Of course, the Bäckerie was closed, it is close on six on Sunday afternoon after all, I headed instead to the side door and rang the bell.

The intercom crackled, “its open.”

I pushed the door, entered and carefully shut it behind me before heading through to the stairs up to the family apartment.

“Come on up Gab,” a disembodied voice urged.

Well its not like i've not been before is it, I climbed the stairs, to be greeted by Con at the top.

“You changed.”
“I smelt of Pommes.”
She sniffed at her own sleeve, “hmm, maybe I need to change too.”
“I brought this,” I told her offering the bottle of vino.
“Mu-um, Gabs brought wine!” Con yelled towards the kitchen.
“You don't have to shout,” Therese opined wiping her hands on her apron as she joined us, “hi Gaby, you didn't have to bring anything, you know you're always welcome.”
I shrugged, “just seems a bit one sided.”
“We don't keep score you know, but thank you anyhow, come on through, Thomas is in the lounge.”
“I'm gonna get changed mum,” Con supplied.
“Well don't be long, food's nearly ready.”
“'kay!”

“Did I hear mention of vino?” Herr Thesing queried as his wife led me into the lounge
“Gaby's brought a bottle.”
“Best let it breath a bit then,” Mr T suggested standing up.
“Take your coat off Gab, don't stand on ceremony,” Therese told me as I handed off the bottle.
 
“So Gaby,” Thomas Thesing started, “how are you finding college, bit different to Silverberg eh?”

We were sat around the dining table, Frau T ferrying plates of food from the kitchen as her Mann poured the wine.

“You can say that again, I have to leave before seven.”
“I thought I saw you the other morning,” Therese mentioned.
“You catching the train?” Mr T queried.
“I told you dad,” Con interrupted, “she gets a lift.”
“Freddies brother, Olaf takes us in then its the train home,” I supplied.
“He work down there?” Frau T asked.
“Something to do with planning, in the Landesamt.”
“Talk later,” Therese suggested, joining us at the table.

As predicted, it was beef Strogonoff, if you've never had it you don't know what you're missing. Whenever I've tried it the sauce sort of separates but Therese manages to get a gloriously smooth, creamy sauce every time. Button mushrooms, linguini and nuggets of meat – hmm, delish and there's always plenty on the plate.

“Prost!” Herr T offered raising his glass, “the future.”
The rest of us raised our own glasses, “the future!”

Its a sort of unwritten rule that conversation stops to eat at Thesing's table, fine by me, I prefer my food hot, its often a free for all at home so you can end up with less than warm comestibles. I ate with relish, hmm wonder what it'd be like with a dash of Hendo's, even so I was behind the others in clearing my plate.

“More anyone?” Therese offered, “there's coconut and lime torte for dessert.”

Hmm, one or the other really, the Strogonoff is quite filling, has to be the torte.
 
The torte was spot on, neither too much coconut which can be a bit soapy or too sharp with the lime. Well you wouldn't expect less really, the family do run a bakery after all. Once the table was cleared, Con and I were able to escape to her room with our coffee.

“Sorry about Dad.”
“No prob, its the first time since Canada i've not been grilled about being Weltmeisterin.”
“How's that going?”
“I can't believe all the attention, it wasn't like this last year.”
“But last year you weren't 'our' Weltmeisterin,” she pointed out, “in case you hadn't noticed, apart from football we aren't the most successful country at sport.”
“What about Schummie?”
“Proves my point, he's so famous because we have so few stars, how is it? We try hard but could do better.”
“I guess, I suppose the Brits are disproportionate winners.”
“So how was the modelling yesterday?”
“Weird,” I admitted, “i thought it would just be some dressing up and snap a few pics.”
“It wasn't? Don't tell me you had to dance or something?”
“No nothing like that, it was just weird.”
“Oh come on Gab, don't leave me hanging,” Con demanded.
“This goes no further right?”
“Ooo, secrets!”
“I'm serious.”
“Okay, I promise, so spill.”
“Put your laptop on,” I proposed pulling the memory card from my camera from my skirt pocket, “Mand took these when I got home.”
 
“So you wore one of those skinsuit things, so what, I thought you did that all the time?”

She'd flicked through the first couple of pictures, showing me stood in my eyrie to all intents and purposes, naked.

