Gaby Book 17 - Seasons

 
“I got your photos,” Con advised when I emerged from the school buildings.
“Er thanks, I forgot about that.”
“Your pack’s thicker than everyone else's, you order extra?”

School photos, I guess they’re pretty much the same everywhere, a pack of prints, one big one and a sheet of smaller versions, extras available at a cost. For the Prom the school ‘sponsored’ the basic pack but of course we could still order extras.

“No, maybe they put someone else's in with mine,” I surmised.
“Let’s take a look then,” my BF suggested.

There’re some benches by the bus pull in so after retrieving our steeds we sat to check out our photographic images.

“Mart looks a bit uncomfortable,” Con noted.
“Not much call for a collar and tie on the farm,” I suggested. “Sugar!”
“What? Let’s see?”

You know what it’s like, you get all dressed up, you’re the bees knees and then you see a picture and you never look as good as you thought, wrong hose, stray hair, something not fitting too well – we’ve all been there. So okay, I thought I looked pretty hot on Friday, look I'm as vain as any sixteen year old but the pictures. I handed Con the pack.

“Oh...my...god,” Con managed as she examined not just the standard arrival pic but the others of the Königen crowning that bulked the pack out.
“You, Gaby Bond, are beautiful.”

I didn’t recognise the girl in the pictures, oh Max was looking well buff in his Landeskostüm but the girl with him was on another scale. She dominated the pictures, the dress, the hair, the whole nine yards, oh I recognised her as me but my mind wouldn’t accept that I was she.

“Sugar,” was as much as I could manage.

“So, Gaby,” Herr Sebenschuh started. It was his turn to run the Cheer taxi this week and he’d just collected me and de Vreen from Bond Acres. “I've got some bookings from the Englisher reisebus people through the summer season.”
“Cool eh, Gabs,” Pia offered.
“Er yeah, that’ll be good for the Stube.”
“And us,” Pia supplied.
“Us?”
“Well duh, we get paid?”
“We do?”
“You do,” Herr Sebenschuh agreed.

I racked my brain for some clues as to how this news involves me. My mind flicked back to Weihnachts as P explained things to Mand, yeah, it was quite an intense couple of days. Fun though, the coach passengers had a good time in the end and whilst hard work the euros did come in handy.

“It’s only once in two weeks for now,” Herr S supplied.
“Dad’s stumping up for new uniforms,” Pia advised.
“Shirts and skirts?” I suggested.
“I wish,” Helmut allowed, “part of the deal is that the staff wear Kostüm, it’s gonna cost me a fortune.”

Oh joy, and I guess I signed up for this.

“I need your sizes so I can get it all ordered, the first booking is only three weeks away.”
“Any vacancies?” Mand enquired.
“An extra pair of hands would be good, Dad,” P mentioned.
“Three, four, huh, I'm trying to make money daughter not spend it.”
“Da-ad.”
“Alright, you’re hired, Amanda.”
“Yes!” Mand and P announced with a high, well low five.
“Why do I feel I've just been played eh, Gaby.”
“Er yeah,” I agreed.

“So if we can add some tumbling we get more points straight off,” I told my charges.
“Like gymnastic type stuff?” Lisse queried.
“Sort of,” I allowed, “I wasn’t thinking of anything too drastic, I'll show you, I'm a bit out of practice mind, can you give me a hand and Mand please.”

We dragged a crash mat out then it took a couple of minutes to explain what was required, I'm quite supple but I did some extra stretches anyhow. They linked hands, I stepped up and caught my balance.

“One and two and three!” they launched me upwards and I performed a slightly wobbly back flip with a half twist – I did say I was rusty.
“Yay!”
“Nice!”
“Go, Gabs!
“I'm impressed, Gab,” Hannah allowed,”you okay?”
“Not a great landing,” I allowed rubbing an ankle.

Clearly not everyone in the team could manage a back flip, for now at least we’d work on just a couple of girls doing assists. Of course it might be a bit of an ask to include the move at the next competition but once we’ve got the basics we can add more worth more points.

“Where did you learn that?” Hannah asked as we cleared up.
“In the States, we didn’t do tumbles in the Foresters.”
“States as in America?”
“School exchange trip, we did a competition over there so we trained with the AHS squad and they taught us some level two moves.”
“You really are full of surprises, Miss Bond,” Hannah noted.
“We’ll have to send a couple of these to your Grandparents,” Mum advised when Mand and I returned to the Bond stronghold.
Oh bum, she’s found the prom photos.
“That the Prom pics, Jenny?” Mand enquired heading over to where Mum was looking at the offending images.
“Mu-um,” I complained.
“They do make a good couple,” Mum stated, “your hair does compliment that dress, Gab.”

