Leseprobe

 

 

Pension Little Seagull

No. 1

 

THE FIRST GUESTS ARRIVE

 

by Lyna Lys, Elyza Simon

 

 

 

Roman

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright

 

 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval System, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is pubUshed and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

Names, characters, businesses, places, events and inddents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a purely fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Pension Little Seagull is © and ™ by Edition Bärenklau and Bärenklau Exklusiv, 2022 

„The first guests arrive“ © 2022 by Authors

The translation of this issue © by Edition Bärenklau/Bärenklau Exklusiv, 2022 

TABEL OF CONTENTS

Copyright 

The Book 

Chapter 1 

Chapter 2 

Chapter 3 

Chapter 4 

 

The Book

 

Haro Fries inherits a house on Sylt from his uncle Heiko. Shortly thereafter, he sets off with his wife Wencke and their two young children to inspect the inheritance. The house turns out to be a tranquil guesthouse with the idyllic name "Kleine Möwe" (Little Seagull) and confronts the young couple with a decision: Should they sell? Rent it out? Or even give up their good middle-class life in Flensburg and run it themselves?

The decision is quickly made, but their step into an uncertain future is not immune to the small and larger worries and hardships, as well as the obstacles that an inheritance brings ...

 

 

***

 

 

Chapter 1

 

Wencke Fries sat at the dining room table and looked at the envelope she had just taken out of the mailbox with the other mail. She twisted and turned it in her hands, wondering whether she should open the letter addressed to her husband Haro.

The sender was the district court in Niebüll. She was already curious, but it would be hours before Haro got home from work. After all, it was only around noon and her husband usually never got home before seven in the evening.

Wencke sighed and looked at the clock, already half past two. In the morning she promised her children Mia and Janis that she would pick them up early from kindergarten today. She put the letter on Haro's seat and rose.

It was the middle of May and the sun, which had been shining from a cloudless sky for a few days, was again today moderately spreading its warmth over the town of Weiche, which was a district of the independent city of Flensburg.

She had lived there with her 33-year-old husband, Haro, their 5-year-old daughter, Mia, and 3-year-old son, Janis, for six years on Ox Lane. They lived there for rent in a mid-terrace house in a pretty four-room apartment. There was an itty-bitty garden out back, and it was just under three and a half kilometers to the city center.

She put on a light cardigan, combed through her wispy brown hair and put on her light-colored sports shoes. She wanted to take the children to Café Hübscher for an ice cream and then to the playground, which was just around the corner.

She opened the front door, grabbed her backpack on her way out, and strode through the small front yard. Standing by the fence, her neighbor Mrs. Paulsen waved her over.

"Hello Mrs. Fries, nice to meet you, did you hear nice ..."

Wencke interrupted her with a laugh and pointed her finger at her watch.

"Mrs. Paulsen, unfortunately I don't have time, I have to go. Mia and Janis are waiting for me at the kindergarten, we want to go to the playground."

Mrs. Paulsen pulled the corners of her mouth down in a huff. "Yes, yes, well, hurry up then. Wasn't that important either," she said and started watering her little rose bush.

Wencke was glad to escape the gossip. Mrs. Paulsen knew about everyone and everything, nothing remained hidden from her. Wencke always found it extremely unpleasant to have to listen to gossip about her neighbors. She didn't care if the couple three houses down got divorced or that the son of family so-and-so hadn't passed his school leaving exams. Mrs. Paulsen knew everything!

Wencke barely noticeably shook her head and ran off. The kindergarten was less than five hundred meters from the apartment and was a five-minute walk away.

The daycare was fenced and the colorful building was surrounded by a large garden.

Wencke pressed the PIN number on the front gate and it immediately opened with a soft buzzing sound. She closed the garden door behind her and entered the house. Inside, the lively chatter of the little ones could be heard; they were just getting dressed to go play in the large garden.

From a distance she saw Janis, who was trying hard to put on his new shoes. Again and again he put his little foot into the shoe, but somehow it didn't seem to work.

Mia, who was in a group room further on, came out and watched Janis struggling. She walked up to him, sat down next to him, and Wencke heard her little daughter's words of instruction: "Janis, you have to open your shoe first, look like this," she said and tore at the Velcro fastener. With a loud rattle, she opened his shoe and gave it back to her little brother.

"And then you can slip in there. Try it."

Wencke watched this scene touched and moved in the direction of her children.

