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Viewing Note: This story should be viewed with the Edwardian Script ITC font installed on your Windows platform in the c:/Windows/Fonts directory. Microsoft Word installs this font automatically.

Photo Credit: Provided by PB.
 

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Chapter 14
 

Two months later….

“Can you believe the choices for plays that Frau Fassbinder gave us?” Suse asked her friend as she and Gaby left their last class of the day.

“Just be thankful that ‘Hair’ didn’t make the top 5,” Gaby half-jokingly replied. “I’m not ready to do nude scenes on stage.”

“It’s all in your mind … maybe we should just ask some of these boys to see what they think?” Suse playfully quipped as she easily avoided a half-hearted swipe from Gaby.

“Besides … I wouldn’t mind seeing a few of the guys in the class ...”

“Not sure how Aldrich would take it,” Gaby joked.

“I guess I’d just have to get him to switch to drama, wouldn’t I?” Suse replied as the two girls broke out in giggles.

Threading their way through the now crowded halls, Suse turned to Gaby and started asking her about when she was going to start her training rides again.

“I dunno … I’ve already had a few rides but the weather hasn’t exactly co-operated, so I’ve mostly worked out on the turbos. I better get some more road time in before long … Mum’s already put in my registration for the Sschwarzbräu-Straßenpreis 2005 later this month.”

“Where’s that?” Suse asked.

“Dunno … Ausburg, I think … Mum knows the place,” Gaby replied as they arrived at their lockers.

As she opened her locker and retrieved her mobile, Gaby noticed the text window displayed ‘message waiting’. Seeing that it was from her mum, she motioned for Suse to wait while she called. Kat, Steffie and Liesl walked up, as Gaby was calling up the number.

“Hold on, guys … just got to give Mum a call,” Gaby stated as she put the mobile under her hair and up to her ear.

“Hi, Mum? You called?” Gaby inquired.

Silence ensued for a short time, “Now? … Uh, okay … I’ll let the others know … no … I’ll meet you outside in the car park, bye … no … I took the train today … bye.”

“Mum’s comin’ by to pick me up. Says the boss wants to see me in his office … so … you guys might as well go ahead … I’ll probably see you later if not tomorrow,” Gaby informed her friends.

“Why’s George calling you in, Gabi? What did you do?” Kat quietly asked.

“No bloody idea!” a perplexed Gaby replied. “I promise you’ll be one of the first to know … phone you when I get home.”

“Maybe Mama will know when she comes home,” Kat suggested.

As Gaby grabbed her coat, bag and books, she closed up her locker and the girls started to walk towards the main doors.

“I guarantee she will … since we’re driving her home,” Gaby playfully countered.

“Oh, yeah…” Kat sheepishly replied. “Talk to you when you get back, then … Tschüss.”

As the girls stepped outside the building, Jules joined them, along with a boy from her class.

“Go ahead, sis … Mum’s picking me up.”

“How come?”

“I’ve been summoned to George’s office. I’ll tell you all about it when I get home.”

Noting Jules’ friend chose to remain at a distance from them, Gaby discreetly grabbed her sister’s blouse and pulled her closer.

“Sis … is that Johan?”

“Cute, isn’t he? “ Jules coyly replied.

“If you like boys,” Gaby playfully shot back. Jules and Johan quickly left to catch up with the others as they began to make their way to the train station.

Gaby didn’t have to wait long before her mother swung into the school’s car park. Minutes later, they were getting out of the car at the team’s training facility.

“Ah … Nachmittag Gabi … froh konnten Sie hier sein.” George warmly greeted Gaby when she entered his office and then turning to Jenny, he thanked her for getting her daughter on such short notice.

“Sweetheart, I know you know our team’s legal mind … Eric … and you briefly met this gentleman a couple of summers ago in Dorset … Mr. Frank Bower. He’s ‘Specialized’ European representative.” Jenny gently steered Gaby over to the two men standing by the conference table in George’s office.

