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04:11

John liked it when his mother took off the frying meat from the pan and put it on his plate. He liked its smell and the sound of the fork and knife against the plate, even though for his mother it was annoying. She was a beautiful woman with a perfect figure, long, black, curly hair and a lovely smile. Her second husband was his father, but as they had divorced, he was brought up by subsequently her third and fourth husband. Now she was alone, but even though over fifty, John thought that she should find someone for the sheer pleasure of company, shared meals and shared evenings. She was still beautiful, she hardly made any corrections of her facial features, chin, and wrinkles around her eyes. She was aging in a very gentle manner. Her belly was flat and you wouldn't have guessed that she gave birth to a child almost thirty years ago. John liked looking at her and imagined that he would like his own woman to have a very similar appeal, both in terms of looks and character.

She, on her part, always treated him like a king, she cooked for him the most delicious meat parts and prepared his shirts for work. He was almost thirty, but time didn't change his mother approach to him, and he still got the most delicious treats on his plate.

He was an intellectual. When at school they had to choose their vocation, he chose the least respected area of science there was, that is K. sciences. He did that out of sheer curiosity. And possibly as a child, he liked his mother's scary tales of K. and that was how his imagination grew. He treated those stories as exciting fairy tales or mythical fables and dreamed for hours about this land, where things were so different. If his mother had known that his interest would have such an impact on his future career, she might have told him completely different stories.
They were living together, even though he had already his own house, but they decided that the property can be left empty and John moved back to his mom's lodgings. Spacious white rooms in a number of five were enough for both of them, even though mother annoyed him when he was studying something carefully and he heard her jogging in the evening. That is why he lived in his own house for a couple of days a month, just to regain his strength and be at peace with himself. And that is why he wanted his mother to find another husband, so the burden of her company would be taken off his shoulders at least temporarily.

He had two friends from school: David was an engineer working with people imported from K., and Kevin was an owner of a big corporation taking care of the food production. David was the manager, but recently he was feeling intimidated, since K. engineers proved to be brainy as hell, and there was a quarrel among them, concerning David's incapability of solving the simplest task. He was depressed and took a month of paid leave just to stay at home and rest from his work's burdens and stresses. Kevin was quite content and his mind was occupied with buying another villa at the seaside with four bedrooms and a bathroom in the size of a small chapel. And John was writing a thesis about the importance of K. population in the growing prosperity of N.

Meanwhile, his mother was preparing a delicious stew which John simply adored.

After writing a page, he felt tired and decided to take a shower in their bathing room for relaxation. It was his third shower that day and it was only noon. He changed his shirt and sat to think about the contents of the second page. His supervisor wanted to get the extract by midnight, even though John was sure, he would read it in the morning. They liked to get people stressed. John supposed that they were themselves stressed and just triggered a chain of stresses, which included John and thanks to that his mother who stopped working ten years ago but inherited John's variable moods.

John was twenty-nine at that time and only started his adventure with K. sciences. He worked from home, simply plugged into the system and sent his work to his supervisor, whom he hadn't even met. He applied for the position and, thanks to his abilities and psychological profile, he got the post and was happy about the salary. After a year of research, he bought a house, which he didn't even need because he was still living with his mother. John really loved his mother. Again, she was a beautiful woman, full of compassion and acceptance of his individuality. She loved his interest in K., even though any ordinary mother would prefer him to work for the company of the size of Kevin's corporation. And again, John had a house. Kevin had five houses and three seaside villas, each for every long weekend throughout the year.

The fact that John was interested in K., he treated as a genuine distinction among the citizens of N., a proof of his human nature and his very grounded, down-to-earth way of living. He felt special and such was his interest in K. He had never had a contact with anyone in K., he had never been there, nor had he seen K. in the pictures but he was interested in the cooperation between K. and N. and the beneficial aspects of it for the whole nation. He heard the stories about engineers, he was a member of a few organizations fighting for the rights of K., including the right to a full meal, the right to shelter and being treated in the most humane and violence-less manner. Whenever there was a need, he would send his used clothes to the charitable funds which would, later on, distribute the gifts to the citizens of K. And each year he gave a small amount of his income for health trusts found in the recognition of K. citizens. He considered himself generous. Kevin and David did no such things.

He knew that there was yet another thing he had to do with his life. He had to find a partner and procreate, as giving at least one progeny was his duty to the society of N. John would many times donate his sperm to the bank to postpone the unpleasant necessity of making a union with a woman, but he felt that he couldn't put it off forever, and at least his visits to the bank would be put to an end if he found the right candidate. He decided to give himself another year and go on with his work, postponing looking for the perfect match to the following year, as by this time he might have gained the right amount of stability, which was expected of him from the day he was born.

Meanwhile, he looked at himself in the mirror. Light hair, blue shiny eyes, impeccable smile. They laughed with his mother that, instead of her looks, he inherited his father's appearance. His mother stated that the doctors must have played with the genes, but she asked for a boy and a boy she got. She didn't remember her second husband much, however, his genes must have been dominant, as John was just like him in many ways. But, all in all, her son was nothing in comparison to her second husband. He was her son and that made so much difference.
Children should be loved unconditionally. She even wasn't sure if she cared about her second husband at all. Her third one was much more entertaining and they had matching psychological profiles.