’s right, which technically meant he needed to yield the right of way — hence it was called the right of way — but it was travelling at a rate of speed Axel could tell with his naked eye was faster than the legal maximum of eighty kilometres an hour mandated for all gravel roads.

Were it travelling eighty kilometres an hour it wouldn’t be storming up to the intersection like it was, thus Axel wouldn’t have to yield to it.

With the mood Axel was in he didn’t want to yield as it was, so he geared the truck up.

“What are you doing?” Cheryl asked.

Axel rapidly shifted through the gears as he pushed the truck as fast as he dared take it.

“What are you doing!? There’s a truck coming! Axel!” Cheryl shrieked.

As soon as the truck somewhat floated down the bit of a rise that existed at the intersection Axel released the gas pedal and gradually geared back down to the legal speed limit.

“Are you trying to kill me!?” Cheryl demanded.

“I just didn’t want to yield,” Axel replied.

Cheryl was silent; Axel could see her jaw working wordlessly. 

“And you were telling me I needed to be buckled up because Murray Rowland was the dangerous driver!” she finally exclaimed. “What about you!?”

“If you would like to ride with me for the next month you would see that does not happen often,” Axel replied.

“Doesn’t happen often,” Cheryl scoffed. “Morty’s going to hear about this.”

He would, but Axel would do it before Cheryl could get at him. Uncle Morten would understand that sometimes a Murray Rowland had to be beat at their own game.

Lorne and Craig Rowland drove responsibly, abiding by the rules more often than not — just as most farmers did — but Murray, Curtis, Travis, and Nolan didn’t; not even Marissa did.

Melvin had been retired for awhile before Axel had come on the scene, and he’d never asked how Melvin had driven, so as to determine which of his sons was following in their father’s footsteps, and which wasn’t, but if Axel were to bet he’d wager Lorne was, as whenever Melvin Rowland was referred to it was with the same general goodwill that was directed toward Lorne and Craig, not Murray and his sons. Indeed, there were concerns afloat because Murray’s oldest grandson was going to be sixteen soon, which meant there might be another reckless-driving Rowland on the road, and at the moment there were more reckless-driving Rowlands than safe-driving ones.

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 3

Word Count: 18,178

Summary of Events:

Madeleine went to Swift Current with Mrs. Kulak, a grandmotherly neighbour who had become a good friend, before becoming sorely distressed when Erik came home from work with incessant mentions of his only female coworker on his lips; she became overcome by worry that somehow Erik's coworker had something she lacked, and was tempting Erik away from her. Axel finished work for another day and settled down into bed, taking a moment before committing to sleep to scroll through his social media feed to see what is faraway friends were up to . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Axel shook his head and kept scrolling, he was almost at the top, and for that he was grateful, until a post was scrolled into view by his finger that revealed to him a photo of Amalie.

He looked at the text above the photo: Nothing better than movie night, other than movie night spent with someone you love!

Emoji and hashtags that both showcased affection followed and Axel tapped on the photo to see the fullness of it.

In the photo was Amalie seated on that Malthe’s lap. Malthe was wearing a button-front shirt with half the buttons open and Amalie was wearing a low-cut top and tiny shorts.

Axel’s nerve endings remembered when they had been the ones that had felt Amalie against them, and his heart felt seared. Tears sprang to his eyes again and agony overwhelmed him.

He barely managed to finish scrolling through the rest of the posts before restoring his tablet to its hiding place.

Laying down, he tried to just put it out of his mind, but the agony was too raw. He felt like that post was the proof he’d been dreading; the proof that Amalie was never going to come to him, no matter how badly he wanted her to. It was as if she’d just gone and spat in his face.

Distressed restlessness overcame Axel and he got out of bed, pacing the room at first before finally he left it and opened the refrigerator. Just two brown bottles stood in the back corner, and two larger clear ones with greater capacities stood near at hand.

He wanted to reach in and grab one, but he resisted the urge; because as soon as he took one he was going to wake up with a headache on his couch again, he knew it.

