I can't help laughing, because...

[katka]

“Love is love”.....this way was film named by us

That's the title, in Czech? Cooooooollllll...

It's true, too.

No, but in translation it's this ( in Czech lan. - ''Láska je láska'' )

[DMt.]

So the film's title is given as Love is Love, right?

[DMt.]

*

Camilla is conspicuous by her absence from class; at morning break, the news circulates that she is in hospital, that she was in a bad way this morning and an ambulance was called. An overdose is mentioned. Elin and the others are shocked, Camilla seems the last person you would expect this of. There is much talk of why and how. Nobody else attempts to insult or harass Elin, perhaps her girls put them off; after this news, and the episode at the gates, they are staying close by, in a mood to bite and kick anyone who would dare try to bother her.

Agnes is not out on the yard, she has chosen to stay in class for the quarter-hour intermission, but it is not long before she also hears the news, and despite her dislike of Camilla she feels a pang of remorse, of pity for the unhappy girl. [Surely nobody is that nasty unless they are miserable...Perhaps we can go and visit her in hospital after school...Would she take it as an insult, though, for me to turn up with Elin?...Am I a hypocrite?...I certainly never wanted her dead...]

*

The morning flies by, and soon lunchtime is here. After their huge breakfast, neither Agnes nor Elin is particularly hungry, but both are looking forward to meeting. Agnes goes to her locker to put away the morning's books, and sees that someone has scrawled 'DYKE' on the front, in thick marker; but also that someone else has carefully modified it, into 'DYKES are cool'. She looks around curiously, and a couple of people smile at her; she smiles back, and goes into the lunch room. She gets a cake and a cup of coffee, and makes her way to Elin's table.

Elin is confused and unhappy, she feels that in some obscure way Camilla's trouble has to do with her and Agnes. Even though Camilla has never shown her any actual affection, and quite often more than a little malice, she is without doubt one of their circle of friends, and Elin feels that she has let her down, has hurt her somehow. Jessica is trying to comfort her, urging her not to be silly, to get something to eat, but she won't. She is leaning on Jessica, her sister's arm around her, her hands loose in her lap.

Johan, and a somewhat sheepish and chastened Markus, are sitting at the next table, eating together but not talking much. Any time someone looks as though he might be thinking of making a snide crack in passing, they both give him heavy stares; but so far there have been only a couple of attempts, which have been quickly and silently quelled.

A chair has been kept free opposite Elin, the others indicate that it is for Agnes; she is warmed by the gesture, and smiles at them all, then looks thoughtfully at Jessica and Elin as she sits down. Jessica is still talking to Elin, in a low voice; Elin is shaking her head slowly. She smiles at Agnes briefly, as does Jessica, but then her gaze returns to the middle distance, and her expression returns to an anxious puzzlement.

“What's wrong?”, says Agnes quietly to Malin, as Jessica continues to try to talk to her sister.

“She feels bad about Camilla, we all do really. She's out of danger, apparently, but Elin seems to be trying to persuade herself it's all her fault. Well, hers and yours”, says Malin drily, and loud enough for Elin to hear.

“I know it is”, says Elin, irritated, “I just don't know how, that's all. What did you say, Agnes? 'If she's jealous, whether she knows it or not, she'll be hurting, a lot'...? That sounds about right, to me.”

“Even if she is”, says Agnes gently, “which is quite a big if, that wouldn't exactly make it our fault, Elin.”

Jessica looks up at her, eyebrows raised, and nods slowly. “Listen to her, Elin, if you won't listen to me”, she says, “Camilla's a big girl, you're not her Mama...and who says it was a suicide attempt, anyway? She might just have been trying to get high, or something.”

“On sleeping pills and booze?” says Elin, “nobody's that dumb, not even me. Oh, I don't know! I want to see her, that's all. I want to know she's all right.” But now she sits up straight, and takes a deep breath; kisses Jessica's hand, gives her arm back, and returns Agnes' smile, accepting a drink of her coffee.

“So go after school”, says the sensible Malin, “take a card from all of us, talk to her. Just stop eating yourself up about it, for Heaven's sake.”

“I was thinking about that, too”, says Agnes, “going to visit. Do you think she'd mind, if I went? Is it too soon?”

“She might hate it”, says Jessica, “but she's going to have to get used to you and Elin sometime.”

“And the sooner the better”, adds Malin. They all contribute to a card, and Sabina and Jenny, having finished eating, go out for it. Markus offers the use of his mobile phone to ring the hospital, and Elin makes the call.

[DMt.]

*

Camilla is almost recovered now, but she is still deeply enmeshed in the hospital's protocols. She is captive on a saline drip, has had the wildly unpleasant experience of having her already-sore stomach pumped while half-dead with a brutal barbiturate-and-booze hangover; she is not yet allowed to eat, and her case has been logged as a suspected suicide attempt, despite her protestations that she was just trying to get some sleep. She is thus under very frequent observation as a suicide risk, and is due a visit from a psychiatrist this afternoon, which she is not looking forward to at all.

