Karel had complied with the impression to take a day off. He hung a sign outside the door of his real estate office, which read:

.

Absent today

I will be back tomorrow

See you then!

.

Why he should take time off, he had no idea at first, until the discovery centre came to his mind. He phoned Patrick briefly, who immediately gave him a warm welcome. And so he walked there. Quietly, because he had the feeling that you have to be really quiet in a centre like this, he went inside and was immediately greeted warmly by Jan, who was working on a wooden farm.

Seeing no one else, he crouched down next to Jan and asked in a whisper how many cows he had.

"You don't have to whisper hey, just talk a little softly," Jan told him. "I don't know how many cows..."

"But then you won't know at the end of the day if they are all still there, will you? Shouldn't a farmer know how many cows there are?" asked Karel.

Jan shrugged: "I don't know, I guess so."

He started putting all his cows together. "So ladies, it's time to go to the barn. But first I will count you. Yes, like this, stand next to each other..."

He lined them up neatly and started counting them.

"Ten, there are ten of them, sir. My name is Jan, and yours?"

Karel chuckled: "My name is Karel."

"Are you a farmer too?"

"No, I am a real estate agent, I sell houses," Karel told them.

"Really?" asked Jan in surprise, "isn't that terribly difficult? Houses are expensive!"

"Yes, they are. But I don't have to buy them myself, I sell them for the people whose house it is. If you have a house, a house of your own, and you want to live somewhere else, you want to sell your house to someone else. But you don't know how to do that. Then you call a real estate agent, as I am, and you say, 'come over and take photos, I'd like you to sell my house for me'. And then I start taking photos, then I write a story and then I make an advertisement for in the newspaper and on the computer. Wait, I'll show you..."

Karel grabbed his mobile and tapped his site. "Look, someone is living in this house, but he wants to move to another house. I took pictures and made a nice story about the house, and I put it all on here. All the people who want to buy this kind of house here in the village can see it. And if they think they might want to buy this house, they call me and ask if they can see it once. Then I go with them, they look around the house, and outside by the house, and if they think they want to buy it, I help them with that. The money they pay is almost entirely for those people who first lived in it, because the house was theirs. But a bit of the price is for me, because I helped them sell it."

Jan nodded slowly. "I think I get it, but it still seems difficult. Being a farmer is easier, then you just take care of your animals and your garden. Simple!"

"Maybe for you, but not for me. I think you really like being a farmer, but I really like being a real estate agent. And if you really want that with your heart, you can learn it. Is it true that you would like to become a farmer?"

"Yep, with animals and a big vegetable garden, a wife and a lot of children," Jan summed up.

"A lot of children?" asked Karel.

"Yes, I would also like to have brothers and sisters, but I don't have them. But when the weather is nice, like now, I can work well alone in the garden, then I don't need siblings. I always tidy up our garden. I learnt to prune the ivy from Joke."

"Is Joke your mother?"

"No ya, Joke is on holiday at Bloemenhof. She is very sweet! Do you have a sweet wife too?"

"No, I live alone," Karel replied.

"She will come," said Jan convincingly.

"Do you think so?" asked Karel.

Jan looked at him: "She really will!"

.

Karel discovered Patrick standing in the doorway watching and listening with a broad grin.

"Hey Karel, just so you know, she'll come around!"

Jan looked at him frowning: "It's really true, you know!"

"I like to believe you, I heard how you said it, not as if you were making it up, but with the power of your soul."

"Well, I'm curious!" Karel replied. "Anyway, you have a farmer-in-training here, nice guy!"

"Yes, he certainly is! Want to have a look around?" asked Patrick.

Karel nodded eagerly, whereupon he led him to the next room. "This is where we have lunch, and drink coffee. The children don't have to bring any of that, Bea and Ineke do the shopping together or with Jan. Rosalie is still all wrapped up in her book-writing, she's been doing little else for the last few weeks."

"Shouldn't she learn other things then?" asked Karel.

"Yes, she will, she's five now, so she has quite a few years to go. And she learns quickly when something interests her. Come along, she's in the next room."

There, Rosalie was indeed typing with concentration.

"She types with ten fingers?"

"Yes, with two frustrated her, she wanted to learn it the same way we did, and she learned quickly. That's called inner motivation, Karel."

"Yes, I know it, but it's still particularly wonderful to see such a young child so engaged. Quite extraordinary, I myself went a similar way instead of the standard way, but then when I see this like this, it almost bothers me, feels like it's not right. I realise it does add up though, I think it's more the power of habit, you don't know any better than that children of that age are playing, doing crafts, something like that, not that they're sitting around writing stories. By the way, you were just talking about books, do you mean that they are published?" wondered Karel.

