Chapter 22: Finnick's wedding

[August 2373 AD – POV Timotheus Sinterguth – District Four]

In the last few weeks prior to the summer holidays, I spent lots of time outdoors with my youth group. The parish hall had a nice plot of land around it, and we sometimes played ball games or such. On one of the hot days in early July the kids played a prank on me. I was watching the kids when Christine told me, while pointing towards the corner of the building:

"Tim, you don't want to see what's around this corner."

Naturally I was getting curious and did walk around the corner, and when I did so, a gush of cold water from a bucket hit me full on the body. Christine had followed me and now smirked:

"I told you that you did not want to go there and see that!"

Of course she was right, and once I had recovered from a my surprise I laughed, and the kids laughed with me.

On the first day of school summer vacation in Bavaria I picked up the two Heidecker girls, Esther and Rebecka, from their parents' home. They were both quite excited, and they were already waiting outside of the house with their bags fully packed.

Nominally Esther, twenty-one years old, was going to be in charge of her sister Rebecka, who was just sixteen and thus still a minor. My cousin and I, though, had promised to also pay attention and make sure that she was properly treated and to set limits for her, like not drinking anything with alcohol in it. Normally she would not do anything like that anyway, but a big party might bring temptations with it.

I drove us to the Nürnberg airport which had a Sinterguth private terminal. From there we got one of the regular company internal shuttle flights to District Sixteen, also to the Sinterguth private terminal, and we changed to a direct maglev line to District Four in the South. As we were arriving almost a full week prior to the wedding, Finnick had enough time to pick us up, and my cousin arrived almost at the same time with a maglev connection from District Twelve. When Finnick saw the two girls, he beamed. He first addressed Esther:

"Young lady, with your blond hair and perfect figure you will fit right in here in our humble district, and I have to say, you will add quite some competition here. If I wasn't going to marry my love in a few days, I might be tempted to court you, sweetheart!"

Fortunately I had told the two girls about Finnick and his behavior while we had traveled. Finnick just talked like that, and he probably would continue to talk like that even once he was married. He flirted with practically every girl, and he could hand out compliments like few others. I suspected that he could have ten different girls in his bed each night if he wanted, but my cousin had told me that, according to what he knew, Finnick had been fully faithful since he had met his bride. In addition to that, despite his talking, he was a very good friend. We had told him that Rebecka was a minor, and he would help to make sure that she was treated respectfully. Consequently, with Rebecka Finnick was little bit more contained, but he complimented her for her lovely eyes and her slim figure; Rebecka proudly told him that she was dancing in a ballet, and Finnick, of course, replied that he'd love to see her dancing. I so wished that I could talk to young ladies like that!

The family of Finnick՚s bride owned a hotel in a popular area close to the beach, and of course the wedding was going to take place there. For the week before and after the wedding, no reservations had been accepted from normal guests, and the place was all available to the wedding party. The bride's parents were very strict about who was allowed to share a room with whom, and everybody who was not married or at least engaged would have trouble getting a room together. When we were asked about our ideas for room sharing, we of course suggested that I share a room with my cousin and the two sisters get one together; that was fully acceptable, and we got adjacent rooms at least.

Very shortly after arrival both Heidecker girls crashed on their beds. It was their first exposure to jet lag, and they were completely tired. I had warned them that they were likely to wake up in the middle of the night, and both my cousin and I had offered to spend time with them if they could not sleep any longer. We had made sure that our key cards had been coded so that we could enter the others' room as well, just in case that was needed. And indeed, about one hour after midnight, after maybe four hours of sleep for me, our door opened and the two girls slipped in. I was also semi-awake already, and I chuckled when Esther stepped next to me; I asked with subdued voice:

"That's it with sleeping, I guess?"

They nodded, and I told them:

"Let's go for a walk outside. I will join you in a minute."

The two girls waited outside, and I got dressed quickly. My cousin continued to sleep, but as he had come from District Twelve and only had one hour of time difference, that was not a surprise.