Her mother had come with the ambulance, the others were probably all still sleeping off last night's drinking; but Mama herself rapidly became restless without her late-morning tipple, and has made her excuses and gone home 'for a while'. Camilla was not really sorry to see her go, is even relieved to hear the last of her questions and remonstrations, but she would have liked someone to talk to who was not an assessing medic; she is in a single room, and is already bored with daytime TV and radio.

She is also getting hungry, despite her tender stomach, and there is no prospect of food at least until evening. The endless day yawns before her, an abyss of tedium; she wonders if she could get Mama to bring in some fruit, maybe her Walkman and some reading-matter, if she could call home. She is still rather woozy, having spent the night in near-coma rather than healthy sleep, and she is drifting in and out of uneasy dozes. Her dreams are mostly fragmentary and chaotic, but some of them are also strangely vivid, the ones featuring Elin and Agnes in particular.

In the most recent one, she was again seeing them at the high window, holding hands, waving and smiling; but this time they were waving to her, Camilla, calling her name, and standing in the room behind them were all her schoolfriends, also beckoning and calling to her. She had wanted nothing more than to go up there and be with all of them, and in the dream it was quite possible to do so; but then she was awakened, to her intense annoyance and disappointment, by a nurse taking pulse, temperature and blood-pressure observations.

She realises, idly, that she does not feel obliged to be so horrified now, by the fact of Elin and Agnes' love; it seems much more an enviable state, a happiness she cannot realistically envisage for herself. The only persons she can remember loving her as she wished to be loved were her grandparents, who died when she was eight, and who's memory grows steadily dimmer with the passing years.

Camilla closes her eyes, and wills an image of Mummo and Ukki, smiling at her across the rough table piled with Christmas food, telling her to eat her fill; of the great fire in the hearth by which she made herself buttered toast and roasted chestnuts she had picked, of the hams and sausages hanging from the kitchen ceiling, of hunting for freshly-laid eggs with Mummo in the mornings, of falling asleep in the smell of Ukki's pipe smoke and work sweat as he held her in his arms by the fire...

It is too successful an exercise; she is suddenly overwhelmed by nostalgia and longing, sharp tears spring to her eyes, she snaps back to the present, and she is suddenly deadly aware of how much she hates her empty life, her drunken family, and not least herself; and now here is another fucking nurse, wheeling a trolley, and the bitch is probably going to catch her crying.

“Phone call for you”, says the orderly, “I'll do your observations when you've finished, OK? Use the buzzer. Hey, are you all right? What's the matter?”

“My stomach hurts”, Camilla hears herself say, “and I want to go home.” She sounds like a little kid, her voice is wobbly. Who the hell is this, who could possibly be ringing her, here? This is so embarrassing.

“Never mind, love”, says the big-boned, white-clad orderly kindly, “you'll be home soon. Here, take your call.” The little kindness is unbearable, it's the last straw. The orderly plugs in the phone and hands the receiver to her, then tactfully withdraws; this should definitely be entered in the notes. The poor kid.

[DMt.]

*

“Hello?”, says Elin, covering her other ear against the background noise of the lunch room. The ward Sister has agreed to have a phone brought to Camilla's bedside, and asked her to hold, but it seems to be taking an unconscionably long time; she is wondering if the connection has been lost. She makes an incredulous face at the others, and shrugs, waiting.

“Hello?”, she says again, then shushes them all, straining to hear. “Camilla? Are you there?” She can hear a sort of hiccuping, and breath sounds. “Can you hear me?”

“Who is this?”, says Camilla's voice, with a shaky attempt at hauteur.

“Camilla, it's me, Elin. What the hell's going on? Are you all right? I can barely hear you.”

“I'm fine”, says Camilla, straining unsuccessfully to sound normal. ”I can't hear you very well either”, she adds, as insurance, but Elin's voice is quite loud despite the background noise, and her concern is clearly audible. “What do you want?”, she says, in genuine puzzlement.

“What the fuck do you think I want, idiot?”, says Elin hotly, “I want to know how you are, and what's happened, and if we can come and see you in there. I'm on Markus' mobile, it's taken ages to get through. Are you OK?”

“I – I'm going to be OK, when I get out of here, yes”, says Camilla in a sudden, unsteady rush, “I c-couldn't sleep, so I took some of my Mama's pills, and I still couldn't get to sleep, so I had some vodka, and I hadn't eaten, and it all got a bit out of hand, next thing I was in an ambulance, and then having my stomach pumped, and they were saying I was a suicide case and I've got to see a shrink, and my stomach hurts, and I'm fucking st-starving, and I'm stuck here, but it's nice to hear you, Elin, th-thanks for calling me, I didn't know who it was, I'm s-sorry...”

