Happy birthdhay, Lalli! And thank you Wave for the reminder, and thus the inspiration for this.
Forest
It’s Lalli’s birthday. No one cares. Wake up, breakfast, wash. Lalli doesn’t care for any of that weird stuff, cakes and all. It’s stupid. He goes to work, silent and efficient. Birthdays are for stupid people anyway.
At dinner, Lalli is quiet. “What is it? Bad day?” Emil asks.
“No. I’m fine.” Silence again.
“Well, I’m glad you are fine.” Emil is irritatingly normal. It’s just like the stupid Swede to forget!
They do the dishes together. Maybe Emil doesn’t really care for him. Maybe he’s fooling Lalli for some weird reason! Lalli almost breaks the plates piling them into the cupboard. Stupid plates!
Dishes done, Lalli puts on his coat to go out to sulk. No reason. He’s fine. He’s just irritated and Emil is stupid and the day is stupid and everything is stupid. He needs the calm of the forest.
“Honey, wait for me!” Now the weird Swede is putting on his coat! Doesn’t he really see that Lalli wants to be alone! Why must everybody be so stupid today!
Emil must notice Lalli’s glare, but he just says cheerfully “Let’s take a little walk in the forest.”
“The forest? You don’t like the forest after dark!” Now Emil is stupid and weird.
“No, but you do. Come on.” Emil picks up a basket and leads Lalli towards a forested stretch of the shore he knows Lalli particularly likes.
At the shore, Emil takes furs for them to sit on from the basket, followed by cinnamon rolls, cookies, a small cake. “Happy birthday, love!”
“What? For me? You didn’t need to…”
“I wanted to. Just say thank you, silly Finn”.
“Don’t be weird about it!... but thanks.”
Songs of blackbirds, waterfowl rustling in the reeds and a gentle wind surround the boys, munching sweets in the night.
