“You packed?” Mand asked as we headed up to bed.
“Packed?”
“I bet you haven’t even started have you?” she suggested.
“Sort of,” I half heartedly replied, well you know me and packing.
“You really are impossible Gab,” she sighed.
“And I suppose you’re all packed?”
“Mostly, just need to do a knicker wash tomorrow.”

Oh bum, wonder if I’ve got enough clean underwear? My expression must’ve given me away.

Mand sighed, “leave them out, I’ll put them through with mine.”
“Thanks Mand,” I grinned back.
“You owe me Bond!” she called after me as I scooted up the stairs to my eyrie.

You know what its like, packing for a holiday, have I got enough, what if it snows, can those shoes double up, have I got enough sun screen and when there’s bikes involved there’s twice as much to remember. Its not like I’d forgotten about packing, I did start the other day, well my racing gear is in the bag, well to be honest its all been in the kit bag since I didn’t get to ride the other week. Spurred into action I dragged my case out and started throwing stuff in that general direction, it was after twelve before I was done.

“Morning,” I chirped arriving in food central the following morning.
“Morning kiddo,” Dad replied around his toast.
“Mum gone?”
“About thirty minutes ago.”

I must’ve been in the shower.

“Stupid question but are you packed for tomorrow?” Dad went on.
“Almost, Mand’s gonna do some smalls for me, oh sugar, be right back!”
I nearly bowled de Vreen over as I sprinted back up to fetch my laundry.
“Where’s the fire?”
“Soz.”

“You want a lift up?” Dad enquired half an hour later as I sipped at my second cup of coffee.
“I thought you’d be going to Neuwied?”
“Later, Darren’s meeting me at Apollinaris to load the bikes this morning so I can pop you up first.”
“Can I grab a lift too Mr B?” Mand asked.
“You’ll be really early for your shift,” Dad suggested.
“I need to do some shopping first.”
“Thought you were doing laundry,” I interjected with a slight hint of panic.
“It can go in before, it won’t take long to dry in the machine later.”
“Tell you what,” Dad rejoined the conversation, “I’ll drop Gab off and pick you up on the way back?”
“Can you get me some factor fifty?”

Well it’ll save me going along to the pharmacy in Adenau later. Mand just stuck her hand out for my cash.

“When do you go?” Kris asked as we sorted out the garden tables.
“Early tomorrow, down into France then on Sunday its through to San Sebastian.”
“Don’t you get bored with all that driving?”
“I sleep a lot and there’s usually a card school if Gret has anything to do with things.”
“So you stay in your camper on the way then?”
“As if! It’ll probably be some one star motel place.”
“The real high life eh?”
“Yeah,” I agreed with a sigh.

Thinking about it, the camper might not be such a bad idea, Mum’s told us about those Formul One places. I guess its only one night and there’s plenty of sleep time between here and Spain.

“When are you back?” Max asked as we both picked at his plate of Pommes.
“Late Sunday,” I advised as I dipped my chip in the blob of mayo.
“Late?”
“It is a long way from Spain.”
“You should be flying, it doesn’t cost much these days,” he opined.
“Oh yeah, with all our gear that’s gonna happen,” I snorted.
“You flew to Japon.”
“Yeah but we didn’t have the bikes and stuff for that, we’ve got a van load of bikes this time and there’s more of us, it would cost a fortune,” I pointed out.
“I guess,” he allowed, “so where are you going again?”
“Er, near San Sebastian, I think its on the north coast somewhere.”
“Nowhere near Madrid then?”
“Nope, well I don’t think so.”
“Right.”
“Why? What are you up to von Strechau?”
“Nothing, just curious, we went to Madrid a couple of years ago, nice place.”
“Never been, we went to Majorca once,” I allowed.
“I suppose a quick snog is out of the question?” he posed.

“Best sort your face out Bond,” Con smirked.
“Wh...” I caught site of my reflection in the microwave door, “oh bum.”

Yeah, my lip gloss was er, somewhat smeared, good job it was fairly neutral or Max would’ve looked a right weirdo! I did a quick repair job in the back before returning to the hot plate.

