Two hours and ten minutes passed. James showered and I just sat and relaxed. Then at six thirty, I put on the dress and comfortable black flats I had lying around. I called to James in the bathroom, "I'll be downstairs waiting for you."
"I'll be down in two minutes," he replied. I picked up the shawl from the box and put it on my shoulders with a goofy flourish, then went downstairs.
A man of his word, he came down in two minutes precisely, looking as spiffy and sexy as ever. He took one glance at me, though, and I knew I had more than his full approval. With his dulled-down and harmless iron hook in lieu of a right hand, he took my right hand and pressed his lips against my knuckles. My lips tightened and I felt my cheeks reddened. God, I kind of hated but at the same time very much appreciated when he did that. "Beautiful," he whispered to me. Reaching inside his blazer, he said, "But there's something missing."
"Oh, shit," I giggled as he opened the box. I only caught a glimpse of the sparkly thing inside it before he took it out of the box and put it around my neck. I saw in the mirror on the right side of the door what it was. Silver twisted into a bow shape covered in what I couldn't imagine were diamonds. "Holy crap, James, how'd you get your hands on this?"
He finished clasping it on my neck and then just wrapped his arms around me from behind. "I have my ways," he purred before planting a soft kiss on my neck.
"I feel like shit," I said. "I was so caught up on Abiball stuff…I kinda forgot so I owe you one."
He tightened his loving grasp on me a little more. "You owe me absolutely nothing, my love. Your very presence is all I could ever ask for."
"Nyah, don't make me cry happy tears, I put too much gunk on my face," I laughed, squirming out of his grip. We left the house and went to my Prius. James did drive well enough but both of us felt more comfortable when I was behind the wheel. Unless I was passed out or something, if it was a super emergency, I'd be behind the wheel. I buckled up and peeked through the corner of my eye and noticed James hadn't buckled up, so I just sat and waited for him to realize why. He looked at me. "Is something wrong?"
"Yep," I said. "Only one occupied seat is buckled."
He rolled his eyes and buckled his seatbelt. "Good boy," I told him. He half-scoffed and half-chortled and I started the car to the school.
The parking lot reserved for teachers was an unholy mess of cars that did not belong to teachers. "God damn it, can people read here?" I shrieked as I pulled out of the parking lot and went in search of another place on the street. "Lehrer und Fakultät Nur." James didn't honor my driving rant with a response. He didn't need to. He just watched the cars filled with students in pretty prom dresses and spiffy suits and their parents file into the back door of the gym. Luckily I found a spot just down the street from the school and didn't bump into the sparkly black Volkswagen that belonged to the majestic termagant Fräulein Cora Eckard. Forty-three and divorced three times, she ruled 12th and 11th grade math and the disciplinary system with an iron fist and despised everything awesome and fun, even if it was educational. Therefore, every breath I took pissed her off. She was jealous I had such an awesome role in the school and everyone liked me and passive aggressively beat me up for it. I also think she had a crush on James. Bottom line: she envied people who had things she couldn't have or never got. She got out of her car in a modest dark orange dress below her knees. Oh, I felt so sorry for her. She did not look good in orange. "Guten Abend, Frau Hook," she said.
"Guten Abend, Fräulein Eckard," I said with a smile. She could call any other teacher by their first name and would let them do the same, but I was another stupid kid to her. In German, I continued, "Lovely evening for Abiball."
As James got out of the car, she said, "Well, I didn't know you were coming."
"Well, I am," I replied, trying not to sound too sassy.
She looked at James when he walked to my side and her cold gray eyes widened. "Erh…good eving, Messer Hook," she murmured. Her English was not good at all.
"Guten Abend, Fräulein Eckard," James replied with a really bad German accent. He knew her from my rants and some teacher events, but they never had an extended conversation.
He offered me his arm and I took it. Fräulein Eckard gave me a dirty look. "Well, see you later," I said in German, not wanting to say anything else to her, and then I led James away across the street to the school.
At the entrance of the gym, students greeted us not on the Abiball committee excitedly. "Oh mein Gott, es ist Lucy! Hallo, Lucy!" I greeted them back with smiles and brief polite greetings back until we reached the door, where Greta's parents (as I recognized from their name tag), were greeting people. "Frau und Herr Gottlieb?" I said. In German I continued, "I'm Lucy Hook, Greta's English teacher."
Greta's mom, a middle-aged but pretty woman in a purple dress, smiled brightly at me. "Oh, hi! We've heard a lot about you, so much that we made her have you sit at our table," she replied in English, but with an accent that made it kind of hard to understand. "Number 8. See you there."
We pushed in and James looked around as we walked to the table. "Quite a setup," he said.
