by Dora Heldt
“I’m not shouting.” Christine lowered her voice, agitated. “I just asked whether he might perhaps want to look after Aunt Inge.”
“I’ve already been round there.” Walter looked offended now. “But she said she wants to be left in peace. So what am I supposed to do?”
Heinz looked at Walter sympathetically. “You did everything you could, Walter. Now we’ll just have to approach the problem in a different way.”
Walter looked up miserably, but with an almost childlike expression of hope. “How?”
Heinz shot back a determined look. “I’ll think of something. But first let’s have breakfast. And then we can drive to Kampen and watch the sand replenishment. It’ll be a nice distraction.”
Johann was sitting out on the terrace, watching Charlotte as she knelt down among the flowers, sending cuttings flying everywhere.
Christine set the table, and Walter squeezed in next to Johann. “Pass me one of the small rolls, will you. And the marmalade.”
At that moment, Charlotte looked up with a start. “There’s someone at the backyard gate.”
Christine heard it too: a bang, followed by hinges squeaking. And then a familiar voice rang out, making Christine break into a sweat.
“Heinz? Heii-enz?”
Christine lowered the plate she was holding in her hand and stared at her father. “Hey, is that…?”
“Heinz? Is anyone home?”
Heinz wrinkled his forehead, then suddenly his face lit up. “That’s…” He rushed around the corner of the house and spread his arms wide. “Kalli! What are you doing here? Charlotte, Christine, look who it is, old Kalli…”
Charlotte struggled to her feet, visibly struggling to keep her composure. “I don’t believe this,” she muttered.
It was indeed Kalli. He was Heinz’s oldest friend—a shy, polite, slightly awkward, and easily excitable man. On Norderney, where he lived, he had supported Heinz with every one of his idiotic ideas. He had taken part in spying on Johann, as well as completely shooting Christine’s nerves to pieces.
Kalli was carrying a sports bag in his hand. He looked very pale, his silver hair was wild and windswept, and his sunglasses seemed broken. He gave the others a friendly nod.
“Hello, everyone. I’m not feeling too good. Can I rest here for a while?”
Overjoyed to see him, Heinz smacked his old friend on the shoulder and shook his hand so heartily that his face went even paler. “Where are you coming from? Why aren’t you on Norderney? Is Hanna here too?” He pulled him onto the terrace. “That’s my brother-in-law, Walter, Inge’s husband. You know Christine and Johann already. Do you want to join us for breakfast?”
“Could I perhaps have a glass of water?”
His polite voice stirred Charlotte from her frozen state. She came to the table.
“Hello, Kalli. Sit here. Johann, move down a little.”
She passed him a glass, and Christine poured the water. Kalli sank into the chair, looking relieved. He only looked up again once he had drunk it all down. He cleared his throat.
“Sorry for gate-crashing like this, but I didn’t know what to do. I’m completely done in.”
Heinz leaned over to him. “What happened? Why are you here?”
Kalli dropped his gaze and rubbed his thumbs. “Oh, the kids got me a flight for my birthday. Because I’ve never flown before.”
“And?” Walter looked at him with curiosity. “Where are you flying to?”
“I already have.” Kalli rubbed his forehead in exhaustion. “This morning. With one of those pilots you can charter. Jan—that’s the pilot—was completely reckless. I was feeling ill even by the time we were flying over Helgoland. And I was sick over Foehr, so we did an emergency landing in Westerland. It was either that or risk having a heart attack.”
“And then?” Charlotte poured some more water for him.
“I was okay as soon as we were on land. But I’m not getting back on that plane. I’m not ready to die just yet. I told Jan I had a friend here I wanted to visit and that I’d be fine going back by train.”
“This damn flying business.” Walter shook his head in sympathy. “It wastes energy like you wouldn’t believe. It’s loud, dangerous, and it makes you sick too. I always travel by train, and I can tell you how to get a really good price. I’ve figured out how to game the system.”
“Thank you.” Kalli nodded to him. “That’s very kind of you.”