Five minutes later we had left the hotel and walked down to the beach. Despite the late hour, quite a few people were out, but it was summer after all. We started to walk along the beach, and took our sandals in our hands to that we could walk barefooted on the wet sand. I had done that before in District Twelve and at the southern European coast before, and it know that I liked the feeling. For the girls it was the first time since they had been in toddler age or so, and they squealed when they first felt the wet and warm sand and the occasional waves getting their feet wet.

"I still can't believe that we are actually here, at the coast, and walking barefoot on a sand beach" Rebecka said. "It is almost like a dream!"

"Yes, same here" Esther confirmed.

We enjoyed the feeling silently for some time, and then I asked:

"So, how is life at home for you? Is everything okay at school?"

I knew that Rebecka was quite a good student, and Esther attended university in Erlangen, too, and she studied languages. Rebecka told me about some school events, and then I decided to tease her a little and asked:

"Do you already have a boyfriend?"

My cousin and I basically asked that every year, and in past years she had always laughed. On this day, though, or more precisely during this night, she looked to the side and kept silent for a minute or two, until I said:

"You know, my dear, that you do not have to talk about it if you do not want to."

"Sure, but I can as well admit that there is a boy in my class who seems to be sweet on me. I am just not really sure what I feel for him."

I nodded, and Esther added:

"Of course I know about that, but even I cannot see into my sister's heart and find out what's there."

I nodded again and said:

"I guess that you can take your time and find out, right?"

"Yes, but what if he does not want to wait and finds another girl?"

"Well, maybe if that happens, he's not worth it? But, of course, you'd better not listen to me anyway. My success rate in relations is basically zero, and advice from a nerd is probably not the best."

"Come on, you are not a nerd any longer, Timotheus!" Esther objected.

"So, you admit that I used to be one, right?"

Both girls laughed, and I joined in. Esther obviously found the time suitable to change the topic, and she asked me:

"So, what about your love life? Still nothing at all?"

"No, not really. I mean, there is a nice girl..."

"What?" they both yelled at me. "Really? You found a girl? And you have not told us yet?"

"Not, I have not found her, and I have not even talked to her. Well, one of the girls in my youth group has an older sister, and I suspect that she's about to play matchmaker."

"Oh, isn't that sweet!"

"Not so sure about that. I wouldn't be surprised if she got me into an embarrassing situation with her sister, like being stuck with her in an elevator or so."

"Hey, if you were stuck in an elevator with a girl for many hours, that might actually work!"

"Very funny, thank you."

Esther hugged me briefly and said: "You know that we love you, right?"

I could not really be angry, and I smiled again: "Anyway, I have seen the sister a few times, as the family is also in our church congregation. I have never dared to talk to her yet, though."

"How does she look like?" Rebecka wanted to know.

"Well, similar to your sister, but taller. Wait a second, I think that I may have a photo." I got my tricorder out, which I almost always had with me in a belt bag, found the photo and showed it around, explaining:

"This is a photo showing all three sisters together. Corinna, the youngest, sent me a copy, and I think it was taken a year ago or so when the family had their last summer vacation."

The photo showed all three girls in beach attire, and it was quite obvious that all three of them were pretty. Esther actually whistled when she saw the photo:

"So, the tallest one is the older sister?"

"Yes, of course."

"Wow, she is really something. Timotheus, I guess that you have a target!"

"What? Target? Esther, forget it; she is so totally not in my league. Besides, she's too young; Rebecka, she's about your age!"

"So, she's sixteen, like me? That doesn't have to be a problem; if I decided that I'd want to date you, my mother would not be opposed at all!"

"Yes, that's you, and our mothers are best friends, whereas I barely know Primrose's parents."

We continued to banter with each other like this for some time, and on our way back to the hotel the girls started to yawn again. They decided to get back to their room and see if they could get another hour or two of sleep, and I just opted to stay awake; the hotel had a small library, and I picked a book to read until time for breakfast was there.

