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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Love stories / Romance
- Subject: Love / Romance / Dating
- Published: 09/01/2014
French Knickers on a River Cruise
Born 1949, F, from Zurich, Switzerland.jpg)
It was a warm summer day. The ship had left the port on time and was just now in the first lock. It was like being in a dark tunnel, left and right of the boat one could see dark grey walls. All other passengers had gone to the upper deck to watch the action from there. Attila sat alone in a deckchair at the very front of the lounge, from where he enjoyed a perfect view over the bow. His elegant walking stick with a silver head in the form of an exotic bird as handle rested on the nearest chair. He sighed and yawned lightly thereafter, holding his right hand in front of his mouth. Of course, he already knew beforehand that this boat trip would be rather boring for him. He had as a young man alone, and later for many years with his wife, extensively travelled the world. Why on earth was he now on this boat? After having seen at lunch the other passengers, it was obvious that there would be no excitement for him on this cruise, and that he would have to spend hours alone in the bar, or then in his cabin. He did not have the slightest intention to participate in any of the excursions. Why bother, he already knew all these places. Attila turned his head in the direction of the bar and called: "Waiter, bring me another sherry, please!"
When the waiter brought the sherry, Attila signed the receipt and left a small bill on the tray. The waiter bowed, visibly pleased, and went back to the bar. ‘Well, one never knows when one needs good contacts,’ Attila thought to himself and made himself comfortable in the deckchair, stretching his legs he reached for the sherry. He had celebrated his 80th birthday a month ago, and his grandson, who had organized a dinner with a few golf colleagues at an exclusive restaurant for him, surprised him with this Danube cruise as a birthday gift. So he had no choice but to accept this gift and, as a consequence, he now sat on this boat. His wife had died ten years ago, after nearly forty years living together, and since then he had lost some of the bite for life. His daughter was living with a new partner far away in Australia and had no interest in taking over his business. After the death of her first husband, his daughter had left her son in Attila’s care, and settled down in Australia. The boy had grown up in the house of his grandparents and developed into a well-educated young man. At the age of seventy-five, Attila finally put his well running real estate company, which he had founded after marriage, into the hands of his grandson, who proved to be very talented and hard working.
At this moment, the huge gates of the lock began slowly to open. It was like in a James Bond movie when a ship caught inside of a bigger ship started to glide through the open mouth to freedom. Attila leaned forward and smiled amused. He could imagine the faces of all those men on the upper deck, standing there with a knowing expression, watching the spectacle and commenting on it with their knowledge of technical terms. It would be the same at each lock throughout the whole trip. He then repeated all for himself: ‘No, no, he would never willingly climb those steep neck breaker stairs, if it were not absolutely necessary. He would remain below deck and enjoy the cruise actions from the bar. He was absolutely not interested in meeting any new people and did not want to be forced to make conversation with strangers, who then would want to tell him their boring life stories. Not one of these passengers seemed to him to be the slightest bit interesting. He had known it in advance and told his grandson, it would result in total boredom for him. Endless boredom.’
Attila yawned again, then finished his sherry and decided to get back to his cabin for an afternoon nap. He stood up, grasped his walking stick and strolled along to the door leading into the entrance hall with the reception desk and several showcases on the walls, as well as some pictures of castles from along the route, and some posters with interesting information about certain navigation details.
He moved on into the corridor with the six suites, and inspected the paintings on the doors. Each suite carried the name of a famous seafarer whose portrait was painted directly on the door. Attila lived in the Christopher Columbus suite which was at the far end of the corridor, but now he took the pleasure to inspect the other seafarers and portraits. He walked past Marco Polo, Amerigo Vespucci, Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and finally stood in front of the second last one, Vasco da Gama. He seemed to have had an interesting face with a gigantic moustache and beard. Attila stepped closer to the door and adored the painted Vasco da Gama from head to toe, an imposing figure with an impressive hat and a colourful uniform. For a moment he slipped into the personality of Vasco da Gama. A touch of great history mixed with adventure crept through his body, and he proudly stretched himself. He must have touched the door that suddenly opened further. And as Attila wanted to close it, a voice shouted: "Finally, you are here, where the hell have you been fooling around again? I have told you explicitly that your place is here by my side! Get me my dress and help me with the zipper!"
