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Smell of the Crowd by Maddy Bell
Copyright© 2022 Madeline Bell
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Bad Time
"Well I'm gonna get changed,” I announced.
In the thirty minutes or so since I arrived at the Villa Maria i've drunk what must be a litre of Peach iced tea and regaled anyone who was within range with my tale of Gaby the explorer. What I haven't had is anything to eat since that banana a couple of hours ago, my stomach was complaining but it'll have to wait a bit longer.
I followed Mist into the house, for that is really what it is, according to my guide, the owners live in the two lower floors, guests get to climb past the considerable clutter of a young family to the bedrooms above. Our accomodation was almost polar opposite to the rest of the cluttered building, a veritable oasis of tidyness although there was no disguising that the 'en suite' had been shoehorned into a none too generous bedroom. Not that I'm complaining, it wasn't like I needed to swing a cat in the bathroom or would be spending much time in there is it?
"Stefan's worked out what I'm gonna be doing,” Mist advised as I dried myself after my pit stop fast shower.
"Oh?”
"He said we could give it a dry run at the venue later.”
"That sounds like a plan, can you chuck me that BH over.”
My under garment was launched the short distance across the room, I quickly exchanged towel for bra while Mist continued.
"Can we run through them this afternoon?”
"Here?”
"We could go sit in the park,” she offered.
"Have you lot eaten?”
"There was a Kabin when we came off the autobahn.”
"Well I need some food.”
"There was a REWA the other side of the park, I saw it on the way in.”
Not my first choice but I suppose I can get some snacks to tide me over to dinner.
“'kay, guess that'll work.”
Whilst the park was literally across the road from the Villa Maria, an iron railing prevents direct ingress from Kurstraße so the pair of us, me in a T and denim skirt, Mist in her new signature Gothy fishnet based outfit, headed for the end of Gradierwerk III where we could see a path leading down to the river, apparently this supermarket is behind the trees on the far side. The sun was making an appearance which lifted the c's a bit and even if its not hot, it was warm enough to, well feel warm.
"You're gonna get some weird tan lines.”
"Says the girl in the Panda suit.”
"Panda suit?”
I'll admit it, its a sort of industrial hazzard for Radrennen, you get a nice tan on the exposed bits but with a hard edge where shorts and jersey sleeves stop. Its not such an issue for the men but delicate flowers like me, well its not a great look okay? One thing's for sure, my chances of pulling off the whole pale Goth thing are small – unless I buy sunblock in industrial quantities!
“'s not as big as that one last year,” Mist stated as we walk alongside the Gradierwerk.
"But that was only one, there's a bunch of them here,” I pointed out.
"What's the point, why did people come?”
"Do, I passed like three spa hotel places when I came through.”
"Okay, why do people come smarty pants?”
I blew her a raspberry.
I shrugged, "Dunno, guess its like going to the coast or the mountains for the air or something.”
"Hmmm, I suppose thats why Claudia was in that clinic in the Schwarzwald, not that I did any good.”
What can you say, from what I know, Claud's MS was always gonna have a similar outcome, just a matter of when. Maybe the long clinic stays extended her life, maybe not, whichever it was her death came far too soon.
"Is that a café behind those trees?”
"Looks like it,” Mist agreed.
There were certainly several big table umbrellas and as we got a bit closer we could see tables, chairs and a smattering of patrons, a Tchibo board a bit further along the path suggested they serve reasonable coffee.
"Take a look?” I suggested.
"Sure.”
The Café am Ludwigsbrunnen looked like a typical example of a park café, some tables adjacent to a Fachwerk building where the kitchen and indoor seating reside. There was a temporary servery up against the rear of the building with an Eis freezer which suggested the place gets busy. However early afternoon on a weekday, I know from experience, is often a bit quieter, there were plenty of free tables and I could see someone with a bowl of soup. Guess we'll be passing on the REWE then.
As we'll be eating later I settled for Gulaschsuppe – there may well be a slice of torte afterwards, Mist, having already eaten, just had the coffee.
"So,” I started between spoonfuls of soup, "Which numbers you joining in with?”
She dug out a scrap of paper from a pocket in those short shorts and passed it over.
"Its mostly on the softer stuff.”
"Yeah, be a bit pointless on the shouty stuff,” I mentioned.
Whilst I get the idea, I'm still not clear how this will work out, not just the singing but Mist being BlauHase plus one.
