Gaby Book 25 Only Five Minutes by Maddy Bell Copyright© 2019 Madeline Bell After all the excitement of the last few weeks culminating in the trip to Austria, surely Gaby can get back to some sort of 'normal'? Well it wouldn't be Gaby if it was that simple would it?

 
​ After a week at Gran's I was a bit disorientated back in my own room. For starters, the floor doesn't creak and my mattress doesn't sag, in just a week I’ve gotten used to the 'character' of Gran's cottage. That said, it was reassuring to be surrounded by my own stuff, my bear sat on the shelf over the bed, the poster on the back of the door and the feel of the rug under my bare feet.

​ I guess home is where you make it, regardless of location. On reflection, this really is home, its where my friends are, my immediate family, the things and most of the people I care about. Warsop, well England in general I suppose, is where I come from, land of my birth and the first dozen years of my life, but it's no longer my home. On that philosophical note I turned off the light and snuggled under the covers.
​  
​ “I take it you'll be back for dinner?" Mum enquired.
​ I finished checking the contents of my Handtasche, “Er should be, we'll call if we're gonna be late."
​ “I thought we'd have good ol' stew and dumplings, invite Max and his parents over?"

​ Sugar, Max.

​ “Er sure, we'll make sure to be back in good time."
​ “Found it," Mand announced returning to the kitchen brandishing her Handy.
​ “Well have a good day, don't be late."
​ “We won't, say hi to Maria for us."
​
​ “So, what was that about?" Mand asked as we hurried towards the bahnhof.
​ “What?"
​ “That business of not being late?"
​ “Oh that," I paused to check for traffic at the crossing, “Mum's doing stew and inviting the von Strechau's over."
​ “Maxxie!" she teased.
​ “Guess he'll be there," I agreed as nonchalantly as I could.

​ To tell the truth, things have been a bit hectic over Chrimbo so I’ve not exactly been pining for his presence. I can't deny it'll be good getting back with him, sometimes I think the getting re acquainted is the best bit of our relationship.

​ “Come on Dilly Daydream," Mand suddenly urged, “The Express is coming."
​  
​ We'd been sat on the train for a couple of minutes before my brain engaged, the buzz of conversation around us transforming from double Dutch to German. Oh, how fast the brain adapts, just a week ago it was English that I couldn't understand! Luckily the grey cells started working before the friendly visage of Myleen reached us.

​ “Hi girls.”
​ “Hi Myleen, good Weihnachts?” I enquired as she checked our rail cards.
​ “So, so, at least I wasn't working this year, don't forget to renew your card next week.”
​ “Really?” I looked at the card, sure enough it runs out on January seven, bum.
​ “So, you off to Koblenz?”
​ “Bonn,” Mand advised.
​ “Well have a good day, and don't forget that pass Gaby.”
​ “I won't,” I sighed.

​ Guess I'll have to break the bad news to Dad later, it’s a shed load of euros but I can't do without it.
​  
​ The Express rolled into Remagen a few minutes later alongside the north bound Rheintal Express that we need to be on. I checked my watch, whilst we can't hang about, we should have plenty of time to get to platform two. If there's one thing to like about Deutsche Bahn, the services are coordinated, up to a point, they'll hold the Rheintal to make sure Ahrtal passengers make the connection.

​ Knowing this, Mand and I let the panickers go ahead before waving to Myleen as we followed behind at a more sensible pace. It made no difference to getting a seat, its holiday season, you'd have to get on in Mainz to guarantee being sat for the journey north. We headed towards the front of the train, away from the crush near the platform steps, it paid off, the conductor waved us on board.

​ “There are seats upstairs girls.”
​ “Thanks.” I grinned leading the way to the upper deck.

​ Obviously, there wasn't a lot of choice of seats, even this carriage is pretty full, but we found a pair near the top of the stairs, not the best location but it’s only a thirty-minute journey.

​ “So why didn't you want to come up with Mum? I know her driving can be a bit erratic but she's not killed anyone.”
​ “Yet,” Mand chorused with me.
​ “Look don't take this the wrong way,” she went on, “I love your mum to bits but she does tend to take things over.”
​ “Yeah, she likes to be in charge, think it’s a teacher thing,” I agreed.
​ “This way we don't get conned into meeting for coffee, having to do a show and tell in the Dinea.”
​ “I hear you.”
​ “And I thought it'd be nice just the two of us.”
​ “Not complaining, I was just curious, I'm always angling for a parent Taxi.”
​ “You've got your Mofa now,” she pointed out, “I can't believe they bought you a pink one.”
​ “Yeah,” I allowed, “Not exactly my first choice.”

​ The train slowed and pulled into Bonn Hauptbahnhof pretty much on time, we gathered our stuff and joined the exodus into the former Federal capital.

​  
​ “So where to?” I enquired as we waited for the pedestrian lights in front of the bahnhof to change.
​ Mand gave a shrug, “Dunno.”
​ “You must have some idea,” the lights chose that moment to change so we were across the road before I completed the sentence, “Or you wouldn't have suggested coming.”
​ “Not really, thought we could just mooch round.”
​ “Whatever,” I allowed giving a shrug of my own.

