by Dora Heldt
“Do you think he’d give us one, too?” asked Emily longingly.
“Emily!” Anna Berg’s tone was reproachful. “Sorry, Christine, the girls normally have better manners than that.”
Lena pointed her finger at Mechthild. “But that woman got a hat from him.” She lowered her voice. “Or did she steal it?”
“Lena!”
Mechthild Weidemann-Zapek had heard the last sentence. She stroked her hand over the visor of the cap and forced a smile.
“My dear, I won this last night playing dice. I didn’t have to steal it.”
Suppressing disturbing thoughts of strip poker, I smiled back. “Frau Weidemann-Zapek, we would never in our lives have suspected such a thing. Can I get you anything else?”
As I fetched her tea, I reminded myself to check Heinz’s wardrobe as soon as I had the chance. After all, I’d have to answer to my mother; she’d trusted me with looking after his clothes. I crossed my fingers and hoped he’d only gambled away the hat.
Emily had followed me into the kitchen unnoticed.
“Where’s your dad?”
“He’s sitting in the courtyard with Kalli and Carsten, playing cards.”
“With his hat?”
“Of course.”
Anna Berg was behind me now. “Emily, there’s nothing for you to see here, please go back to the table.” She waited until her daughter had gone, then gave me an embarrassed smile. “They’re both nuts about your father. He told them a story yesterday, about seagulls and eggs and an Egg King, and they were both very taken with it.”
“An Egg King?” Sometimes my father worried me.
“If it gets too much for him, he should just send them away.”
“I didn’t even realize he was talking to them.”
Anna Berg looked surprised. “Oh, sure. Since we arrived, every morning in fact. They’re always waiting for him.”
“Oh, that’s nice.” I turned around to the door with a full teapot in my hand. “He loves that you know, a little bit of female admiration.”
After I’d cleared all the tables, I went back out to the card game. The table was still in exactly the same place, and the young workmen were still having to steer their way around it.
“Well, Christine, have you fed all the guests now?” Kalli was dealing the cards. “By the way, your father’s gambling away your inheritance.”
I tried to look at my father’s cards, but he laid them facedown on the table right away.
“What do you want, Chrissie? I have to concentrate.”
“There are two ladies who are missing you.”
He groaned softly. Carsten laughed.
“Well, Heinz, maybe you shouldn’t have shared so many rounds with them. Mechthild went a little wild afterward.”
“Dad, how many drinks did you all have?”
“And then they danced the lambada.” Kalli looked at his cards. “They’re on first-name terms now, Hannelore, Mechthild, and Heinz. And if Hannelore hadn’t had that terrible coughing fit, they’d still be dancing now.”
My father was silent, looking embarrassed. I bit my lip.
“Mechthild was wearing your moose hat.”
“That was my best one. It had such a nice visor. But Mechthild rolled boxcars, I had to give it to her.” He looked around him. “Did you tell them where we are?”
“The ladies who are missing you are much younger.”
“Younger?” He knitted his brow.
“And yet you can’t remember.” Carsten shook his head. “If younger women were looking for me, I’d know about it.”
At that moment, Emily and Lena appeared at the door of the guesthouse. I waved them over to the table. Smiling shyly at Carsten and Kalli, they went to stand next to my father.
Emily put her little hand on his knee.
“The fat lady’s wearing your hat. It looks silly.”
“Mom said we could buy a hat, too. Can you come with us? Please?” Lena leaned on his other knee.
My father looked at them earnestly. “You want me to come too? Okay, then we’ll look for the best hat shops on the island. I need a new one too; I gambled my favorite one away. You can help me look for one. But you’ll have to ask your parents first.”
The girls were excited. Emily took his arm.
“And can we go see the seagulls too, and look for the Egg King?”
I had no idea what all that was about. “Who is this Egg King anyway?”
My father was horrified. “Christine, ‘Lille Peer’! The story of the Egg King. You forget everything I ever tell you!”
