January 6, 2016
Three months later...

When something so embedded in life is taken out, life changes tremendously.

And that’s what happened to the Gulls.

It started off so innocently one morning, but soon boiled to something else life changed…for the worse.

“Dah, dee, dum, dee, dum!” Max Friberg whistles happily as he scoops up four plates of white bread onto his arms. “Dum, dee, dum, dee, doo!” He waltzes down from the kitchen and to the dining table. “Smörgåsar are here!” He slips each plate in front of each roommate, including himself. “Varsägod!” He then sits himself down happily.

Brandon Montour, Joseph Cramarossa, and Nick Ritchie stare down at the two lonely slices of bread that lay out on a plate in front of them. Then they look out at what the table has displayed for them: small bowls of savoury toppings such as butter, multiple cheeses, sliced cucumber, sliced bell pepper, sliced tomato, black caviar, chopped egg, and romsås.

“I’ll get the filmjölk!” Max hops off from his seat and rushes back to the kitchen.

Brandon reaches for the bowl closes to him and peers inside it. He makes an odd look at the miniscule, black balls in it. “What the…?”

“It’s caviar.” Joseph tells him matter-of-factly. He then snatches the bowl from him and begins serving himself some caviar.

Next to Brandon, Nick scoops the chopped eggs on the side, then pours maple syrup over the bread.

Joseph sharply glares at him with a frown. “Wow, way to go Swedish,” he points out flatly.

Nick turns to him with a sleepy, soft expression. “This isn’t Swedish—it’s American.” He then turns back to his food and puts the bottle of maple syrup down.

Joseph turns away from him with a roll of his eyes.

“Here’s the filmjölk!” Max exclaims as he hurries back into the dining room. He then plunks milk bottle filled with white, thick liquid along with empty cups between him and his best friend.

Nick's eyes light up at the sight of a breakfast drink. “Oh goodie— Milk!” He reaches for the bottle, pulls it back to him, opens it up, then takes a whiff of it. His face immediately scrunches up. “Uhhh…” His eyes gazes around, uncertain, then lands at Max. “It’s spoiled, Maxi.”

Max settles himself down in his chair. “No, it’s fresh filmjölk— sour milk!”

Nick pursues his lips while pushing the bottle across the table, away from him.

“Let me try some.” Joseph snags the bottle from Nick, pours some into an empty cup, and takes a sip of it. He nods his head with gradual approval. “I like it. It’s sour.” He takes a gulp.

“Yeah, like your attitude,” Brandon points out flatly.

Joseph plunks the cup down with a deadly stare at his teammate.

“Oh, I’m glad you like the filmjölk, Joseph!” Max exclaims happily.

Joseph picks up the cup again and turns to him. “It’s delicious,” he tells him seriously before taking another swig.

“Um…” Brandon has his eyes on the bowl of caviar. “...is it right to have caviar during breakfast?” He perks up at Max with a hesitant expression.

“Why yes!” Max’s smile brightens up. “It’s best with eggs…” He picks up the bowl of chopped eggs and lays some egg out on his bread. “...shrimp…” He exchanges that bowl for a bowl of shrimp and places some of its contents on his bread. “...romsås…” He places the bowl down and picks up the bowl of the seafood sauce, pouring it over his bread. “Then you add in the caviar.”

He receives the bowl from Brandon and adds the finishing touch on his bread. “And you enjoy!” He picks up the open-face sandwich with both hands. “Smaklig måltid!” He takes a massive bite out of the sandwich. His almost-invisible eyebrows shoot up with his eyes wide on the sandwich as he chews. “Mmmm!” He nods his head. “Very good!”

“It is!” Joseph intensely takes a bite out of his open-face sandwich.

Across from Joseph, Nick is enjoying a full-fledge American breakfast with coffee. Next to Nick, Brandon is warily looking at his options.

Max notices Brandon’s predicament. He puts down his sandwich and looks at Brandon with concern. “Are you having a hard time choosing?”

Brandon peers at Max. “Um, I don’t really know what to choose…” He slightly frowns.

“Try the eggs with romsås.” He hands the two bowls over to him. “You’ll like it.”

“Okay…” Brandon takes the bowls tentatively, puts the two toppings on his bread, then takes a bite out of it. As he is chewing it, his eyes light up: the sweet, savoury taste of Swedish open-face sandwiches! “Whoa! This is good!”

Joseph eyes him with a smirk. “See?”

“I’m glad you found it good!” Max beams at him with rosy cheeks.

Silence then settles as everyone turns to filling their stomachs with the Swedish breakfast. After a bit, Max is the first to resume the conversation with a new topic:

“Are you ready for practice?” Max gazes at everyone with anticipation.

Joseph turns to Max with his disappearing open-face sandwich in his hand. “Yeah I am. Practice to beat those Checkers in our next back-to-back games!”

Max smiles at him. “I like the enthusiasm!”

“At least we get to play against them in two days, twelve hours, and thirty-five minutes,” Nick points out with a tiresome tone from across the table.

“That is true!” Max turns to the others. “We got an hour before we leave! Eat eat eat!”

Notes

E.2 "Here Comes Trouble...!"
Part 1/7
Episode 2/20