​ Of course, neither of us are exactly strangers to the city, Mand has been coming up for school since she joined the Bond household and of course whilst not as big as Koln its closer and more cosmopolitan than Koblenz so it’s long been a shopping destination for Ahrtalers. To be fair, we don't generally stray far from the main shopping streets but there are some shops a bit further out that offer less mainstream stuff. We wandered up the street past the budget boutiques and cut-price homeware stores towards Dom Platz – of course my eyes lit up on seeing PuppenKönig up ahead.

​ “Suppose you want to go in?” Mand opined.
​ “Well it'd be a shame not to,” I replied with an attempt at eyelash fluttering.
​ “For a girl you have some weird hobbies.”
​ “S'not weird.”
​ “Much! I could sort of understand stuffed toys or even dolls, but toy cars.”
​ “They aren't toys,” I pointed out.
​ “If you say so, come on, let’s get this over with,” and with that she led the way into the famous toy shop.

​ They really aren't toys, they're scale models and girls can collect them, so there.
​  
​ There are three floors, on the ground level it’s all dolls and stuff for babies, first floor has Lego, Playmobil and all that sort of stuff. Up at the top it’s all the electric stuff, RC, trains, Scalextric and of course all the other more adult stuff, model kits and so on. There is a lift but its quicker to use the stairs, I headed straight up, Mand trailing along in my wake.

​ I'm sure some people have huge collections, mine is quite modest, I think maybe a hundred, I just get stuff I like the look of. Once we reached the top I headed to the models and Mand wandered off to look at, well no idea to be honest. I haven't added to my car park lately, nor looked at what's come out so I was enthused to find out what gems have been recently released.

​ Talk about kid in a sweet shop, I'll have one of them and one of them, must get that – well you get the idea. I've developed a technique so that I don't go too silly, peruse everything on offer noting the stuff I’d like then go back along the shelves to try to find them again. This usually means I end up with about half my 'wish list', and a bill that is within my budget.

​ Gott, so many I want!

​ “So, you getting anything?”
​ I nearly jumped out of my skin, “Geez Mand!”
​ “Well?” she hinted.
​ “Yeah, five minutes? I'll stand for coffee,” I offered.
​ “I'll see you downstairs,” she sighed.
​ “'kay,” I confirmed.

​ Well I guess I’d better make my selection, I fetched one of the mini baskets they have for this stuff and returned to the shelves of model cars. Okay, one of those, that one in red – or maybe silver? I worked my way back along the display plucking my selections as I went.​ 'Sugar,' I muttered under my breath when I’d done and looked in the basket. Instead of the usual three or four there had to be at least a dozen models there, bugger, guess I'll have to put some back. Or do I? I dug into my bag and found my purse, yes! There in its slot was my bank card.
​
​ “Eighty-nine fifty,” the cashier chap told me.
​ “Card?” I suggested.
​ “Moment bitte,” he went to retrieve the card machine from the other till point.

​ Eighty-nine fifty, I am so not telling the rents how much I’ve spent here. But I mean, how could I not get the new Volkswagen Eos or the Porsche Cayenne – and the Renault Clio is well cool. All up, there's fifteen models, the most I’ve ever bought at once, it’s still cheaper than a pair of posh shoes.
​  
​ “'bout time,” Mand noted when I found her down on the ground floor.
​ “Soz, so what've you got?” I enquired spotting her own PuppenKönig bag.
​ “Er thought I’d get something for Drea,” she allowed, “You spent up?”
​ “Sort of,” I allowed thinking of my smoking bank card in my rucky. “Coffee?”
 
​ We corralled a table in the bakery on the top side of Dom Platz, Mand taking charge of all the bags whilst I fulfilled my promise of paying for our beverages and Pflaumkuchen. Well it was in the cabinet screaming 'eat me', it would've been bad manners to leave it there right? I deposited our comestibles on the table and sank gratefully into the seat opposite de Vreen.

​ “Okay, so what's this really about?”
​ “I told you, I’ve got Christmas money to spend.”
​ “Come on Mand, I may be blonde but I'm not stupid.”
​ “Never said you were.”
​ “So?” I pressed, “What's going on?”

​ My sort of adopted sister sagged back into her seat, whatever it is, it’s something pretty major.

​ “What do you want first, the good or the crappy?”
​  
​ “What're you going to do?” I queried once I’d got the bones of both bits of news.
​ “I dunno Gab, Gran says I should stay here but she is my mum.”

​ Talk about a downer, Mand's mum has been diagnosed with early onset dementia, I thought only old people got that. Old Mrs. Tomkins who lived two doors down from us in Warsop had dementia, they had to put her in a home but she was like seventy or something, Mand's mum is only forty-three.

​ “You need to talk to Mum and Dad,” I told her.

​ She needs advice, I can't give it but I know what it was like when Mum had the cancer scare.

​ “I know but,” she shrugged, “I haven't got my head around it all yet.”
​ “They given a timetable?”
​ “Sort of, well not exact, Gab, what happens when she doesn't remember me?”

​ I scooted around to the other side of the table and pulled her into a hug.

​ “I don't want to lose her Gab, what am I going to do?”
 
© Maddy Bell 28.06.2019