The following story was originally written for a german website and later printed in my first book "Der Neuanfang". After I translated my story "Never saw a miracle" into english and getting lots of good feedback, I decided to translate this story, too. Some readers wrote me that I don't have to apologize for my English -- so I won't anymore g.
The story is set in Germany, so of course there are a few things unfamiliar to people from other countries. As example temperatures are given in degrees centigrade: 0 C are 32 F, minus 5 C are 23 F and so on. If there are any things you don't understand, please feel free to ask me about it. I love getting emails anyway, and I'd like to say my thankyous to all of you who already wrote me.
There are two other stories of mine published here on niftys:
"Never saw a miracle" in the gay/highschool section
and
"Different" in the gay/no-sex section
If someone is interested in reading the original german story, it's here:
http://www.nickstories.de
Look for "Peter's Stories". And if some is interested in buying my books (in german language, of course): they can be bought directly from me, even with my signature which will be worth millions when I'm a Nobel prize winner someday -- lol...
I'm sorry for the delay, but the holidays are over and I'm back to work, so I haven't that much time for the translation anymore.
But now let's the play begin^Å
--*
A new beginning -- Part 12
© 2001-2006 by Peter Conrad, Peter_Co@web.de
Another too short night, a nother too early morning, another too cold walk to school and another much too boring day at school. (Only to shorten it up a bit, would be stupid to write the same things for every new day, wouldn't it?) The one single difference was, that this day Tim joined me on my way to school for his first day there. Not that I felt sorry for him! So far even brotherly love didn't go.
The building was locked when we reached it, just great. Well, at least I had the chance to show Tim around my friends. Many of them knew him already from Katjas party, but there were still a few he hadn't met before. One of them was Philipp, who now looked him up and down for inspection. Protecting instinct for his little sister? The question was who needed protection -- I mean his sister does karate!
Nicole, who until now only new Tim from the picture Thomas had shown around, grinned at me an whispered into my ear.
"Danny, now I understand why you snuggled up to him in bed."
I felt my blood racing to my face, and a short look at Tim showed me, that Nicoles whispering wasn't that quiet. I was sure she did it intenionally! Tim was getting red, too.
I took together all the kindness I could muster and asked our little wannabe-punk.
"Jealous?"
Nicole ran both hands through her brightly colored hair, giving Tim a suggestive look-over.
"Sure! With the right hairstyle and clothing I could make something out of him."
"Don't let this hear your Rocky, or he'll pull out your nose piercing without anaesthesia!"
"Ouch! You're right, I should hold back a bit."
Nicole and her boyfriend Rocky (his real name was Rudolf, but he didn't like it -- and it didn't fit his punker image anyway) were by far the most noticable students at our school. It started with all that metal the had on and in their bodies. Rings, piercings, pendants -- everywhere was metal. The security personal at an airport was bound for despair when they showed up, the metal detectors were pinging like mad. Okay, once I had thought about getting an earring myself, but then the idea of piercing my poor, soft and tender skin stopped me from really getting one. But Nicole and Rocky? Ears, noses, tongues, eyebows -- piercings everywhere! Rocky even gave himself nipple piercings for christmas! And then there are people who call us gays perverts g. When this couple was wandering through the schools halls you could feel like in a haunted house, it sounded like rattling chains.
And then there was the hair. Not only did both Nicole and Rocky like they fell with their heads into a painters palette, no, Rocky also had a very prominent parting. Meaning one side of his head was totally shaved, on the other side his hair hadn't seen a scissor in years.
The last highlight were their clothes which always looked like they came directly from the red cross used clothes collection. Not that their clothes were dirty, never, but still they were a heavy insult to the eyes -- at least to mine. And to make things worse (at least for a gay teenager like me) Nicole showed much more naked skin than I cared for. I mean, a straight guy might like seeing a girls butt falling out of her jeans -- but couldn't she show a little consideration for me? At winter times like now I always asked myself how she survived the cold...
To close the circle: I was sure that Tim would be scared if a girl like Nicole made a pass at him. Even if I have to admit that our two technicolor classmates were totally harmless and dependable friends -- even though they matched the picture of those teenagers your parents warn you about. I more than once have seen older people changing the street side when they noticed Nicole and Rocky.
Meanwhile everyone chattet with everyone, and I used the chance to speak with Flip.