Janis spotted his mother first and jumped up from the floor. With only one shoe, he ran into his mother's arms. The little tyke proudly showed her his foot and crowed, "I did that all by myself."

Wencke laughed and stroked his head lovingly.

"Great job on that," she praised him. "And if you can do it with the second shoe, too, then we can go out for ice cream."

Janis ran back and in no time at all he put on the second shoe. Mia meanwhile took her kindergarten bag from the hook and ran towards her mother as well. Wencke opened her arms wide and caught her.

"Well, my little sunshine. I saw how you helped your brother. That was really sweet of you," Wencke praised her daughter and pressed a kiss on her cheek. They said goodbye to the teacher and the three of them left the kindergarten.

 

*

 

Having arrived at Café Hübscher, Wencke looked around. The tables, which stood outside in a kind of front garden, were well attended, the guests came and went every minute. They managed to get a small table in the far corner and sat down. A stressed waitress took their order and ten minutes later each of them ate a large ice cream sundae.

Janis impatiently slid back and forth on his chair, he finally wanted to go to the playground. His chocolate mouth didn't stand still for a second and he babbled the whole time until Mia rolled her little eyes in annoyance.

"Janis, shut up," she said, and Wencke thanked her inwardly for those words. She waved the waitress over, paid and a short time later they went on their way.

On the way, Wencke took a pack of wet wipes from her backpack and wiped Janis' smeared face.

"You don't have to tell right away that you just ate an ice cream," Wencke smirked, giving Janis a gentle pat on the butt.

One street over was the playground. When they arrived there, it was bustling with activity. Wencke looked for a shady spot on one of the benches, put her backpack and her offspring's kindergarten bags next to her and sighed contentedly.

She was at peace with herself and her little world. She loved Haro as much as the first day they met nine years ago. Together they had two healthy children and her dream of working as an independent midwife would also come true someday.

She was currently working part-time as an employee in a birth center. She liked it there very much, the way to work was not far and with consideration for her children she did the early duty with exceptions. In the summer months, she rode her bicycle the almost four kilometers and only when it was freezing cold or raining cats and dogs, she used her small car.

After about an hour, Janis started to nag. In a whiny voice, he came running to the bench and wanted to go home. He sat down on Wencke's lap, snuggled up to her and watched Mia slide. Wencke sensed that he was getting tired and decided to make his way home.

She called Mia to her and together they went home. She put both children in the bathtub and around eighteen o'clock they had dinner. Janis chewed listlessly on his sausage sandwich and his eyes got smaller and smaller. She picked up the little guy, went into the bathroom and the ritual of brushing his teeth began.

"I'm so tired, I can't clean," Janis tried to trick his mother. But Wencke didn't let him talk to her in this case. She took the little children's toothbrush and brushed his teeth, there was no compromise for Wencke. She carried him to bed and when she checked on him a few minutes later, he was already fast asleep.

Mia, at five years old, was allowed to stay up a little longer. Most of the time, when Haro didn't come home too late from work, he put his daughter to bed. After brushing her teeth, there was a little bedtime story and then Mia was asleep, too.

Wencke prepared some bread in the kitchen for Haro and herself and opened a wine bottle. He came out of the nursery and stood behind his wife. He kissed her gently on the neck and asked, "How was your day today? I hope the children were sweet."

Wencke turned to him and looked at him. His dark blond, full hair was now somewhat disheveled, surely he had been cuddling wildly with Mia again, and his blue eyes wandered over her face. Wencke gently stroked his three-day beard, which he had grown especially for her. She found him insanely sexy with that beard and he left it on for her sake. She felt his strong arms around her waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. Suddenly she remembered the letter from the district court in Niebüll.

"Honey, you received a letter from the district court today. It's on the dining room table. I'm curious what they want. Niebüll local court. What can that be?"

She turned from his embrace, took the plate with the greased sandwiches and the wine bottle and went into the dining room.

There she set everything down while he followed with two empty wine glasses. He sat down and picked up the letter. With a rattle, he opened the letter and read. He lowered the letter and looked at Wencke.

"We inherited," he said tonelessly, clearing his throat.

"We inherited?" she repeated, drawing her eyebrows together.

"From whom? My parents and brother are still alive, your parents are alive, your grandparents have been dead for a while and mine are enjoying good health..."

"Uncle Heiko," he stammered.

"I have an uncle, my mother's brother. Heiko Brodersen . I can only dimly remember him." He paused and considered.

"The last time I had seen him, I was about eleven or twelve years old. He's my mother's older brother."

