The road into the Preiser place, I think i’ve mentioned before, is a bit of a rut fest, not exactly ideal for skinny tired road bikes but we both managed to navigate the lumps and bumps without mishap. The yard was quiet, no equestrian types at this time on a Sunday afternoon I guess. We parked our steeds and I clacked over to the open door.

“Hello? Anyone there?”

I could hear the strains of music from somewhere within the interior.

“Bern? Mart?” I called.

There was some muffled movement before Bern’s head appeared from the dark interior.

“Gab, wasn’t expecting you yet, Mart said you’d be half an hour, where’s Manda?”
“Here, someone was a bit keen to get here,” de Vreen offered joining me at the door.
“Hiya, so kettles on, thought we could sit in the orchard?”
“Good for me, where’s Drea?”
“Mart’s taken her down to the horses, they’ll be back in a few minutes, go sit and i’ll bring the coffee out.”

We picked our way across to the orchard, the trees currently heavy with fruit, won’t be long before their bounty is ready for collection. I’d never noticed on previous visits but there was a brown plastic table and chair set under the boughs, we both seated ourselves and divested ourselves of mitts and helmets.

“Nice,” Mand opined.
“Yeah, I could do this all the time,” I agreed.

The trees broke the glare of the sun into bite sized chunks, a gentle breeze ruffling the leaves above us, a few insects buzzed about but otherwise it was distinctly restful. I let out a sigh and eased back into the chair and closed my eyes.

 
“Hi guys.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin and sat bolt upright.

“Mart.”

Mand snickered.

“Where’s Bernie,” he asked shuffling ‘his’ daughter to the other arm.
“Making coffee,” Mand told him.
“I’ll go help.”
“Give me Drea then,” I suggested.

The youngest member of the family was actually asleep in his arms, clearly seeing the horses had a soporific effect on her. We managed the transfer without waking her, I sat back down and tried to get comfortable again.

“Be back in a few,” Mart told us and hurried towards the house.

 
“Isn’t she cute?” Mand suggested.
“Didn’t think you were into babies.”
“Or you,” she mentioned, “a girl can like kids without wanting any okay?”
“Its not exactly on my ‘to do’ list.”
“Never say never.”
“Whatever.”

The tot in my arms, apart from being heavier and bigger has changed quite a bit since I helped deliver her last year. Obvious of course, but even since their last visit earlier this year she’s changed a lot, she’s less of a floppy mass, more of a miniature person with a significant mop of hair and a grip like iron. I still don’t want one of my own.

 
“Big day tomorrow then,” Bern suggested after distributing coffee and strudel to everyone.
“It is?”
“You start college right?” she prompted.
“Oh that, yeah.”
“You don’t sound very enthusiastic.”
“Its like this all the time,” Mand put in.
“Am not,” I defended myself, “its just difficult to get enthused about more school work.”
“At least you don’t have the five full day thing,” de Vreen mentioned with a sigh.
“We don’t?”
“Course not,” Mart advised, “haven’t you checked your timetable?”
“Not got it yet.”
“Well I bet its only about three days at college,” Mart suggested.
“No getting out of training Gab,” Mand suggested.
“Like that’d happen. What about you Bern, what are you doing tomorrow?” Mand asked.
“Think Erika’s got my day all planned out, need to get registered with a doctor and stuff.”
“Good luck with that,” Mand opined, “took me weeks to get sorted.”
“To be fair,” I interjected, “that was partly due to going to Japan.”
“I think mum’s already done the groundwork,” Mart advised.

 
We didn’t stay too long, Drea needed feeding and we had an hour’s ride over Heckenbach before getting home. Its not like we can’t go see them again, they’re here to stay after all, here to live, become part of the Preiser family. How weird is that, of all my friends back in Warsop I’d’ve said Bern was the least likely to become a delinquent, get pregnant or leave home for foreign parts yet here we are.

 
“Aren’t you ready yet?” an exasperated Mum queried.
“Nearly.”
“You’re going to college not a society wedding.”
“This week,” I heard Dad mutter from across the kitchen.
“I need to make an impression.”
“Well make it on the way, if you don’t leave two minutes ago you’ll miss your lift,” Mater adsvised.
“Bum!” I slammed the massy brush into its tube, “laters!”

I got out to the agreed pick up point at exactly the same time as my ride.

“Morning,” I offered slipping into the back seat next to Max.
“Said she’d be here,” Max stated.
“Olaf,” the driver told me as he offered a hand.
“Gaby,” I returned giving the digits a quick shake.
“Never said she wouldn’t be,” Freddy grumped.

