Jungfrau
Part 4

"Jools, help!"

"Chris?"

"Who else, you've got to help!" I demanded

"Whoa girl, slow down." I calmed down and sank down onto my bed.

"Better?"

"Sort of"

"Okay so what's the panic?"

"We got invited to a pool party tonight"

"Cool!"

"No it's not. I can't go"

"Why not?"

"Well duh, they'll be expecting me to wear a swimsuit, Maria said as much just now"

"And?"

"What do you mean 'and'? In case you've forgotten I'm not exactly all woman and there is no way, even if I had one, you'd not get me in it"

"Slow down. Number one - you looked all girl to me on Friday, no one'll be able to tell you've got something extra down below. And two, I put one of my bikini's in your case so you do have a suit"

"But Jools, I don't want to go" I whined

"You'd go as Chris right?"

"I suppose"

"Well you can go as Nena then. You can't be Nena no friends all season"

"But..."

"Ut uh! No excuses, you can wear the sarong, now stop stalling. So how's the trip going?"

How does she do that? Turn the conversation around like that. So I spent the next, I dunno, half an hour, bringing her up to date and getting the latest from the Riviera. Eventually though we ended the call, dinner was beckoning and we both needed to get ready.

"Er Nena"

"What" I snapped

"Look I'm sorry, I should've at least asked you before accepting, I'll tell Maria we can't go" Den was contrite

"Well it would have been nice to have been asked"

"As I said, I'm sorry"

"We're going but you owe me one"

"Going?"

"Yes going. If I'm gonna be Nena all summer, I need to act like Nena and whether I like it or not, that includes going to this damn pool party"

I'm not sure who was most surprised by my 'outburst', Den or me? Well anyway there was dinner first, not that I was that hungry, nerves I guess.

Can I really get away with this? I looked at my reflection and had to question the wisdom of this. The bikini top emphasized my silicon boobs and the sarong slung around my hips between them revealed far too much of me! I slipped my jacket on, there is just no way I'm walking through the hotel like this! I decided that I'd best take a change of clothing with me, in case I ended up in the water, not that I planned to do so but well you never know.

Well what a night! Maria had organized a taxi, David's apartment was actually in Todtnau, a few kilometers away and when we arrived things were already in full swing! It felt a bit uncomfortable besides strange to be introduced to all these strangers as Nena and not wearing much more than underwear! Den was resplendent in cargo shorts and a terrible Hawaiian shirt and as usual was right in there. It helped of course that our host, the chef, David is a Scot so the two of them got on famously.

Me being a girl, and German, supposedly, I had no such reprieve! Nope, I was 'stuck' with a bevy of bikini-clad women. I could hardly keep my jacket on as all the others were down to their cozies, boy did I feel exposed! Den 'helped' David with the bar and food and a few people braved the pool. I got as far as paddling from the poolside with Maria and I think the other girl was Inge or something like that, I couldn't quite tell as she had a bit of a lisp.

As the evening bore on it got a bit rowdier, more people ended up in the pool including me. I was taken by surprise when I was hauled vertically from the poolside, slung over a large German shoulder then along with my abductor launched into the pool. By the time I'd recovered from the shock there were only about two people not bobbing around in the pool. Given everyone's happy mood I decided to go with the flow and I almost forgot how I was dressed for a while as everyone splashed each other amongst screaming, giggling and general good humour.

It was only when I finally dragged myself out of the water that I recalled my barely decent attire.

"You'd best get changed" Den suggested draping a towel around my shoulders

"How come you're still dry?"

"Experience. Now go get changed while you've got a chance of some privacy"

Hmm. Good idea!

By the time I emerged into the rapidly cooling night, most of the other swimmers were out of the water and I guess the party was winding down a bit. A few people were slow dancing; others were back to drinking and talking. I got talking with Inge and discovered her lisp was caused by her new tongue decoration. I wasn't sure whether to be grossed out by it or intrigued. Intrigue won out I think, I couldn't stop looking in her mouth at the shiny orb sat on her tongue! Now that is gross! Looking in someone's mouth, not the piercing. Oh you know what I mean!

It was after midnight when our ride back to Todtmoos turned up and we made our farewells. Despite my earlier apprehension and misgivings, I really had a good time. I woke up when the taxi stopped at the hotel, my head in Den's lap, his arm around me. Whoa! I do not want to go there! I finally collapsed onto my bed and in minutes I was out of it.