Patrick reached for a stack of books in the cupboard: "These are hers, 'Squirry', 'Roe', 'Worm', 'Waspie', and 'Vlinnie'. She is now working on a bee, I don't know if she has a title for that yet."

Karel looked at the covers of the books.

"She took those pictures herself, except the one of 'Vlinnie', which was taken by a pregnant woman who stayed next door, and decorated the wall of their nursery with paper butterflies."

"What an incredibly nice result, both that wall and these books..."

Karel flicked open 'Vlinnie' and read the first page.

"You know what strikes me Patrick, she doesn't write childishly at all, not in a childish way. It comes across as quite mature, almost like a scientist describing his research on butterflies in a funny way," Karel said in amazement.

"Yes, that's right, we've had reactions like that before. Do you know how she explains it herself? Animals also have a soul, and their soul and her soul interact. And as strange as it may sound, I believe her, because I see the result here. At least, I think it does come across as she explains it."

Karel nodded and put the books back on the shelf.

"Do you think I could take a look at her? Or would I disturb her too much then?"

"It's coffee time by now, you go check on her, and I'll go get coffee. Do you want coffee too?"

"Gladly!"

Karel calmly walked over to Rosalie, saying softly, "You go right ahead, I'll just come and have a look, if that's no problem for you."

Rosalie shook her head almost imperceptibly, and typed on. Only when she finished the paragraph did she save her work and look back at her visitor.

"Hi, I'm Rosalie. Oh wait, I see, you've been to our house, about that money. Let me think... Karel Mulder, right?"

Karel laughed at her. "You are quite right!"

"You sell houses and you earn well from that, so well that you wanted to help the centre with your savings. I'm happy about it, Karel, it's so nice here!"

"Nice, is it true that all you do these days is write books?"

"Yes, I overflow, the story comes naturally, like a river from my soul, it goes on and on. And then I just have to write it down. I love doing it, but I actually want to explore other things too. Bea thinks that will come naturally. I think I might write books for which I have to look up information on the internet, because I don't know enough about them myself. And then I immediately discover new things. You know what I do sometimes, when I'm tired of writing, when I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed? Then I play a game on the computer. That is also discovery. Look, I have this game for example, which I still like, where I have to find three of the same pictures together. It seems simple when I say it like that, but sometimes I really have to look very carefully. I hear the coffee machine, we're going for a drink, are you coming?"

Karel smiled at her and nodded. "Do you drink coffee too?"

"No, not anymore, I often drank coffee with a lot of hot milk, children's coffee, but I don't feel like it anymore. I often drink water now and with my bread usually buttermilk."

"Don't you find that sour?"

"Nice and fresh right, I like a little sour!" laughed Rosalie.

She looked around the corner to see if there was anything else she needed to collect from the kitchen.

"Go ahead and sit down, I'll just get the milk and sugar."

Moments later, she returned, went back to the kitchen and plopped down next to Karel after placing a jar of teaspoons and a box of speculoos on the table. She yawned deeply.

"Are you tired?" asked Jan.

"Not too bad, but I like that we have a break. I worked hard this morning."

Ineke just came in and heard her last words.

"You're welcome to take a longer break later on, Rosalie, you've been working your ass off for days. Ha Karel, nice of you to join us!"

"Thank you, I thought so too, it's quite special here. I did have a childhood like this myself, with a lot of freedom and discovering things on my own, but to see Jan and Rosalie so busy here and to taste the relaxed atmosphere here... super nice! Are you expecting more explorers soon?"

"As far as I know, we don't have any applications yet, but we do expect a few at a time in about three years' time, the children who live on the Bloemenhof estate. They will turn four in three years, and their parents have already indicated that they would love it if their children could come here."

"Hopefully they will have more children soon, then you will have a bit of a constant influx," Karel chuckled, meanwhile wondering if Ineke was the woman Jan had meant. He thought she was nice, friendly. Maybe he should invite her to dinner sometime or something like that. Funnily enough, he didn't feel up to it at all. He tried to let it go and follow the conversation at the table.

Jan had brought a cow and a bull from his toy farm to the table. He made the bull jump on the back of the cow.

"That bull likes that, but I don't think it's fun for that cow at all. That bull is just pounding away."

Karel actually had to laugh terribly at Jan's conclusion, but held back, not wanting to make him feel like he was making fun of him. To his surprise, Patrick addressed it seriously.

"I don't know how a cow experiences it, Jan, but I do know, it's really not nice for a woman when a man treats her like that."