On my way back to the kitchen, I tried to remember the story. Lille Peer, an old Sylt legend who tried to prevent buccaneers and hoodlums from stealing the seagulls’ eggs. But an evil fate befell him when the hoodlums, unable to get to the gull eggs, stole his fourteen-year-old son. Lille Peer and his wife were utterly distraught. They wailed and suffered, but continued to look out for the eggs. Then, one day, the waves washed a young man up on the beach. And because Lille Peer and his wife were such good people, they saved him and took him in. But it didn’t end there, and wouldn’t have been a proper legend if it did. No, one morning Lille Peer’s wife looked at the young man more closely and noticed a birthmark. And only one person in the whole world had this birthmark. And that was? Exactly, their kidnapped son!
“You look lost in thought.”
Anna and Dirk Berg had appeared right in front of me. I jumped.
“I was just thinking about the Egg King and his son. Sorry. Your daughters are outside with my father.”
“It must be great to have a father with such a wonderful imagination.”
Dirk Berg was smiling at me.
“Well,” I had to think for a moment. “It’s okay, I guess. Emily and Lena want to go with him to buy hats. Did they already ask you?”
“Oh, no, we couldn’t expect that of him. They can both be a little demanding, and besides—”
As Frau Berg spoke, I was struck by inspiration. I imagined my father with two little girls who wanted to keep him occupied for the whole day. He wouldn’t have a minute to spare to come up with weird theories for tracking down the con man, nor would he be able to get up to any other nonsense.
“I’m sure he’d really enjoy it,” I interrupted her. “Unfortunately, he doesn’t have any grandchildren of his own, but he’d be such a great grandfather. Let’s ask him right now.”
I ran back outside so quickly that they could barely keep up.
“Dad, it’s fine for you to go hat shopping with the girls!”
I practically shouted it across the courtyard. Underestimating the speed I was going, I couldn’t stop in time and crashed into the table, making the coffee slosh out of the cups. My father jumped up in surprise.
“Christine! You’re like a bull in a china shop! Be a little more careful, will you?”
He wiped the puddles of coffee up from the table with his handkerchief, then stopped as he saw Anna and Dirk Berg coming. He pushed me aside and smiled at them.
“Good morning. So, what do you have planned for today? Do you need any more tips?”
The expression on Kalli’s face gave me some idea of what this was about. I leaned over to him and whispered, “Let me guess, you suggested something to Heinz, and he ended up passing it off as his own idea?”
“Pretty much, yes. But I’m not giving him any tips today, so let’s see what he comes up with.” He looked a little petulant.
Anna Berg laid her hand on Lena’s shoulder. “We don’t need any tips today, actually. We’ve been invited on a sailing trip. We were actually going to say no, because of the girls, but if you’d really like to spend some time with them this afternoon…or is that obnoxious of us?”
My father stood up. “No, of course not. It’d be a pleasure.”
The girls beamed. Dirk Berg looked at them a little skeptically.
“Well, they’re not exactly the tamest seven-year-olds in the world. My mother-in-law usually finds t
hem a little too much.”
“Well thank God for that. But don’t you worry about me, I brought up three children and they’re all…” Seeing him give me a brazenly critical look, I stared right back. He carried on. “…totally fine so far. They’re all healthy and…well, independent. No, I have to say, all in all my wife and I did a pretty good job.”
“Dad, we’re only talking about a few hours here. It’s not an adoption or some kind of child-swap.”
“Oh.” My father looked at me critically again. “I think you’d be too old for the Bergs.” He turned back to the girls’ parents. “No, it’ll be fine. So, bon voyage! Kalli, would you like to come with us?”
Kalli looked first at my father, then the girls, then me.
“I’d say it’s my duty to.”
“Good.” My father gave his friend a jovial clap on the shoulder. “Then be a good man and suggest something that two old men and two young ladies can do on Nordeney.”
