Gaby Book 28  Balancing Trick by Maddy Bell Copyright© 2023 Madeline Bell

 
I scrunched my eyes up in the hope it would improve my vision but alas, Bacchus’ revenge meant things were still a little blurry when I reached the breakfast room.

"Over here Sis.”

I changed direction in favour of the voice.

"You’re up early.”
"So are you,” Jules observed.
"Yeah well, couldn’t sleep.”
"Me either, they never tell you about this stuff in sex ed.”
"You want coffee?” i offered.
"Can’t and green tea really sucks so its plain old fruit juice,” she indicated her glass.
"Be right back.”
 

My name is Gabrielle Bond, well that’s my Sunday name, I’m usually Gabs or Gaby to my friends and family. I had my seventeenth birthday two months ago and live with my parents in Dernau, a village in the Ahrtal which is about twenty kilometres south of Bonn as the crow flies. Don’t think that I’m German though, well I am but I’m not, look its complicated, we actually came here from England when I was fourteen, my Mum’s a pro cyclist so we moved to be close to the team’s base. Not to blow my own trumpet but I race bikes too, following in Mum’s wheel tracks I guess but at the moment I’m at college.

I’m blonde, well usually, tip the scales around fifty five kilos and stand all of a hundred and fifty eight centimetres in my stocking feet. I have a boyfriend, Max, a bunch of friends known as the Ahr Angels and a couple more that aren’t. My BFF is Connie, her parents have a bakery and between us we run Connie’s Kabin, a snack bar up the valley at Altenahr.

One of my team mates lives with us, that’s Manda, she’s from Croydon and of course there’s Bern who lives with her daughter and boyfriend’s family a short distance away after moving from Warsop – another long story. And then there’s my older sister Jules, pregnant with twins although she and her BF are both at Heidelberg Uni.

The other thing I do is sing, not in a choir but with BlauHase, a sort of Goth rock combo, its not something I planned, I sort of fell into it but I like to think we’re quite good and we’ve just finished a two week tour in Hesse. Which is where we came in, the last gig of the tour was at Das Bett in Frankfurt last night, there was a bit of a party afterwards…
 

"I still can’t believe how you looked up on that stage last night,” Jules opined when I returned with my coffee and round one of my breakfast, a bowl of fruit salad and joghurt.
"I’m waiting for the photos,” I allowed.
"So what did the rents say about the tattoos, I’m impressed by the way, who’d a thunk my little sis would have it in her.”

I’d been trying to ignore the vibrant and kind of sinister artwork now residing on my arms, at least the ones on my legs were less distracting.

"They haven’t said anything, we didn’t really get much time to talk last night.”
"It’ll certainly shake up those stuffed shirts at the bike races.”

I hadn’t even contemplated that having been swept up in the moment with Maria’s enthusiasm. What if they don’t wash off, I’ll have them forever. Calm down Gab, they’re just temporary, by next weekend they’ll just be a memory.

"They’re not real Jules, they’re like those things that used to be in the packs of bubbly.”
"Damn,” my sister sighed, "And I thought you’d really gone for some style points.”
"Don’t tell Mum, please? I really want to wind her up.”
"Won’t hear it from me, can you get me some toast when you go up again?”
"What did your servant die of?”
"I am pregnant...with twins.”
"You’re hardly showing,” I pointed out, okay she’d not get into my stage costume at the minute but its not that obvious she’s expecting let alone that its twins.
"Pretty please, I won’t tell the rents.”
"Alright, how many slices?”
"A couple and if they’ve got any of those sausage things of paté?”

Like most siblings we have a love hate relationship, as the youngest I’ve always looked up to her and she’s mostly looked out for me. Okay, there have been some episodes that haven’t painted her in the best of lights and in my naivete I’ve been carried along once or twice. On the whole though I know she wouldn’t intentionally get me in trouble, maybe the twins will have a calming effect on her more anarchic side.
 

"I’ll ring and let you know later in the week,” Stefan advised as he released me from a firm hug a couple of hours later.
"Okay, safe journey.”
"With Animal driving?” he retorted with a grin.
"I heard that!”

Stefan gave my shoulder a light squeeze before leaving me with Misty aka Nena.