"The goal was to hide the fact that it's a gym," I said. "So me, Greta and Sven hung up the streamers and threw around the sequin confetti while the other kids texted." Sven and Greta were at the table with Sven's dad and Sven's one grade younger boyfriend Fabian, who was one of my first piano students when I came to Germany. By the time I was reunited with James, he was proficient and didn't need me but he still came over once in a while and knew James personally. We also hooked them up when Sven came out of the closet. "Hey, guys," I said. James let go of me and pulled out a chair for me. I gave him a flattered and thankful look and sat down.
"Oh my god, Lucy…perfect," Sven said in German with a smile. He looked at Fabian. "I told you she'd pull it off better than Frau Ritter. See?"
Ludwiga Ritter was at the table across from us in a similar LBD that was a little too low-cut for her small chest. Oy. I said in German, "You all know my husband, James, who doesn't speak German very well."
Sven's dad said in English, "Well, Herr Hook, I'd imagine you'd try to learn, considering you've lived here for what, two years?"
"Three," he replied, his left hand wandering to my left ring finger that never released the ring he presented me with three years and one day ago. "Believe me, I try, but unlike some individuals, I cannot seem to learn foreign languages by watching frightening films hailing from that nation."
"Or by how I taught those businesspeople before teaching here most of the time," I scoffed, playfully hitting the side of his arm. "Good news is enough people here speak enough English so he can go on Fanta runs for me while I'm grading your tests, kids."
All the kids and their parents and dates had come in quickly, and the principal, Herr Klaus Pfeiffer took the stage. I often compared him to a beardless Dumbledore and Fräulein Eckard to Snape except less heroic. I never figured out who the hell I was. "Good evening, everybody," he said in German. "And welcome to Abiball."
"Yeah!" Sven shouted, raising a fist in the air.
Klaus Pfeiffer subtly smiled at him. "I would like to call up in alphabetical order by last name each homeroom class and their teacher to hand out diplomas, starting with Frau Adler."
Frau Adler's class went up, then Herr Baum, then Fräulein Eckard, then Herr Faust, then Frau Keller, then Herr Mueller, then Frau Trommler and that was it. A class had graduated. Once they had all received their diplomas, they waited in front of the stage for the big picture to be taken, which I remembered when a vice principal, Frau Lehrer, handed me a camera that it was my job. I put the camera strap around my neck and carried my chair a few yards away from where they all stood. Parents with their phone cameras and point-and-shoots gathered around and struggled to get a good angle. I had the best. "Say cheese!" I exclaimed in English. Most of the kids just laughed but that got them smiling. I took four good photos and when I was done, I gave a thumb's up. The entire room clapped and it echoed against the walls. I returned my chair and as Klaus Pfeiffer completed the graduation part of the ceremony and the kids in the band took the stage to begin the first dance, which was always and going to be a waltz, I realized something. I turned to James and said, "James, I just realized something."
"Yes, love?" he said.
"We've been married three years and never ever danced as a couple."
The band started playing and students and parents took the floor. James stood up and bowed. "May I have this dance, Mrs. Hook?"
I felt my cheeks turn bright pink. "Certainly," I replied somewhat nervously for no explainable reason. He took my hand and led me to the dance floor. We got into the position and I realized again, "I think we never have because I never learned."
"It'll come naturally," he responded before bringing my hand to his lips and planting a soft kiss on it. I brought myself closer to his shoulder and he held me a little tighter as I leaned my head on it, and we began to dance.
I didn't think of it then, but I forgot all about the fact that Ella and Uncle Rick were somewhere not far and probably were out to get me because they have no other excuse to fly to Berlin and shoot up an airport. I thought of two things—how freaking in love I was with James Hook, and the thing inside me we created with our genitals. How very nervous I was to tell him something was in there, but I knew in my heart that he'd be thrilled. The song eventually ended, and Greta and Sven took the stage. "All right, everybody," Greta said excitedly in German. "The buffet and bar is open and in five minutes we're going to give the first annual Beste Super fantastische Lehrer-Preis."
They did not tell me about this Best Super Awesome Teacher Award, but I knew by the way Greta winked at me that it was for me. And I guessed when I heard a familiar beat playing on Marco's drums. The drums for Stay Up Late. I was prepared. James and I got food and to his confusion I refused the alcohol but allowed him to have some if he took it easy. I got a few bites in when Greta and Sven took the stage again and Sven said, "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we are now going to present the Beste Super fantastische Lehrer-Preis."
"What does that mean?" James whispered in my ear.
"Best Super Awesome Teacher Award," I replied. "I think I'm in the bag."
Greta presented a trophy that had a clear crystal apple on top of a black base with silver engraving on the base that I couldn't read because it was too far away and Greta's fingers covered it. "Our Beste Super fantastische Lehrer-Preis goes to a certain teacher who has been no stranger to the students here since she arrived in Germany at the age of eighteen," Sven began in German.