While Kalli was still pondering, Anna and Dirk Berg knelt down to give Emily and Lena a few light warnings about their parent-free day. I didn’t like to say, but there was really no need; my father and Kalli would only do exactly the opposite.
He’s Back
* * *
A quarter of an hour later, as I was emptying the dishwasher with Gesa, Marleen came over to us with four coffee cups in her hand.
“It’s unbelievable.” She put the cups on the table. “Our retiree team is just incapable of clearing up after themselves. They even left the table standing there.”
I peeped out the window. “Are they gone already? My father didn’t even say good-bye.”
Gesa grinned. “You know, he made a good trade there—an old child for two new ones.”
“Have all three of them headed off with the children? Carsten too?”
“No.” Marleen shook her head. “Carsten went for coffee with Nils and Dorothea. I think he wanted to check Dorothea out. Heinz and Carsten aren’t sure if they should approve the relationship yet.”
Gesa gave me a sympathetic look. “How are you coping with all this? I mean, Dorothea makes out with some guy and Heinz gets right on to the guy’s father. You talk to Herr Thiess twice and he’s immediately seen as some kind of con man. It’s really no wonder you and Dorothea live alone.”
“Oh, it’s not so bad…”
“You don’t have to defend him, Christine.” Gesa reached for her backpack. “I think Heinz is really sweet, but I certainly wouldn’t want him as a father. Anyway, I’m off now, so I’ll see you both tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of the day.”
Marleen sighed softly. “These young women, they just say whatever comes into their head. And yet we old hippos are so diplomatic. It’s a little unfair.”
“That’s true. Perhaps we should be a little more outspoken now and then.”
At that moment we heard a loud rattling, realized it was Gisbert’s moped, and cringed.
I tried to look out of the window discreetly, so the driver wouldn’t see me. Gisbert walked toward the guesthouse, his helmet still on.
“Look at him.” My voice came out in a croak. “Those thin little arms and legs, and then that huge helmet on his tiny head. If he doesn’t take it off right now I’m going to die laughing.”
“Hello, is anyone here?” His voice sounded hollow. Presumably he hadn’t even lifted up the visor.
Marleen pulled herself together. “Come on, he is the press after all.” She took a deep breath. “The door on the right,” she called out. “We’re in the kitchen.”
Gisbert jumped. He was already standing in the door, helmet in hand.
“Good morning, ladies. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
I offered my most diplomatic smile. “Of course not, we never have anything to do anyway. We just stand around looking out the window. How are you?”
He beamed and smoothed down his thinning ginger hair. “Splendid, thank you. I was hoping to invite you for a spin around the island, Christine. I brought a second helmet especially for you.”
My gaze switched to his moped. A bright red monstrosity was swinging from the handlebars. Marleen coughed. I could almost read her mind. Gisbert held out his hand with a flourish.
“So, may I?”
“No, thank you.” I avoided meeting Marleen’s gaze. “I’m sorry, but we still have a few things to take care of here, preparations and so on, so I really can’t get away.”
Disappointed, he turned around to Marleen. “But the floor’s being done in the restaurant today. And everything’s ready here.” Gisbert gestured at the tidy kitchen.
Marleen saw my desperate look.
“Napkins,” she said importantly. “We still need to fold napkins. For the opening.”
“Oh,” answered Gisbert. He drummed his thin fingers on the helmet. “But surely that can’t take too long?”
I thought of something even better. “And I’m waiting for a phone call from my boyfriend.”
Gisbert cocked his head to the side and smiled thinly. “You don’t have a boyfriend. Heinz told me. Or…” Suddenly, a thought struck him—you could almost see the lightbulb appear above his head. His back stiffened. “Well, it’s only a pleasure deferred. We can do it another time. Where is Heinz anyway?”
“He’s already gone. Kalli and he are babysitters today.”
Gisbert wiped a small drop of sweat from his red forehead. “Does he have a number for emergencies?”