"So”
"So,” she echoed.

She’d toned the whole Goth rock chick look down somewhat this morning, the orange hair tamed into a braid, the makeup quite restrained, the clothing more akin to the young woman who started the BlauHase tour just over a fortnight ago. But she wasn’t the same person, well she is but you know what I mean, I guess I’ve changed a bit too but not to the same extent.

"I’ll give you a call later.”
"You’d better, so what are you guys doing today?”
"No idea, think the rents have a plan, some sort of family day, we might not get another chance before Jules drops.”
"Come here you,” I was pulled into another hug, "Thanks Gab.”
"What for?”
"Bringing me on the tour, being you.”
"I’m always me, except when I’m not,” I joked.
"You know what I mean.”
"You’d best go, Stefan keeps looking at his watch.”
She released me from the death grip, "I’ll leave your key with Con.”
“’kay.”

I watched as Animal nosed the minibus out onto the street, with a toot they were gone, they’d be back to their respective homes in a couple of hours.
 

"They gone?” Dad enquired when I returned to the hotel reception.
"Yeah,” I confirmed, "So what’re we doing?”
"The Zoo.”
“Zoo?”
"Your Mother’s idea, something neutral, no bikes, ruins or shops.”
"What does Jules think?”
"She’s not paying.”
I rolled my eyes, a double six, "Nuff said.”
 

The rest of the clan arrived with their cases and after depositing key cards, we headed out to the cars, Dad’s pride and joy and Boris’ somewhat less loved Mark III Golf. We were soon on the road, out past what looked like a miniature railway and acres of allotments to pick up the Autobahn. Not that we were on it long, a couple of junctions then our mini convoy was on normal streets through the northern reaches of Frankfurt, climbing up the flank of the Taunus hills.

Where’s Manda I hear you ask, well you might recall that she has a part time gig on Eva Foch’s crepe wagon right? Well given there was no racing for us this weekend – too many big events happening, there had been mumbles about doing some event up at Bremen but in the end it was decided we’d have a weekend off, anyhow, Mand agreed to work the stall. So after the show last night she went back to the Ahrtal on the bus of my ‘fans’ so she could work today at this thing at the DB Museum down in Koblenz of all places.

At a guess we’d done about fifteen kilometres, certainly, within half an hour from the hotel we were parked in the surprisingly empty car park. Well I guess it is Easter Sunday so the religious will be in church, no doubt it’ll be busy this afternoon. We trailed around to the entrance, I’m sure Dad flinched a bit at the entrance fee, its not like me and Jules get child entry anymore.

Once inside Rule One came into play, Rule One? Well duh, see a toilet, use it, we might have not long left the hotel but who knows where the next facilities will be?

"So what’s the plan?” Jules asked as we reconvened outside.
"Well I thought we could have a walk around then get some lunch,” Mum advised.
"You okay for that?” Dad queried.
"I’m pregnant not disabled Dad.”
"She’ll be fine, this isn’t one of your route marches Dave, lets just have a pleasant family day out.”
"So which way?”
"We could follow the red markers, they take in the whole place,” I opined, having studied the flyer thing you get with the tickets.
"How long does that take,” Mum enquired.
"A couple of hours, we can always cut short.”
"Come on then, quicker we start,” Jules mentioned.
"Giraffe house first then,” I told the assembled masses, well, the rest of the family.

And so we set off, Jules and Boris joined at the hip following Mum and myself similarly attached to Dad.
 

Don’t get me wrong, I like seeing wildlife as much as anyone, after all out on the bike you get to see quite a bit. But expert I’m not, I can tell the difference between a stork and a heron, fallow and red deer, sparrow and blue tit, standard stuff really. However when it comes to telling different hawks or small brown birds apart, well ask someone else.

Zoo’s, I guess they’re a Marmite thing, back when we lived in England we had a school trip to Twycross the last year of Juniors and Gran took us to Chester one summer, I’m sure we have been to others but they were never on the ‘have to go’ list. Since we moved to Germany this is only the second one I’ve been to, we went to Berlin Zoo on our school trip to the capital. I suppose modern Zoo’s are better than the Victorian menageries with their strong conservation ethos but I’d still prefer to see the animals in the wild.