"Good morning everybody!" I beamed down the bus as Den headed Betsy towards today's destination, Baden Baden. It was however a false impression, I was actually feeling pretty knackered. Last night turned out to be great, even ending up in the pool wasn't so bad but I could have done without this mornings nine o'clock start!

Everyone looked happy enough as I did my customary morning trip up the bus, it took about forty-five minutes to get across to the Autobahn for our trip north and shortly after Freiburg I started a drinks run. Up past Lahr, Offenburg, the turn for Kehl and Strasbourg that we'd used to enter Germany on Sunday. Achern, Bühl, next turn Baden²! Instead of following the coach park signs, Den took us through the tunnel to emerge closer to the attractions.

"We have just one hour here so if you can please return for ten to twelve"

At least parking at this end of town the punters were closer to the 'attractions', the casino, the hot springs and just as importantly, the shops!

"You going for a walk?" Den asked as the last of our charges headed off.

"I think I'll give it a miss, you want a drink?"

"Wouldn't mind a coke"

"Coming up"

"So you recovered from the party?" he called up the bus.

"Just about. What about you?"

"I stuck to coke all night" he took the can I offered

"Wish I had, sorry for falling asleep in the cab"

"No problem, you looked well gone"

"Don't remind me! God it's hot on here, I'm gonna sit over on the grass"

"I'll grab forty winks then"

I dug around my bag and found my Cornwell and leaving Den behind went to sit in the shade. I made myself comfortable and started to read more of Thomas of Hookton's adventures in thirteenth century France. After a few minutes I slid my strappy sandals off and luxuriated in the slightly damp feel of the grass between my toes. A huge Univers coach pulled up behind our bus and for a few minutes the chatter of German tourists broke the peace of the little apron of serenity. I returned to my book after checking my watch, twenty minutes yet.

"Hallo?"

I jerked my head up, was someone talking to me.

(Translated from German)

"Oh sorry, I thought you were someone I know." The girl was about my age with dark hair and the smart Univers uniform on.

"That's okay" I smiled up at her.

"You are with the English coach?"

"Um, yes"

"My friend, she works for the same company, perhaps you know her? Julia?"

Coincidence or what.

"I think so," I added a doubtful tone to my reply

"She has a boyfriend who works for your company too?"

"Oh I know who you mean! I only started this week."

"You are English? Sorry I'm Sonia"

What to reply? Well perhaps a bit of embellishment was in order.

"Nena, my parents are German but I was born in England"

I'll have to write all this down!

"That explains why you speak such good German"

"Sonia!" a male voice called out, "give me a hand here"

"Kurt, my driver" she rolled her eyes, "useless like all men! Maybe we'll see each other again later, we are on the Hochstraße, oh and tell Julia hello for me"

"I will, tschuss!

"Wiedersehn!"

(Back to English folks!)

That was a bit unexpected. My passengers were starting to arrive back, ah well, back to work! As you might have guessed, ten to twelve was a ruse; we didn't need to be away until midday. Just as well really as the lates were true to form and now had a new disciple, bagman! Ah well, these things are sent to try us.

Den set us off up the avenue out of Baden² and I took up the microphone.

"I hope you all enjoyed our short visit to Baden - Baden, no one lost all their money in the casino eh?"

A few chortles came back.

"They take that possibility seriously here, residents of Baden are not allowed to play the tables, sensible really, as traditionally the poor are looked after by the stadt, er town so it is everyone's interests. Only visitors can be poor in Baden! In a moment, we will join the Schwarzwald-Hochstraße, one of Germany's famous tourist routes. If you look out to the right, over the famous Kirschen orchards, you can see across the Rheintal, the Rhine valley to the hills of Alsace and the Vosges"

"Hang on tight" Den interrupted, I made a grab for a handrail to steady myself as we swung around one of the tight bends that characterize this northern end of the road.

"In a few kilometers we will stop for lunch at Mummelsee. We will have one hour thirty, plenty of time to eat and explore the gift shops!" that got a bit more reaction - food and shopping!

I sat myself back down and enjoyed the drive south, it barely seemed five minutes before we pulled into the parking area at Mummelsee, actually it was nearer to twenty five as Den had been taking it steady. As usual the place was packed with tourists as befits one of the 'must stops' on the Hochstraße. Two o'clock was our target departure time, plenty of time. I succeeded in getting everyone across the road in one piece and as they all set off in search of bargains and food I headed straight into the Inn where Den would meet me.

