All of a sudden the summer really begins! The most amazing weather takes Ken by surprise and he moves his class room outside.
He can’t see much of the screen, but at least he can hear the teacher with Kaarna’s headphones.
Kaarna wipes off the dust on her Vespa.
What a miracle: the engine starts on the first try and she doesn’t have to call for Hector’s help!
What a strange feeling! It takes a few moments before Kaarna realizes what it is. It’s happiness! This is what happines feels like! She had completely forgot about it!
The winter must have been harder than she even had realized.
Kaarna comes home and asks:
- Was the winter really horrible for you too?
- Yes, especially difficult.
- Why?
- Because we didn’t get the bright and cold February and March at all this year. All there was, was rain and gray clowds all the time.
- I’m already afraid of the next winter.
- Let’s try to focus on the summer first, okay?
The weather stays warm and sunny for the whole week! Not a single rain drop! Way over 20 degrees Celsius every day! In May!
But not everybody is happy with the dry and hot week.
Elisabeth’s rain water barrels are already empty and she has to use tap water for her plants.
- Too hot, Mari sighs.
- Shut up. Take off your clothes, Kaarna replies.
- Then it would be too cold.
- Ken can lend you some light clothes. Just ask him.
- His clothes are too big and grannylike.
- Your ass is granny sized though.
Kaarna leads Mari to Ken’s closet and takes out some summer clothes.
Mari tries them on and asks:
- Why did you say I have a big ass? I thought you liked my butt.
- It is big. And I do like it.
- Do I look fat in these?
- Yes. Try this pink one instead.
- I don’t look good in pink.
- Nobody does. Except Ken.
- Why are you so mean to me today?
- Am I? Sorry. I didn’t mean to be.
Ken looks at Mari and says:
- Pink is definitely your color! Looks very cute!
- Thank you, Ken!
Kaarna continues her painting, but Ken is getting tired of his studies.
- I will now pretend that my wifi went off and I’m unable to join the class any longer today. I feel myself so stupid day after day. This course is not good for my self esteem.
Ken goes to say hi to Filia, who’s hanging the laundry.
- New hoardings… findings from the flea markets?
- Yes! Very many good things!
Then Filia tricks Ken to hang the rest of the clothes and walks away.
Ken thinks:
- Well. Beats the studying anyway.
Another hot and dry week goes by! What a May this is! According to the calendar, the real summer hasn’t even begun yet and still this is happening.
Ken says:
- I keep thinking it’s July already, because of this amazing heat.
Kaarna is suspicious:
- I’m sure that June and July will be cold and rainy as hell.
- Don’t you dare manifest that!
It’s time of the annual aviation happening. Kaarna doesn’t want to come this time, but Hector is happy to accompany Ken.
- Oh look, they have a helicopter here this year!
The flight prices are a lot higher than last year. Ken is disappointed. He really would like to hop on a helicopter, but instead he has to admire everything from the ground and only chat with the pilots.
While Ken is getting to know an old lady called Maire, who has flown all her life, Hector disappears.
But after a little while he returns and gives Ken a piece of paper.
- Here, this is your queue number to the helicopter flight! Happy 50th birthday in advance!
Ken feels a bit embarrassed with Hector’s generosity, but of course he accepts the gift.
The tiny helicopter turns out to be a lot less scary than a small plane and Ken enjoys every short minute in the air!
After landing, he runs to Hector, who is waiting for his own turn.
- It was wonderful! Thank you so very much! I really needed this adrenaline dose after a boring school week!
After two and half weeks the first drops of rain put an end to this unusual drought and heat. The rain also brings down the pollen in the air.
Next morning Ken wipes the outdoor furniture.
He has a little time before the morning lessons and he picks some flowers to put in a vase.
This is Ken’s favorite time of the summer, when the flowers are perfect for his scale.
But on the porch he notices that even if the rain yesterday evening was just a few drops, it was still enough to wake up the mosquitos.
Ken comes back in and sighs:
- I can’t study outside anymore, the insects will eat me alive.
Kaarna says:
- Well, you have the whole house to yourself. Mari asked me to join her to Lappeenranta and I’ll be back in the evening.
- Mari is up this early?
- She said she’ll be ready at ten. Our bus leaves at quarter past.
Kaarna has to punish the doorbell a long time before Mari lets her in.
Of course Kaarna gets angry when she sees Mari’s sleepy eyes:
- Were you still asleep? We’re supposed to get going already!
Mari has overslept badly, but she calmly says that she’ll be ready after coffee and shower. Kaarna doesn’t have any mercy:
- As if I didn’t know how much time your morning routines take! Hours! Fucking hours! We’ll never make it to that bus.
- We’ll take the next one.
- I already bought the damn ticket!
Kaarna gets so annoyed:
- Why do you even make promises when you know you can’t keep them?! I hate this!!! You should stick to the goddamn plan when it involves other people!
- Stop yelling at me.
- I’m not yelling! You’ve never heard me yell!!!
- That’s it! I’m not taking this shit first thing in the morning. There’s the door. Leave now!!!
- Fine!!!!
Meanwhile at home Ken thinks that if he’s forced to stay inside and listen to a lecture about conversion rates, leads, A/B testing, key performance indicators or customer segmentation, he might as well spend the day doing something useful simultaneously.
It’s sewing time!
When the lecturer says that he’s going to divide the students into small chat groups for this excercise, Ken realizes that he hasn’t been paying attention in a long time! He has no idea what the excercise is all about.
- I can be the secretary and write down the memo, he quickly says to the other students in his group and lets the others do all the discussing.
Kaarna is fed up with Mari’s shananigans and she can’t waste the bus ticket.
So she travels to Lappeenranta on her own, even though she personally has no reason to go there.
Luckily the Sand Castle has just been opened for public and Kaarna spends the day in the harbour area.
Lappeenranta is a really nice town, actually.
- Hey Ken. Cute dress! Is it new?
- Thanks! I made it today. At least I’m good at something. The school has been pure torture from the beginning and apparently it’s not getting any easier. I can’t understand anything. And yet all the other students do. I had no idea I’d be this stupid.
- See, you learned something today! Kaarna laughs.
The evening is not as warm as before, but Ken wants to barbeque sausages.
As always, nobody has enough patience to wait for the best embers.