“How’re you two gonna cope for a whole week?”
“Cope? What are you on about Thesing?”
“Tonsil hockey,” she told me with a mocking smack of her lips.
“Give over.”
“They’ll be smooching their Handy’s,” Kris suggested.
“Ew!” Con grimaced.
“You’re only jealous.”
“As if!”
There was something in her voice that suggested otherwise, I’m not totally insensitive so dropped the subject.

The afternoon passed quickly enough, not so busy that we were rushed off our feet but enough that we weren’t stood idle for more than a minute or two. Its only a couple of weeks before the schools restart and clearly some families were keen to make the most of the remaining summer. Unusually then we had quite a few kiddies visiting the kiosk with their parents, where there are kids, Frites will be in demand, as a result I must have cooked about ten kilos of potatoes at least.

Eventually though it was time to shut for the day, of course there are end of day chores to do, I was just finishing scraping off the hotplate when Con’s phone went off.

“Thesing? Oh high mum….yeah bout ten minutes….no, the Zug’s in about twenty minutes….okay then, see you soon, Tschuss.”
“Sounded cryptic,” I opined.
“Mum’s gonna give us a lift down, she’s just about to leave her friends place up in Lind.”
“Cool,” I allowed, the Express is okay but at this time it can be a bit of a bun fight to get a seat.

“Hi Mrs T.”
“Someone sounds happy,” Cons mum, my nominal boss suggested as I climbed into their ageing car.
“We’ve been pretty busy this afternoon,” Con put in as she found her seat belt.
“That’s good, we might see a return on the investment yet,” Therese mentioned with a smile.
“I thought we were doing okay?”
“You are Gaby, the books are essentially in the black but we spent a lot on new equipment and decorations which we need to claw back at some point.”
“So the kiosk isn’t making any money?” I queried.
“Its doing very well girls but the capital expense has to be serviced too.”
“She means we have to pay the investment off,” Con told me.
“Er right,” I kinda get that, the Thesing’s need a return on the money they’ve spent. “so like how does that work?”
“We’ve set it up so that any profits are split between paying off the investment and a capital account for the business.”
“What do we need that for?”
“Well its there for emergencies but also if you need new crockery or stuff you won’t have to borrow money.”
“Makes sense, so like how much do we owe?”
“Too much,” Con mumbled in the front.
Frau T, paused before answering, “just under five thousand.”
“Like I said, too much,” Con repeated.
“It doesn’t sound so bad Con,” I offered.

Our conversation was cut short as we arrived at the bakery.

“You want to eat with us?” Therese asked.

It was tempting, but I do need to finish packing and I sort of promised Han I’d go to guard tonight, damn.

“Er best not, need to be ready for tomorrow.”
“Okay, well good luck on the race Gab,” Mrs T offered.
“Thanks.”
“Ring me,” Con suggested as we exchanged a parting hug, “and don’t fall off.”
“I’ll try not to, see you next week.”
“Yeah, glück!”

“Your knickers and stuff are on your stairs,” de Vreen called out from the lounge.
“Er cheers, Dad not back?”
“Did you see the camper?” Mand queried.
“Guess not then,” I answered my own question, “let me change and I’ll start dinner.”

True to her word my scanties were in a pile on my steps, I scooped them up and continued up to my eyrie. The house phone started to ring, I ignored the noise, Mand can answer, I need to change after all.

“Just us two eating,” Mand advised when I returned downstairs.
“Oh?”
“Said he’ll eat at the house before he comes back.”

I let out a sigh, bum, wonder if I can scrag a lift to Garde with P?

“Right, you okay with something on toast?”
“I guess, not beans though.”
yeah bit of a cliché that, “egg?”
“’kay,” she agreed.

Well to be honest I wanted a bit more than just egg on toast, I didn’t really have lunch just those few Frites off Max’s plate. I went to the fridge and started collecting ingredients, need to get rid of the odds and ends anyway as we’re not here for a bit.

“Thought we were having egg on toast,” Mand queried with a happy expression.
“Used up a few bits,” I told her as I passed her a plate of my version of an all day Bauernefrühstück, scrambled egg, onion, tomato, a fried egg on top, some bacon, fried potatoes and the last of our English style sausages, a couple of rounds of toast on the side.
Mand sighed happily, “wish I could cook.”
“You could learn,” I pointed out as I dug into the pile of food.
“I could but what would you do then?”

Sometimes her logic completely defeats me.

Maddy Bell © 19.03.2018