As much as I saw this coming from the moment they announced they were doing this, I got really excited and clenched my hands together.
"She began teaching English part time two years ago," Greta added. "And stuck around for school activities. This is her first year working full-time."
I could feel people turn their heads to stare at me.
"Not only does she teach English, she created a more exciting music program for the entire school. But that's not all she's done for us," Greta continued.
She stepped back and Sven made a solemn face. "I knew I was gay since I was fifteen years old. The winner of the Beste Super fantastische Lehrer-Preis knew since she met me when I was thirteen, on the first guitar lesson she gave me. I remember, at the age of sixteen after one of the first English classes she taught that I had the honor of attending, approaching her as school let out. I said to her, 'Would you still like me if I'm gay?' She looked up from her three o'clock snack and computer and said to me, 'On the condition that you would be my sassy gay friend. I really need one.' I still took guitar lessons from her but they were more like music therapy. After a month of talking it out, she made me bet five euro that my parents would still love me. I said to my parents when they came to pick me up, 'Mom, Dad, I'm gay.' They hugged and kissed me and said they loved me, and the winner of the Beste Super fantastische Lehrer-Preis simply said, 'Ha, I was right. That'll be five euro'"
Everybody, including James, laughed.
"'We would all like to thank Frau Lucy Hook for her support of us, and present her with this crystal trophy," Greta said. "Come on up, Lucy!"
I stood up as everyone clapped and went on the stage. Sven and Greta hugged me one at a time and then together.
"Rede!" a boy I recognized to be Arno shouted.
I went to the microphone stand and said in German, "Uh, I'd like to thank the Academy…the Lord Jesus Christ." I got a few laughs. "In all seriousness, though, this graduating class for being...the Beste Super fantastische kids in the history of history."
The graduating kids especially clapped. Greta whispered to me, "Now's the chance to play Stay Up Late. You ready?"
"I was born ready, babe," I replied, squeezing her shoulder. Greta said in the microphone, "Lucy has an announcement to make to those who haven't heard, including her wonderful husband Herr James Hook."
His gorgeous blue eyes widened, I noticed as I handed the award to Sven to bring to the table. Gisela brought the electric keyboard closer to me and said, "Hey, Lucy, do you think…you could do the piano? I, uh, didn't practice but I could sing backup with Dominik and Ida."
"Okay, but I reserve the right to punish you by flicking your head. Ready?"
She nodded and I snapped my fingers against her head. A few laughs. She brought the chair over for me and lowered the microphone to my face. I said in German, "I'm going to speak in English so my not very fluent husband can understand. You can ask someone what I said later if you don't understand, but I hope my English 3 kids get the basic words. I'm talking to you, Nadine."
Nadine's table laughed. I cleared my throat. No turning back now. I said in English in the microphone after testing the keys, "So I've been married to James Hook for three years to the day. I'm reminded every morning when I wake up by his side that somebody in the world loves me unconditionally, and this bond will never be broken. I have, uh, news that's about three months old and the size of…a kidney bean, I gather." I looked back at the band. They nodded. I looked towards James, who I think knew what was going on, and opened my mouth to just plainly say I'm pregnant, but couldn't. So I just began the song. I played two keys, then Marco did the three drumbeats, then I did two more different keys, then Marco did the drums. This went on two more times and then I made that weird sound David Byrne made. Marco and I did our duo a few more times and then I sang. "Mommy had a little baby. There he is, fast asleep. He's just…a little plaything…why not…wake him up? Cute, cute…little baby. Little peepee and little toes. Now he's…comin' to me. Crawl across the kitchen floor."
Nadine, Dominik and Ida sang with me as Hugo joined on guitar, "Baby, baby, please let me hold him. I wanna make him stay up all night. Sister, sister, he's just a plaything. We wanna make him stay up all night." They stopped and I said, "Yeah, we do!"
Marco and I did our piano-drum thing a few more times and I awkwardly did the snorting sounds. Then I continued alone, "See him drink…from the bottle. See him eat…from a plate. Cute, cute…as a button. Don't you wanna make him—" The backup joined again "Stay up late. And we're having fun with no money." Solo. "Little smile on his face." The backup came in, "Don't'cha love…the little baby. Don't you wanna make him…stay up late!" We did the chorus again, and then the dialogue with the backup, and then the song was finished. James was staring in shock. I slammed my hands on the piano, stood up, raised my arms in the air and exclaimed at the top of my lungs, "I'm pregnant!"
James got up and ran towards me. I did the same until we met near the dance floor and I leaped into his arms. We kissed in front of, like, one hundred fifty clapping people, and we were happy.
