บท 11: First Steps
Austria, February 2nd 1789
2:43 PM
'I feel so accomplished right now!' Lukas thought as he took very clumsy and slow steps on a couch, however, he suddenly stopped and sighed.
Ever since the discussion that Frida had in the museum, Lukas was forbidden of drawing. That basically was a way for Lukas's drawing skills not to bring any more trouble. And Lukas obviously didn't like that decision at all.
'That's stupid! It doesn't matter whether or not I keep drawing! What is she afraid of, after all? Falling in the temptation of selling my drawings? They're not worth sh*t for now anyways!'
Lukas sighed as he remembered when Frida told Olivia to not let Lukas draw anymore. When she asked why, Frida told her the whole story. Despite Olivia trying to convince her that this decision was useless and unreasonable, Frida didn't listen to it.
However, Lukas wouldn't leave it like this. He did find a way to draw without anybody knowing it. 'At first, I thought it was a very silly idea, but it actually turned out pretty good.'
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Austria, January 5th, 1789
3:41 PM
Lukas laid on a couch as he stared at the ceiling, he was deeply bored. After a while, Lukas sighed. 'What should I do now? Learning to read won't work and mom took me all the papers!'
After zoning out a bit, Lukas felt relief. 'I got an idea! Mom must be very remorseful regarding the decision she made, however, I know her. She's pretty stubborn, so I need to find a way not just to relieve her remorses, but also not to make her give up on her decision and make me be able to draw again. I got just the plan.'
After a while, Lukas went down of the coach and went down the stairs very carefully, finally, he crawled towards the door that took to the outside of the mansion.
After staring at the door for a while, one of the servants of the mansion noticed that something was wrong. "What's wrong, young master? Do you wish to go outside?"
After that, Frida showed up. "What is happening, Morgan?" When Frida finished her sentence, she saw Lukas standing at the door and she realized what was happening right away. 'I see. He's bored.'
Morgan turned to Frida. "Mrs. Von Neumann, it seems like young master wants to go outside. Should I take him?"
Frida shook her head. "No, Morgan, thank you. I can do it." Morgan nodded and stepped aside for Frida to be able to reach her child.
Frida walked towards Lukas and picked him up. "Let us go outside, honey." She then opened the door and went to the garden of the mansion.
'Okay, now I have to find out why she's against that thing of me being considered a prodigy. Okay, that's a bit boring, but this is too much!'
Frida looked sadly at Lukas. "I'm sorry, honey. I just don't want you to suffer as much as my sister did."
Lukas raised his brow. 'Damn, that was fast. Okay, her sister suffered because she was considered a prodigy? Did I get it right? Well, it may happen, indeed. And if that really happened, I have no way to change her mind that easily. I gotta find another strategy.'
Frida sat on a bench in the garden and started enjoying the weather. It was perfect. A sunny, fresh day.
As Frida held Lukas, he tried to think about another idea. 'I do know where the sheets of paper are, but how do I take them without anybody noticing?
People don't check them very often, however, they are in a storeroom where there are other important things. Like newspapers and books, for instance.
Despite the mansion having a library, all the books we have don't fit there, so some of them are just stored there, so they may be taken at any moment. Regarding the newspapers... yeah, I don't know why people store old newspapers. I got no idea at all.'
Lukas crossed his arms and felt the wind on his face, it really was a very pleasant day. The days had been very snowy, but the most recent ones have been very great.
'Okay, I have an idea. I don't know if it'll work, but that's the best I got. If we fold a sheet of paper, it will have a thickness of two, so for each sheet of paper I take, I have to fold one, so, at first glance it won't seem like the sheets have been taken, however, I gotta be careful about it.
If I start taking many sheets of paper in just one day, people will start noticing, so I'll have to take at most two sheets of paper per day, but I am not thinking about drawing less just because I have fewer sheets of paper.
I guess I'll have to make smaller drawings, so I can use a sheet of paper for like six drawings. Entering the storeroom without being seen won't be hard because it's always open and there's always a chair that I get onto in order to reach the sheets of paper.
Okay, next thing: The quill. I guess it won't be that hard, there are plenty of quills in the mansion and the amount of them is not something people usually pay attention to, so I'm pretty sure nobody will notice if I take one for myself, the same goes for the paint, however, that'll be harder to hide.
Actually, it'll be pretty easy to hide everything. I have a dresser in my room with many drawers, I only have to hide everything in there and it'll be fine, besides, the adults never check the bottom drawer because it's too low.'
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Austria, February 2nd 1789
2:43 PM
'It seemed simple, but looks like it's a pretty efficient strategy.' Lukas had hidden the quill and the sheets of paper under the mattress of his crib and the pot in the lowest drawer of his dresser.
Once he had finished his drawings, he would first rip the sheets of paper into very tiny pieces and then throw them out when nobody was looking.
Another thing that Lukas had done was starting to go for a walk with Frida very often. He knew his mother was very remorseful due to her decision, so he decided to induce her to taking him out more often.
He would do it just by staring at the door until Frida makes it a habit, and it also worked just fine.
Thanks to these strolls, Lukas had learned a lot more about the city he lived in, Salzburg, and also a lot more about his country, the monarchy, etc..
Another thing that benefited Lukas in this situation was the limitation of sheets of paper he now had, now he needed to draw in a much lower scale than he used to and also much smaller drawings.
