Читать книгу Secret doors - Dirk Lützelberger - Страница 9

Chapter 4

From Salzburg airport to Altaussee they drove only one and a half hours in their rental car. The scenery was beautiful, and Gwen, Stefan and Phil enjoyed the drive through the mountain and hilly landscape. They were looking forward to the days off and the activities that the three of them wanted to undertake. Phil sat in the back seat and was absorbed in his mobile phone. Gwen often wondered what he had to read and do with it all the time, but she had given up asking in the first place a long time ago. The answers had always been the same. "Anything!" or "This is too complicated for you, mum" and finally "I’m chatting with my friends, please leave me alone". When she was young, the only way to get in touch with her friends was by phone or letter, or to meet them directly. But for this she needed a date, and this was mostly planned by phone. Today, however, the youngsters arranged to meet casually via chat programs on their mobile phones and adjusted the time and place of the meeting until the last minute. For Gwen this was not acceptable. She needed stability and planning reliability, so she could enjoy her life. And the plan now was to reach their holiday accommodation.

To see the wooden huts with the adjacent ski lifts in the summer was a bit peculiar, Gwen and Stefan agreed. Phil had already disappeared in the hut, had taken his luggage and his mobile phone with him and wanted to inform Benoît immediately of their domicile. Gwen and Stefan explored the facility. It consisted of about forty huts, which were covered with wood. The registration and restaurant were located in the center, while the individual houses in the surrounding area adapted to the ups and downs of the ground. The individual houses had room for four people or for larger groups. The sturdy furnishings certainly created a homely atmosphere in winter with the fireplace, Gwen pondered as they returned to their accommodation and took care of unpacking. So, this was to be the place of rest and relaxation for the next fortnight, she pondered, when Phil suddenly appeared.

"Mom, can I go out and look for the first geocache?"

"Sure, but don’t run too far away. We’re going to dinner soon." The door closed and it was almost quiet in the house. She only heard the occasional creaking floorboards upstairs and knew that Stefan was already unpacking.

She embraced him from behind and pressed him firmly against her. "It was a great idea to come here. I have a good feeling about it."

Stefan turned around in the hug and grabbed Gwen tightly at her waist. "I’m glad you’re happy. I hope you can relax here." He gave her a kiss on the forehead.

Phil had found his first geocache right on the day of arrival. It was a small cache, with an easy difficulty level. It was hidden at the edge of the settlement and Phil had already caught a first nice view of the 'Loser' – the mountain they wanted to explore more intensively in the next days. The name of the mountain came from the Middle Ages, when the inhabitants of the village climbed to the top of the mountain to 'lose'. In their dialect, this meant ’to listen' or ’to hear' whether they could hear the noise of battle from the Enns Valley. Phil was looking forward to the other caches that would be hidden on the way to the summit.

The first days spun away. This was not least due to Stefan’s fortieth birthday. Gwen had thought of something very special to celebrate the day properly. She had woken Stefan up early in the morning and had organized a breakfast package the evening before. Then she had gone with Stefan and Phil to a nearby hill. Stefan couldn’t believe his eyes when a van with the inscription 'Balloon Cruises' was waiting for them. Stefan hugged Gwen and lifted her up into the air, because he immediately realized that an exciting balloon ride in a hot-air balloon lay ahead of them. They helped to prepare the balloon and get it ready for take-off. It should be an experience only for the three of them and the pilot.

As the balloon floated weightlessly into the air and the trees beneath it grew smaller and smaller, Gwen shuddered to realize how small man was in this world. How helpless and vulnerable. She painfully remembered the good times she had experienced with Paul. The trips they had taken together and the warmth he radiated when he looked at her and took her in his arms. All this would never happen again, because Paul was no longer with her. Gwen stared at the horizon and let her thoughts run free. She pressed her lips together and became very sad.

Stefan watched Gwen from the corners of his eyes while he and Phil enjoyed the silent ascent of the balloon and the wonderful view. Only the burner interrupts the silence from time to time with a rumbling ’schuuuuuuuuub'. Up here in the balloon, they didn’t feel any draft because the balloon moved with the wind at the same speed. Phil spotted an ibex and pointed it out to Stefan. Excited, he pointed again and again to the edge of a clearing until Stefan saw the magnificent animal with its two long horns. "This must be a male animal" remarked Stefan, adding, "the females, have only smaller curved horns." Phil just nodded, impressed, and continued to search the ground for animals, while Stefan grabbed Gwen around the waist.

"This is the best birthday present I’ve ever had."

"I’m glad! Then I have met my target." Gwen smiled in agony.

"Are you all right? You’re so quiet while ballooning. Are you not feeling well?"

"Yes, yes, everything’s fine." She leaned over to Stefan and whispered in his ear, "I’m just thinking about the past, but we can discuss it later."

After the very gentle landing, they helped to pack the balloon back into a handy, but murderous package and hoist it onto the trailer. After that, the three balloonists were baptized as they should be. While the pilot recited the dictum, the three balloonists were raised to nobility one after the other and received their certificates. Back in their apartment, they finished the day with a bottle of champagne, which Gwen had put in the fridge of her accommodation. Phil was tired and already in bed when Stefan looked at Gwen with a pleading look. She understood immediately.

"You’re probably wondering why I was a little quieter than usual when we did the ballooning." Stefan nodded in agreement.

"I was lost in my thoughts about Paul, as you can imagine. I just can’t turn it off overnight, even though I thought I could handle the situation easily. But that is not the case. Whenever I come to rest and we do something nice, I have to think back to the good times with Paul. Today, when we silently ascended into the sky, was another such moment. All the memories of my time with Paul were suddenly there again and I had such a helpless feeling when I saw the earth from above."

"I was hoping the peace and quiet would blow away the cobwebs, but it seems to have backfired."