“Nachmittag, Herr Weber. Nice to see you again Mr. Bower,” Gaby intoned as she acknowledged both gentlemen.

A couple of minutes later, Dave joined them and George invited everyone to sit at the large table in the office.

“Bitte … jeder.”

Gaby sat between her parents on one side of the conference table, Eric and Frank opposite them on the other side and George at the end. Once everyone was comfortable, George nodded to Frank to open the meeting. As he rose, he handed out folders to everyone except Dave and Eric, who waved his advanced copy.

“In a nutshell Gaby, ‘Specialized’ are offering you an initial one-year sponsorship contract. We know what you’re capable of, what you’ve done and the influence you, along with your mother, have in the world of women’s cycling.”

Turning to Jenny, Frank addressed his next comments to her.

“We also realize that you’ve retired from competition, Jenny … but we still feel that you carry a lot of influence in the sport and as such, we’re also prepared to offer you a similar one-year endorsement contract. I hasten to mention that even though both of your contracts are for an initial one-year period … they are in reality, open … when you factor in any possible extensions.” He paused to allow a surprised Jenny to collect herself before continuing.

“What we would like to do is to build a campaign around the concept of the mother-daughter duo … second generation, if you will. You two have already captured the attention of everyone following the sport and to be honest, ‘Specialized’ feels that having both of you as spokespersons will prove beneficial for all.” Frank then went on to outline the proposed ‘Specialized’ campaign in further detail as well as the terms of the contracts plus any direct benefits to Gaby, Jenny, Team Apollinaris and the fledgling Apollinaris Youth Project.

“I’ll give you both some time to read them over and then Eric and I will answer any questions you may have.”

After they had finished reading their respective contracts, Eric took ‘the floor’ and covered all of the legalities and fine print written in the contracts and offered his advice to the two women. Once they listened to him and had some time to talk among themselves, both Gaby and Jenny signed. George countersigned on behalf of the pro team and sponsor and Dave gave his signature on behalf of the Apollinaris Youth Project.

“Not a bad 15th birthday gift … is it, kiddo?” Jenny quipped, all the while holding back a few tears of joy as Gaby gave her mum a hug.

“How you feel … your first real sponsorship?” Dave later asked Gaby, when they were back home.

“Brill … I guess…” Gaby replied with a long sigh, as her voice trailed off.

“What’s wrong, Petal? I would’ve thought you’d be happy,” Dave quietly asked as he sat down.

“No Maddy to share it with…” Gaby quietly replied.

“I have a strong hunch she’ll hear about this in a day or two,” Dave whispered. “You know how your mum and Carol love to talk.” He pulled Gaby into a hug and held her for several minutes.

Following dinner, both girls attended to their homework instead of letting it slide over the weekend and then convened on Gaby’s bed to start planning for her party.

“Who you planning to invite, sis? You only have a week … give or take.”

“Well, lessee … Judith, Steffie, Kat, Liesl … and Suse. The family, of course … and Mum says Kat’s parents will be here as well.”

“No boys?”

“Nope. I think they’d feel a little weird at a girl’s birthday party.”

“You didn’t feel weird going to Maddy’s parties, did ya?

“That was different, innit? I was Maddy’s boyfrien…” Gaby’s voice quickly fading as her voice trailed off.

“I’m sorry,” Jules offered when she caught her mistake. Seeing her sister take a huge sigh, Jules asked, “Okay?”

“Just thinkin’…”

“It won’t be like last year,” Jules softly pointed out.

“I know … but…” Gaby’s thought was interrupted as her eyes started to get wet.

“Is it Maddy?”

Gaby closed her eyes and whispered, “I wish she wanted to be here as much as I want her here.”

Following a brief silence and a deep sigh, Gaby resumed the planning session with Jules.

“Now, where were we? Since we’re just talking dinner an’ dancing … I don’t think room will be a problem … just move the lounge around a bit an’ we’ll be okay,” Gaby mused.

“Food?”