“Does Hanna know where you are?” asked Charlotte. “Or is she standing at Norderney airfield right now waiting for you?”
“I have to call her. But I wouldn’t have been back until this evening anyway. Can I stay here for the night?”
“Of course.” Heinz ignored his wife’s panicked expression. “You can stay a few days if you’d like, until you’re properly recovered. This was a real shock for you, and that’s not good at our age. That makes three of us, with Walter, too, so we can play Skat instead of this silly Yahtzee.”
“Heinz?” said Charlotte, in an urgent tone.
“Just a moment, my love. Do you have wash things with you, Kalli? And a change of clothes? No? Well, not to worry, you and I are the same size. And Walter has loads of things with him, so it’ll be fine.”
“Heinz! Can you come into the kitchen with me? I have to talk to you.”
“Just a moment. And I…”
“Heinz! Now!”
Without giving her husband another glance, Charlotte grabbed the coffee mug and marched into the house.
“Okay, fine…Kalli, Walter, excuse me for a moment. Charlotte must need me to help make Kalli feel welcome. We’ll get a mug of coffee for you, Kalli, and bring the card game out to the terrace.”
He went slowly into the house. Kalli looked at Johann, relieved. “So, young man, everything good with you?” Christine groaned and followed her father. They were very likely to need a referee.
Chapter 25
* * *
Inge paused in the doorway of Café Vienna and looked around searchingly. As soon as she saw Anika at one of the rear tables, she went swiftly over to her.
“Good morning. I’m pleased you had a little time free for me.”
Anika laid her newspaper aside. “Hello, Frau Müller. How are you feeling? How’s the head?”
“Oh, I’m sure we were already on first-name terms, weren’t we?” Before Inge sat down, she took off her jacket and laid it over an empty chair next to her. “I’m well, everything’s fine. Do you have the whole morning free?”
“Yes.” Anika nodded. “Till starts school late on Wednesdays, and my shift always starts at midday since I can’t get anyone else to watch him in the mornings. After school he goes to the neighbors’ and then on to his sports club at four o’clock. I pick him up from there.”
“It must be tricky, I imagine, having a child and working odd hours?” Inge propped her chin in her hand, looking sympathetic. “Where’s his father?”
“In Berlin. But it’s not a great topic, so I’d prefer not to go into it.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be nosy. And the neighbors? Does Till like going there?”
Anika shrugged. “Well, it’s okay I guess. Theresa is nice. She’s in her early forties and has two kids of her own. The younger one is Till’s age and they’re friends. She offered to look after him a while back. In fact, that’s the only reason I was able to take the job at Badezeit. Till has been going there ever since. I pay her, of course.” She was interrupted by her cell phone ringing and took the call. “Anika Jakob…Oh no, really? That’s a pain. And there isn’t someone else who can take it? Okay, well, thanks for letting me know. Get well soon…Of course, ’bye.”
She kept the cell in her hand and tapped a number into the keypad. “The most annoying thing is this constant juggling.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Till’s sports coach has a stomach bug, so practice is canceled today. I’ll just have to call Theresa and ask if Till can stay there longer.”
&n
bsp; “Hang on!” Inge laid her hand on her arm. “Till wanted to go to the aquarium with me. We could go today.”
“Really?” Anika looked at her in amazement and pressed the red button to interrupt the call. “That would be great. Then he won’t be so upset about practice being canceled.”
“What can I get you?” The waitress had appeared at their table unnoticed. “Oh, hello, Anika. I didn’t recognize you. I thought you moved away.”
“Hello, Lena. No, not yet. And I want to carry on working in Badezeit anyway, as long as I can manage the commute okay. You don’t happen to know of an available apartment in Niebüll, near the station do you?” Niebüll was on Germany’s North Sea coast; it was easily reachable from Sylt via train across the causeway that linked the island to the mainland. “Three rooms, kitchen and bathroom, not too pricey?” She laughed bitterly. “And before the end of the summer vacation if possible!”
Lena gave her an encouraging nod. “I’ll keep my ears open. My brother lives in Niebüll, and I overhear things in the café now and then.”
