Ansel and Gretel
By Bea
August, 2000
Ansel and I stood in the pouring rain, soaked to
the skin, looking at the warm lights of the hostelry.
She tried to make light of our misery.
"Well, at least we don't have luggage to weigh us down anymore."
"No money in our wallets either" I
bitched.
"And who's fault is that?" She
snapped, then, placatingly "Sorry, let's not quarrel"
I saw the brass sign with the ornate script. My
German isn't too good, but I started to get a terrible sinking feeling in my
stomach. "Stop me if I'm wrong" I moaned "But doesn't this plate
say 'Frau Lieber's home for young ladies?"
My half sister's German is far superior to mine,
but she is a little on the myopic side. She peered at the sign for a few
seconds "Shit! She said quietly "Mary didn't say anything about this.
Probably thought that we'd have split up by now. Don't think there's much we
can do now but go in and talk to the lady."
She undid the gate latch, pushed it open, and
started to walk up the pathway. I caught her by the shoulder.
"You can't leave me. What am I supposed to
do?"
She looked at me scornfully. "Would you
please stop your goddam whining? If it hadn't been for you and your stupid
vanity we'd have lots of money left, but no - you're some kind of stud on a
pool table - no sweet young fraulein could possibly beat you..."
"She was lucky!" I yelled. "I
keep telling you. She was lucky!"
She nodded in agreement "Lucky to meet a
pigeon like you - yeah, real lucky." She shook her head "Anyway, I've
no intention of leaving you. I'm hoping that this Frau Lieber can help us. Mary
said that she's kinda weird, but if she takes a shine to you, she can't do
enough."
She stared at me "Can you think of anything
else? This town looks as if it's closing for the night. We spent our last
nickel getting here. I've got that job starting tomorrow that'll get us back on
our feet, but we need a place to get dry and warm now. If she won't help us, we
spend tonight like last night, in a barn somewhere. I'm just not going to give
in, without at least asking. Do you have any ideas?. If you don't, just shut up
and let me try."
She was absolutely right. I had no alternatives
to offer at all. I followed her to the porch. She pulled an old fashioned
bell-pull and we waited as a heavy tread advanced on the door from inside. The
door opened.
A fairly heavy-set woman stood there, quite
imposing in the way she held herself. Around five - nine or so, starched white
apron over a plain black dress, thick blonde hair pulled back severely from her
face. She smiled suddenly, transfiguring her whole appearance. "Come in,
ladies - come in. Welcome to Frau Lieber's."
She had made a not un-common mistake. I am very
slightly built and, having been short of funds for some time, had not had a
hair cut. Accordingly, my hair was a lot longer than normal in a male. In
addition, it has a tendency to curl when wet. I have absolutely no growth on my
face and the fact that I was wearing one of Ansel's brightly colored spare
windbreakers couldn't have helped either.
We didn't correct her right away though. Just
getting in out of the rain was a major accomplishment. She led us to a lovely
warm sitting room, exclaiming as she did so about the inclement weather, and
how she just happened to have a spare room for us, that she was sure we would
find most suitable. Even after we had been seated, she still had a problem in
recognizing my sex. Quite honestly, I had the uneasy suspicion that, even
though she took me for a girl, she was still coming on to me.
It took Ansel a little while to explain our
problem, complicated by the fact that she had to disabuse Frau Lieber's
assumption of my sex. She explained how we were on a six month hiatus from
college to get a more comprehensive idea of German culture - an idea of my step
mother's. How we had inadvertently lost all of our money and why we didn't want
to wire home for more. (What she said about the money was a pack of lies
actually, but it didn't make me look bad, so I didn't mind). When Frau Lieber
heard about our finances her face tightened momentarily, but when Ansel told
her about the well paying temporary job she was slated to start in town the
next day, she smiled sympathetically.
To tell the truth, I was getting the decided
idea that Frau Lieber was only listening to Ansel with one ear. I kept getting
sidelong glances from her and little winks. I didn't quite know what to do, but
found myself blushing a lot at first, then batting my eyelashes at her, then
returning her approaches with shy little smiles of my own. At first, Ansel was
too engrossed in her own story to see what was going on at the sidelines, but
when she did catch on, encouraged me with some body language of her own.
Frau Lieber's English was excellent. A strong
accent though, but altogether a pleasant voice, even though something on the
commanding side. "Oh, you poor things" she cooed "I can't let
you go back out in that rain tonight. You just wait here. I will go run two
baths, and you can at least get warm."
Ansel grimaced. "Oh, that sounds lovely
Frau Lieber, but our last landlady held all of our clothes and we don't have
anything to change into. Do you have a clothes dryer we could use while we're
bathing?" I could have sworn that I saw a gleam flash in that woman's
eyes. "Yes. Of course. Just leave your wet things outside the bathroom
door. I take care of you O.K. Please wait while I run water now." She left
the room.
