Gaby Book 18 - Summery

 
“What’re you two giggling about?” Max enquired when he returned.
“Nothing.”

He clearly didn’t buy that but thankfully didn’t pursue the matter.

“If we crack on we can get this finished today.”
“Er yeah,” I agreed.

Con was stifling a snigger which earnt her an elbow in the ribs.

By the time Max had dug and we’d rubbish picked the whole area we had two sacks of rubbish and I for one was feeling quite grubby.

“Ready for planting by the looks of it,” Tomas suggested joining us as we surveyed the bare earth.
“Planting?” Con queried.
“Well you didn’t think we were going to leave it as mud did you?”
“Hadn’t given it any thought,” she admitted.
“Grass I guess?” I offered in turn.
“Works best,” Herr T agreed,” can you give me a hand Max, I've got some plastic sheeting in the kiosk, we’ll cover you’re hard work so it doesn’t attract more rubbish while Josef is doing the roof.”
“Sure,” Max agreed.
“So are we done for today?” Con asked her father.
“There’s probably not much for you guys to do until your uncle’s finished the building work.”
“How long’s that gonna be Mr T?”
“Hopefully the roof will be done at the weekend, Gaby, I can get on with the new render next week then.”
“Couldn’t we paint the inside?” Con proposed.
“Not yet, we’re rewiring and putting some extra shelving in the stockroom.”
“So we can’t do anything until that’s done?” I offered.
“Hopefully it’ll all get done late next week,” Herr Thesing concluded.
“Sweet!” Con grinned, “The pool beckons!”
“Make the most of it, it’ll be full steam from then on if we’re to open on time,” her dad warned, “Max?”
“Right with you, Mr T.”

“So what’re you up to now?” Max queried.
“I need a shower,” Con shared.
“I've got to go training, bum, I need to ring Dad.”
“Suppose I should give my dad a hand, we’ve got a private function tonight,” Max told us.
“Oh the glamour of it,” I mentioned with a grin, “you come on the Express?”
“Bike.”
“You should join Gab’s training,” Con sniggered as we followed him to the ‘yard’ where his ‘sports’ bike was waiting.
“Maybe not, let us know when you’re going to the pool.”
“We will,” Con told him.
“Thanks for coming to help," I gave him a quick cheek peck, well he didn’t have to help did he?
“Later.”
“Bye, Maxxie,” Con teased.
“Tschuss,” I added as he checked the road before pushing off towards the lower valley.

“See you later, Dad.”
“I shouldn’t be late, tell your mother I'll collect the meat on the way back.”
“Okay, tschuss.”

We walked over to the station, the Express was still fifteen minutes away so there was no rush.

“Best ring Dad,” I told Con as I rummaged for my Handy.
“Hope everything's sorted,” she opined.
“Yeah,” I agreed as I found the phone and hit the speed dial.

He picked up on the third ring, “Dad?”
“Oh hi, kiddo, you finished at the kiosk?”
“Yeah, we’ve cleared the grass off, just waiting for the Express. What’s happening, they get the driver out okay?”
“Er yes,” his tone didn’t sound very positive, “he’s in a pretty bad way. Look, you can’t get to the house, can you go to Con’s?”
“I guess, why can’t we get to the house?”
“They’ve been doing investigation stuff all morning and now there’s all sorts of recovery gear everywhere.”
“What about training and stuff?”
“Don’t worry about that, I'll pick you up from the bakery at four, okay.”
“Okay,” I agreed.

“So?” Con queried.
“Looks like I'm coming to yours, our place is out of bounds.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“The driver sounds in a bad way, Dad says they haven’t cleared the road yet.”
“You gonna be able to go home later?”
“No idea,” I shrugged.

The bells on the level crossing started, the sixty second warning that the Express was approaching Altenahr on its downhill run.

“That’s better,” Con announced arriving in a couple of towels into the Thesing’s lounge, “you sure you don’t want to shower?”
“I'll wait to see what Dad’s arranged thanks.”
“Whatever, you want a drink?”
“Er sure.”

She led the way to the kitchen where Therese had all sorts of ledgers and stuff covering the table.

“You want coffee, Mum?”
“Hmm, iced tea please,” she requested without looking up
“’Kay, Gabs?”
“Er yeah, same please.”
“Coming up!”
“You alright, Gab?”
“Uh huh,”
“You can stay here tonight if you can’t go home,” she offered.
“Er thanks.”
“Sleepover!” Con enthused.
Therese looked up, “Constance Thesing go and get dressed, we don’t all want to see what you’ve got!”
“Mu-um, it’s only Gab.”
“Who I'm sure doesn’t need to see you half naked.”

I could feel myself start to colour up. To be sure, I have seen my friend, well not just her, Jools and even Mum er, naked. I've never been that comfortable with other people’s nakedness, I just try to er ignore it.

I thought it was my er, questionable status but I’m still no better – some of it’s context, bikini’s and speedos at the pool, no problem, communal showers – blush fest.

“Now!” Therese ordered, “Gab’s dad will be here soon.”
“Yes Mum,” Con agreed before sulking off to dress.
“I'll er do the drinks,” I offered.

“You want a drink, Dave?” Therese offered when Dad appeared just turned four.
“No thanks Therese, can’t stop, need to get trouble down to the bottling plant.”
“Any news?”
“They’ve still got the road closed, it could be tomorrow before it’s all cleared up.”
“Well let us know if we can help with anything.”
“Thanks, you ready, Gab?”
“I guess.”
“Come on then, thanks for babysitting, Therese.”
“Da-ad!”

Talk about mortified!

Therese chuckled, “No problem.”

“What’d you say that for?” I demanded once we were outside, “That was so embarrassing.”
“It’s in the job description, page twenty three I think, thou shallt embarrass your offspring at every opportunity.”
“Da-ad,” I groaned, flippin’ wind up merchant.
“In you get, kiddo.”

It was only then that I realised we’d walked along to the parked Apollinaris minibus.

“So where’re we going?”
“We’ll pick up Amanda from the main station then we’ll go to HQ so you can go training, you can use your race bikes.”
“What about kit, it’s all at home,” I pointed out.
“There’s spare stuff down there you can use.”
“Shoes?” I suggested, shorts and stuff are easy but footwear.
“Shoes too, they might not be perfect but they’ll do for this afternoon.”

We were soon heading down towards Neuenahr.

“What about the car?”
“I've spoken to the insurance people, we’ll get to go car shopping next week, George has okayed us using the bus until we’re sorted.”
“So what car are we gonna get?”
“I was wondering about a camper?”
“Like the Veedub?”
“Maybe something a bit posher than that.”
“Kewl, not very practical round town though,” I pointed out.
“There’s your Mum’s A Klasse,” he suggested.
“Not very big,” or cool for that matter.
“We’ll see, it’s not desperate, I need to talk to Mum about it too.”

We pulled onto the station forecourt just as the up bound Express arrived.

“So what’s happening?” Mand asked as she slid the door shut.
“There was an accident at the house this morning, we can’t get to it at the moment.”
“Accident? What sort of accident, was anyone hurt?”
“The crane at the building site fell over,” I started, “landed on our car, squashed it big style.”
“Wow,” Mand allowed.
“The driver’s quite badly hurt,” Dad added.
“So where’re we going now?”
“You pair are going training.”
“What about kit?”
“Already been there,” I told her over my shoulder, “apparently there’s stuff at the depot.”

The bus bounced into the yard and rattled to a halt in front of the team HQ.

Maddy Bell © 12.01.17