Jan smiled. "Daddy always says that you have to be nice to your wife, that she has to feel that you love her, that she has to notice it in aaaaall things! Really everything! And I feel it that he means it, that he loves Mum so much too. You know what I like, when he acts like that..."

Jan looked at Karel. "I pretend for a moment that I am daddy and you are my mummy." He stroked his fingertips along Karel's forehead, stroking his curls back a little. "And then he looks so sweet, I'm not very good at that."

"That's because you're doing a nice play right now. If I were your wife, and you really loved me, I would see it in your eyes too, don't you think, Jan?"

Jan beamed: "Yes, that's how it is!"

"Young learned, old done, I hope then," Karel said smiling.

"So it can be that simple," Bea responded. "I wouldn't take it into my head to teach sexual education, but when a discoverer talks about it in such a way, we can't dismiss it with 'just ask at home', we just take it seriously, try to respond in a way that matches what he says."

Karel nodded. "I like it, it feels right, just real and genuine."

After coffee, Jan briefly showed Karel his vegetable garden.

"I have to keep a close eye on it now. If the weather remains dry and warm, I have to water the plants a little. Together with Patrick, I set up a rain barrel here."

To show that it was really working, he placed the watering can under it and opened the tap.

"You see, last night's rainwater!" he said triumphantly. "Today I don't need to water, they have had enough last night. But if it stays dry for a few days, I'll give it to them first thing in the morning. Sjaak says, early evening is better, but I won't be around then. Then morning is smartest."

"I think it's incredibly cool what you've already learned here. And I see you're enjoying it. I'll come back in a while to see you again, all right?"

"Yes, very good!" said Jan, giving Karel a high five.

.

Karel walked down the grounds at his leisure. He had felt over coffee that he should stop by Huib's place for a while. He had come to consider Huib a bit of a friend and wondered how Huib perceived that. He had no intention of asking him outright, but hoped to notice when Huib saw him arrive unexpectedly.

He had never been to the estate before, so he briefly asked a man he met where to find Huib. Anton pointed him in the right direction: "Just keep to the right, walk past the first house, then a little later you will come to a large work shed. If Huib is not working there, he will probably be at home, just a bit further down the road. So just keep to the right and you'll find it by yourself, someone else's house, Huib's work shed, Huib's house."

Karel laughed. "Thanks! I'm sure that will work out!"

Anton put a hand on his shoulder. "In case Huib asks who showed you the way, just say it was Anton. I consider Huib a bit like my son," he added with a wink.

"Sounds good, Anton. My name is Karel, I am an estate agent here in the region. Huib has bought a property in the village via me where he is exhibiting some of his work."

"Aha, is that you! Huib will enjoy having you over, he spoke positively of you. 'A man who follows his insides' is what he called you. Have a good time there, give him my regards!"

"Will do, Anton!"

Feeling satisfied, Karel walked on. That was a fine encouragement he had received from Anton! He walked past 'someone else's' house and found Huib's huge work shed. Just then, Huib came out, looked up in surprise when he caught sight of Karel.

"Hey Karel, how nice to see you! How did you know how to find me like that, by chance?"

"No, with Anton's help, you get greetings from him here!"

"Nice, thank you! Anton regularly comes to stay at the guesthouse with his wife Joke. That man is like a father to me."

"Joke... I was just at the discovery centre. Jan told me that Joke had helped him prune some ivy." Karel chuckled: "I asked him if Joke was his mother. 'No ya, Joke is on holiday at Bloemenhof,' he responded indignantly. Cheerful fellow by the way. Anyway, so that will be the same Joke!"

"True, Joke is fond of Jan, has already visited him a few times, both at the centre and at his home. I was just about to go home, have a belated cup of coffee. Will you walk with me? I was so busy at work, I forgot the time. Usually Margreet comes to fetch me then, but she must have been busy herself, because I didn't see or hear her!"

They were almost at the house, when she heard a woman's voice calling out. "Julian, where are you?"

Huib saw him just dribbling around the corner of the house, and called out, "He's here, I'll take him! Hey Julian, come on!"

Huib was already bending down to grab him under his arms, but Julian ran past him, straight towards Karel. Karel, intuitively, grabbed him under his arms and lifted him up.

"So mister, can I take you?" asked Karel, as Julian told whole stories to him, totally unintelligible. He laughed in amusement, apparently finding his own stories quite comical.

Karel walked behind Huib with the little guy on his arm, where they found Margreet and Bianca. Karel recognised Margreet, greeted her, then looked at Bianca, whereupon Jan's words immediately came to his mind. There was something... but what? It confused him for a moment, but he quickly recovered and introduced himself: "Hey, I'm Karel, and this jolly little guy is your son, right?"