Forty minutes later my hunger was sated, yep we both succumbed to more coffee with a goodly slice of cake, Apfel strudel for Mist and some concoction with cream, strawberries and grated chocolate for me. What? I ended up riding the thick end of a hundred kilometres this morning, a girl needs to restock her energy levels. Anyhow we decided to walk up through the park, its a nice afternoon and we don't need to be anywhere for a while.
The elephant was still of course Mist's new singing career and our stroll became a bit of an Acapella run through the songs Stefan had suggested for 'treatment'. We got a few bemused looks, two girls walking along singing away but it proved useful as we each got a bit of a feel for how it was going to work. The public park ran out so we followed the finger post towards the Kurpark back along the road I used to get to the Villa earlier.
"What is an 'Inhalarium'?” Mist asked.
"A what?”
She pointed across the road, "Over there.”
"Looks like a small gradier thingy.”
Curiosity got the better of us so we crossed over for a look. Well my idea about taking the air earlier was sort of right, whilst a lot of the wellbeing 'Kliniks' concentrate on the sitting in and drinking the local waters, this place, Gradierwerk II, you walk through to breath the 'ionised' air, a light mist from the water dripping through the construction. For a few euros you can get wet and clear your airways at the same time, we passed on the opportunity, heading on towards the little shopping arcade where the tourist office is.
Mist was keen to do a bit of tourist shopping so we found ourselves checking out the wares in several of the shops. It was only in the third of these that I realised that some of the bemused looks as we sang through the park were most likely due to my shock of pink hair. Okay, I hadn't exactly forgotten about it but I hadn't really given it any thought other tyeing it up before we came out.
Of course, having now seen myself in the mirrors of this fancy gift shop I became very self conscious.
Outside I ggot a bit agitated, "I need a hat.”
"A hat? What for?”
"Dur, hair, pink,” I tugged at my ponytail, "I look like a match!”
Of course that just set Misty off, "A pretty match.”
"You aren't helping.”
"Soz, I suppose you are quite striking. See what I did, match, striking?”
She couldn't keep a straight face.
"Ne-en!” I whined.
"Okay, okay, we'll find you a hat, that shop over there looks promising.”
I'm not a hat person, bike and mofa helmets excepted but other than a bobble hat in the winter its not something I wear. Oh okay, i've worn something at weddings too but that isn't what I need now, I'm thinking sun hat maybe? We got some funny looks from the staff in the accessory shop, the semi Goth and the pink haired midget, they didn't have much to choose from but beggars and all that.
"Better?” my companion asked as we walked into the Kurpark past a swish looking tennis club.
"It'll do.”
The good news was that my new titfer was quite comfortable and did a fair job of hiding my Flamingo hued locks. Not quite so good is the decoration around the band, a sort of string of tiny, brightly coloured silk flowers with a bigger daisy on one side. Rock and roll it isn't.
"They're well into Elvis Presley around here,” Misty observed as we passed about the tenth poster advertising an Elvis festival in the town.
"Yeah there was loads of stuff in that first shop we went in.”
"Maybe the owners are big fans,” Mist hypothesised.
"I wonder what you do at an Elvis festival?”
"Elvis karaoke?”
"I'd be no good, I don't know any, not to sing.”
"Guess BlauHase won't be getting an invite then.”
"Can you imagine Little Jo dressed as Elvis?”
"Animal,” Mist countered.
Well that had us in hysterics.
"I need a drink,” I managed to get out having calmed down a bit.
"Looks like a kabin over there.”
Unlike the Café am Ludwigsbrunnen earlier which is quite small, the Schweizer Milchhäuschen is a fairly sizeable establishment although similar in what they offer – not that I was thinking of food, well not really.
"I fancy eis,” Mist opined.
Actually that was quite appealing especially when she offered to pay. I opted for a double scoop, one each of pistachio and coconut, why can't you get these flavours in the supermarket? Time was getting on so rather than sit we walked on, out of the Kurpark and into the Sprudelhof next door which, according to the info board used to be a fancy treatment spa.
I took a few snaps on my Handy to show Dad at the weekend then we started our return to the Villa Maria. We got back to the tourist information, crossed the road to go back the way we had come.
"Kurstraße? Isn't that the road our digs are on?”
"Yeah,” I confirmed, "Guess we can follow it straight there.”
"Save going all through that other park.”
"Works for me.”
