Just do it by Bettina Bonkas
“Ouch!”, Jan-Oliver cried out. “That hurt!”
“Are you a girl or a man?” Mariucca asked him.
“That’s got nothing to do with it. You’re sometimes simply too rough“, he retorted.
“You already said so last time and it did you good. You will see, you will get up and feel like new”, Mariucca remarked unaffected by his response. “And besides, it is not my fault that you’re so tense. You should not work so much. You work, you’re tense, you work, you’re tense and in between I give you massage and try to help, what can be helped.”
Jan-Oliver sighed. Mariucca was right. Last time it hurt him but after her massage he felt clearly better. But she would never understand that a responsible job made a lot of effort necessary.
“I know, you now think that I don’t understand why you work so much.” Jan-Oliver was dumbfounded and was about to say something but Mariucca was already talking. “Make some exercises to stretch your back and fill your chest with air and widen your stomach.” And she showed him some exercises. “That will relax your body and you too. Remember my words!” And with that she trudged away.
After the massage Jan-Oliver went into his study to go on working. He could hear her in the background, she was tidying up in the kitchen but soon he was completely absorbed in his work so that he forgot about her. In fact he remembered her words and he made some exercises in between to relax his back and his shoulders.
At first he didn’t notice that he didn’t hear Mariucca anymore, for quite some time as he realized. He called out her name repeatedly and went to look for her in his flat. He and Kerstin lived in the two top floors of a penthouse flat directly in the Westhafen in Frankfurt. They owned 150 sqm and had two big balconies, one facing the south side, the other one the west side with big flower pots and comfortable lounge areas. Maybe she was there to do some cleaning. But Jan-Oliver couldn’t find her there which wasn’t really surprising as it was winter. In the kitchen he finally found her bag. Strange! That wasn’t like her cleaning somewhere in the flat and being completely silent. She was either singing or on the phone using her plug-ins. Jan-Oliver couldn’t explain his anxiety but her absence somehow made him unsettled a bit. He was going to call her on her mobile when the lift door to the flat opened and Mariucca came in carrying a heavy cardboard box.
“Help me!”
Quickly Jan-Oliver took the heavy box from her. “What have you carried up here?”
Mariucca on the other hand was all smiles. “I’ve found that in the basement. It is an electric railway. Down there you have a huge board with tracks and landscape. I’ve carried some parts upstairs.”
Jan-Oliver marveled: his electric railway. How long had it been since he played with it? But then he remembered Kerstin’s words. “That’s very kind of you, Mariucca, but Kerstin thinks that we don’t have enough room up here. I should rather give it to a child who has better use of it. I’m too old for it, so she says.”
“Humbug. You’re never too old for a train. And if you want train then you have to bang your fingers on the table.”
“You bang your fist on the table”, Jan-Oliver corrected her automatically. She just looked at him unaffectedly.
“If you want something in your life then you must fight for it. And the train would do you good. You’re too serious, you need more of a child. More playtime is good resolution for you for next year.”
At the sight of the train Jan-Oliver realised immediately how the little boy inside him came up again. He absolutely felt like unpacking the train, building up landscapes and let the train go through them. As a boy he used to build a lot around his train. When his parents had an argument he would let his train drive and with the repetitive sound of the train he could completely switch off. He noticed how he was getting more and more excited and how he was in the mood to activate his train. Kerstin would be far from being enthusiastic about it. That wouldn’t be a small dust catcher but a massive one.
Mariucca seemed to notice his inner fight. Sometimes it was really scary what she all observed. “Where’s Ms Hagebeck?”
“Kerstin’s in China. She’ll be back on Friday.“ Kerstin was often on a business trip, that was part of her job. Jan-Oliver wasn’t happy about it but he didn’t want to stand in her way, he knew how important the business trips were for her career. His job was important to him too and when he had to finish something important and had no time, it was Kerstin who visited his parents.
“You build up your train and you will see how good it does you. I can already see that. My mother has always said: Look after the child inside you. When Ms Hagebeck comes back, you be the man of the house, wear the breeches and tell Ms Hagebek: The train will stay here! So, I’ve worked overtime now. That makes €50,00 for today.” Jan-Oliver paid her, said good-bye to Mariucca and sat down beside his train.
It all sounded so easy with Mariucca. But maybe it was easy? Spontaneously, step by step, he got his train out of the basement, set it up until late in the night and finally, after all work was done, he sat exhausted but highly pleased with himself and a glass of whiskey in his Charles and Ray Eames Lounge chair in front of his electric train. It was only the light of the train on, in the background Queen with “I was born to love you” was to be heard and the train purred happily on its tracks. “… I was born to take care of you, every single day …”.
I was born to love you
with every single beat of my heart
yes, I was born to take care of you
every single day…
I was born to love you
…
Have a happy and healthy New Year. I wish you that you go with joy, lightness, openness and faith through the New Year together with your own personal wishes. And look after the child inside you :-).