Bianca nodded: "Right, my name is Bianca, and this is my little son Julian. Come on, Julian!"

Bianca did not want her son to bother the still unknown guest, but Julian clearly had other thoughts. He wrapped his little arms around Karel's neck and held him tightly as he continued with a totally unintelligible tale.

"Bianca, translate it for me, I find it quite frustrating that I don't understand him."

"I would do it for you right away, if I knew what he said. He's a joke teller, is in a good laugh every time about what he tells himself, but no one knows what it's about," Bianca responded. "Give him to me though."

"No need for that, I'm not bothered by him, in fact I enjoy his mirth. Do you mind if I keep him with me for a while? I won't hurt him, you can watch it with eagle eyes yourself, if you want," he said with a mischievous face.

Bianca was a little taken aback. Right when he had come around the corner and they had looked at each other, she had already been shocked by his appearance, especially by his posture and appearance, the way he looked at her, as if he had known her for years. She decided to ask him: "Do we know each other from somewhere?"

"Not as far as I can remember," Karel replied, "nice of you to ask, because I just honestly felt like I had known you for years. I've lived on the coast all my life. You then?"

"No, I'm not originally from here, but not from the coast either, so I wouldn't know where we should know each other from. Well, maybe we'll find out this morning," she tried to be as nonchalant as possible, annoyed at the excitement that had taken hold of her inside.

Huib came out with two cups of coffee. "Shall we sit there in the grass? Then the ladies will have some privacy for their women's chats."

Margreet wanted to protest, mainly because she was curious to see how things would develop between Karel and Bianca. Huib too had sensed something, had a suspicion about it, a pretty sure suspicion, but said nothing about it. The reason for sitting down on the grass was precisely so he could talk quietly to Karel, and in the meantime observe what might be going on between Karel and Bianca.

Julian protested briefly when Karel put him on the ground so he could sit on the grass himself. In a very natural way, as if he did it every day, he put his arm around Julian and pulled him onto the grass between his legs.

"Come and sit here Julian, cosy in the men's circle."

Huib handed Karel his coffee. "Black, right?"

"Yes still!"

As long as he still had coffee in his mug, he kept an eye on Julian, to avoid getting hot coffee all over him. It seemed as if Julian sensed it, as long as there was still coffee, he stayed quiet.

Karel set the empty mug down beside him, while he continued talking to Huib. He had decided not to pay attention to the ladies, without that he was having trouble enough with the turmoil in his body. He put his hands behind him and leaned back a little. Julian got up, and crashed into Karel, to which Karel pretended to fall. He managed to land painlessly on the grass, sprawled out on his back, with Julian hooting and teetering on his belly.

"You rascal, what are you doing? Are you throwing me upside down just like that?"

Ignoring the startled cry from the veranda, Karel grabbed Julian's side with both hands and started tickling him. Julian squirmed and yawned in amusement.

"So," said Karel, rising again, "now you know little man, there's no mocking Uncle Karel, you'll just get a lot of tickles in your side!"

Huib burst out laughing, "Uncle Karel? Do you have a lot of cousins?"

"Well no, not at all. I'm not used to small children at all, when I meet them through my work, I honestly usually find it awkward. But with Julian it comes naturally, very special. Does he live around here?"

Huib nodded: "They live in the attic of the guesthouse. Bianca works there, makes sure things stay tidy. Before, Margreet did that, together with Lisa, but because Margreet and Lisa wanted to devote themselves to their family and their hobby, I would like to say their work, because it's more than a hobby, a creative work from within, we decided to hire someone else to do the housework. Long story short, Anton, whom you just met, had an employee who had just had a baby son, and who hated the fact that if she started working again, she would have to dump him with different babysitters every time. Anton understood that if she could live and work here, there would always be someone from our family who could step in. In the first few months there was no need, she worked at the hours he was sleeping upstairs, and now that he is awake a bit more, she often takes him with her, he is in the kitchen in the playpen, or on the guest floor, we have a playpen there too nowadays. They are usually together on that floor, because the guests are having breakfast, and as soon as they come upstairs, he tells them whole stories. People enjoy it, so he is an asset rather than a burden there! By the looks of it, you experience it that way too!" grinned Huib.

"Oh yes, absolutely! Yes, we're talking about you, Julian, you're great! What the hell, you want to check if I have a wig on?"

Karel chuckled, while Julian checked several curls for authenticity. Huib saw that Margreet had to stop Bianca, as she wanted to call Julian to order. He chuckled. What he had sensed... Karel and Bianca... he wouldn't be surprised if the two had a deep click but couldn't quite pinpoint that yet.