We'd been walking a couple of minutes before the nagging in my grey matter bubbled into some cohesive thought. Why, when I stopped at the tourist office earlier for directions, didn't she direct me along here, I mean its dead opposite the office? Not that the directions were difficult but cross the road and go straight would've been a lot easier and quicker.
The answer to that came just metres further on, the two way road becoming one way in the wrong direction. Okay, not gonna work in a car but there is a contraflow bike lane so I could've got through. Except, well the road was actually closed completely a couple of hundred metres after the Post Office and I mean completely, big gates and stuff and beyond a sizeable construction site.
"Where now?” my companion queried.
"Guess we have to go back and around.”
"Maybe not,” Mist enthused, "There's a diversion down there.”
'There' was a side road at the bottom of which was a gate and an 'Umleitung Fußgang' sign pointing off to the right. It was actually the same park we'd walked through earlier, I recognised the fountain thing a little down slope of where we entered. The diversion obviously followed the footpaths but having spotted the next sign was pointing back up towards the 'top' of the park we cut across the grass to join it further up.
The city fathers had clearly decided that mamon was more important than green space, the huge new old peoples complex has taken a big bite out of the park. To stay in the park we'd end up going almost down to the gradierwerk again so instead we followed the diversion back up to Kurstraße. It didn't take long to walk along past the 'Seniorenresidenz im Park' and we were back at Villa Maria.
"We thought you'd got lost again,” Marcus suggested.
It didn't look like the rest of our party had moved from the patio all afternoon.
"Ha, ha.”
"We've been on the tourist trail,” Mist told them.
"And working on Mist's singing,” I added.
"And?” Little Jo requested.
"Eh?”
"How did it go?” Stefan prompted.
"Pretty good I think, Mist?”
She shrugged, "Well birds didn't fall from the sky and the milk didn't curdle.”
Little Jo chuckled, who knew that Nena Fischer could crack jokes or perhaps its only Misty that can do that?
"Did you know that they have an Elvis Presley fetish here?” I threw in.
"Wasn't he stationed somewhere around here?” Little Jo put in.
"Elvis Presley was here?” Mist queried.
"For his National Service,” Stefan mentioned, "I thought everyone knew that.”
"Duh, before our time Stefan.”
"Mine too,” he returned, "But its well known.”
"Certainly explains the fixation in those shops,” Mist allowed, "They probably have fans come to visit like his house in America, Grayplatz.”
"Graceland,” several voices corrected.
"Just checking,” Mist snickered.
"So what's the crack for the evening?”
"Find somewhere to eat, Robert's meeting us at the venue at seven, we can run through the tracks for Mist once we're set up.”
“'kay.”
"Best get a move on then,” Anna Louise proposed, "Its quarter to five now.”
"Come on Erd, time to change you from frosch to Prinzessin.”
"Cheeky moo!”
Jeez, where did the time go. I suppose the extended bike ride did bite into the day, a late lunch and the walk to the Kurpark has eaten up the rest.
"I hope tonights venue isn't all stairs again.”
"Think Stefan said its at the Eisstadion.”
"That'll be cool.”
"Really Gab?”
"A girl has to try,” I offered in defense of my poor attempt at humour.
"Which outfit you wearing tonight? They all went through the wash but they might need an iron.”
I mentally went through the options and started to regret not having thought of the practicalities a bit more when I put the costumes together. Its not so much the frills and flounces as much as how hot and sticky I get, the lack of wig certainly helped last night but even so.
"You wearing those shorts tonight?”
"Was going to,” Mist confirmed, "Why?”
"I was thinking of trying a different look tonight.”
"And you thought my shorts? I didn't think you liked showing so much er leg?”
"Its for the gig, not walking around the town. So?”
"I suppose I could wear something else, so what'll you wear on top?”
What indeed, the whole idea of having the stage costumes was to avoid this sort of procrastination, but here I am, worrying about wardrobe choices just the same. Well I could wear that and that, or maybe – no that wouldn't work with the shorts, so maybe....
By the time we were ready to leave I had tried several variations on a theme, I'll actually dress when we get there of course – well except for my underwear. Mist knew what we were going to do with my hair but I am not walking the streets like that. No, I think I looked quite demure when we left the 'Maria', my hair in two low ponies and me wearing a summer frock with a cardigan – very Sandra Dee apart from my pink tresses.
Maddy Bell © 28.01.2022