"Good morning."
"Same to you."
"Did your sister say something about my brother yesterday?"
"No, but she ran around with a dreamy look on her face."
She must have looked like I did thinking about Philipp.
"What do you think, should we try to play matchmaker?"
"And how?"
"It's Tims first day here, we could hand him over to your sister for guidance."
Philipp grinned at me.
"Good idea. Tim seems to be okay, and Veronika could use a little uplift for her love life. But is your brother actually interested in her?"
"That we have to find out, but I would count on it. Your sister is really cute, and my brother is only a hormon driven teenager."
"Okay, let's try. How do we start?"
"I'll grab Tim, then we go over to your sister."
"Good, but we should move fast, before they open up the doors."
He was right, so I grabbed Tim, who just talked with Thomas, by his left arm and dragged him with me.
"He! What are you doing?"
"Just come with me, I want you to meet someone."
With Tim in tow I marched over to the place where is future classmates stood in a circle -- of course he started to notice what was going on.
"Where do you drag me?"
"Just trust me. Not that I want to get rid of you, but I think you should meet your new classmates. By the way, the girl in the red anorak is Veronika, and as far as I know she is really keen on meeting you!"
Now everything was clear to him, and he doubled his resistance.
"Are you nuts?"
I remembered what adults often say to their children: "Maybe you don't understand it now, but later you'll be thankful." and had to stop myself from saying it loud. Of course Tims resistance was futile, especially when a grinning Philipp grabbed his other arm. Together whe shoved our still struggling little swim champion to his classmates, where my partner in crime made the announcement.
"Hi. This is Tim, Dannys brother. He'll be in your class from today on. Veronika, would you please help him a little getting to know everyone and everything?"
What did I read there from Veronikas lips? "I hate you!"? Todays youth! You have to force them to their happiness.
It was time for our tactical retreat, Flip and I let go of Tim and wandered off. While we did so we heard his new classmates greet him, and when I turned back for a moment I noticed both my brother and Flips sister taking turns looking at their own feet and at the face of the other. I pushed Philipp in his side.
"Lock back. Looks promising, doesn't it?"
He followed my looks and started to smile.
"Well, we'll see. They give a nice couple."
Absolutely. What I didn't know was that my best friend Thomas just thought exactly the same about Flip and me...
The first lessons were so busy that I didn't have the time think about any potential couples. All the teachers had decided that it was time to make up for the christmas break, giving out heaps of homework, making comments about lazy students and so on. What was wrong with them? Did the secretary of education announce his visit or what? After a while all heads were smoking. Wait. Of course not all heads. Only the heads of those on the wrong side of the teachers table. And even though they were in the majority, nobody asked them their opinion. And I thought we lived in a democracy. I guess I was wrong.
During the breaks we ran from room to room, only talking about the newly found activism of our teachers. I didn't even had the time to waste a thought about Philipp (okay, a thought about Philipp was never wasted), and our little matchmaking from the morning was totally forgotten.
Lunch break was the first chance to breath deeply again. I just started to eat whatever it was on my plate, when I felt an elbow in my rips. Okay, I loved being touched by Flip, but he could have been a little more tender!
"Ouch! What's wrong?"
"Look, over there."
I did as he asked, and ... there were our younger siblings, sitting together peacefully, facing each other! And not only that, they only had eyes for each other, they didn't even notice the world around them!
Meanwhile Thomas had noticed where we were looking and watched Veronika and Tim with open mouth.
"I don't believe it! And I thought you were only joking about them."
"Well, it more or less started out as a joke, but if it really works out I won't complain."
"I have to know everything about it, you'll excuse me for a moment, please."
Thomas started to get up, and that I had to stop. Knowing him he would burst in on them, and I wasn't sure if this tender plant of affection would survive his attack.
"You just stay here and let them in peace! They really don't need you now."
"Spoilsport. Okay, then I have to take care of YOUR love life."
"Don't you dare."
"And how will you stop me?"
"I could write a complaint to your Christine, telling her that her lover is playing games with his best friends life."
"You really would sneak on your best friend?"
"In love and war..."
"Okay, okay. I just have to do it in a way you won't notice."
"Haha, as if you were a master of secrecy and inconspicuousity. Don't even start, I'll find out anyway."