“Dunno … Mum an’ Maria said they’re takin’ care of that. No idea wot they’re planning, though…” Gaby replied.

“Then I think that’s about it! We seemed to have covered everything we can. Meeting adjourned!” Jules cheerfully replied.

As they got off Gaby’s bed, Jules added, “Better let Mum know how many are coming … I’ve got to get ready. Johan should be here shortly.”

“Big date?” Gaby teased.

“Something like that,” Jules shot back through a big smile. “Do my hair later?”

“Sure!” Gaby shot back.

As Jules was getting ready, Gaby made out the official invitations so she could give them to the girls the following day when they came over.

“I’m ready,” Jules called out from her bedroom.

“Be right there.”

The days leading up to Gaby’s 15th birthday went by very quickly. On a couple of the good days, Gaby and Judith managed some short 30km training rides. On other days, they were on the turbos at the team facility after school let out.

Finally, ‘the day’ arrived and Gaby was officially 15. It was another normal day at school except that Gaby and her friends were all wearing either a skirt or a dress instead of their usual jeans, which in itself garnered the attention of many of the boys throughout the day. After school, all the girls took the train and went directly to Gaby’s house. Jenny and Jules took the presents inside and then returned to join the others outside by the van.

“Everyone here, Gaby?” Dave asked. She made a final mental roll call.

“Yep!”

“I’ll go with Mum and the Pinger’s,” Jules offered.

“Okay … everyone else … into the van,” Dave announced. “We’ll do your presents after dinner, Petal.”

The adults had decided to take Gaby and her friends out to the Zur Saffenberg for a birthday dinner reasoning that it would considerably simplify things. Between the Pinger’s car and Dave’s van, they were easily able to take everyone. Following their arrival at the restaurant, Jenny informed the ‘hostess’ they had a reservation and were promptly seated.

“Order what you want … within reason. If you’re unsure … please ask. Both presents and cake will be served up back at the house,” Dave announced after they were all seated and prepared to search the menus in front of them.

Almost two hours later the tables were finally being cleared and they were preparing to leave.

SIGH!

“I think I need a couple of hours on the turbos … anyone else want to join me?” Jenny jokingly asked following their excellent meal. Both Gaby and Judith quickly raised their hands, much to the amusement of the others.

After they all returned from dinner, the girls were directed into the lounge. As she went to sit on the couch beside her friends, Dave walked up beside the upholstered chair in the corner of the room.

“Princess … your throne’s over here!”

“I’ll start,” Suse announced as she passed a thin box to Gaby, who accepted the wrapped gift with a puzzled look.

After Gaby started to carefully remove the wrapping paper, she heard a resounding chorus of, “GABI!.” Without further prompting, she proceeded to frantically rip the paper from the box to the delight of her friends. Once the wrapping was torn off, Gaby saw it was from one of the better women’s clothing chains in Germany. Upon opening the box, she briefly looked puzzled and then pulled out a red silk poncho with a hand painted floral design encompassing the entire poncho.

As she carefully inspected the gift, she kept looking at Suse. “It’s beautiful! It really is … Danke!”

“I thought it’d look really good in the summer with your jeans and a top … maybe a tube top or bathing suit?” Suse explained.

“Oh … I think I’ll find a few things it’ll go with. Danke, Suse.” Gaby then rose from her seat, went over to her friend and gave her a hug in appreciation of the gift.

Judith gave Gaby a pair of good riding gloves and a pair of quality sport sunglasses identical to the ones that she wore when riding.

“You just know these will get a lot of use … Danke, Judith!” Gaby again showed her appreciation with a hug.

“ME NEXT!” Kat excitedly interjected. After getting Gaby’s full attention, she wished Gaby a happy birthday in a quieter voice.

“Here, Gabi … Alles Gute zum Geburtstag.”

She took the envelope from Kat and after opening it, removed two tickets for the Berlin date of U2’s ‘Vertigo’ tour. Her face immediately lit up at seeing the tickets but when she noticed the date of July 7, it was quickly replaced with a look of disappointment.