"You never told me about him," Wencke remarked, looking at him questioningly.

"I don't know either, somehow he fell into oblivion with me. All I know is that there was a huge fight between my mother and him at the time and she broke up with him. She never wanted anything to do with him again." Haro stared at the letter with a blank look.

"I didn't really catch the argument either, only ever heard bits and pieces when she talked to my dad about it. When I joined in, they usually changed the subject quickly."

Haro shrugged slightly and shook his head. "And he wasn't around that often either.

He lives on Sylt. Um, I meant lived," he improved himself and looked at the letter again. Attached to the letter was a second document, which he now slid over to Wencke. It was a copy of the will. There it was written that he, Haro, inherited a house on Sylt.

"I'll try to find out about my uncle from the office tomorrow," Haro said, shaking his head for the umpteenth time.

"I can't believe it. A house on Sylt."

 

*

 

On Friday night, Haro came home with all the information he wanted from his inheritance.

He had spoken to his mother, who had also received a letter from the probate court the day before. She was only given a few mementos from Heiko's and her childhood in her will, which she accepted out of decency, but also out of pure curiosity.

Haro, with his lawyerly skills, got to know that Uncle Heiko's house was in Westerland, near the North Sea Clinic Westerland.

Heiko Brodersen was not an unknown man there and the lawyer Haro called there even knew his uncle personally and gave Haro the address. The house was debt-free and, as far as the Sylt lawyer could remember, a little neglected. Heiko Brodersen had died of a heart attack, and the funeral had been held two weeks ago. He had no wife, no children and had lived alone in the large house for the last few years.

"You know what, honey?" said Haro to his wife. "Let's just go to Westerland tomorrow. We'd be there in two and a half hours and look at the house. We'll have lunch there and we'll drive back around evening. What do you say?" He looked at Wencke expectantly.

"Sure," she replied, "we'll do that. I'll book us a ticket for the Sylt shuttle train online right now. And it'll be fun for the kids, too. Oh, how excited I am," she agreed, while in the same breath she got up and picked up her laptop. She quickly typed in the desired website and barely five minutes later she closed the PC again.

"Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock we start," Wencke exclaimed, beaming all over her face.

 

*

 

The next morning, the entire Fries family was in the car at just before eight, driving through Flensburg. Janis fidgeted back and forth in his back seat with excitement and could hardly wait to finally see the big red train.

Every second he asked Haro when they would finally be there. Haro took it calmly and was amused by his little son tirelessly asking the same question over and over again. Wencke just rolled her eyes and Mia sang one nursery rhyme after the next, with very good lyrics.

After almost forty-three kilometers, they arrived in Niebüll and followed the signposted route to the loading terminal of the Sylt shuttle train. Haro wheeled the car to the terminal to get on the red car train so they could piggyback on the train to the island. During the half-hour crossing, they remained seated in their vehicle.

Janis was so impressed by this that he almost didn't utter a sound during the entire ride. He looked out the window with wide eyes and chortled happily to himself as the train crossed the Hindenburg Dam.

Arriving in Westerland, the entire fleet of cars rumbled down from the shuttle train and on we went.

Now it was Mia's turn to whine, but not ten minutes later they had arrived at Uncle Heiko's house. Haro steered the car to the shoulder and turned the ignition key. He looked at Wencke and she nodded.

At the same time they opened the car doors and each of them took a child from the car seat. Haro came out onto the sidewalk with Mia by the hand and all four of them grabbed each other's hands. Together they crossed the street and stopped in front of a small wooden fence. Right by the garden gate hung an old, weathered wooden sign that read ' Pension Kleine Möwe '. Again the couple looked at each other wordlessly. Haro pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and read.

"The address is correct," he said.

"But why does the sign say boarding house?"

"I don't know," Wencke replied, shrugging her shoulders. She pushed down the handle of the garden gate, but it was locked. In front of them was a large garden, now slightly overgrown, with a path of dark flagstones winding through it. It ended at a large, brown-red brick house with a thatched roof and white windows.

Wencke pointed her finger toward the house. "Honey, look how cute."

He followed the direction of her finger with his eyes and raised his shoulders.

"What's there?" he asked, looking at her.

"Well don't you see that? A jar door." 

"A what?" asked Haro uncomprehendingly, raising his hands up questioningly.

"Don't you know what a lump door is?" laughed Wencke, pinching his cheek.

"You usually know everything."

Haro

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 17.05.2022
ISBN: 978-3-7554-1404-9

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