Consequently, it increased his dexterity even more and helped him to train his patience a bit.
'I'm tired of waiting for everything, though. I am almost six months old, I can already walk in front of people and watch their reactions.' Lukas really liked people's expressions when he did something smart. Of course, if he overdid it, their looks would become scary, but he just had to be careful.
He had started training walking when Frida forbid him of drawing. Despite his plan, his drawing session didn't last the whole day, so he had to do other things in order to keep himself busy, like trying to walk and speak. Yes, speak, he also had started training speaking when he got tired of toddling. Since toddling was a very tiresome task for a baby, he would get tired very quick.
The way he trained speaking was very simple. He would try to speak according to his own thoughts. For instance, if he thought 'I'm hungry', he would have to say it. Of course, he couldn't do it anytime, he would only do it when he was alone, just like drawing and walking. So, basically, the only time he did something and someone actually knew that he was doing it was when he was going for a walk with Frida.
Besides, since he was older now, he needed less time of sleep, now, rather than twenty hours, he "only" needed to sleep seventeen, which gave him more time to do the things he wanted.
'Okay, I guess I will show my walking to everyone. Yep, let's do this!' Lukas then went down the couch and headed to the kitchen, where he knew many people always were, still crawling.
When Lukas arrived at the kitchen, everyone looked at him. It was very common for Lukas to be wandering around the mansion, however, it was very rare for him to be seen in the kitchen.
A female servant stepped up. "Young master, what are you doing here? I thought Olivia had left you in your room,' she crouched and picked Lukas up.
'F*ck! Put me down! Wait, where is she taking me? To my room?' The servant turned to the others in the kitchen. "I will take young master to Olivia. I won't be out for long."
Everyone nodded and the servant left the kitchen. She walked through the alleys of the mansion until she went through a door and found Olivia and Frida talking.
'How does everyone know where everyone is?! I never know where mom or Olivia are!' the servant approached the two women there "I'm sorry for interrupting, but I found young master wandering in the kitchen and I thought you would like to know it,' the servant said kindly.
'Bleh! You're so polite! I hate it!' Lukas rolled his eyes. Frida stood up from the chair she was sitting on and said: "Oh! Thank you so much, Elsa! I'm so glad he's not hurt!"
Lukas raised his brow. 'Why would I even get hurt?! I'm old enough to know how to take care of myself!'
Frida picked Lukas and smiled at him. "You want to go for a walk, right, honey?"
'No, I don't! Please, put me down!'
Frida smiled. "I'll take you for a walk in no time, okay, Lukas? I just need to finish this subject Olivia."
'Okay. That means I have enough time to show them I know how to walk.'
Elsa nodded. "Very well, Mrs. Von Neumann. Where should I leave young master?"
Lukas looked at Frida waiting for the answer. 'Yes! That's it! Answer her!' Lukas was dying of excitement.
Frida pondered a little before answering the servant. "You can leave him with me. Just make sure to shut the door when you leave, will you?"
Elsa nodded her head. "Of course, Mrs. Von Neumann, now, if you will excuse me, I'm leaving."
Frida nodded her head with a smile as Elsa left the room.
Olivia sighed when Elsa left the room. "My, my, this boy is so energetic. Look at him. He can crawl all over the mansion without anybody noticing."
Frida nodded as she chuckled a bit. "Indeed. He is a very active baby, however, he doesn't give us any work at all. He's so well-behaved."
'C'mon, no need to flatter me that much. I know I'm awesome! Now, put me the hell down!' Lukas looked down at the floor as he tried to reach it.
Frida looked curiously at her son. "Oh, Lukas. Do you want to go down? Ok, here you go." Frida then placed Lukas on the floor.
'Finally!' Lukas celebrated mentally. 'Now, let me stand up...' Lukas still struggled a lot to stand up, it was the most difficult part of walking, it demanded much more strength than the actually walking.
So Lukas grabbed the table leg and stood up, slowly but surely. His legs shaked a bit and Lukas could feel a bit of discomfort there, but nothing he couldn't handle.
Olivia looked down at Lukas. "Look, Mrs. Von Neumann. Young master is trying to take his first steps." Olivia said calmly. She was very used to seeing babies taking their first steps, so she wasn't so excited.
As soon as Frida heard that, she quickly glanced at Lukas and watched him doing that. "Oh my god, honey! Go ahead! You can do it!" She stood up of her chair and crouched in front of her son.
Lukas frowned internally. 'What do you think you're doing?' Lukas questioned. 'Is this supposed to motivate me to walk? I don't need it, though.'
Frida opened her arms and motioned her hands to attract Lukas. "Come to mommy, baby!" Frida said with a smile.
'Okay, it is.' Lukas then took clumsy and careful steps towards his mother. 'I thought it would be funny if I went in the opposite direction, but I'd better not do it.'
Lukas finally reached his mother's arms and Frida laughed with excitement.
Olivia watched it all with glee. "Congratulations, Mrs. Von Neumann! I've never seen a baby walking at such an early age!"
Suddenly Lukas smile turned into doubt. 'Wait! Should I have done it a bit later?'
Frida looked at Olivia. "Really? At what age do babies take their first steps?"
Olivia hummed a bit. "At around twelve months I would say, however, after young master, the youngest baby to start walking I have seen was nine months old."
Lukas sighed internally. 'Sh*t! How can they take so long?!'
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