This was the end of the love-topic (for now at least), soon the break was over and we had to survive another 48 or so hours of lessons. When it was over I left the building together with Thomas and Flip. My little brother was nowhere to be seen, the same went for Philipps little sister.
"What can we do with the rest of the day?"
"I don't know what you'll do, Thomas, but I'll go home and take care of the homework. With a little luck I'll be done with it sometime next week."
"Shit, you're right. The teachers really went nuts today. But today I'll only do what I need for tomorrow, everything else I'll do on the weekend."
"You only hope that someone has everything done til the weekend, so you can copy it from them."
"Psssst! Did you need to say it so loud? Now I won't have a chance with our new student here."
"You would never have a chance with me anyway, so don't blame Danny."
How ambiguous. Did he mean that I would have a chance with him? Before I could think any longer about this problem a loud womans voice stopped all talking in a 50 meters circle.
"Huhu! Danny! Daniel Thom! Here I am! Huhu!"
Oh. My. GOD!
I didn't need to turn to the voice to know who was calling for me. My fathers sister. Aunt Helga. A good matching name, by the way. If you happen to know the comics of Hagar the Horrible you also know his wife, Helga. Even more horrible than Hagar himself. And my aunt Helga looked almost exactly like the comic character. Big, heavy, loud -- walking terror. Okay, okay, as my dad always said: a good soul. And I never had a reason to complain about her, she always brought us presents and had to tell great stories about her life. But still I was always a take a little aback because of her tomboyish behaviour, often enough I had to suffer from it.
The last time I had seen her was more than two years ago. Neither I nor my mother knew where she spent this time. Aunt Helga had a very good marriage -- and an even better divorce. Okay, her husband was a slimy bastard, and after the divorce she left him with next to nothing. At least there weren't children to suffer from it. And just after the divorce Fortuna prooved that she was really blind, giving her a big lottery jackpot. Now she had very much money and even more time on her hands, and she used both it totally. Once she spent a whole year on a sheep farm in New Zealand, then she walked for months through India to "find herself". Between her adventures she used to show up unannounced at our home. Please don't misunderstand me, I really liked aunt Helga, but I already knew what would happen next. I spoke quietly to Thomas.
"Watch out, if she breaks my rips, call for a doctor."
"Okay. My condolences."
It was time to put a brave face on and meet my destiny, so I turned to my aunt and went into her direction.
"Danny, there you are! Come to me, my little one! Oh, you're not so little anymore!"
With these words she hugged me, almost crashing my rips. Now I was really glad that it was winter, and all the thick clothes were protecting my bones. At least a little bit. But after a while I had to free myself.
"Aunt Helga, please, you'll crush me!"
"Come on, a real boy like you ... or better: a real young man like! And I'm only your old aunt!"
An old aunt I was sure could wrestle a fightbull with bare hands. Thankfully she finally let me out of her hug, now holding me only with her hands, looking me up and down.
"You're really grown! You look more and more like your father. My brother would be so proud of you!"
"Thanks, aunt Helga. But where are you coming from now?"
"From your mother, why?"
"You know what I mean. Where were you for the last two years?"
"Oh. I was in Brazil, believe it or not."
Why shouldn't I believe her? With aunt Helga everything was possible.
"And now, where is this new nephew of mine?"
Hm, she already knew about the new family constellation. But what did she think about her death brother being "replaced" by someone else? I looked her deep into the eyes, but I couldn't find anything else but curiosity.
"He should show up any minute now."
"I hope so, I can't wait to meet him."
I was worried for a moment, but this didn't sound bad. Meanwhile Thomas and Philipp said their goodbyes and left me alone with my aunt. But before I could ask her about Brazil I noticed Tim coming out of the school -- together with Veronika. Wow. It looked really serious with them!
"There's Tim."
"Where? The boy with the black cap?"
"Yes."
Meanwhile the two of them had reached us, and before I even could warn Tim about what would happen to him next he was the next victim of aunt Helgas stormy greeting. The poor boy didn't even know what was happening to him! Suddenly a heavy woman at least a head taller than him almost jumped him, hugged him as if she was to break all the bones in his upper body. Tim gave me a shocked, asking look, and I only could answer with a shrug of my shoulders. An aunt-Helga-greeting was like a natural desaster like an earthquake or a volcanic eruption -- as colossal as it and also as unstopable. You only could wait it out and hope to survive it. To Tims luck aunt Helga didn't hug him as long as she did me -- I guess her curiosity got to her, she wanted to get to know him.
