Gaby Book 16 - Sweet Sixteen

“Where is she? Where’s Bern?” I demanded.
“At the farm?” Mart suggested, “You didn’t think she was coming to school did you?”
“Well it had crossed my mind,” I admitted.
“She was still asleep when we set off this morning, where were you yesterday, Mum was gonna take you with us to the airport.”

Fill the guilt bin why don’t you, Mart.

“Er bike stuff over in Thuringen, it was organised weeks ago.”
“Well anyway, Mum suggested you come to eat with us tonight, Dad’ll drop you home after”
Bum, bum, bum! What do I do? I’m supposed to be at cheer.
“Er right, yeah okay, er what time?”
“You can come straight up when dad picks me up.”

Just to explain, they might live on the farm but Stefan, Mart’s dad that is, has a job in the Apollinaris labs, checking water purity or something. Father and son generally commute together; Frau Preiser is the one who runs the farm on a daily basis.
Sugar.

“We having a girls night for Bernie?” Pia asked at lunch.
“When?” I queried between mouthfuls of pepperoni and mozzarella.
“How about tomorrow?” Brid suggested.
“Might be a bit awkward for me, bike stuff,” I offered.
“Wednesday?” Steff counter proposed.
“Can we use the Stube P?” Nena enquired.
“Should be okay.”
“Remember she has Drea with her,” I mentioned – which reminds me, “we should invite Anna.”
“I can sort some food if you want,” Con offered.
“Before we plan too much shouldn’t we check Bernie wants a do?” Steff opined.
“Gab can ask later,” Nena proposed.
“Er yeah,” I allowed.

“Anna.”
“Heya, Gab, what’s up?”
“Why does anything need to be up?”
“There’s usually something afoot when you guys call.”
“You remember that Bernie was coming?”
“You said before Weihnachts.”
“Well she’s here now, we’re having a party on Wednesday if you can get.”
“I’m good, where, the Stube?”
“Uh huh.”
“It’s a date,” she enthused.
“Um, Bern wants to see your mum while she’s over, she’s brought Drea with her.”
“I’m sure Mum would love to see them, I’ll speak to her and let you know what she says.”
“Thanks.”
“See you Wednesday then?”
“Wednesday,” I agreed, “tschuss.”
“Tschuss.”

“Gab?” Mart called over.
I’d been sat in the bus shelter re-organising my evening as we waited for Herr Preiser.
“Coming.”
Not for the first time my Schauff was loaded into the back of the Preiser’s pickup, I’ve been rescued on more than one occasion.
“Hi, Gaby,” Herr Preiser offered.
“Hi, Mr P.”
“Get yourself inside, it’s a bit parky, eh?”
I couldn’t argue that, it’s been perishing again today and the half hour waiting for our lift hadn’t done anything to improve my comfort level.

We navigated Ahrweiler and set off on the steep, direct three hundred-metre climb up into the hills. It’s not a road I end up on very often; maybe I should bring Mand up here sometime – no that’s wicked. At Rammersbach we turned onto an even quieter, narrower lane that, after a few twists, turns and even a ford delivered us into the Preiser’s farm – certainly not a route I’ve used before.

“Look who we found,” Herr Preiser announced as we trailed into the house.
“Shusshh!” his wife told him indicating the buggy in a corner of the kitchen, “The baby has only just gone down.”
“Where’s Bernie,” Mart enquired.
“She’s just gone for a quick lie down, hi Gaby.”
“Hi, Frau Preiser.”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if you went up, Gaby; Martin, show Gaby the way.”
“Yes Mum, come on, Gab, you can leave your bag in the hall.”
I followed Mart back out of the kitchen, deposited my bag and coat in the hall and through the house to a narrow staircase.
“Up the stairs, door at the far end, there’ll be a while before dinner.”
“Cheers, Mart.”

