She, on the other hand, left it quite a lot. For no known reason. Sometimes she came back when he was already sleeping and he had to pretend that it didn’t annoy him at all. Occasionally, she let in friends and they would drink and eat and laugh up until late at night. And sing Christmas carols even though it was only September. When he heard the girly screams he laughed under his nose at their bizarre humor and silliness. One time he got furious when someone accidentally tried to break into his room, taking his door for the bathroom door. He had a lock inside but he was terrified at the possibility of being trespassed by a stranger in the middle of the night.
He wrote her a note that he didn’t want her to invite so many people. She could just as well party outside. She wrote ‘Fine’ and threw the note underneath the door. From then on it was peaceful and quiet. On the other hand, as a result, she was rarely at home.
Around November she came home and locked herself in her room. She didn’t go out for three days, which made him think about the possibility of her usurping his habits. And then she was crying for three days.
He couldn’t stand this one last day. He wrote her a note and asked why she is so loud.
‘I’m pregnant’.
‘That’s why were you crying?’
She didn’t answer.
‘What are you going to do with the baby?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘Where is the father?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘Are you going to keep it?’
‘Want something from the shop? I’m going out.’
He ignored her. She also ignored him.
Another case of a single mother. Promiscuity will bring this generation to a fall. The girl didn’t even have a flat. She didn’t have a job. She didn’t know the father of her child. His respect for women dropped a few levels. And she was going to live with him pregnant, while the winter was coming and he couldn’t just make her leave.
But he did like the idea of having a baby. As his father was never around and his mother decided to sell her soul for the Norwegian social system, he felt that he would be a good father. He would lead an innocent child through the trails and obstacles of life, showing him the right path. He liked children. Even little girls weren’t as silly as their older colleagues, and for some time were interested in something else than boys, fashion, and make-up. Even if it was a little rainbow pony. Or a unicorn. Or these peculiar dolls which looked like monsters. He heard that Barbie dolls were now shaped to look like ordinary women with various body types and sizes. There would be now a plus size Barbie and a petite Barbie which were supposed to make girls feel better about their individuality. He was sure there was something like a pregnant Barbie, a dentist Barbie, and a firefighter Barbie. Was there a porn Barbie? Let’s be realistic, some women have to work in the industry. Why shouldn’t Barbie producers embrace all jobs?
But exactly. The world was such a fucked-up place that a child was at least immune to its worst aspects. The child was fun. It (as probably it was at that time the case) could watch Peppa Pig, Bob the Builder, Smurfs and other entertaining stuff that he was fond of watching as a kid. The Moomins or Gummi Bears for instance. Or Cinderella. Or Pocahontas. When he thought about it, he realized that he was acquainted with a lot of Disney productions. Or Mickey Mouse. It could pretend that it ate its dinner and for the pocket money buy all the jellies, sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks it wanted. Or this Kinder Surprise with the collection of toys and gadgets. That was amazing. Or Donald Duck magazine. It could read comics. He was still reading comics, though. Some things never change. It could jump into pools in its Wellingtons and scream its lungs out. It could learn how to read and write. It could once again go through all the history of civilization and learn that it’s not important. It - the child – not the history of civilization. It would learn that it is a part of something bigger. Then it could be shocked at the fact that this bigger thing was way screwed up. It would learn about wars, concentration camps, ideologies. It would learn about how people were cruel to each other. How they killed, tormented and hated. Over years, decades and millennia. From monkeys, they evolved into the worst animal on the planet. We evolved. Animals don’t kill when they aren’t hungry. People kill for various reasons. They even kill for pleasure. We kill.
He remembered himself learning about the fall of the Berlin War, about the fall of Communism. This child will learn about World Trade Center, hijacked planes, the European Union, terrorist attacks and mass migration. It will learn about all the things that made him terrified.
But there still was Peppa Pig and endless nights of pure fun and playing with a yellow duck in the bathtub. He was optimistic about the idea.
‘Ordered fruit and vegetables for you. Are you going to keep the baby?’
‘No money for abortion.’
‘Then eat healthily.’
In the evening he got another note.
‘Peaches were delicious. I threw up. Thank you.’
‘For the vomit? Always a pleasure.’
He found this situation hilarious.