There’s no denying they are still popular tho’, especially with small children and it does give people the chance to see, in the flesh, animals and birds from across the globe without all the travelling.

It was a nice enough morning, the sky mostly clear, the bit of breeze blowing up from the Main/Rhein plain below just enough to need a cardigan, especially in the shade. To be fair, the enclosures are quite big, the ‘African savannah’ illusion of the giraffe and zebra pen broken more by the native trees rather than anything else. I’ll admit that the Meerkat’s antics kept my attention for a while, I had to hurry to catch up to the others who were lingering by the Gibbon enclosure.
 

"Thought you weren’t keen on animals,” Jules suggested.
"They were sweet.”
"I can see the headlines now, ‘hot rock chick becomes Meerkat fan’.”
"I am not!”
"Not which?” my sister prodded.
"Any of it,” I mumped.
"Not true, you are definitely the hot rock chick,” Boris stated.
Well you know me, my face turned puce in short order, "I am not ‘hot’!”
"If you say so kiddo,” Mum smirked, "Your face looks pretty warm tho’.”
"Talking of hot, anyone fancy a hotdog?” Dad put in.
"I’ll get them,” Jules told us.
"No you won’t,” Mum interjected.
"Please Frau Bond,” Boris started, "You have paid for everything this weekend, we might be impoverished students but we can afford to buy hotdogs.”
I thought Mum was about to blow a gasket but Dad hit the pressure release, "When you put it like that I’ll have everything on mine thanks.”

And so it came to pass that we ambled past the various antelope munching away on, I have to say, some extremely fine sausages in buns. None of the weedy things that often get passed off as ‘dogs, these were proper big Frankfurters with sweated onions, mustard and red sauce. Dad had sauerkraut on his, Boris rotköhl both of which are okay but I prefer the classic, leave the cabbage for the Bratwürst!

The next bit of the park seemed to house all the stuff they didn’t know what to do with, llamas, deer pigs, ostrich, some very cute monkey things and bizarrely even pheasants, common in England but can’t say as I’ve ever seen any here in Germany. Mind you, its a wonder they aren’t endangered in England, you see as many dead in the road as live, they haven’t worked out roads yet!

We were on the home straight now, past assorted deer to the large paddock that is the elephant enclosure, who doesn’t like an elephant? There were more birds and small mammals before we reached the elephant house where we got to see the newest addition to the herd, a bull calf called Frank. Dunno why but that gave me the giggles, I mean, an elephant named Frank.
 

Dad looked at his watch, "You ready to eat?”
"We only just had a hotdog Dave,” Mum stated.
"That was hours ago,” I put in, mind you, I would of said the same if it was ten minutes but in this case it really was close to two hours.
"I could do with a sit down,” Jules added.
"Yes!”
"Anyone would think you don’t get fed Gabrielle,” Mum opined.

Hmm, Sunday name, maybe I should kerb my enthusiasm a bit.

"So where are we eating,” I pulled the map out of my bag, "There’s a place near the entrance or the Sambesi right next door.”
"The one at the entrance looked a bit pricey,” my sister opined.
"Next door is closer,” I hinted.
"Lets have a look then,” Dad allowed.
 

Of course, rolling on one o’clock everyone wants to eat so Sambesi was quite busy, not that we had to wait for a table but clearly this is where you brought the kids if you wanted more than a snack. It wasn’t noisy like Maccy D’s sometimes gets but it was quite loud which I suppose is inevitable anywhere with numbers of under fives in residence. On the plus side, our table overlooked the Elephant enclosure so we weren’t surrounded by little kids.

Apart from the fact it was table service, it was more like a cafeteria than a restaurant, minimal decoration, heavy timber tables mostly with matching bench seating although a few like the one we occupied had kitchen style chairs. Okay, I was making mental notes, you never know when this sort of stuff will be useful on my college course, which, if you recall is Hospitality Management. The menu was a cross between traditional German and sit in fast food, so burgers, würst, schnitzel all served with pommes, nothing fancy, I guess the slightly inflated prices are due to the location.

There was a slightly wary quiet around the table as we waited for our food, apart from being related I guess we don’t have so much in common these days, our worlds intersect but especially recently, we’ve been moving in different circles.