I climbed the stairs and made my way to the end of the corridor where I paused a moment before tapping on the door.
“Come in.”
I pushed the door open, light from the hallway spilling past me into the dark interior.
“Heya, Bern.”
“Gab?” there was movement from the bed as Bern sat up.
“In the er flesh.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Come to see you?”
“Oh, Gab!”

It was a wet and weepy half hour or so before Mart came to find us.
“You two want coffee or something?”
“Er sure,” I agreed, “we’ll be down in a couple of minutes.”
“Sure.”
“Drea still asleep?” Bern asked her beau.
“Was when I came up.”

I’m sure she’ll tell me more later but it didn’t sound like she was having a good time back in Warsop. Maddy was still being a bit of a, well tit and whilst the others were friendlier, well it was all a bit forced. She didn’t go into specifics but it sounded like the Social were giving her some grief too – in short she was getting to the end of her tether.

I was reintroduced to Drea before dinner as she woke up looking for her own supper. Now me and babies, well let’s just say, I might have the equipment but I’ve got no intention of putting it to use. That said, well who could resist a baby smiling at them, certainly not me, I was soon clucking and fussing.

“You want to feed her?” Bern asked.
“I thought you were breast feeding?”
“I expressed some earlier, my teats need a rest from being chewed once in a while.”
“She hasn’t got teeth has she?”
“Not yet thankfully but getting gummed isn’t any better, so?”
“Go on then.”

In theory I know what to do, remember that whole maternity thing I had to do at school? I settled Drea into the crook of my arm whist her mother sorted out the milk and as they do, she started trying to suckle. Is that supposed to happen? My nipple was like, well it’s embarrassing.
Anyway, moving on, Drea took her milk and settled down again which at least meant Bern got to eat in peace. It’s a farm right, Mrs P is a fair cook, if it’s not quite restaurant quality the quantity more than made up for it. It was liver, one of my favourites, served with pureed potato and mixed veg – there certainly wasn’t much left on anyone’s plate – at least Bern has a good appetite.

“The girls are having a bit of a do on Wednesday night if you’re up for it?”

I’m not sure where the time went but it was almost eight and time for me to go home.

“I don’t have transport,” she pointed out.
“Don’t worry about that, you in?”
“It depends on Drea.”
“You can bring Drea, Gott, everyone wants to see her.”
“If it’s okay with the Preiser’s.”
“It’ll be fine.”
“What about Marty?”
“What about him?”
“Can he come?”
“I guess so, not sure he’ll want to be stuck with a bunch of girls and a baby all evening.”
“But he can come?”
“I said so didn’t I?”
“You ready, Gaby?” Herr Preiser enquired.
“Sure,” I replied before turning back to Bern, “I’ll let Mart have the details right, see you Wednesday.”
I gave her a hug.
“Bye, Gab.”
“Nite, Bern.”

The drive down to Dernau was mostly done in silence, well apart from RTL on the cars radio. Don’t get me wrong, it’s brill to see Bern and the baby but I can’t help feeling there’s more to her visit than a few days away from home. If she really wanted a break why did she bring Drea with her, I’m sure her mum would’ve baby-sat.

“Why didn’t you tell us Bernie was coming this week?” Mum asked as I was ‘debriefed’ over a pot of tea.
“I forgot? She did mail me to say but I thought it was next weekend.”
“And today?”
“Well Mart dropped it on me this morning, I could hardly say no could I?”
“No, kiddo, you did the right thing. I’ll give Erika a call in the morning, I need to see this baby that survived you delivering it, for myself.”
“Mu-um!”
“What?”
“Just don’t make too much fuss, eh?”
“Me? Fuss? What’s up, Gabrielle Bond? What aren’t you telling me?”
“Well you remember when she first came last year, she was sort of withdrawn and stuff?”
“Which was understandable.”
“Yeah, but like well its like she’s waiting for something, you know, really nervous.”
“I’ll ring Cheryl before I go up to the Preiser’s.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
Well it wasn’t quite a weight off my chest, but you know what they say about sharing troubles.

Maddy Bell 24.05.16