She is unable to continue; she holds the phone away from her clenched teeth, but keeps it pressed to her ear.

To their horror, the group in the lunchroom see that tears are rolling down Elin's cheeks, her face has crumpled. They stare at each other and at Elin aghast, waiting. Elin takes a deep breath, and says carefully, “We're all doing a card for you. Me and Agnes are going to bring it after school, OK?”

“Agnes?”

“Yes, me and Agnes. Is that OK?”

“Wh-why does she want to come?”

“You'd better ask her”, says Elin, shoves the phone at Agnes, and leans into Jessica's waiting arms, her hands over her face. The whole lunch room has gone quiet, forks and glasses are halfway to mouths, newcomers are being warned to silence.

“Hello?”, says Agnes, closing her eyes.

“Why do you want to come?”, says a tremulous voice, which is only just recognisable as Camilla's.

“Camilla, I don't want to hate you”, says Agnes, “and I don't want you to hate me, either, just because I love Elin. She's worried about you - everybody's worried about you, you should see their faces, and I am too. Can we bring your card, after school?”

“Yes, please”, says Camilla indistinctly, “I'd like that. Is Elin still there?”

“She's a bit upset right now”, says Agnes. "we'll see you soon."

“Tell her I said thanks, then”, says Camilla, “and you too, Agnes...thanks. I'll see you later. 'Bye, now.”

“...'Bye, Camilla”, says Agnes, opening her eyes, and she presses the red button on Markus' phone, and hands it back to him, trying not to make it too obvious that she can see the whole room is looking at her, and at Elin in Jessica's arms, and far from unkindly so.

*****************************************************************FIN*************************************************************************




NB Agnes' poem, the one she sings for Elin in this FF, is by Rebecka Liljeberg

[fish]

I like what the girls are telling you to write and I'm looking forward more.

...and backward less? This has to be a good thing. Gives you a pain in the neck, y'know

No, honestly.
The "T" and the "O" on my keyboard were at the cleaners when I wrote that.

I hope the girls find it in their hearts to come back and tell you more at some stage.
Thanks for the enjoyment.

[Ian]

Very nice.

[snaps]

I like how it ended. Looks like prospects are good and the 'L' thang could become the new cool in skool. You should consider giving this one a wider airing. Maybe put a copy up on the SML/FA section of fanfiction.net?

It's also spurred my thinking, (which is not a good idea) . I might even try this. A discussion from the boys point of view.

Markus swaggered over to the girls table. He winked at Elin. 'So, do you think it would be OK if me and a few of the guys came over to watch sometime?'

Nooooooooooo!

[katka]

So the film's title is given as Love is Love, right?

jo

Älskar är Älskar - Láska je Láska - L'amour est L'amour - Liebe ist die Liebe - L'amore è Amore - Любовь есть любовь - Liefde is Liefde - प्यार प्यार है - El Amor es Amor - Ást er Ást - Kjærlighet er Kjærlighet - Tá Grá Grá - Cinta adalah Cinta - Miłość jest Miłością - A Szeretet Szeretet

------ what it is ? history of the name ( Láska je láska ) is derived from a czech clip from 1993 of the most popular czech singer. Clip is the same name is full of controversies, including lesbian love ... because it is so named for us.

[katka]

how come it's over ? And I already thought that this series will continue on

[DMt.]

how come it's over ? And I already thought that this series will continue on

Oh, good! Now that you are hooked, the syndication machinery can swing into action; teams of writers, analysts, publicists and demographers will churn out fresh script variations [with targeted glossy promotional materials and intensive TV advertising], but there will be a small monthly surcharge by direct debit, just to cover expenses, you know. You'll hardly notice it.

[katka]

clear...
but not...now seriously I liked it too much

[DMt.]

I like how it ended. Looks like prospects are good and the 'L' thang could become the new cool in skool. You should consider giving this one a wider airing. Maybe put a copy up on the SML/FA section of fanfiction.net?

Please Miss, I want to put it up here...[so to speak]...

I wrote it for you guys, and of course for Bex, Lex and Moody Luke, not FFnet.

It's also spurred my thinking, (which is not a good idea) . I might even try this. A discussion from the boys point of view.

It has occurred to me that you have recently been writing boys [at WtI] while I was writing girls [at FA], yes, funny that...

Markus swaggered over to the girls table. He winked at Elin.

'So, do you think it would be OK if me and a few of the guys came over to watch sometime?'

Nooooooooooo!

SECURITY! We've got a perve over 'ere!

[DMt.]

:lol: clear...
but not...now seriously I liked it too much

Your enjoyment is the best payment, Kats, a lovely compliment.

[katka]

also I have been glad that you have placed the czech title for the FA after the swedish title
and wrote another translation of this czech phrase in other languages ​​in your signature.
I´m with you and everybody which love this movie as I do