“Something wrong?” A worried Kat asked.

“July … I’ll probably be racing somewhere,” a dejected Gaby mournfully replied. When her mum walked over, Gaby surrendered the tickets to her.

“Unfortunately, you’ve got race commitments in July. You’re already registered for the 2005 DM Bahn Berlin ... so you’ll be tied up from the 2nd to the 6th of July.” Jenny tried to hold a straight face as she pointed out her daughter’s schedule.

“You two planned this!” Gaby exclaimed as she ran to hug both Kat and her mum. “I don’t know what to say … but … THANKS!”

“How do you follow that?” Liesl quietly asked. Gaby walked over to her and gave Liesl a hug and a peck on the cheek.

“By being my friend.”

“Well … in that case … Alles Gute zum Geburtstag.” Liesl then handed her a small wrapped box.

After looking at everyone, Gaby ripped the wrapping away and upon opening the box saw a pair of 2” white gold hoop earrings.
“Wait here!” Gaby called out as she ran to the mirror hanging over a small side-table, in the hall.

After inserting the new hoops and inspecting them, she proudly turned around and proclaimed, “I love ‘em! Danke, Liesl.”

She then returned to the lounge where she showed everyone and gave Liesl another hug.

“Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Gabi.” Steffie offered as she held out her gift to Gaby.

“It really has been a happy birthday with all you guys here,” Gaby replied as she peeled the paper from Steffie’s gift.

“I noticed it was missing from your Beatles collection,” Steffie offered as Gaby looked at the playlist.

“Danke, Steffie. I’ve heard they’d released it … but I’d never even seen it. Danke!” Gaby enthused.

“What CD you get, Pet?” Dave asked.

“Let It Be … Naked. It’s their ‘Let It Be’ album before they added all the fancy stuff to the music,” Gaby replied as she took it over to him for his inspection.

“An’ now we come to the family’s gifts … for my favourite sister,” Jules announced with a flourish.

“Last I knew, I was your only sister…” Gaby smugly shot back as she accepted the gift with a hug and a kiss to Jules’ cheek.

When she opened the box, she held up a marine-blue, cotton tank top with a braid pattern around the neckline.

“It’s beautiful … thank you, Jules. I bet this’ll look great with my jeans and moccasins!”

After she went to give Jules another hug, Dave presented her with her final gift.

“This is from your Mum and I … Happy birthday, sweetheart!”

Slowly opening the box, Gaby saw a suede jacket. Upon taking it out of the box, she realized that it was the same fringed jacket she loved and tried on the time they took Carol into Bonn for a day of shopping.

“Thank you, you guys!” Gaby squealed as she turned to give her mum and dad a big hug.

Once all the gifts were given out, Dave and Heinrich moved some of the furniture in the lounge to improvise a dance floor while the girls talked amongst themselves and looked at Gaby’s presents.

Before Dave assumed his role as DJ and started the music, Steffie walked over to Gaby, took her by the hand and led her into the middle of the cleared floor.

“I would like to say something, if I could? Bitte?” Steffie asked as she nervously looked around the room and then turned back to Gaby. “First of all, do not blame Kat … she was only trying to find a way to help a friend. Now it’s my turn.”

Still holding Gaby’s hand, Steffie saw a very nervous look cross her friend’s face as she continued with her speech. “Some time ago … you told Kat that you sometimes had doubts about how we felt about your … umm … preferences.”

When she noticed on Gaby tensing up, Steffie squeezed her friend’s hand to let her know things were going to be all right and continued. “I know that I speak for all of us when I say that … we really do not care if you like girls. We love you just as you are!”

She paused briefly to gather her thoughts before adding, “All we want from you (sigh) ist to … just keep being our friend.”

Gaby tightly hugged her friend as the others walked up to join in a group hug. Her only response was a tearful, but quiet and very sincere, “Danke.”

“S’cuse me. (sniff) I probably look a right mess, by now.” As Gaby left the room, Jules followed her out.

