*Chapter 1*
Bad Reception
“Drew? A word?” Caro requested as I waited to board the bus to go to the reception.
Josh said he wouldn’t tell anyone.
“Don’t tell anyone, please?” I begged.
“Wotcha take me fer like? Ah was just saying like.”
“Thanks Josh.”
“No sweat man but I wish you’d make yer mind up like, ah canna keep up with ya swapping all tha time.”
“Er what’s up?” I enquired.
“Who said there was anything the matter?”
“Well…”
“Just winding you up kiddo, you’ve not done anything – yet and I want to keep it that way. I spoke to the others earlier but you were er modelling?” she raised an eyebrow.
“You saw.” My heart sank.
“Saw?”
“On the telly half an hour ago?”
“No, you’re Dad told me.”
“I didn’t mean to, I got sort of Shanghaied into it.” I defended.
“Fun?”
“Well yeah, Tali was there too, we had quite a blast!” I admitted. “I’m not in trouble for that am I?”
“A potential complication but we’ll cross that bridge when, no, if we get to it. No it’s this reception.”
“What about it? I thought it was like grub and mingling?”
“It is, disco, good food – the whole nine yards, the Swiss are renowned for their hospitality. That’s the problem, we want you ready to race in the morning not be nursing sore feet and heavy legs from dancing and over indulging.”
“So we do the penitent nun bit then?”
‘Jeez – he really is more girl than boy, the other lads might have said monk but not nun’ Caro observed. “No, not at all but we do want you to behave sensibly, a quick shimmy’s fine, eat sensibly – I’m under orders to er, step in if anyone gets a bit too enthusiastic. Mingle with the other teams by all means but I, we don’t want any ‘relationships’ developing?”
“As if!” I snorted.
“You okay with all that then?”
“Sure, its not like I’m a party animal is it?”
“I suppose not Drew, I suppose not.” You might not be Drew but from what your father tells me Gaby certainly can be! “Come on then, lets get going.”
Whilst these reception things claim to be for the competitors they’re really a thinly disguised smoke screen for a shindig for the sponsors and organisers. So okay, there might be a bit of handshaking and photo taking but really we’re there as window dressing. Tonight wouldn’t be any different, Caro’s right; it’s not an impression tonight that counts, its out on the road tomorrow that matters.
We weren’t the first team to arrive, neither were we the last, so we had to wait our turn to ‘meet’ the sponsors or rather the selected individuals representing them. The reception line was impressive, a couple of blokes and a woman with I guess mayoral chains, a handful of suits and some military type or I guess he could’ve been police.
“Grosser Britannien!” the flunky announced and we followed the big boss along the line.
Apparently ‘he’ needed to be introduced to everyone, the rest of us just meekly shook hands.
When we cleared the line my heart sank – there on an easel by the door was a picture of a girl with a bike, taken today, please no one recognise me.
“Great.” I sighed.
“What?” Mand enquired over my shoulder. “Oh,” she finished spotting the lithograph.
“Indeed.” I agreed.
“No ones gonna recognise you here, it’s a coincidence they found a model who looks a bit like you eh?”
“Coincidence.” I repeated.
“Come on you two, we need to find our table.” Steve chivvied.
Of course before we could eat we had to have the speeches, introductions and so on. That meant speeches from each of the individuals we ‘met’ at the entrance interspersed with stuff from the race director. The fact it was all in Swiss German meant I had to suffer the bad puns and platitudes that my team mates couldn’t understand, well I think Dad and Josh followed most of it, the rest however just clapped when everyone else did.
At long last the food was announced, my stomach was approaching rumble stage after not eating a great deal earlier.
“Smells good.” Claire noted as the waitress ladled soup into her bowl.
“Cauliflower.” I offered.
“Cauliflower soup?” Darren queried.
“Sure.” I shrugged as my own portion was delivered, “danke.”
“Bitte,” acknowledged.
“Doesn’t look like cauliflower.” Jamie mentioned, pushing his bowls contents around with his spoon.
“Well duh, its creamed. Try it.” I pointed out.
“Yeah stop whining Jame, it tastes better than that onion soup the other day.” Sal proposed.
“Ah wisna complaining.” The big scot stated.
Personally I like cauli soup, bit of salt and pepper, tasty. Of course there’s never enough bread at these do’s but there again you don’t want to load up so early in the meal so perhaps it’s intentional. It didn’t take long to drain our bowls and people’s attention turned to the next course on the table menus.
“What’s next Drew?” Mand asked.
I guess as the most proficient German speaker it’s inevitable I get to be the translator.
“Lets see then.”
The menu was passed along to me.
“Landwirtsrösti mit salat, well röstii is like fried potato so it translates as farmers röstii.”
“What’s that then?” Laura queried.
“No idea, I’m guessing that there’s something with it, no sure what though.” I admitted.
Our curiosity was answered in short measure as a skillet was placed in front of each of us containing the next course. We all poked at the assemblage, röstii sure, topped with a fried egg but accompanied by a gherkin, a long sliver of carrot and a weird white veggie that I couldn’t identify. The röstii wasn’t your usual potato and onion mix, no there were bits of bacon too adding the otherwise missing meat content. The whole thing was topped with a sprig of something and a few blue flower petals – artistic and lost on most of the diners.
Well it looked allright, smelt okay and despite the soup my stomach gave a rumble so I dived in. the description doesn’t really do the food justice, you wouldn’t need to be a master chef to rustle it up but it was tasty although I’m not a big fan of gherkins and I’ve still got no idea what the white vegetable was but it tasted okay. After a little reticence on the others parts, they too did a locust job on the food.