Our driver already had us moving, I quickly found the seatbelt as we took off towards Ahrweiler and the autobahn. Olaf drove with the confidence of regularity and once on the motorway it was flat out, outside lane stuff, I found myself reaching for Max’s hand. Its not that we were switching lanes or anything rather that we were travelling somewhat faster than i’m used to, the Astra’s engine straining at the effort as we sat in a hundred and fifty kph convoy of commuters passing the commercial traffic heading south.

Its a bit over sixty five kilometres, from Dernau to central Koblenz took a tad over forty five minutes, ten of which was negotiating the town centre. No one said anything on the drive down, Olaf was lost in the heavy metal coming from the stereo, the rest of us in our own thoughts. Max, Freddy and I bailed at the entrance to the Assembly car park, step one complete.

 
“See you later?” Max suggested a few minutes later.
“Maybe, once i’ve got my timetable i’ll let you know.”
“Come on Max, we can get coffee before we go in,” Freddy suggested to my boyfriend.
“Be right there,” Max told him, “good luck Gabs.”
“You too,” I replied before reaching up to exchange a kiss.
“Come on man, put her down already.”

We separated and suddenly I was alone, well there were people about but you know what I mean. I took a deep breath and headed towards the business school around which a lot of teens were gathering. Come on Gab, you can do this.

 
Am I the only one here who doesn’t know someone else? It certainly seemed like it as I made my way through the crowds gathered around the building as everyone seemed to be chatting in groups large and small. Of course I headed for the front entrance which was solid with the new student body, not fun when you are my size, what did my tutor say about getting in? A gave myself a head slap, you dozy blonde Gaby Bond, I turned on my heel and headed back the way i’d come.

A couple of people entered the ‘back’ door ahead of me but once inside it was a veritable ocean of calm. I found my way up to the lecture theatre that Fr. Olafsdottir had shown me the other week and slipped in to join the couple of other nervous looking newbies who’d beaten me to it. Where to sit, down the front, up at the back, somewhere in the middle?

“Ah, Fraulein Bond, you made it then.”
I turned to find my tutor, “er yeah, good morning Fr. Olafsdottir.”
“Lisbet will do Gaby, this isn’t the Gymnasium, we’re all adults eh?”
“Er yeah, I guess,” I allowed.
“Come on, sit yourself down, lets see who else listened to my instructions eh?”

She guided me along to the far side of the room, plonking her briefcase on a table, the unspoken suggestion was that I sit myself at the end of the front row – great.

 
The instructions had been clear, room L2 at nine, I checked my watch, five past and so far there were just seven of us in the room including Lisbet. For her part she didn’t seem to be concerned, looking over some papers and just occasionally looking over the top of her glasses at the clock on the wall behind the seating. Extra bodies slunk into the room and slid into seats, it was gone quarter past before Lisbet crossed to the door and closed it.

“Good morning everyone, I’ve already met some of you, I’m your main course tutor Lisbet Olafsdottir. This, people, is a place of learning, key to learning is listening and reading instructions, a simple enough task but apparently one that more than half of you have already failed to manage. Gaby, which entrance did you use please?”
Sugar, picked on already, of course all eyes turned my way as I answered, “er Poststraße?”
“And what time did you get here, at the lecture theatre?”
“Quarter to nine?”
“Quarter to nine people, so young Gaby here has got herself from the Ahrtal to Koblenz and followed my instructions to get here ahead of time. Joshua, which entrance did you use please?”
“The front door.”

He was a tall lad, he looked a bit cocky, full of himself even but Lisbet’s question seemed to throw him a bit.

“And what time did you join us up here?”
“Must’ve been nine I guess,” he suggested.
“In fact Herr Frönstedt it was eleven minutes past and you live in Pfaffendorf which is, two thousand meters away?”
“I guess,” Frönstedt allowed.
“In future people, our sessions will start promptly at the time shown on your timetables, if you are more than five minutes late you will be excluded from that session. I, and your other tutors do not give instructions for our benefit, we are here to teach you, if you delay or interrupt lectures with bad timekeeping you are not just disrespecting us but also your fellow students. This may not be your old Gymnasium, that doesn’t mean however that our standards are any different. In a moment i’ll pass out your timetable for this semester, check it over, if you have any issues with any aspect come to see me after this session.”
She looked out at us briefly before speaking again, “Gaby, if you could do the honours please, the first pile on the table.”

 
Two hours later we’d been introduced to the other tutors for this semester, made our own introductions to the class and been dismissed for the day.

‘Finished,’ I tabbed into my Handy after finding a quiet spot in the library. ‘meet for lunch? G’

I hit send before pulling out the reading list Lisbet had given us, day one and we’ve got more homework to do than for a whole term at Silverberg.

My Handy chirped with a reply from Max, ‘meet u at front 1std xxx M’

Oh well, guess I can get started on this lot then.

Maddy Bell © 28.09.2018