“That would be great, thank you.” Anika’s usual cheerful demeanor had returned. “I’ll write down my cell number for you. And I’d like a latte, please. Inge?”
“Oh…um…let me see.” Inge was lost in thought and a little flustered. “Yes, the same for me, please. Thank you.”
Lena disappeared, and Inge turned back to Anika. “When exactly do you have to be out of the apartment?”
“By September thirtieth. But I have to find a new apartment before that, because Till will have to go to a new school. After all, he can’t go by train to Westerland every morning at his age. It’ll be enough stress just with his sports club, and I can’t take away everything from him. It’s better that he changes school at the beginning of a new school year.”
Inge nodded. “And what if you did manage to find something on Sylt? We already spoke about it, I think.”
Anika blushed slightly. “Ah yes, the first time we met…Inge, no offense, but I thought you’d forgotten all of that after the champagne.”
Inge demurred. “I still remember our conversation that day in detail. But tell me—here’s a completely different question now—could you imagine living in a shared household?”
“What do you mean by shared? In a house—shared with strangers?” Anika puckered her lips thoughtfully. “No, I’m too old for that. I did it when I was younger though.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Inge shook her head. “I’m talking about the kind of house share where everyone has their own self-contained apartment, but there’s a common room, too, where people might read or watch TV or play cards. It would be ideal for single mothers like you. There would always be someone to look after Till, you would have other people around in the evenings instead of being by yourself, and the whole organization thing would be much easier.”
“It’s a lovely idea,” answered Anika, “but I imagine finding something like that would be hard. And it would take time to build up trust in one’s housemates. It’s not something that can happen overnight. I mean, I won’t leave Till with just anyone. In an ideal world—like in a movie—it might work. But let’s get back to reality. You said you might know of an apartment for us in Wenningstedt. Did anything come of that?”
Inge looked at the young woman thoughtfully. “Yes, it’s very likely that a three-bedroom apartment will be available in a house owned by someone I know. The chances are very, very good. And you could stay on Sylt.”
Anika looked at her skeptically. “Where is it? And how many other people live there?”
“I’ve forgotten the name of the street, but it’s very central. And I think there are four apartments in the building. Very nice people—at least, that’s what I’ve heard.”
“Do you know how much the rent is? Wenningstedt isn’t the cheapest of locations by any means. I can’t pay much more than six hundred euros.”
“I’ll look after…I’m sure that’s fine. I’ve got a good feeling about this.” She grasped Anika’s hand and squeezed it enthusiastically. “Believe me, everything will be fine.”
Johann glanced at Christine, then concentrated on the road again.
“Are you feeling guilty?”
“About what?” Her head leaned against the window as she stared out at the lush green moors passing by.
“Losing your temper.”
“I didn’t.”
“We heard you outside.”
“What?”
“You were shouting at Heinz.”
Christine sat up straight and looked at Johann. “I didn’t shout at Heinz, I just raised my voice because his hearing isn’t very good. At least not when it comes to some topics. He’s really pleased that Walter and Kalli are there, that there’s some life around the place at last, as he put it. But my mother almost threw a fit. She said she wasn’t running some kind of retirement home, that they should go to a hotel. My father said that was out of question. So it just went back and forth. That’s why I was a little loud. I had to make myself heard telling them we were going to head off and find a hotel for the two of us. That’s all.”
“Aha.” Johann turned the car into a quiet lane. “And here we are! In any case, Kalli said he didn’t want to be responsible for driving you out of the family nest, clearly forgetting that you left home decades ago. Then Walter piped up, saying that his daughter Pia cost him three hundred thousand euros, from diapers to doctors’ visits and food and education, and that at some point he just had to draw the line. He doesn’t think that anything more can be demanded from him as a father once a child reaches adulthood, and that includes providing a place to live. He suggested that Heinz should follow his example.”
“That’s typical Walter logic. You know, I find myself sympathizing with Aunt Inge more and more.”