Finally he managed to amass enough willpower to slam the fridge door shut, which caused the contents of the appliance to make a bit of noise he could hear through all the insulation that kept things cold inside and normal outside.

Turning away from the refrigerator, Axel paced the living room before he finally snatched up the carton of cigarettes and lighter he’d left on the coat shelf and stepped outside.

Warmth from the day still lingered even if the daylight didn’t; stars like pinpricks in untold metres of midnight blue satin, hung above him, the moon invisible, either because it hadn’t risen, or was in its waning phase, Axel couldn’t be sure.

The air was cooling without the sun to keep it warm, though, and Axel’s bare skin contracted in what was probably a rather pathetic effort to keep warm, considering the amount of hairs per square centimetre of skin he possessed in comparison to any other land mammal in this part of the world.

Axel didn’t want to go inside and get anything warm to cover up with, though, he was outside and he wasn’t going back in until the stress and agony were gone.

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 2

Word Count: 12,021

Summary of Events:

Axel finished working late and had a late supper during which he checked his social media account; in his feed were photos of the girlfriend he'd left in Denmark with an unfamiliar man who, it appeared was her replacement for him. Madeleine made breakfast for Erik, over which she told him about Nellie's call the day before and Erik expressed confidence that Madeleine — and Alina — would be able to participate in the wedding. Axel woke up with a headache and realised he'd gotten drunk the night before; once he'd cleaned up the mess he'd made he went outside for some fresh air and saw his uncle sitting out by the fire pit . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Leaning on the railing, he glanced at Uncle Morten again and this time ended up making eye contact with his uncle, which he’d been hoping not to do. He didn’t feel like talking with his head pounding like this, and Uncle Morten was the sort who always liked to talk.

“You look like you slept in your clothes,” Uncle Morten called across the ten metres from the fire pit to his deck.

He nodded, dropping his gaze to his hands.

“Are you alright Axel?” Uncle Morten asked.

With a reluctant sigh, Axel shook his head, not looking up at first, but when no comment came from Uncle Morten he raised his head to see his uncle heading toward him, his body pitching from side to side somewhat because of the stockiness of his figure.

Like most farmers in the area — from what Axel had seen in a little over four years — Uncle Morten was not really fit. There were other farmers who carried more weight, and whose ability to get into and out of the big equipment they drove baffled Axel, but overall, Axel was the slimmest farm operator he knew.

“Euh, I can smell it from here, how much did you drink Axel?” Uncle Morten asked as he mounted the stairs, which offered a creak of protest to his weight.

“More than I thought,” Axel mumbled.

“Oh, Uncle Morten said, his tone both jovial and disappointed; Axel wasn’t surprised.

He didn’t turn to face Uncle Morten, who eventually placed a hand on the railing.

“What was your meaning of getting drunk Axel?” Uncle Morten asked in that tone that sounded like Father — except in English. “You are needed to drive the silage truck again. You should know better.”

Axel sighed his lungs empty and shook his head. “I didn’t expect to.”

“Well,” Uncle Morten said, the expected finality to his voice. “Then no driving today, just the little jobs.”

Although Axel wanted to groan in disappointment, he didn’t let himself, because he’d known it was coming, and it was what he’d expected anyways.

Uncle Morten was committed to safety, and he had done all the research to determine about how long after drinking a man was really sober; and as a result, it would be unsafe — maybe even illegal — for Axel to drive until he’d done all the little jobs.

There was a disappointed-sounding sigh from Uncle Morten before he walked off the deck without another word and headed back toward the fire pit, where he discarded his cigarette end on his way to the back deck which Axel could only just see, as it was on the far corner of the house; he looked at the kitchen window and wondered if Cheryl was staring disapprovingly out of it at him.