“Bleh, I’m stuffed!” Sal announced.
“Best egg and bacon I’ve had in a while.” Mechanic Darren offered from across the table – each team occupied a large circular table.
“Maybe a bit much for brekkie like.” Josh put in as our waitress collected the skillets from the now much quieter diners.
“What’s for pud Drew?” Mark asked.
“Pudding?” Claire echoed.
“No pud,” I told them after scanning the card again, “cheese board and coffee it says.”
“Damn, coulda done some ice cream.” Mark lamented.
“Think I’ll pass on the cheese.” Laura stated.
“Wonder if I can get tea instead of coffee?” Claire mused.
“I can ask.” I offered.
With typical Swiss precision the cheese boards arrived – hmm Gruyere, Tilsiter, Gorgonzola I think, that hard one looks like Appenzeller, Emmental of course. Not just cheese, crackers of course but slices of apple and pear and some well juicy grapes.
“Café?” the waitress enquired.
“Danke,” I offered and continuing in German, “is it possible to have tea instead?”
“For sure fraulein, for how many?” grrr.
“How many for tea?” I asked of the table.
A show of hands made five.
“Five please, danke.”
“Keine problem fraulein.” She offered with a wink as she departed to organise the brew.
“What was that about Drew?” Mand queried.
“Er nothing.”
Sugar, if she thinks I’m a girl others probably will and that means my chances of being recognised as the poster girl outside are quite high.
“Oh come on Drew, that look on your face.” She pressed.
“Honest, its nothing really, tell you later.” If things don’t blow up of course.
“If you say so.” Convinced she wasn’t.
“Youse gonna hog all that cheese Drew man?” Josh broke in.
“Might do.”
“Well you can fetch yer own bottles tomorra then.” Josh riposted.
“You tell ‘im.” Mark added with a grin.
“In that case I suppose you can have some, but keep off the Gorgonzola!”
“Eww!” Laura squealed.
“Everything okay over there?” Dad asked from across the table.
“Aye Mr Bond,“ Jamie replied, “just wresting tha cheese from tha son.”
“Drew, let go of the cheese board.” Dad instructed.
“Aww.” I pretended to complain.
“Thé?” our waitress enquired returning with a tray of cups and pots of hot beverage, effectively cut the banter short.
With the food over, coffee or tea finished with we were efficiently evicted from our seats to await the evenings musical entertainment – a dads disco, joy! The adults sensibly headed to the bar area – I’m sure they won’t be hitting the bottle but it would be more peaceful than our confinement area. Like so many flocks of sheep each squad huddled together, all unwilling to be cut from the flock.
“Hey Ron!” for the first time tonight I spotted the German team.
“Drew!”
Taking the lead she led her squad towards the ‘old enemy’.
Of course the lads hadn’t met any of the Germans, the girls had met my teamies but not the lads who followed in their wake.
“Bondt.” Stefan Töller noted.
“Töller.” I offered a hand, the respect was mutual, we’ve raced the same events several times so we both knew the low down on the other.
The rest of the German lads joined us, Hans Brondby, Eric Torfhaus, another couple I knew by sight and a gangling youth that I’m guessing is the mysterious Paul Innerthausen Tali mentioned earlier.
“The famous Drew Bond.” He stated in only slightly accented English.
Apparently I’m famous now, just what I need!
© Maddy Bell 02.01.14
Comments
And it continues....YAY
I've been following Drew since the beginning, and am VERY happy to see the story continue. I almost expect Drew to be called to stand up and be recognized as the 'poster girl'...smirk.
Thank you Maddy
Dance the dream you're in
Drew, Drew, Drew (sight)...
I almost expect Drew to be called to stand up and be recognized as the 'poster girl'...smirk.
Kinda looks that way, doesn't it?
PB
Gaby's Back!
Hurrah! Gaby, everyone's favorite cyclist, is back ... and on BCTS, too!
The adventure continues! :-D
Red MacDonald
Blush alert
I can feel the heat now ;) just so long as he doesn't embarrass himself on the road tomorrow!
Teri Ann
"Reach for the sun."
Book 12 - part 1
Hi Maddy, Thank you for continuing "Gaby" here. Best wishes, Christine.
And Drew...
And Drew muddles along... I wonder how much long HE is around. LOL. Dinner sounded interesting... I do agree with Drew on the Gorgonzola - though my wife occasionally partakes.
Thanks,
Annette
YAY!!
Gaby/Drew is back!
Thanks loads, Maddy!
Don't let someone else talk you out of your dreams. How can we have dreams come true, if we have no dreams?
Katrina Gayle "Stormy" Storm
Oh boy
I'm all squigly inside because there is a new book of Gaby. I'm not sure about the title since to my read, it seems to have gone fairly well, other than the picture incident which hasn't rared up as a problem so fare.
Thanks so much for the chapter you've provided and the time you spend for our benefit Maddy.
Dahlia
story line
I enjoy the story line, the characters and the writing style. Anxious to see where this takes us.
Donna
How can anyone not notice?
With that large picture present, how is it possible someone not in the know hasn't put two and two together and come up with Drew Bond? Are those people that blind not to see Drew and the picture are one and the same? Or is it they just glance at the picture instead of studying it?
What is going to happen when the other shoe drops, and Drew's real gender comes into question?
Others have feelings too.