"Well, I wouldn’t say that. Sure, the work helps me to free my mind, but also the time here with you distracts me. I just need more time. You understand that, right?" She looked at him pleading.

"But of course, my darling. Please don’t worry. I’ll be with you and help you in any way I can." He moved closer to her and handed her the glass of champagne. "And now, toast again, and look forward to the next few days. The variety will let you forget the past."

Gwen raised her glass and they clink glasses.

"You’re right. I am looking forward to the next days and the ziplining. Phil doesn’t know about it yet and it should be a surprise for him too. I had imagined it would be harder to get him out into the fresh air, but with geocaching he has found a new field of activity, which automatically leads him into nature."

Gwen looked at the clock and was startled at the advanced hour. The day had literally spun away. They drank up and Gwen pulled Stefan promisingly upstairs into the bedroom.

The sunrise the next morning unfortunately happened without any of the three taking notice. They slept late, because the ballooning had been quite exhausting in the end. After an extensive breakfast, they made their way to the top of the 'Loser', to look for geocaches and hopefully find them, as Phil said. Gwen gave Stefan a conspiratorial look behind Phil’s back as they set off. Phil also found the first cache right by the side of the road. It hadn’t been a challenge for him anymore, since he already knew the most obvious hiding places. It took him only a few seconds to imagine the most suitable hiding place at the given GPS position. And mostly he was right! Stefan and Gwen applauded and motivated him to keep going while they kept an eye on the time. At a parting of the ways they would have actually gone further uphill to reach the summit, but Gwen and Stefan agreed that they would try the rest of the way on another day, as some fog came up. So, they would better go back towards the valley. They looked at Phil to see if he bought their story. Phil looked at the summit, and also noticed the clouds approaching. With some muttering, and disappointed that he couldn’t find the other geocaches at the clearing and in the forest behind it, he joined the two adults who had already walked a few yards. Immediately Phil started to locate new geocaches along the alternative path. His eyes were fixed on his mobile phone, so he didn’t notice when they reached the entrance of the ziplining park. He looked up when the adults suddenly paused. After he realized where they had led him, he acclaimed them.

"You did that on purpose!" came the reproach from his mouth with a grin.

"Sure" Gwen replied, "we can still get the other geocaches tomorrow, but here we have a surprise planned for the time being. But don’t think that this is going to go on all day, my friend."

Phil put his cell phone in his pocket and while Gwen and Stefan were paying, he was already greeted by the leader of their small group. Ziplining was new territory for the three of them, which they now wanted to experience the first time. Their leader’s name was Ben and he was twenty-five at most, as Gwen assessed him from the gut. He had shoulder-length blond hair, which he had tied up in a braid. He would have made a good surf instructor, Gwen thought as she caught herself staring at his muscular body. Ben did a good job explaining the harness with all the straps very professionally. He then helped everyone in and fastened the straps. Last but not least everybody got a helmet, because they should play it safe, as he said.

The first descent was only about 50 yards long and they could already see the end between the trees, but at first nobody dared to start. But that was usual, Ben said, and Stefan decided to be the first to face the downhill. Stefan looked a bit cramped when he was pushed out by Ben and started the descent to the end point hanging only on a carabiner on a rope. There a helper was already waiting to receive him. When Stefan lifted his thumb to signal that everything was okay, Phil came in second. He also completed the first distance masterfully and was proud of his courage. Gwen was suddenly not so sure whether all this was a good idea but didn’t let on when she was nudged down the first downhill. She held on tight to the rope and tried to look down as little as possible. Was she afraid of heights? No, it wasn’t a fear of heights, but why couldn’t she enjoy the ride? The helper Jenny picked her up and she concentrated on getting solid ground under her feet again.

"That was great, Mom! How many more departures?"

"We’ve booked the tour with six departures, so there’ll be five more" Gwen heard herself say.

"Well, move on to the next one. I’d like to go first!"

Stefan took Phil by the hand and together with Jenny, who must have been about the same age as Ben, they went on to the next starting point. Behind Gwen something rumbled. Ben had arrived and unlocked the carabiner.

"Come on, lady, let’s not keep the others waiting!"

Was she supposed to take that as a compliment or was he alluding to her age? You are really snippy today, there is nothing to please you, Gwen had slapped herself in mind. Well, maybe the fun will come with the further descents, she told herself and started moving.

The fun never came. Also, the further departures she was rather grumpy, and Gwen did not want to give up. What was wrong with her, she asked herself several times. Usually you were always up for fun of this kind and had gotten involved in new adventures, but in the last weeks everything was different. The reason seemed to be very obvious to her. She could turn it around as she wanted, but she had finally arrived in the deep mourning for Paul.

After a delicious dinner they sat together at the counter of the restaurant and discussed how to proceed.

"That’s not how I’d visualized things. I’m so sorry, but I don’t want to ruin your vacation either."

"Mom, I miss Dad too, but we have to stick together now. You still have me and Stefan, and we all need each other."

Gwen smiled at Phil’s words. Much like an adult, she noticed again and took him in her arms.

"I just need to pull myself together and I’ll be fine."

Stefan also tried to contribute something to improve the mood. "Or we could cut our vacation short and you could rush back to work. Maybe this will help to clear your mind. But we just broke off of that daily routine to clear your mind."

Gwen shook her head vigorously. "You can’t be serious, can you? I don’t want to cut short my holiday, it’d be a pity for the good time and the money. I’ll find a way to cope with it here. I’ll talk to our family doctor as soon as we get home. I’m sure he’ll have a good idea. Okay, let’s go do something fun and plan our next few days so I have something to do and distract myself."

Stefan backed off when he noticed that he had probably stung a vespiary here. He and Phil could only agree with Gwen’s words, as they both wanted to experience more on this holiday and left it at that.