“It
looks bigger now that all that junk’s gone,” said Rikki. “I suppose there will
be room for the trundle-bed. You’d better put some of the spare curtains up at
the side window. You don’t want anybody looking in. And I think I know where
there are some extra blankets.”
“But
nothing at the sky-light,” said Hani. “Because we’ll be able to look up at the
stars then. It’s going to be so great.”
“I hope
you two girls won’t catch cold sleeping out here,” said Rikki, frowning
slightly.
“Oh,
Rikki, you worry too much.” Hani put down her pile and gave her former nanny a
hug. “Nobody’s going to catch cold. We’ve got feather beds, haven’t we? And
that little stove is quite efficient. It’s going to be so cosy.”
“I don’t
know,” said Rikki. “You do get some funny ideas. Wanting to sleep out here when
you’ve got such a lovely room.”
“Yes,
but it’ll be such an adventure,” replied Hani.
“If you
say so,” replied Rikki, with a sniff. “Now, I’ll just go and get young Wilhelm
to clear this lot up. Then he can go and get the trundle bed.”
“Nice
cosy little den you’ve got here,” said Wilhelm a few minutes later, after he’d
brought in the bed and she’d helped him to straighten it out. “You two’ll be
set up just fine.” He pushed his wild blond curls from his forehead and wiped
the sweat from his face.
“It’s
great, isn’t it?” said Hani. She’d always liked Wilhelm. He always seemed more
like an older brother than one her father’s workers. But now she just wanted
him to go away, so she could get on with the room.
“Anything
else I can do?” he asked.
“No, no,
not at all, thank you,” replied Hani, gently stroking the curtains and blankets
Rikki had sent down. Why wouldn’t he just go away? She couldn’t wait to get
started making the garage room the cosiest of places.
Rikki
had already swept the floors clean, done away with all the dust and polished
the small window and sky-light until they shone. All there was left for Hani to
do now was to make the room look pretty.
In no
time, the bright yellow curtains framed the little window. On top of the normal
bed-rolls she stretched out two red blankets. There were so many cushions she
didn’t think she would be able to use them all, so she put three on each bed
and dropped the rest on the floor.
This is
really comfy, she thought. We can use the cushions as seats. It’s going to be
so good.
But
there was nothing more she could do now. It really was perfect.
The
smell of cooked chicken coming from the kitchen was making her hungry. Fantastic!
Must be
about half past twelve, she thought. And she’ll be here by two. I wonder
whether Rikki has made some strudel. If not we could go to Kellerman’s on the
way back from the station.
She
really wasn’t sure whether she could bear to wait the extra hour and a half,
but at least lunch might take her mind off it.
“Your
mother says you’re to eat downstairs in the kitchen with me and Wilhelm,” said
Rikki as Hani came out of the bathroom from washing her hands.
“Why?”
asked Hani.
“She and
your father have something to discuss,” replied Rikki.
“Do you
know what?” asked Hani. Why didn’t they involve her in their discussions? She
wasn’t a child anymore. Besides, she wanted to find out more about what was
going on,because she knew it was something not so nice.
“Now
take that frown off your face, young missy,” said Rikki, frowning herself. “You
know your mother and father work really hard, and they don’t often have time to
sit down and talk, let alone have a meal together.”
Hani
sighed. “I suppose so,” she said. “Anyway, what are we having? It smells delicious.”
“Chicken
casserole and dumplings,” answered Rikki.
“Now
that sounds good,” said Wilhelm as he came through the back door.
“Yes,
but not until you’ve washed that muck off your hands, it won’t be,” said Rikki.
“Look,
I’m sorry if I was a bit impatient earlier,” said Hani. “Only, you know, I
wanted to … well.”
“No
problem,” replied Wilhelm. “I had work to do in the garden, anyway. Look.” He
held up two muddy hands.
“Bathroom.
Now!” hissed Rikki.
“Heil
Rikki!” cried Wilhelm, raising his right arm stiffly out in front.