"There you are, you ordered yet?" Den enquired

"Only drinks, she'll be back for our food order in a moment"

Okay so I won't go on about the food today! Well not too much, I had a pretty good Rösti and Den had Gulaschsuppe.

"I met a friend of Jools in Baden"

"Hmm?" Den enquired around a mouthful of soup.

"Her names Sonia, she was on that Univers coach"

"That six wheel thing?"

"Yeah"

"So how come she talked to you?"

"I think she thought I was Julia, seeing our bus"

"Well she was nearly right"

"Yeah, can't say as I'm that chuffed at being mistaken for my girlfriend though"

"No disrespect to Julia but she's the one who should be concerned"

"What do you mean?"

"Well the fact that this, what's her name"

"Sonia" I supplied

"Yeah, Sonia, thought you looked enough like Julia to speak to you, just confirms what I've said before."

"Which is?" I was getting a bit antsy

"That no one would even contemplate that you're not what you seem"

"If that was meant to mollify me, don't bother" I huffed

One good thing about this stop is that everything, shops, lake, restaurant, are all pretty compact so for the first time on the tour, even the lates were back at the coach on time. I was still a little pee'd at Den but that little victory cheered me no end!

Once more we pulled onto the Hochstraße but not for long as we shortly turned off for our next stop, the Allerheiligen Fälle.

"We will be stopping again shortly, I must warn you that there is a one point five kilometer walk, any one who prefers not can stay on the coach with Dennis, you can see the falls from the bottom."

I just had time to put my trainers on before Den pulled us into the coach park.

"If you can follow the signs to the falls I will follow along behind"

Most of the passengers elected to do the walk a couple of older couples and, yes! The lates, on the bus.

"We'll see you in about three quarters of an hour then" Den mentioned

"Okay, have the kettle on" I joked grabbing my bag and stepping off of Betsy.

I made a lav stop before following my passengers down the path towards the falls. I'd just about caught up with the tail end Charlie's by the time we got to the top of the falls proper. I'd forgotten how steep the path is, I'm glad we were going down, the German party coming up were making hard work of it. Hang on, I saw some of this lot earlier, they're off of Sonia's bus.

Truth be told, the falls were more noise than action today, last time I was here it had rained over night and it was a regular torrent rushing down the gorge. We finally made the bottom and as we reached the road I was a little disappointed not to see the Univers bus there. For some reason I wanted to talk to Sonia.

"We got everyone?" I enquired

"I think so, saw your mate on the way down"

"Yeah I saw her passengers on their way up"

"You want to do a quick Freudenstadt? Or head straight back?"

There was a good reason for the proposed stop, I fancied afternoon tea and for the passengers, Freudenstadt has the largest market square in Germany at over half a square kilometer!

"It's only three, if we go back up onto the top road we can manage half an hour I suppose"

Den sat himself down while I did a quick heads count, all present and correct. We turned around and headed back up the hill. At the top I spotted Sonia and Kurt by their monster bus.

"Give 'em a toot Den"

Betsy issued forth a loud Beeeeeeep, the Univers crew looked up and Sonia recognizing our machine cheerily waved. It must be catching, I waved back and strangely as I looked back up the bus so were half of our passengers. No idea why! We rejoined the tourist route and the twenty-five K's soon slipped by and we were soon parking up in the town's huge square.

"Okay we have a bonus stop here in Freudenstadt, four o'clock Dennis?"

"Quarter past" he advised

"Den says we need to leave at four fifteen, so if you can all be back promptly please."

They all exited the bus into the late afternoon sunshine, some headed straight for a nearby café, others set off to explore around the arcades that surround much of the square.

"Coffee?" Den asked once we were unloaded

"You read my mind"

After locking down the bus we headed to one of the square side café's and sat under an umbrella in the light breeze, I suddenly felt content. The cappuccino and the large slice of Black Forest Gateaux only reinforced the feeling. Guess who was last back to the bus? You got it and annoyingly we could see them making their way oh so slowly back to us. They even had the nerve to go into a shop!

Well I determined to not let them wind me up today so I just smiled pleasantly when they finally arrived and boarded. Den soon had us headed out on the more scenic route south to Wolfach, Elzach then via St Peter to Todtnau, scene of last night's shenanigans, before arriving at ten to six back at our Todtmoos base. No surprise parties tonight I hope!

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