“Go to the next one, you might need to blow it up a bit,” I suggested.

She clicked the arrow and the next picture, a head and shoulders came up.

“So its you.”
“Zoom it in.”
“Its you but bigger.”
“Scroll down a bit, look at the suit.”
“What am I looking for? Oh!”
“Exactly,” I stated.
“So if this isn't a suit....” she trailed off as the grey cells made the connections.
“There isn't a suit, its paint.”
She flicked back to the previous body shot, “i can't see anything, you know, down there.”
“I did have knickers on, see,” I pointed to the faint line of the knickers waistband.
“What about your,” she pointed to my chest.
“Some of those stick on things.”
“Do your rents know?”
“No, and they're not going to, i'd be grounded forever.”
“They'll see the ads or whatever though?”
“It'll all be digitalised or something, no one'll know.”
“Heard that before, did they paint anything else on you Eve?”
“Shush! No, the other stuff was real clothes.”
“So why, you know?”
I slipped the memory out of her machine, “they couldn't get a suit made in time.”
“So when do we see this masterpiece?”
“No idea, soon I guess. Promise you won't tell anyone?”
“I said didn't I, cross my heart.

My 'naked' photoshoot pretty much trumped the rest of the conversation, it was pretty clear after a few minutes that talking about college stuff was pointless. Well not pointless exactly but neither of us had the reference points to make much sense of stuff so we had to keep it to generalisations. I guess this is how it will be, without common experience our conversations will be a bit limited.
 
“You girls watching Tatort?” Frau T asked poking her head around the door.
“Gab?” Con queried.
“I haven't seen that for ages.”
“Its only just started a new season,” Con told me.
“Make that a yes then,” I grinned.

Tatort is of course a German cop show, like most of the ilk the storylines are quite transparent and very predictable. That's part of the attraction I guess, we take delight in predicting the outcomes, invariably we aren't far off the mark. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that a couple of the 'cops' are easy on the eye if, in my experience, unlikely upholders of law and order.
 
“Thanks for dinner Therese.”
“No problem Gaby, you know your welcome.”
“Especially when you bring alcohol,” her husband opined from the lounge.
“Nite Herr Thesing,”
“Goodnight Gaby.”
“Hopefully I'll see you in the week,” Con mentioned.
“Yeah and good luck with the first aid.”
“I need it.”

Before she can start any placements for her course she has to get some first aid qualifications. I guess it makes sense, I'm just glad there's no hidden stuff like that with my Business course. More divergence of our experience, maybe I should do a course to keep up, or not!
 
“There you are,” Mum stated.
“I did leave a note,” I pointed out, “so you guys have a nice day?”
“Not bad kiddo, nice lunch then we had a walk through the woods to that brewery above Linz.”
“Steffens or something?”
“That's the place, we were going to go on the train but it wasn't running today. So you have a good day?”
“Not bad, it was quite busy I guess.”
“Bet it felt strange, you've not been for a while.”
“Yeah, where's Dad?”
“Gone to fetch Manda, should be back any time.”
“Cocoa?”
“Hmm, I could be convinced.”
 
I was just getting into bed when my Handy started trilling.
“Bond.”
“Heya Gab.”
“Thought you might've stopped by today.”
“Soz, Dad's had me painting again.”
“Its like the Forth Bridge that place."
“Forth Bridge?”
“Its like this big bridge in Schottland, they finish painting it then have to start the other end again.”
“Ah, I see what you mean, yeah, there's always stuff to do.”
“So you up for the Weihnachtsmarkt this year?”
“That's a bit off the wall.”
“We were talking earlier, its not that far away.”
“I guess.”
“So why the call? I'll see you in the morning.”
“I know, just ringing to say goodnight really.”
“You daft lump,” I sighed.
“Hey, I resemble that.”

Okay, it got mushy after that, I finally closed the call thirty minutes later.
 
And so the day ended, is this gonna be the new 'normal' Sunday? work at the kiosk then dinner and Tatort at the Thesing's. Well for a few weeks anyhow, the New Year will be different, Lisbet has inferred that I can do my first placement at the kiosk so I'll do two days in Koblenz and three at Altenahr. To be honest, I think it suits the college well, one less student to place, well it works for me so I'm not complaining.
 
© Maddy Bell 14.1.2018