Over the next few days, the girls' sleeping rhythm slowly adapted. I had a similar issue, of course, but I had been used to it from traveling before, and I did not show my problems too much. Two days prior to the wedding a bachelor's party had been set up. Usually, it was done as a wedding-eve party, but as both bride and groom wanted to be fully rested on their wedding day, they had opted for the safe way, expecting the party to last into the morning. Naturally, only the young people were expected to be there; most of those in older generations preferred to take it easy and relax. The bride got a party of her own, and Esther and Rebecka were invited to that one, while my cousin and I of course went with Finnick.

The party itself wasn't that bad, actually. Naturally, quite a few people drank a lot, but transport back to the hotel was organized. However, when somebody showed signs of being tipsy, the staff refused to serve more drinks to that person. Finnick was not interested in having lots of drunk people around, and he himself drank only very moderately. We went to see a show, of course, but while I almost expected to see a show of strippers or so, I was positively surprised when a magician showed up. He introduced himself as 'Jörg Alexander', and he was from Europe. He was on a tour through Panem, and the mother of the bride had been able to hire him for a few hours. Minutes after he started the show everybody was silent, and soon a few open mouths could be seen. What he did was really incredible, like showing a thin rope, cutting it in equal length with scissors, showing the sections with equal length, doing something with his hand, and suddenly showing one part being much longer than the other one. Once this was done, he tied the two sections of the rope around one of his hands, performed some signs, and when his hand was open again, the rope was like never being cut. He entertained us for about one hour, then we had a two hour break for eating and talking, and then the magician walked around to individual tables and performed more tricks, mostly with cards.

When the show was declared to be over eventually, there was roaring applause and standing ovations given for several minutes. Later on I learned that Finnick had paid a lot of money for the magician to come over from Europe, but it had been worth it. Shortly after midnight the event was over, and a couple of buses got us back to the hotel.

When we got back to the hotel, I quickly looked into the girls' room, but they were not in yet. I was a little bit concerned, but Esther was a responsible young lady, and the bride's sister, Britta, had also promised to look out for them.

During breakfast on the next day we met two yawning girls, and they admitted that they had arrived back at the hotel at 02:00 in the morning only. The bride was a quiet person, and she had opted for a movie marathon with her favorite TV series. They had started at 19:00 and ended at 01:30, and there had of course been lots of food and drinks, but also a limit for alcohol. Rebecka had not really understood all of the dialogues spoken in the series, but Britta and Esther had translated when needed, and Britta had also helped them to understand some of the cultural context; a few times they had even paused the run for more detailed explanations.

We needed that one day of resting for sure, and before we even noticed the wedding day was there. We had all mostly adapted our sleep cycles and were properly rested, and when the ceremony was about to start, we found that it was all professionally organized by a wedding planing company. Most of the day was meticulously planed, and all of the guests had to follow instructions. There was actually not much to do for us except for standing around and looking pretty and happy, showing smiles most of the time. Excellent food compensated for that, but it was not exactly my idea of how a wedding should be like. For Esther and Rebecka it was the first Panem style wedding they attended, and I believe it was quite a good example. In late afternoon, bride and groom were driven away to start their honeymoon, and the rest of us could continue to party if we wanted. My cousin and I did not stay very long, and neither did the girls; as soon as the official part of the day was over, we did not hesitate too long before taking our leave, and we were quite happy to be back in our hotel rooms. On the next day we learned that some guests had continued to party well beyond midnight.

According to what I heard it had been the bride's parents idea to do the wedding like that, with a perfectly organized choreography and all, following a family tradition, but it was only one day after all. When I had a chance to talk to Finnick for a moment he admitted that he hated it, but decided to tolerate it anyway, as a favor to his bride and her family.

On the next day we joined Britta, the bride's sister, outside at the beach, and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery, with low waves coming in, few clouds moving across the sky, a mild breezy coming in from the sea, and the wonderful turquoise water color. We had been swimming for an hour or so, and now we were back on the beach to warm up. When we had just all got a soft drink in our hands and started to sip, a light tremor could be felt from the ground. Britta was sitting up and looking around immediately, and I thought that this had maybe been a minor earthquake. I asked Britta if there was reason for concern, and the said:

"Depends, really. If the quake was further inland, probably not. If it was out under the ocean, then we might get a tsunami."