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 1

Word Count: 6,017

Summary of Events:

Madeleine settled down out on the deck to relax while Alina played on a blanket with her toys when one of Madeleine's friends from Sweden, Nellie, called to chat about things, including Nellie's upcoming wedding, which she wanted to see Madeleine and Alina involved in as members of the wedding party . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“She’d hardly be walking, though,” Madeleine said.

“I’ve already thought of that, though,” Nellie said. “We could have Ville pull her down the aisle on a little sled, and she could have the ring pillow on her lap, it would be so adorable, and she could wear her own little flax blue dress and have some flowers with her, but she wouldn’t be expected to throw petals of course. It would just be the most darling thing, and with her looking so much like you, she would look so adorable.”

“It would look very cute,” Madeleine admitted, envisioning her smiling daughter in a little blue dress, probably something sparkly keeping the majority of her soft, golden curls back of her face, being pulled on a sled by Nellie’s older sister’s son, who had always been kindly and sweet to little children.

“I’m sure Ville would be delighted,” Nellie said. “In fact, I’m sure everyone would think it about the sweetest thing. I can already imagine Ville being a dear and taking her to you if she begins to fuss about being far away from her mama. It’s just so sweet to think about! I’ll have to ask Per tomorrow morning.”

“Like I said, I’ll have to ask Erik about it,” Madeleine said. “But I do think it would be fun, even if a little unfair that my daughter gets to be in a wedding when she’s hardly a year old when I had to wait until my own wedding.”

“I would say it's a shame on all the people who knew you as a little baby and got married without thinking it would be the most darling thing ever to have you involved,” Nellie said. “As there isn’t a doubt in my mind you looked like Alina does now. You deserved to be involved in a wedding as a little baby.”

“But, then again, Alina’s probably not going to remember it, even if she has pictures,” Madeleine admitted.

“Even still, I’m not going to leave her out because she won’t remember it,” Nellie said. “Even though I’ll probably have to compete with her for attention, it would be worth it to have such a beautiful child in my wedding party.”

“Well, don’t count on it yet,” Madeleine said. “I have to agree to be a bridesmaid first, and that only happens when I’ve talked to Erik.”

“I know, I know, but make sure that you tell him,” Nellie urged. “Surely he’d want to see his sweet girls looking beautiful.”

“He’d probably say we’re beautiful all the time,” Madeleine replied.

“But this would be verging on the pinnacle of beauty,” Nellie said.

“And it may depend on the harvest too,” Madeleine added. “If we can get it in as soon as we want to then we’d be more inclined to come because we’d know our work here was all taken care of.”
“Oh I certainly hope things go well!” Nellie said, the enthusiasm clear in her voice. “I am so excited about the idea of having you and Alina in the wedding party!”

Pronunciations:

Ville: vihlee

Per: pehr

May Novel Essential Information

Novel Title: Unavoidable Confrontations

Time Setting: 2020

Genre: Life

Minimum Word Goal: 90,000

Timespan: 15 September–7 November

Location: Golden Prairie, Saskatchewan

Main Characters: Axel Kjeldsen, Madeleine Patriksson

Background Information: 

Axel was born the oldest son and second child of six to a farmer and his wife who made their home in central Sjælland in Denmark. He was taught much about farming by his father, as well as his grandfather, who still helped out with the farm, even though he was technically retired.

His family had farmed the same piece of land for centuries, as well as attending the same Lutheran church for centuries, and Axel was no different, being baptised at the church as an infant, as well as being taken there every Sunday.

It was evident from an early age that Axel had his father’s temper and obstinacy, which led to a number of confrontations that started out as fun for his father, but gradually became more serious until, within months of Axel’s graduation, they got into a savage altercation that ended with Axel leaving the farm for Copenhagen; this was caused in part because of Axel’s rejection of religion, and in part because he was frustrated by his father and grandfather’s unwillingness to explain how or why they did anything on the farm, and had no ears to hear out his ideas for changes and improvements to how they did things.

In Copenhagen Axel developed a strong relationship with a young woman he’d met a few years before and also discovered he had an uncle on his father’s side whom he’d never heard of before.

