Gaby Book 16 - Sweet Sixteen

 
 
“You go up, I just need to fetch something.”
Cheers Soph, leave me to get through those damned doors on my own! I nearly landed on my nose when I tripped on the flippin’ skirts on the last staircase. I’m stupid; I should’ve changed downstairs, whatever. I made my way to the ‘wardrobe’ and poked around the shelves a bit while I waited…and waited…and waited.

What’s keeping her? She was supposed to come straight up. I’ll ring her, oh bugger I can’t, my Handy is downstairs. I made my way back across to the stairs.

“Soph! Soph you there?”
The stairwell was silent, I could hear voices outside somewhere but this building was devoid of sound.
“Sophia, come on stop mucking about, where are you?”
I strained to hear a reply but there was nothing. Bum; guess I’ll have to go back down to find her. For a second time I carefully descended from the attic and made my way down to where I’d left Soph on the third floor landing.
“Soph?”
I made my way along toward ‘our’ room, the door was open and I could hear something inside.
“Soph, that you?”
It was like a scuffling noise with the odd squeak punctuating things.
“Soph?”
I hurried inside to find my missing roommate on the bathroom floor having convulsions. Shit! Erm what do I do? Help – that’s what I need. I turned round to find my Handy, where is it?

So of course the battery was flat – all those flash pictures earlier, I know Soph’s phone. I found it on the bed, who do I ring though? I flicked through her contacts, Sara; yeah her sister will know what to do.

The phone rang several times before it was picked up.
“Heya Sis, what’s up?” Sara enquired.
“Its Gaby, Soph’s having some sort of fit.”
“Sugar! Where are you?”
“In the bathroom.”
“Okay, look try to stop her hurting herself, I’ll get help.”
“Hurry, please.”

It seemed like hours but in reality was barely two minutes before help did arrive in the form of the tour guide we’d met earlier. He must be some sort of first aider as he quickly set about checking a still twitching Sophia out. I got myself out of the way, my attire not exactly conducive to small spaces, and perched on the bed.

The entire equine group arrived not long after.
“You okay, Gab?” Jules enquired.
“Er yeah, Soph?”
“She’ll be fine,” Sara told me; “she’s had epi turns before, looks worse than it is.”
“She was alright when I left her.”
“That’s how it goes, Stefan will get her sorted, she’ll be okay.”
“Come on, Gab, lets go down and get you a drink,” my sister suggested.
“’Kay.”

“So erm, how come you are dressed like that?” Mand asked once I’d calmed down a bit.
“We were looking at stuff, in the attic.”
“I think you should get changed, the olds will be here shortly.” Jules proposed.
“Yeah okay, can you undo me? I can’t reach.”
Jules went behind me, “Undo you where?”
“The laces.”
“There aren’t any laces, sure it’s not got a zip somewhere?”
“It’s a real period dress, they didn’t have zips, there must be laces somewhere.”
“Well I can’t see any.”
“Nor me,” Mand added.
“But…”
“Come on, Sara will know,” Jules supplied.

“That’s the Theresia Amalia dress,” Sara pronounced.
“Yeah, look I’m sorry, Sophia insisted, how is she?”
“Sleeping, she’ll have a few bruises I think, let’s get you out of that.”
“How? Where are the laces?”
“It is sewn closed, didn’t Soph tell you?”
“She said it had to be laced.”
“Come on, I’ve got scissors in my room.”

“I’ll stay with Sophia, I’ve some stuff to do for this evening anyway, take the girls down for lunch Sara, take the Polo.”
“Okay, Mama.”
“I’ll stay too,” I offered.
“You did well, Gaby, but go eat, she’ll be fine now.”
“Come on, Sis, you can’t make any difference here,” Jules added.

“You alright, kiddo?” Mum asked when we reached the rest of the party in the Restaurant Straussen down in the village.
“Bit shaky,” I admitted.
“Interesting hairstyle,” Gran mentioned.
“Soph did it, she will be okay won’t she?”
“We thought maybe she’d outgrown the attacks, when she was smaller it was most weeks,” the Duke advised.
“They couldn’t do anything?” Dad queried.
“Medication of course but it is not good long term. It is not so uncommon, most kind grow out of it, Soph hasn’t had a turn for nearly a year so we hoped.”
“What causes it,” I enquired.
“Sometimes excitement, sometimes other things.”
“She put Gaby in the Theresia Amalia papa,” Sara mentioned.
The Duke sighed, “We’ll have to lock that damned attic.”
“I’m sorry, she said it was okay, I didn’t want to.”
“It’s not your fault, Gaby, you aren’t in trouble or anything, ah here comes lunch!”