Marleen pulled a cell phone from her jeans pocket. “He left his phone outside with the coffee mugs and the card game. So there’s no way of getting in touch with him, I’m afraid.”
“And Kalli?”
I was starting to lose my patience. “Gisbert, there is no emergency! And Kalli doesn’t even have a cell phone.”
I went past him and out of the door, careful to keep my distance. I could still hear his nervous, squeaky little voice once I was in the hallway.
“Marleen, don’t let her answer the phone, please! It’s a matter of life and death. I’m going to look for Heinz.”
The way he walked through the courtyard reminded me of a young John Wayne.
I waited until I heard the sound of the moped heading off before I went back to Marleen. She watched him go, shaking her head.
“He’s pretty nuts, don’t you think?”
“Marleen, now remember, he’s the press.”
“And that’s why he’s waiting for the return of the con man?”
“I guess so. I’m sure he’s never had a story like that before. Do we really need to fold napkins?”
“No, of course not. I just wanted to save you. I’m heading over to see how the workmen are doing, so you can go straight down to the beach.”
The thought of a few hours with a book in the sand was wonderful.
“Great! I’ll take your bike then. See you tonight at dinner.”
Minutes later, I was riding along the promenade with the sun on my face and the wind on my back. My thoughts went back to yesterday evening in the Shark Bar, to Gisbert’s story. I tried to shake my gloomy thoughts and reminded myself about the text Johann had sent me: “…so that we can see each other again soon.”He would be back. I wasn’t some naive waitress from Emden. After all, I was forty-five and had the experience of a marriage and several love affairs behind me. I knew a thing or two about men. At least, that’s what I hoped, and with an intensity that made me pedal quicker and quicker.
Two swims and forty pages of my crime novel later, I’d had my fix of beach life. I shook the sand from the hand towels, packed my things up, and decided to ride into town and buy myself a dress. As I unlocked my bike I heard a whistle. The days when I would have reacted to something like that were long gone, so when the next whistle came, I ignored that too. But then I heard something I certainly couldn’t ignore.
“Christine! Are you deaf?”
My heart started to pound. I turned around quickly and saw him. Johann. He was walking toward me, wearing jeans, a shirt, and a blazer. All
I could see were his hazel- brown eyes and that smile of his; there was no way on earth this man could be a criminal. Once he was stood in front of me, I closed my eyes…and felt his kiss.
“I’m back. I couldn’t make it any sooner.”
“We thought…I mean, I didn’t believe it, but it doesn’t matter now anyway, I…” I stuttered with excitement.
He gave me a puzzled look. “Have you had too much sun? Is everything okay?”
I shook the thoughts away. “Yes, everything’s fine. How did you know I’d be here?”
“I went to the guesthouse first and asked Marleen.”
“Did anyone else see you?”
“No, why?”
To hide my relief, I concentrated on fastening my purse onto the bicycle rack and avoided making eye contact.
“Oh, no reason. So what are your plans now?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to meet you first and then see. We could ride into town and have a coffee or something to eat. Or go shopping. Oh, and by the way,” he said as he reached into the inside pocket of his blazer and pulled out an envelope. “Here’s your money. And thank you again for the loan.”
I took the envelope and tucked it away in the side pocket of my purse. For a brief moment, an inner voice, which sounded a little like my father’s, told me to count it. I ignored it.
“So?” Johann was watching me. “What shall we do?”
I would have been happy to do anything with him, but was horrified at the prospect of walking hand in hand with him through town, then suddenly finding myself surrounded by my father, Kalli, and two cap-wearing little girls. It was too risky.
“Today’s a little tricky. My father and his friend Kalli are looking after the Berg twins, and I’m supposed to be lending a hand. I was just about to ride off and look for them.”
“Then why don’t I come too?”
I feverishly wracked my brain for an excuse. “That’s not a great idea. I…I mean, my father… Johann, please don’t take this the wrong way, but when it comes to men I’m involved with in any way…well, my father can be a little funny.”