I mean, when you're a kid, all you think about is school and toys and playing cops and robbers. That's normal. Then you become a teenager and you start to figure out what really matters the most to you. Some people then change their minds again in college, or even later on in life. That's normal, too.
I decided early on that all I wanted was a big happy family. A happy marriage, half a dozen kids, who'd grow up to have happy marriages of their own and give me lots of grandchildren to spoil... That was my dream, and I saw no reason why that should ever change. I didn't bother going to college; instead I started working at a restaurant, so that when that big family came along, I'd be able to cook wonderful Sunday dinners where we'd all sit around a big table and talk about anything under the sun.
I still want that. But it's never going to happen. You gotta deal with what's real, and what's real is this world we live in after disaster struck.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to complain about what I do have. I'm married to the most wonderful woman ever, and our children are the best. I'm just saying, it's not the way I pictured it. My dreams now are on a much smaller scale - like being able to keep the kids from starving. I run a restaurant, after all, which isn't an easy task with food rationed the way it is these days. But if anyone can find a way around the inability to grow things, and think of some other way to feed everybody, it should be someone who works with food every day, right?
It's just hard to find the time to devote to research when you're trying to take care of twins at the same time. We wanted children right away, Saga and I, but we weren't quite prepared for two of them at the same time. And since she was so involved in trying to find out more about what, exactly, had happened to our world, most of the day-to-day care was left to me at first.
Then she came home one day to find me passed out at the dinner table. (Which is nothing like the dinner table I used to dream of gathering my family around...) She woke me up gently, and asked why I hadn't told her how worn out I was. I didn't know what to say to that. I mean, raising twins and trying to invent a new food source? Of course I was worn out! So I stammered something that probably made no sense at all, but she just wiped jello from my face and told me she'd be staying home to take care of the children from now on, so I could focus on my work. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't budge.
And when Saga decides to do something, she does it. She's a great mother.
I just realized I didn't even tell you our children's names! The boy is Ask, and the girl Embla. They were the names of the very first man and woman the gods created, Saga says, so it seemed appropriate, since the world is pretty much starting over from the beginning again. (I don't really know anything about the gods, but I'm sure Saga knows what she's talking about.) They look so much alike, I couldn't even tell them apart when they were babies without peeking into their diapers.
That got easier and easier as they grew, though. For one thing, Ask had almost no hair as a toddler...
... while Embla had more than enough for both of them.
They grew up to be very good friends, although you wouldn't have expected it when they were toddlers fighting over a bottle. They play well together, which is a good thing since there's practically nobody else around for them to play with.
But with childhood came other problems, such as feeding all of us on the same amount of food Saga and I had been eating between the two of us until then. She took to meditating a lot, saying it made her need less food or rest, but there were still days when we all went hungry.
There is nothing worse in the world than having to tell your children there's no food for them to eat.
I think I've done it, though. I think I've figured out a way to grow food hydroponically without exhausting our limited resources! I won't bore you with the details, and I haven't even tested it yet, but the next time I go to work.... Aw, shoot. I have a couple days off until then, and the restaurant owners don't like us to come in on our days off. Waiting is going to be nerve-racking. This has to work!
Saga is pregnant again, you see...
We meditate together, now, so that the kids will have more food to eat. They're about to turn teenagers. Imagine that, my babies are almost teenagers!
Ask is one handsome boy, if I say so myself.
And Embla is just adorable.
Yes! Yes, yes, yes - it worked! We can eat our fill now, and not just jello anymore. If I never taste jello again, it'll be too soon.
And as Saga's dead gods are my witnesses, my children will never go hungry again.
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