"So so, you're Tim. Let me look at you. Hm. Not bad, really not bad. You're doing some kind of sports?"
Still stunned he answered automatically.
"I'm swimming."
"I thought so. And that's your girlfriend?"
Now my brother smiled at Veronika -- and she smiled back at him.
"Ah, I see! You don't have to answer! Congratulations, you have good taste!"
Aunt Helga turned her attention to Veronika, and Tim used the time to ask me about this crazy woman who attacked him so suddenly.
"Danny, who the hell is this!"
"This is our dear aunt Helga, my dads sister."
"Is she always this way?"
"This way or worse. You have to learn to live with it -- you can't change her."
Meanwhile aunt Helga was done sizing up Veronika and looked quite satisfied with the results.
"I hate to break up the young couple, but boys, we have to pick up your mother and meet this Reinhardt at a coffee shop. Say goodbye to your girlfriend, Tim, and then in the car with you two!"
We gave in to our destiny, said our goodbyes to Veronika and followed aunt Helga to her car -- a blue Range Rover. A car totally matching the woman driving it.
While we were driving home aunt Helga talked about her trip back to Germany. She didn't fly, oh no, she traveled as a passenger on a freighter! Later we picked up mom, and now it was time for aunt Helga to meet my new dad for the first time. I was a little surprised, she seemed to be quite okay with it. Okay, I guess it was clear that my mom wouldn't be alone for the whole rest of her life.
At the coffee shop we found a nice table, Reinhardt wasn't there yet, he had to meet a customer. Looking back I guess it was better this way. As always aunt Helgas mouth worked without the slightes break.
"Can you imagine, Maria, I had to break your little Tim from the arms of his girlfriend! A really nice girl, by the way."
My mom smiled with lifted eyebrows. I was sorry for my poor brother, his love life was running at high speed at the moment and even was already discussed with his mom!
"A real little casanova he is. Tim, I'm sorry that you had to leave her because of me."
"It's not so bad. And Danny had to leave his Philipp, too."
A loud thud, followed by silence. The thud came from the menu falling out of aunt Helgas hands.
"What did you say?"
I guess it's obvious that aunt Helga wasn't one of those who knew about my being gay. And I guess Tim realized this at the same moment.
"Shit."
"Maria? Does this mean that your son is a faggot?"
My mother gave me a pained look, asking me with her eyes how to proceed. How should she answer? I mean there wasn't anything to hide anymore. I nodded, with a very bad feeling in my stomach.
"No, Helga, this means that Danny is gay."
"And you sit here knowing it and still are so calm?"
"Yes, why shouldn't I?"
Aunt Helga jumped up, her head deeply red, she almost had foam on her lips. What a differnce to a few minutes before! I had never ever seen her this way -- and if somebody had told me she could be this way I wouldn't have believed him.
"I'm so glad that my poor brother doesn't have to see this! His son a cocksucker! I never had thought this about him -- and I never thought that you, Maria, would do nothing about it! If my brother knew it he would turn around in his grave!"
Now my mother jumped up, too.
"Oh yes, he would turn around in his grave! He would rotate! But not because of Danny but because of you! How can you dare to insult your own nephew this way!"
"Ha! This nephew is an inuslt himself! An insult for our good name! And you! You're standing here as if this wasn't a big thing!"
"It isn't. You're the only one making a big thing out of it."
"Just great! Now I'm the guilty one! Such a pervert in my own family! But so you know: you're dead for me. All of you! I came here to tell you that Da... that this faggot will be my sole heir, but forget it! I'll go to my lawyer tomorrow, I'd rather give all my money to greenpeace!"
"That's your decision, Helga. My decision is to tell you, that you're not welcome in our house any longer. Just tell me where to send you stuff, and we'll never have to see each other again."
"Just throw it away, I don't want stuff from your ... your faggot brothel anymore!"
She turned to Tim.
"Boy, I feel really sorry for you. I just hope that this pervert doesn't corrupt you. Good luck."
With these words aunt Helga stormed out of the coffee shop, almost colliding with Reinhardt who just came in...
..*
To be continued in part 13