I knew that a tsunami was, as I had learned about that at school. When a quake shifted the ground at the ocean floor, it could happen that huge amounts of water were pushed aside, and undersea waves started to form. When they got close to the coast, the waves could only move up, and they could become quite dangerous. When I looked around, I noticed that all of the buildings were on higher ground, at least ten meters above sea level, and maybe there was a good reason for that.

We had seen during the last days that tides along the coast were not very much pronounced, but I had realized earlier in the morning that high tide was just coming in. Right when I looked out to the sea, I saw some odd water movement further out, like strong water currents encountering each other, and the tide, which had just been coming in, seemed to reconsider and turned around. That raised my suspicion, as I had read about it, and just when I wanted to ask Britta, she shouted:

"Run! Follow me!"

We got up, dropped our drinks, and started to run in the direction she indicated, when sirens went off all along the beach. I made sure that Esther and Rebecka were with us, and everybody started running now; the direction was not the hotels, but a long flat hill which was probably about 50 meters above sea level. Looking sideways I saw metal barriers being raised around the hotel fronts; the people here were obviously prepared for such as event. A few minutes later we arrived on the hilltop, all panting from the exertion, but when I looked around I found that Esther was not with us any longer. I was getting concerned about that, but now Britta called out: "Look!" and pointed outwards.

Soon we could see a wave approaching the coast, stretching almost endlessly in each direction. It seemed to be very low, but gained in height closer to the coast, and when it got closer to the beach, in shallow water, it seemed to be about five or six meters high. Right when the wave actually got to the shoreline, a panting Esther arrived, and she had a very young child on her arm. I was relieved to see her, and continued to watch the passing the shoreline. All of the things we had seen on the beach, like deckchairs, bars, small boats and such were swallowed by the water as it raced inland. It was clear that we were high enough, but I started to understand why the hotels had those metal barriers. It turned out that the water level barely touched the barriers, but it was probably difficult to predict how high such a wave could get.

A few minutes later the water retreated, and the lower elevations were pure chaos, with deckchairs, towels and small boats thrown around in total disorder. However, as far as I could see, nobody was injured; everybody around had reacted promptly to the sirens and either gone to the hill, as we had done, or entered one of the hotels and gone to a higher floor.

Now we had some time to check on Esther, and she explained:

"Just before climbing up the hill I saw this young boy here, and it looks like he had been abandoned by accident. So I just grabbed him and took him with me."

We all smiled at her and took some time to check if the boy was all right. He was, but he missed his parents, and when we looked around on the hill, we could not see anybody who was looking around like searching for a child. When I lifted the boy on my shoulders so that he could look around, he also failed to identity his parents.

"Is it safe to go back now?" Rebecka asked; she looked a little pale.

Britta shook her head: "Not yet, no. We wait until the sirens sound again."

While we waited, we sat on the ground, and we did need some time to calm down, not only from the exertion of running, but also from the excitement. Esther asked after some time:

"How often do you get a tsunami?"

"Oh, a big one like today only every five to ten years, but smaller ones once or twice a year. We are used to that, and so far there hasn't been a real big one yet. You know, the rapid climatic changes have made the ocean floor unstable, or so the scientists claim. The rising water temperatures have disturbed the ocean floor, as more methane bubbles burst from the ground. I do not get all of it, but tsunamis are a consequence."

Later on, when it was safe to return to the hotel, we found a young couple fuzzing around, and the boy, who was still on my shoulders, shouted out to them. They were his parents indeed, and it turned out that he had been in child care playing outside when the tsunami warning sounded. The parents were very happy to get him back, and we were happy that he had found his parents again.

[Author's Notes: The German magician with the name 'Jörg Alexander' really exists, and he happens to be a friend of mine in real life. He is real good, and you can find his webpage easily when searching for his name. However, I believe that his homepage is in German language only.

About the tsunami, I am certainly not an expert and I do not live close to a coast, but I read that specifically the retreating water is a clear warning sign.]