Helga, a 12-year-old girl, shares her likes and dislikes, setting a disgruntled tone for her visit to her grandparents.

• Helga states her age and immediately expresses her dissatisfaction.
• She declares her opinions on what she finds cool and uncool, such as air guitar being cool and love movies not being cool.
• Helga criticizes love for negatively affecting people, exemplified by her mother's neglect due to a new boyfriend.

Helga arrives at her grandparents' house, recalling past experiences and her mother's disregard for her relatives.

• Helga details her distant relationship with her grandparents and their old-fashioned ways.
• She mentions the intimidating country house and her grandparents' eccentricities, like the 'gralla' concerts.
• Despite her mother's inattention, Helga is left to stay with her grandparents, whom she hasn't seen since she was little.

Helga gives her first impressions of her grandmother's condition and recounts dubious family history.

• She observes her grandmother's physical condition and speculates on the cause, including past accidents or laziness.
• Helga reflects on rumors about her grandmother's past, including reporting communists and receiving gold from a colonel.
• Despite the rumors of wealth, Helga doubts them due to the poor state of their house.

Helga experiences an uncomfortable meal with her grandparents and resists their attempts to feed her.

• Her grandfather serves her alphabet soup with meatballs, which she used to like as a child.
• Helga resists eating the meal, expressing her disdain for the repetitive menu and her concern for her grandmother's well-being.
• The grandparents appear oblivious to Helga's discomfort, emphasizing the generational gap.

Helga witnesses unsettling behavior from her grandfather and becomes suspicious of his intentions.

• Helga's grandfather offers her alcohol, criticizing modern youth.
• She observes the slow and tedious passage of time in the house and suspects menopause might be affecting her.
• Helga contemplates escaping by starting a tractor, feeling trapped in the unsettling environment.

Helga becomes further alarmed by her grandmother's condition and stumbles upon her grandfather's dark secret.

• Helga is asked to help by her grandmother and discovers her grandfather cutting meat, which makes her uneasy.
• She begins to notice strange occurrences at the country house, suspecting a connection to rumored communist gold.
• Helga's grandfather accidentally cuts her grandmother, and Helga suspects something more sinister behind the injury.

Helga's suspicion about her grandparents, especially her grandfather, grows as she discovers more disturbing evidence.

• Helga finds large quantities of meat in the pantry and questions her grandfather about it, who provides evasive answers.
• Her grandfather talks about past plagues and wars, avoiding her questions about the lack of animals on the farm.
• Helga starts connecting the dots about her family's history, the absence of animals, and her grandmother's condition.

Helga confronts her grandfather with her accusations and tries to escape the country house.

• Helga accuses her grandfather of turning her grandmother into meatballs and eating her.
• She connects her suspicions to the stored food in the pantry and her grandmother's missing body parts.
• The confrontation escalates as Helga tries to escape, and her grandfather denies her accusations.

The story concludes with Helga's grandmother being taken to the hospital and Helga reflecting on the events.

• After the confrontation, Helga's grandmother is hospitalized, and the police chalk up the events to an accident.
• Helga will require psychological help, but she is relieved her grandmother is safe from her grandfather.
• In the end, there is no communist gold, and Helga pities her grandmother for what she endured.