Karel had untied Julian's hands from his curls.

"And um... Julian's father? Does he live in the attic too?"

"No, we don't know the father. We only know that Bianca was once overwhelmed by her former boyfriend, got pregnant and the guy abandoned her. She was happy about it afterwards, she realised very well that a boyfriend who forced her to have sex had no heart for her. And he didn't want their child either, so there was no basis to build on. But the child... she persevered, wanting to receive him and be a mother to him. And she is a great mother, letting him free as much as possible, but keeping an eye on him. This little guy is going to fit in just fine at the discovery centre."

Karel looked at him: "Tough, to have to go through something like that... there's quite a lot going wrong when it comes to women. Remember when you went with me with those two women who bought that big house? Katja and Maureen... by the way, do you know what impression I got then? I didn't tell them, because I didn't think they experienced it like that themselves... I felt they had a soul connection."

Huib grinned: "They discovered recently, after the necessary periods of deep healing processes, that they are soulmates, so you sensed that well. They are doing well, they still need a lot of healing, but can support each other even better in that now."

Huib was tempted to ask Karel if he had ever felt such a deep connection himself, but kept quiet. If Karel wanted to talk about that, he would have to start there himself.

"I'm still thinking about what you just told me about Bianca... do I understand correctly, that she therefore has no partner? No boyfriend either? Isn't she dating?"

"No, she's not doing that, she doesn't want to, both from her own experience, and from what she sees with us. She is waiting for her soulmate, or at least someone with whom she can build a real relationship. Soulmates are not all around hey..."

Karel shook his head and looked at him: "No, that's right. Do you know what Jan just asked? Whether I already had a sweet wife. And when I said 'no', he said very firmly, she will come. I asked if he meant it. Ha, he was indignant! 'She really will!' he said."

Karel fell silent, looked briefly at Julian, who had fallen asleep against him. He looked at Huib: "Can you keep a secret?"

"No problem, what are you stuck with?"

"With a confused inner self, because I think I have found the woman Jan meant. A woman with a great little son. When I just saw Bianca, it was like I had known her for years, like there was a deep connection with her. I think she felt it herself, because she asked if we knew each other from somewhere. That doesn't seem so... But yes, confusion all around inside, because I immediately thought she was obviously already married, or at least had a boyfriend, a partner, lived together, make it up! And now telling you this, so I actually have a lot more clarity and the road is open to a possible relationship... and I feel a lot more confused! But again, keep this between us, I have yet to figure out what to do with this."

"You follow your heart, you are good at that. You know deep down what to do best. In any case, go all out to win her heart for you. And I suspect you are right that she has felt that click too, because she is literally following your tip to keep an eagle eye on you. She watches you more than Margreet, and I doubt that's just because of Julian. I see her sighing very deeply every now and then. Just saying!"

.

Bianca stood up and approached the men.

"I'm going back to the guesthouse, Annerieke is expecting me for lunch. Oh well, Julian has fallen asleep... I already thought he was so quiet! Shall I take him over for a while?"

She already bent down to take him, but Karel put his hand on her arm.

"If you just have a nice lunch, Julian can sleep peacefully. When he wakes up, I'll bring him to you."

Bianca, stiffened for a moment by the tremor that shot through her when she felt his hand on her arm, asked now, "Are you sure? I don't want to be a burden to you?"

"Be a burden? You? Bianca, you wouldn't even manage that even if you wanted to! And Julian won't bother me either, he's already stolen my heart. Do you have a clean nappy for emergencies?"

"Yep, in that bag over there with Margreet. Are you really sure?"

"Yes, I'm absolutely sure, are you?"

"Yes and no, in itself I do trust you, but I'm not used to leaving Julian to someone else."

"Then you may learn to get used to that now, because I actually... I hope this is not the last time. But we'll talk more about that later. Go have a nice lunch, we'll see each other later!"

Bianca looked desperately at Huib, who immediately responded: "I'll keep an eye on them to make sure they don't eat each other. Go ahead, enjoy your freedom for a while."

Bianca chuckled briefly: "I don't know if that will work, enjoy it, I feel rather peculiar with this, but well... see you later then. Shall I come here after lunch?"

"No way, if you stay in or at the guesthouse, we'll find you when Julian is awake. I have the whole day off, I have all the time!"

"OK, see you later then..."

She walked away, waved briefly at Margreet, who gave her a wink and raised her thumb, looked back at the trio of men one last time and disappeared around the corner of the house.

To chapter 78. Karel, Bianca and Julian

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