We might’ve driven down to the village but the adults commandeered the car for the return uphill journey leaving us girls to climb back up on foot. It’s not a long distance but what the dark largely hid last night is that the castle sits atop a considerable chunk of rock that dominates the village sat cowering at the base of the cliff face. Sara acted as guide for the climb, taking us up a little used path that led directly up into the outer court of the Burg.

“What was the thing with the dress, Sara?” Jules asked.
“The Theresia Amalia dress? It has set Sophia’s attacks off before, don’t know why.”
“Weird,” Mand commented.
“You looked very well in it, Gaby, it could’ve been made for you,” Sara mentioned.
“Instead of the fifth Duchess?”
“I can’t believe they used to sew them closed like that,” Mand opined.
“No buttons to lose, I think it was more common for the peasantry especially in winter, they would wear all their clothes to keep warm.”
“Smelly!”

We were gasping by the time we got to the top and the light was starting to fade. There was quite a lot of activity in the inner courtyard, despite this being a ‘family’ gathering, the highlight of the evening is to be a spectacular fireworks display using the castle as the backdrop. But that’s later; right now I need to find out how Sophia is getting along.

“Sorry about that, Gab,” Sophia told me when I went up to see her.
“You had me worried big style,” I admitted, “so you gonna be okay?”
“Apart from a few scrapes and bruises.”
“You were flailing all over the place, it was horrible.”
“I never remember any of it, not that I want to.”
“Your sister said something about that dress.”
“It’s just a coincidence really.”
“Coincidence?”
“Uh huh, just because you were wearing it doesn’t mean anything.”
“Your dad seemed to think otherwise,” I pointed out.
“The first time I had a bad turn I was trying it on alright, that’s it though. So we getting ready for this party or what?”

My new frock was finally revealed to the hoi polloi, I felt a little exposed but there’s no getting away from it – I look spectacular in it! I got Sophia to redo my hair; the braids just seemed appropriate in this very German, no Bavarian setting. I think Soph changed her outfit so that her bruises weren’t so obvious but she looked pretty smart nonetheless.

The party – that is the pre firework bit with dinner was in the restaurant rather than the living area, which was just as well given the number of people. I’m guessing the majority were ‘estate’ workers and their families, I saw Stefan the guide quaffing from a stein. What I hadn’t foreseen was that a lot of people would be in Kostüm including the Duke and Duchess.

“What’s with all the Kostüm?” I whispered to Soph as we waited for drinks.
“Guess it saves buying a new dress for everything, I’m not a fan.”
“I’ve got a couple,” I allowed, “could‘ve saved what this cost if I’d known.”
“Trust me, Gab, you are better off in a nice Kleid tonight, sets us apart from the locals.”
“What about your parents?”
“It’s expected, they play at being country folk, see Mother’s Kostüm is much fancier than the locals more dress up than workday.”
“Yeah, mine are both above knee,” I admitted.
“Anyhow, let’s get some seats or we won’t get fed.”

The restaurant was set out more like a bier hall than a restaurant, long tables with benches rather than individual chairs. It was all a bit feudal, the Duke and his guests at the top table with the workers below, Soph however wanted to be ‘down below’ so we were squeezed onto one of the long tables. Bier was flowing freely; it wasn’t difficult to liberate some when the jug came past – not that I drink of course.

Of course the Duke gave a little speech, it wasn’t really of much interest unless you were a local. Well okay, he mentioned staff now departed, new births and so on before signalling for the food. Oh yes the food!

Imagine a cross between a posh dinner with loads of courses and a medieval banquet and you’ll get a rough idea. Lots of courses but nothing too fancy, linsensuppe, pork hock, Rotkohl, potato, fruit, cheese – a bit of a bun fight! The atmosphere was great, the company excellent and everyone was having a good time.

It was all about having a good time, even if she can’t speak much German Gran seemed to be getting on, everywhere you looked people were smiling, joking, laughing. The food eventually ran out and the party started to move outside.

“What’s happening now?” Mand asked from my elbow.
“Oh, heya. Fireworks.”
“Gab,” Mum called out, “coat.”
It made sense now, Mum’s insistence that we bring our coats across to the restaurant, we’re going to be outside for a while and it’s not mid summer. Be-coated we joined the other revellers heading for the fields above the castle, not a long walk, perhaps four hundred metres. There were already a lot of other people on the hillside but the Dukes guests had a roped off area giving us a preferential view.

The castle floodlights blinked off leaving the assembled throng in complete darkness, the murmur of the crowd dropping to almost silence.

Maddy Bell 09.04.16