Just Genevieve

Chapter four

Here's chapter four everyone! The picture above is of a place called Solitude Park in Basel, Switzerland. A very fitting name, I thought, or perhaps ironic compared to the stories direction :) As usual if you like this pretty please leave a vote or your honest opinion down in the comments. Enjoy...

We got off at a smokey, crowded train-station a little over nine-thirty. With the satchel hanging off my shoulder and my suitcase tightly in hand I joined the throng of teenagers at Frau Colleen's heels, looking very much like a tour-group or a bunch of school-kids on a field-trip. I stuck close to Masha and Denise and Patrice stuck close to me-and by close, I meant at least three paces behind. I think we were all a little afraid of some Nazi-supporter spotting us and just knowing somehow that we were all Jews. I know it seemed silly but I suppose that's what being so secretive made you believe.

Frau Colleen announced to us that we'd be taking a bus to our available safe-house but first we would stop at the station's tea-rooms for an early lunch. Luckily for us, it wasn't very busy at all. So one-by-one, we filed in, filling the empty tables, soaking up the sun that filtered in through the open windows, pouring through the numerous choices of cakes, scones and pastries that made up the menus. Tea would have to be our choice of drink but there were at least three options we could have on the minimal cake-platters. It's a good thing, I thought, that there were three of us.

"Marmalade scones!" Denise announced. "And with clotted cream too! They're my absolute favorite, but mutter would never let me eat them. Too fattening, she always said."

"But you've got a lovely figure." I said, "there'd be no real harm in a few marmalade scones now and then; even my dance-teacher told me an occasional treat is fine."

"Mutter's always been like that; very conscious over her image." Denise said bitterly. "And by extension that meant my image too. She once had me on a diet of only citress fruits and boiled chicken because she thought my bust was too wide."

"That's ludicrous!" Masha laughed, "does she seriously think those stupid diets actually work?"

"She thinks whatever she sees in those health and beauty magazines are the kinds of things celebrities do to keep in perfect condition. She heard that Eva Braun, Hitler's 'close friend' drinks nothing but champagne and eats nothing but oranges so that must mean we should do the same."

When the waitress finally got to our table we put in our order and continued the conversation. From convoluted celebrity-diets to music we all shared an interest in. It was somewhere in between that I heard somebody calling the name 'Clara!'. I thought there was just a Clara here, somewhere in the group but when nobody else answered the call I thought something about that voice sounded familiar. Clara, the dancing, our last duo-show with Berlin Academy for boys...

"Nutcracker?" I felt almost idiotic, saying it. What if I was wrong?

"Clara!"

He ran over to me, stooping down to give me a tight, warm hug. Joshua Kann! I never thought I'd ever see him again. The Academy used to do co-ed productions together with the boys Academy; until the funding was cut short and our budget was decreased. I took part in every production since I was seven and so did Joshua. He was fairly popular in his dance-group but he wasn't wary of me like the other boys. I just happened to be the perfect weight for him when it came to the lifts so we'd been pairing up ever since. I never expected him to be on the train with us though! All this time and I never even spotted him.

"I saw you in the dining carriage just before you ran out but I couldn't find you," he said. "Are you alright? Did that brute on the train hurt you?"

"Oh-that was an accident, honestly." I assured him, "but forget about me, what have you been doing?"

"Just about anything I can when your dance class only consists of five other boys." He replied, "I've missed the co-ed productions though; there's just nothing like dancing a proper routine with a female dancer."