Gaby Book 25 Only Five Minutes by Maddy Bell Copyright© 2019 Madeline Bell After all the excitement of the last few weeks culminating in the trip to Austria, surely Gaby can get back to some sort of 'normal'? Well it wouldn't be Gaby if it was that simple would it?

 
​ The other news? Well her coming out as lesbian was of course overshadowed by news of her mother but it was pretty much a non-event. Apparently even her mother had suspected that she preferred belles to beaus for some time – it is nearly 2007 after all.
​
​ “What do you want to do now?” I asked once Mand had got her emotions under control.
​ “I've still got money to spend.”
​ “We don't have to; we could do it another day.”
​ She sat herself straighter, “I know we could, but I might not be here next week, next month, going home and moping won't change anything will it?”
​ “Guess not,” I had to agree, I think that's why my rents insisted Jules and I went to America when Mum was ill, there wasn't anything we could do and two more miserable bodies wouldn't have helped matters.
​ “Sorry about the coffee.”
​ I looked over to my now stone-cold cup and half eaten Pflaumkuchen, “You can buy the next one.”
​ She drew in a deep breath, “Come on then, Schuh Strasse.”

​ Ot oh, lock up your wallets, it’s almost impossible to leave Schuh Strasse without clutching a shoebox. We put our coats back on, gathered our bags and headed out into the city once more.
​  
​ I collapsed into the first pair of empty seats I came to, dragging my shopping in to allow Mand to join me. We'd been up in C&A when my phone went off with an SMS from Mum reminding me we needed to get home for this impromptu dinner party. Oh boy, a quick calculation gave us less than fifteen minutes to get to the Hbf for the Rheintal Express and our connection to Dernau or it'd be another hour and suffer the wrath of Mum.

​ Okay, it’s not a long way but encumbered by assorted bags and busy shopping streets it was a close-run thing. It’s a good job the southbound train goes from Gleis Eine, we ran onto the platform, through the closing door, the Zug was moving before we found our way to some seats.
 
​ “Pity about that bra,” Mand pronounced as she arranged her own purchases.
​ “We can look in Koln next week,” I proposed.
​ “Yeah, maybe.”

​ To be honest I didn't like it myself, too much lace, too little support but it wasn't for me was it?

​ “So, what did you get for Drea in PuppenKönig?”
​ She sorted through her bags before passing me her first purchase of the day, “Here, I'm gonna try to condense this lot.”

​ I took the bag from her then slid the contents out.

​ “Ooh, she'll love this.”
​ “What I thought, there's animals and farm stuff, it says it’s from eighteen months.”

​ I turned the box over to see what was inside, its Duplo, you know those chunky Lego bricks? Well it’s a Duplo farm set complete with tractor, farmer, a cow and a sheep, yup, very much on Drea's radar.

​ “You might want to take the price off before you give it her, Bern can be a bit funny if she thinks you've spent too much.”
​ “I can sort of understand that,” Mand mentioned.

​ I slid the box back into the bag and dug into my rucky for the bag of gummi bears I picked up earlier.

​ “Bears? We've got dinner when we get back.”
​ “And? You sound like Mum.”
​ “Whatever.”
​ I opened the bag and pulled several sugar hits out, “You want?”
​ “Thought you'd never ask.”
​  
​ The train was busy but on time, we had fully ten minutes to get across to the Ahr Express in Remagen so no running required. Its December so despite only being a bit after four the light was already fading quite fast, by the time we cleared the lights of Remagen it was almost black outside, the only thing to be seen in the window glass the reflection of the train’s interior. We sat in silent contemplation up through Bad Neuenahr and Ahrweiler, next stop Dernau.

​ It was distinctly chilly when we got off the train, I thrust my hands firmly into pockets, Mand had to put up with cold hands due to the copious results of her shopping spree. It’s not five yet but Dernau is like a ghost town, nothing new there I guess, it’s like everyone works to the light not the clock. In summer there'll be bods about until at least ten but I guess no one likes being out in the dark.

​ The walk back to Schloss Bond didn't take long, ot oh, looks like Mum's dinner party has escalated. Sure enough, there in the drive behind Gloria's Cayenne was the Pinger’s big Passat estate, joy. I don't mean that in a bad way but if the Pinger’s are here my chances of getting one on one with Max are pretty small.
​  
​ “About time,” Mum told us as we slunk into the kitchen.
​ “We couldn't make the train go any faster,” I pointed out.
​ “Anything we can do?” Mand offered as she hung her coat up.
​ “I think we're sorted, you might want to change, the Pinger’s are here too.”
​ “We saw,” I told her adding my own jacket to the cloak room hooks.
​ “Go,” she encouraged, “You've got five minutes.”
​  
​ Clearly five minutes was being a bit optimistic, we both ignored the voices coming from the lounge and hot footed up to our respective rooms. Obviously, a shower was out of the question, I did an express strip and had a quick strip wash instead. What to wear? I thrust my hand into the rack and pulled out the first thing that came to hand.

​ So okay, maybe it’s a bit, er, short but I'm wearing hose and if I wear my black strappy sandals, I won't be quite so exposed. To be sure I’ve not worn it for quite a while and whilst hardly haute couture, I like it. Indeed, I can remember getting it, I was in Meadowhell with Mad and Aunt Carol, there was a sort of alternative clothing place in the Lanes.

​ I found a black velvet look headband, no time to do anything fussy, fluffed my mop up a bit and headed downstairs. Of course, by the time I got down to the ground floor the stretchy material had made its way somewhat higher up my torso than it started! Damn, I forgot it that this dress does that, I slipped my feet into the sandals, tugged everything back into place and made my grand entrance.

​ Last as usual, everyone else had wine glasses in hand.

​ “Interesting look,” Mand whispered in my ear.
​ “It was the first thing I pulled out.”
​ “You might want to lose the bra,” she suggested.

​ Sugar! I was in such a hurry I forgot how clingy this frock is, a quick glance only confirmed Mands assertion, you could see my underwear as clear as if I was wearing it over the top. I turned on my heel and headed with some speed back outside, Mum's 'where's she off to now?' floating out of the door behind me.
 
© Maddy Bell 29.06.2019