“See, sis? Nothing like last year, innit?” Jules whispered as her sister was fixing her make-up. Gaby looked at her big sister before giving her a long hug.

Dave had already started the music by the time the two returned. Some of the girls were up dancing as well as Maria and her husband.

After several dances had transpired, Steffie discreetly got Kat’s attention and pointed towards Gaby. She had noticed that even though Gaby seemed to be enjoying herself, there was something missing. Kat agreed and decided to try to resolve the problem.

“Mama? Would you get mad if I had a slow dance with Gabi?” Kat timidly asked her mother as she approached the adults sitting around the kitchen table.

Maria looked at Kat with a puzzled expression, obviously wondering the motive behind her daughter’s strange question.

“You now telling me that you like girls?” Maria quietly asked.

“Mama! She’s my friend! Besides … you know I like Kurt!” Kat hissed. “But look at her. It’s her birthday and everyone’s having fun … except her. I know her, Mama! She may look happy… but look how quiet she’s been. She ist probably thinking of Maddy again.”

“She is … with every dance,” Jenny solemnly agreed.

“Don’t you think it might be nice if I went und asked her to dance?” Kat asked her mother. “Might make her feel better … about … things.”

Both women picked up on the veiled references to Maddy and memories of Gaby’s last birthday. They momentarily looked at each other before Maria hugged her daughter.

“I think Steffie already did a lot to bury memories of Gaby’s last birthday … but I also think she’d appreciate that dance, Kat.” Jenny admitted.

“Can I pick the song, Herr Bond?” Kat quietly asked knowing that Gaby frequently invaded her dad’s music collection.

“Of course,“ Dave agreed. “You know where they are.” Kat went and looked through Dave’s CD’s and after several minutes, she went back up to Dave and indicated the song she wanted him to play.

“Wait until I ask, okay?” she asked as she went out to join the rest of the kids. She motioned for the music to stop as she walked over to a surprised Gaby and while the others watched, she sat down beside her.

Gently taking Gaby’s hand in her own, Kat softly asked, “You are thinking of Maddy … are you not?” Gaby slowly nodded. “I know I’m not her … but could I please have this dance, Fräulein?”

“This one ist for Gabi!” Kat announced as she gently pulled her friend up.

Once both girls were on their feet, she took Gaby in her arms as the first bars of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” floated out of the speakers. As Gaby laid her head upon Kat’s shoulders, she whispered into her friend’s ear, “Danke, Kat”

When the song was nearing its end, Kat thought she felt Gaby softly crying. On a whim, they stopped dancing and with the final notes still in the air, Kat gently placed a finger under Gaby’s chin and raised her head until the two girls were looking into each other’s eyes.

“Just pretend … I’m Maddy … Happy birthday, darling…” Kat softly cooed as she planted a long kiss on Gaby’s lips.

Gaby resisted only for the briefest of seconds, then melted back into Kat’s embrace enjoying the kiss. Once they broke apart, she looked at her friend through moist eyes and then lightly kissed her, followed by a tight hug.

“Danke, Kat. I don’t know what else to say … but thank you!” Gaby’s emotional and heartfelt thanks was all Kat needed to hear.

Dave quickly selected a more upbeat piece of music and the others soon found space on the improvised dance floor.

After another quick dance, Dave stopped the music and the lights in the lounge went off. As the girls parted, Jenny carefully walked over to Gaby with a tray and a cake topped by 15 lit candles.

“Humour us … make a wish, kiddo!” Jenny urged. Gaby thought for a nanosecond then blew out all the candles.

“Whaddya wish for sis?” Jules asked.

“Yeah … tell us Gabi,” Liesl echoed.

“I think you all know…” Gaby replied, her voice fading as it trailed off.

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* BDR — Der Bund Deutscher Radfahrer: The Federation of German Cyclists regulates all cycle racing in the German sport federation.
 
 
Comments are Greatly Appreciated!

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To Be Continued...