Further investigation led him to learn that this uncle had also rejected religion and otherwise done a lot of things not all that different from what Axel had done to draw his father’s ire.

This uncle had been disowned by Axel’s grandfather and had left Denmark for Canada before Axel was even born. When Axel contacted his uncle he was pleasantly surprised by his uncle’s willingness to talk to him, even offering to help him emigrate to Canada to be the son his uncle had never had.

Since his uncle had a farm in Canada and Axel not only didn’t enjoy the city life in Copenhagen, but genuinely wanted to farm, he accepted the offer; unfortunately his girlfriend wasn’t willing to join him because his uncle farmed just outside a small town about four hours away from the nearest city comparable to Copenhagen in size, and she didn’t want to be that far away from a Copenhagen-like city.

Following his arrival in Canada Axel took some secondary education, not only to help round out his farming knowledge as a whole, but to help him learn the Canadian system faster than he suspected he would otherwise, while spending the summers helping out on his uncle’s farm.

Axel found his uncle was everything his father hadn’t been: willing to explain, willing to listen, willing to let him do what he wanted outside of work, willing to let him try things to see for himself if they would work like he thought they would.

Since graduating from his secondary schooling Axel has taken on increasing roles and responsibilities on his uncle’s farm, as his uncle is nearing his sixties and looking to maybe retire from farming soon, and it’s not like Axel isn’t an adult anyways.

Born the youngest child and only daughter to a heavy duty mechanic and his librarian wife, Madeleine spent her early years in Helsingborg, Sweden where her mother worked in a local library while her father drove around doing on-site mechanical repair of farm equipment for farmers in the area.

The year she turned eleven her father was hired by a farmer in Eslöv to be a full-time mechanic for the farm in order to increase efficiency on the farm by reducing the wait time for a mechanic to come to their aid.

As a result of this Madeleine ended up meeting the farmer’s second oldest son, Erik, a meeting that didn’t become significant until they became teenagers and took interest in each other that led to a romantic proposal on the waterfront at Malmö when Madeleine was eighteen.

During their engagement Erik informed Madeleine that he meant to move to Canada to farm because of the fact that his older brother was going to get the family farm from his father and his search for land to start a farm of his own in Sweden had proven futile.

Initially Madeleine was a little stunned by the idea of leaving her homeland for a foreign country, but as time passed she got more used to the idea and willingly did what she could to prepare for moving to Canada before they got married, doing the rest after they were married and her name was legally changed accordingly.

They didn’t leave Sweden right away, however, as they still needed to find a place to live in Canada; they remained in Sweden while looking and Madeleine ended up conceiving a child during that time.

When they finally found a property Madeleine willingly agreed to move right away, even though she was pregnant, and so they left Sweden for Canada, specifically western Saskatchewan, where they discovered just how they’d gotten the property they’d gotten for such a deal: all they got was the land and empty buildings, there wasn’t even a crop in the field.

As a result Erik and Madeleine had to buy furniture before they even went to bed that night — thankfully they met some neighbours who were willing and able to help them get set up with what they needed — and Erik was left having to look for a job instead of being able to run his own farm.

He got a job at a neighbouring farm owned and operated by a man who had moved from Scandinavia to Canada himself some four decades before, helping with the harvest at first, and then helping out in the dairy — which was a part of farming Erik hadn’t done in Sweden — before making an arrangement with the farm owner that saw Erik renting his land to the farmer, but having control over what was planted on it and how it was cared for.

In the midst of it all Madeleine gave birth to her and Erik’s child, a little girl they named Alina, and thus has filled her time caring for her little girl and taking care of the house as well while Erik works hard to make enough money to get his farm off the ground and no longer need to work for anyone.

Pronunciations:

Axel: ahks'l

Kjeldsen: k'yelledsehn

Copenhagen: kohpehnhahgehn

Madeleine: mahdehlaye'ne

Sjælland: shayeland

Eslöv: Ayslerv

Malmö: mullmer