The Voetsol Legacy generation #4: Fleur & Joy (pt. 1)
It has been raining in Newcrest half of the summer. Perfectly suits the mood of the Robinson’s twinsisters.
It’s been 3 days since their father’s funeral now. On Tuesday afternoon, Twan appears at their father’s appartment.
Fleur: “Hey, little brother. I see what you need: coffee. - Come in.”
Just when Fleur and Twan were about to get inside, Joy came running up the stairs, completely ignoring the sad look on Twan’s face.
Joy: “Jesus Twan, how the fuck did you get here without a jacket? It’s raining cats and dogs!”
Twan: “...”
Fleur: “Eh. Joy? Easy, please. All he ever thought about, is that he played a little jamming time with dad every Tuesday afternoon.”
Joy: “Oh...”
Twan was really having a hard time with the loss of his father.
Twan: "Guys, I don’t know about you but... It just doesn’t feel ‘finished’ yet after the funeral. So I just needed to be here. I don’t know, the case it’s not closed yet.”
Fleur: “I’m feeling the same thing, you know. It’s just... when I get home from work at 1 o’clock, there’s a whole afternoon ahead of me. Without any live music in the living room to listen to.”
Joy: “Yea... It’s so weird without dad in here.”
Twan: “You could stay over at my house a few days if you want to? More than enough noise. And that’s not because I play guitar daily.”
Fleur: “No offense, but I don’t think I can handle that. Bram is a little bit too heavy for me, you know.”
Joy: *sigh.*
Twan: “What do you mean?”
Joy: “Come on guys, leave it.”
Fleur: “What?”
Joy: “Twan, Fleur, Is it a good idea to arrange a little brother-sistermeetinge? Maybe we could arrange a day out or something like that. To throw the ashes?”
Fleur: “Allright. I could call Loek. I guess he knows what to do.”
It remained silent. They all knew their oldest brother would know what to do, indeed. But everyone knew Luca would appreciate it to be at any family meeting the most of all. But... also, the death of their father reminded her a lot about the death of her huspand, Cody and Lore’s dad. Everyone seemed a bit shy to ask her what she wanted, since she went so introverted all of a sudden.
Fleur: “Allright. I guess I’ll ask him to bring Luca, too.”
And they did everything as planned. Luca appeared just before Loek did. She was the saddest of all, not sure what to expect from this little meeting. It was way too confronting to be here. Both their parents were dead now... Luca didn’t feel like she could share her feelings about this with anyone. Her brothers and sisters were a lot younger and all had someone grown up to talk about it: Loek had his wife Fay, Twan had his wife Nancy and the twins had each other. Luca, on the other hand, felt like she could show her feelings. It was just like when her husband died... Lore and Cody’s were so little. And even now they’re both grown ups, the idea of talking with her children about ‘death’ is still a weird idea to Luca. It still feels like she has to put up a bright face.
Luca decided to take off sneakily before she even rang the doorbell. It was too late, though: Fleur saw her and ran after her.
Fleur: “Luca?!”
Luca: “Oh uh I... I was just --”
Fleur took a big gasp of breath and started talking, which didn’t stop for a minute or two: “Luca, no one should really be alone now, especialy not since this reminds you of when you lost Maarten. And don’t look at me that way - I know it does. We all do. And we need you, too. Don’t leave before you even came in."
Fleur: “Because... because it’s all sad in here. Joy is not herself anymore these days. I honestly am afraid Joy will never be happy again and she doesn't know how to take care of herself any more, so I actually don’t want to risk going to work, because I know Joy will be gone when I get home and it’s so silent out here! She cannot handle it, Luca. We should really be together, Luca. We should! And I need you. Because you always know how to gather everyone. So don’t leave.”
This story silenced Luca completely. She didn’t realize her sisters still need her, even though they’re grown up.
A few minutes later, they’re eating all at the same table they grew up at. The table on which they made their homework, put up food fights, cried at, laughed at and played board games at. It felt complete.
At some point, Luca cleared her throat. “Guys? I have an idea. What do you think about a remembrance?”
Everyone was quite enthousiastic. Luca almost felt shy about it: she felt appreciated and loved. She was gratefull for her little sister to ask her to come in. She felt a lot better now.
Fleur: “Yea! This is just like in the old days, when I would organize all our parties.”
Luca: “Really? I mean... I did organize a few...”
Loek: “Come on, sis! Don’t be silly. I might be the oldest of all five, but you definitely were the master mind of all our parties. So... Let’s make a plan for inventations!”
Luca: “And pick a date!”
Twan: “Exactly! See! We need each other as a team.”
That night it was pretty late when everyone left. Loek even stayed the night, and left when he had to go to work the next morning.
Joy: “Loek? Thank you for taking Luca, Loek. Really much. I love you, big brother.”
Loek: “You’re welcome.”