The gravel on the parking lot crunched as they drove into a free space in front of the inn. Johann turned the engine off and looked at the whitewashed, thatched cottage with bushes of fragrant Sylt roses at each side of the door and ivy climbing up the sides.
“Charming, isn’t it?”
Christine had already jumped out. “Oh, it’s exquisite—a perfect Frisian cottage. If a double room is still available, let’s book it right away. Look, it’s got a view over the mudflats too. And it’s so peaceful. Quick, hurry.”
Ten minutes later, Christine felt a long way from all the chaos. Their room was decorated in soft blues with an intricate antique quilt on the four-poster bed, the staff was friendly, and Johann was visibly relieved that they were finally feeling in the vacation mood again.
“We’ve done the right thing,” she said, squeezing Johann’s arm. “Now let’s go back, fetch our things, and just focus on our vacation from now on. We can drop by my parents’ now and then. But now and then at most.”
“Are you feeling bad about leaving?”
“No…” Christine waited for Johann to unlock the car. “Well, perhaps just a little, because my mother is there alone with the three of them now.”
“Well, you were alone with Kalli and Heinz on Norderney when she wasn’t there. And Walter easily equates to Onno and Carsten put together. Very easily, in fact.” Onno and Carsten were the other “partners-in-crime,” along with Gisbert, who had egged Christine’s father on in his crazed—and deluded—determination to expose Johann as a con man.
“The combination of these three together is even more challenging, I think. And Heinz is on home ground. On Norderney he at least restrained himself a little for being in unfamiliar territory.”
Johann laughed drily. “Restrained? Are you serious? I—”
He was interrupted by Christine’s cell phone, which had started to dance around on the dashboard. Mom lit up on the display.
Christine took the call apprehensively. “Yes?”
“Where are you right now?” To Christine’s relief, her mother’s voice didn’t bear any telltale signs of an imminent nervous breakdown.
“We’re still in the parking
lot at the inn,” answered Christine, relieved. “We’ve booked a room, old-fashioned but with all modern conveniences, so we’re just coming back to fetch our things.”
The other end of the line went silent. Christine carried on quickly. “It’ll be much better this way. Walter and Kalli can sleep upstairs in the loft apartment, and you’ll have some peace and quiet downstairs. Just make them a bit of breakfast, and everything will be fine.”
Charlotte’s voice sounded strained. “Breakfast? You think that’ll be it?”
“Oh, Mom, don’t be annoyed. Johann and I want to make the most of our time together here. And we can’t really have our space upstairs if Uncle Walter and Kalli are sleeping on the floor. So this is a good solution. I can come by and lend you a hand sometimes.” Johann coughed, which Christine ignored for her mother’s sake. “We can cook in the evenings—we did it on Norderney—and for lunch we can have sausages or rolls and—”
“There’ll be no cooking here.” Charlotte’s tone silenced Christine’s words in a second. “Not by me, in any case. What you do is your business. I just phoned your brother. Georg is going to Cologne tomorrow on business for a week. He said that as long as I don’t get any ideas about cleaning everything and hanging drapes, then I can stay at his place. The train leaves at one thirty p.m. Could you two give me a lift to the train station?”
“But you can’t just take off! You can’t…” Christine fell silent, suddenly speechless. Charlotte, on the other hand, wasn’t.
“Why not? Inge did. I don’t have the nerves for all this, and I can’t just keep stuffing myself with chocolate. So will you give me a lift or not?”
“Yes, of course. See you soon.” Startled, Christine ended the call. “Now my mother is leaving too. She’s going to my brother’s in Hamburg, which means the three men are staying home alone.”
Amused, Johann jingled their room key. “Then we definitely did the right thing.” Noticing Christine’s facial expression, he immediately became exasperated and flung the keys on the dashboard. “Forget about it. Either they’ll cook for themselves, or they’ll just lose a few pounds, and that certainly wouldn’t hurt any of them. I’m sure it won’t be long before your Uncle Walter comes up with an idea of how they can get a hot meal each day for a bargain price. We’re here to have a vacation and figure out some things in your life. So just let them get on with it. For my sake. For our sake. Please!”