Hani
shuddered. Rikki looked as if she was about to faint. Her face had gone quite
white.
“Don’t
you joke about that, young man,” she said quietly.
“No,
sorry,” replied Wilhelm, darting out of the kitchen before Rikki could say
anything else.
They ate
in silence, all three of them looking down at their food. Hani felt strange. December
was such a lovely time. The weather was just as it always was at this time of
year – cold, but clean and fresh. Everything seemed so normal. Yet it wasn’t.
There was something about to happen and Hani couldn’t be sure exactly what.
“That
was great,” said Wilhelm as he wiped his plate clean with a slice of bread.
“Yes,
there’s seconds,” said Rikki. “Though I don’t know how much longer we’ll be
able to say that.”
Wilhelm
looked at Hani and winked.
“She’s
coming round,” he whispered. “She likes me really.”
Hani
watched Rikki ladle more of the sauce on to Wilhelm’s plate. She would have
loved some more herself but she didn’t have Wilhelm’s excuse. He’d been working
in the garden all day. She’s done very little – unless you counted the
prettying up of the garage room, although Wilhelm and Rikki had done all the
heavy work. If she didn’t lose a bit of weight soon, she would get another
lecture from her mother.
The
doorbell rang.
“I’d
better go and get that,” said Wilhelm. “They won’t want disturbing.”
Rikki
sat very still, just staring into space. Hani didn’t know whether she should
say anything.
“It was
the telegram boy,” said Wilhelm ten minutes later. “A telegram for upstairs.”
Rikki
flinched.
“I don’t
think it was anything too important,” said Wilhelm. “They didn’t look very worried
when I gave it to them.”
“Ah,
well, we’ll see,” said Rikki.
Hani
hoped it wasn’t to do with Renate. Perhaps she was sick? That would be awful.
Oh, stop
worrying, she told herself. It’s probably only something to do with one of
their meetings. But the uncomfortable feeling would not go away. It was no good
pretending things were all right. Things were just not all right at the moment.
She saw
Rikki and Wilhelm exchange a look.
“What’s
the matter?” she said. “Do you think there’s something wrong?”
They
didn’t have time to answer before they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
Hani’s mother came in, holding the telegram in her hands.
“I’m
sorry, darling,” she said. “Renate won’t be coming.” There were tears in Frau Gödde’s
eyes.
Hani’s
heart sank. “What is it?” she cried. “What’s the matter with her?”
“It’s ...
it’s nothing too serious,” her mother stammered. “She’s perfectly safe. Just
come on upstairs, will you? Vati and I need to talk to you.”
If it’s
not too serious, why is she crying? thought Hani.
It
seemed to take forever to walk up the stairs to the main lounge. Her mother
didn’t look back once, and it reminded Hani a bit of being shown into the
dentist by Herr Schröder’s assistant. She never looked at you nor did she ever
smile. At least mother smiled occasionally, but obviously not today.
“Sit
down, Hani,” said Herr Gödde. “We need to talk to you about Renate.”
“She’s
not ill, is she?” cried Hani. “What does the telegram say?”
Her
mother raised her eyebrows and mouthed something at Hani’s father. He nodded.
Frau Gödde put her hand to her mouth and handed Hani the telegram.
Renate unable to come stop
chicken pox stop
Hani
felt the relief as a great stone being lifted from her chest as she read the
telegram. Renate was ill, but it was nothing much. So she would be coming soon –
when the spots had gone. She couldn’t very well go on a train all covered in
spots.
“Well,
she will come when she’s better, won’t she?”
Her parents
didn’t answer. They just frowned. Why were they so bothered? It was just
chicken pox, wasn’t it?
It was
only later, when she was back in the garage room turning the telegram over in
her hand and looking sadly at her cosy den, that she remembered. They’d both
already had chicken pox. Here, when they were seven. You were only supposed to
have chicken pox once.
Suddenly
the winter had lost all its charm.