"That was quite some outfit you wore last night,” Boris offered through the awkward silence.
"Er yeah, not my idea.”
"Oh?” Mum’s interest was taken by that.
"There was this guy, when we played Russelheim, anyhow he offered to sort out some stage clothes more fitting for last night, you know, make a statement that I’m not Stevie Nicks.”
"Nothing wrong with Stevie Nicks,” Dad stated.
"Well I don’t think all those frills and stuff are really me,” I admitted.
"And that’s what this chap came up with,” Jules observed, "A short dress and shiny red knickers?”
"Well it had to be practical on stage and the pants are actually latex.”
"Kinky!”
"It was just a costume, I’m hardly likely to walk around Dernau like that am I?”
"And the tattoos?”

Damn you Boris, has my sister told you they’re fake, has she put you up to this?

"Well a girl has to make a statement right?”
"I think you’ve made more than that,” Mum intoned.
"Don’t you think you went a bit overboard Gaby,” Dad suggested.
I gave a shrug, "Go big, go bold, that’s my motto, if you’re gonna get tattoos get something worth having, not some silly little thing that no one can see.”

Jules and I exchanged a look just short of a snigger.

"I think they look cool,” Boris stated, ploughing on oblivious to our byplay.
"Can’t say that I approve,” Dad opined, "But what’s done is done, I guess we’ll get used to it right Jen,” he looked warningly at Mum.
"What your father said, you’re the one who has to live with them.”

Any further discussion on the subject was forestalled by the arrival of our food. Okay, it was nothing special but the portions were quite generous and even my Currywürst came with a bit of salad on the plate along with a mountain of fries. Conversation dropped off as our attention turned to our comestibles.
 

By mutual consent, once we’d eaten we didn’t linger in Sambesi, there is only a finite amount of echoing squeals, crying and kiddy hubbub anyone can cope with. There were actually more kids outside but beyond the confines of the restaurant their noise was less intense.

"I’m sure we didn’t scream this much all the time.”
"Gaby Bond, talk about pot calling the kettle,” Mum mentioned as she dodged a game of tag being played around the toilet block.
"I did not!”
"You were a proper little screamer Gab’s, remember that time at that house place Dad? Dad had to take you outside.”
"Blenheim Palace,” Dad advised.
"I don’t remember that.”
"Well you were only five,” Mum allowed.

This end of the zoo was mostly smaller enclosures, the petting zoo, animal rides and a big play cum picnic area where a few hopeful parents were trying to cook on the grills. As a result it didn’t take us long to make the circuit, according to the map we just had the camels and Alpacas before returning to the main entrance.

"That’ll be you soon Boris,” I almost cackled as we passed a young couple with a babe in arms.
"I guess so,” he sighed.

We’d fallen behind the others, Mum clearly wanting a bit of a parental with my sister.

"You don’t sound very enthusiastic.”
"I am Gaby, really I am but things are going to be so different. I mean kids were always on the cards, just not yet.”
"Look at it this way, you get the bogoff promotion.”
"Bogoff promotion?”
"Buy one get one free,” I girlsplained.
"Ah, i get it, twins, two for the price of one. You should come down to visit before, I know your sister would like that.”
"Dunno about that, we get on each others nerves a lot.”
"Think about it Gab’s, you can stay at the flat.”
"I’ll think about it, it’s gonna be quite busy the next few weeks, racing and college and stuff."

I was making excuses, we both knew that, there was a twinge of guilt mixed in, maybe I should spend a bit of time with my sibling after all this is the first time I’ve seen her since New Year and that was only a flying visit.
 

"I’ll ring when we get back to Heidelberg,” Jules told us as we made our farewells.
"You going down the five?” Dad queried.
"Yeah, its a straight road from the bottom of the hill, we should be back in about an hour.”
"Just be careful, remember you have my daughter and grand children in the car,” Mum fussed.
"Mu-um,” Jules complained.
"Well safe journey,” Dad and Boris did an awkward handshake before Jules dragged her beau off towards the exit.

"I suppose you want to visit the shop,” Mum suggested.
"Well it would be a shame not to.”
"Don’t buy too much, we’ve only got the Saab.”
"Har de ha.”
 
Maddy Bell © 19.05.2023