Yeah, just a pity I'm stuck with it for the foreseeable.

“You look like you’re about eighteen, Gab,” de Vreen suggested, “very elegant.”
“You sure you’re my daughter?” Mater joshed.
“Mu-um!” I complained again.

“There you go P,” I told my friend offering a slip of paper to her,” measurements.”
“Great, I've got Con’s so Dad can get them ordered.”
“What’s he ordering P?” Nen asked joining us with her coffee.
“Uniforms for a job.”
“Boring,” Bridg opined.
“It’s not gonna be anything too daft is it?” I asked.
“Mum’s actually picking the stuff, Dad just gets to pay,” Pia replied.
“Con says you’re going to the Koblenz Geschäftsleitungschule with P in September, Gabs?” Steff queried.
“I've got a place according to Boxxie,” I agreed.
“No more morning coffee,” Nena sighed.
“We aren’t all going to fancy colleges it’s only P and Gabs going to Koblenz, some of us are only going to the Hochschule,” Con pointed out.
“All that commuting,” Steff mentioned.

Joy, more precious time wasted, it’s like an hour each way to Koblenz - if the trains are running on time of course. Trust me to want a practical career as back up, the others get to study more maths and English etc. in Bad Neuenahr but I have to be different.

“We’ll still see each other,” Pia noted.
“Yeah, can’t break up the Angels,” Con cheered.
But it won’t be the same will it?

The rest of the week was relatively quiet, no drama’s, just the usual school, training, cooking, hanging with the girls – well until Friday at least.

“What have we got this week?” Tomas asked after I stowed my stuff.
“A Gabrielle Bond exclusive,” I announced.

I’d actually given this week’s pie filling a bit more thought. My original thought was a plain mince and veg, then I thought curry like back at Hygenic in Church Warsop. Not sure what Dernau would make of that so I've come up with a Gaby original – the currywurst pie!

Therese has grilled a dozen Bratwürst, the rest is straightforward, pikant curry sauce and paprika. Herr Thesing set too on the pastry, I retrieved a würst slicer from the store room, it took a bit of cleaning but it’s a bit safer than using a knife. (if you haven’t seen one, you put the sausage in the top and it comes out the bottom nicely chopped into like two centimetre chunks.

You normally have a full sausage on a tray with a liberal dose of glutinous sauce and paprika but for the pies, this first batch at least it’s about half a sausage. The catering suppliers have got us some better pie tins, smaller but a bit deeper, we can make the pies with a better filling to pastry ratio. Sausage in, ladle of slightly watered sauce, pie lid then a sprinkle of paprika on top – I suggested we identify the pies with different decoration on top so there’s a sort of sausage shape on these lids.

“Geez, it smells like fast food stand!” Con opined.
“Er yeah,” I agreed, I like currywurst but you can get too much of a good thing.
“Instead of complaining, try this,” her dad instructed.

She took the offered plate, found a fork and dug in.

“Pie and chips, not very healthy, Gab?” Mand stated.
“Well they’re not just any pies.”
“They do smell a bit weird,” she opined sniffing at her plate, “what is it?”
“Dad! Dinner.” I yelled into the garage.

Where’s Mum? Some race down in Austria, they left to drive down this morning.

“Hmm, different,” Dad mentioned when he joined us at the table, “what's in the pie?”
“Currywurst.”
“Currywurst? Interesting choice.”
“It’s pie of the week at Thesing’s.”
Mand had a coughing fit, “Hurgh! Flippin’ ‘eck, Gab!”
“It’s not that bad is it?”
“A bit sharper than I was expecting.”
Dad finished smothering his chips with mayo before digging in, “Different.”
“That all?”
“Bit on the dry side, but not bad.”

Yeah, maybe the curry sauce needs to be a bit ‘wetter’ but I'm fairly pleased with it.

“Why chips?” Mand asked.
“Well duh, it’s what you have with currywurst.”
“She’s got a point, Mand,” Dad agreed.

“The Kostüm have arrived,” Pia advised as we warmed up for Garde.
“That’s quick.”
“Mum wants everyone round to try them on, can you and Mand make tomorrow?”
“Guess we could come in the afternoon after training.”
“Cool, they look brill.”
“So everyone checked their uniforms?” Hannah called across the room.

What is it with these people and uniforms?

Maddy Bell © 04.11.16