Attila stood there completely surprised, staring wide-eyed at the back of a tall woman in her late fifties. Her wonderful black hair was formed into a lose chignon decorated with a flower, and she was wearing a purple satin bra and some absolutely interesting purple silk panties with lace flounces. Never before had he seen such panties. He stood rooted to the spot, staring.
"Who are you, with whom do I have the pleasure, and why are you in my suite? But since you are now here, please get me my dress from the chair over there!" her voice brought him back to earth.
Since he was still standing there, staring at her panties, the woman took a deep breath and added: ‘Have you really never before seen a woman in French knickers?’
Attila gathered himself, reached for the dress hanging over the chair next to the table, and walked toward the woman, who for a brief moment turned her head, then took the dress with a quick gesture, turned her head back and slowly slipped into the dress, keeping her eyes on Attila in the mirror, who stood behind her to close the zipper.
An exceptionally handsome young man, he was probably about thirty-five, then appeared in the doorway. The woman shouted over her shoulder: "Go away Romeo, we are busy, go and get us champagne and ice, please, and some olives. Then you can go to your favourite, fooling around the boat!"
The young man left without a word.
And Attila said, trying to show his experience: "Is your son looking for a girlfriend on the boat? Is that why you call it fooling around? It will be extremely difficult because the average passenger on this boat is over sixty. He should have gone on another cruise." Attila closed the zipper of her dress, smiling amused by his well-placed comment.
When the woman yelled back with full power: "He is not my son! Where on earth are you living, somewhere hidden in the meadows in the hills, or behind some old giant trees? He is my lover!"
The woman stood now directly in front of Attila and he immediately noticed the fire in her eyes. He found that she was a marvellously well-preserved female, with everything one wished to see and feel from the point of view of a cultivated man.
The woman smiled proudly and added: "Yes, he is much younger, this is obvious. In fact, he is thirty-eight years younger than me, so what!"
Attila made up a quick calculation in his head and wanted to respond like a gentleman. However, when he rapidly checked the calculation in his head, it all could not be, because the man would then be in the age of a teenager, which was impossible. The man he saw was about thirty-five.
The woman was still smiling, and explained as if it was the most normal thing in the world: "Aha, you are still calculating. It is simple: I am seventy-eight and he is forty!" She turned around and moved toward the two fauteuil chairs in front of the window.
Attila raised his chin, which was folded down, back up, trying desperately to compose himself, to catch up with the current scene and the unexpected facts, as well as his totally wrong guessing about her age. ‘This woman looks absolutely great and stunning, never like seventy-eight,’ shot him through the head. He was speechless.
"Come on, now put your walking stick aside, you do not really need it anyway, and take a seat. We two are having aperitif before arriving in Vienna!"
Attila deposited the stick in the corner next to the cupboard and moved slowly to his seat. The handsome man of before appeared with a waiter carrying a tablet with the champagne, ice cubes, glasses and a plate with delicious looking olives. When the champagne was served, the waiter left and behind him also the handsome man, throwing a lightly sulky glance into the room.
The woman raised her glass and toasted: "My name is Carmen, cheers!" Attila took his glass, stood up, bowed and said: "Delighted to meet you, my name is Attila!" Then he sat down again and placed his legs in the way shown on old paintings, where French dignities sat there elegantly, one leg stretched out, one leg slightly bent.
Carmen wanted to know everything about him, and he gave willingly a summary. Now and then she raised her eyebrows and showed her sparkling teeth. After the second glass of champagne, Attila started to feel his brain dashing and his ears rushing. He thought the next step would be flying away on an oriental carpet, but he held on to his glass, that was just freshly filled, before Carmen started to tell her life story. Her husband had died a long time ago and had left a considerable fortune and a large attic with a separate studio. She had worked until the age of seventy at a law office, and since then organized cultural exchange with Hungary: events, concerts, folkloric groups, visits, trips and per year some stipends for Hungarian students from poorer families. Her maternal grandmother was Hungarian, and Carmen spent as a child many summer holidays with her grandparents in Hungary, and from there she always felt attached to that country.
Attila emptied his glass, not letting his eyes wander from this wonderful person.
Carmen finished her summary of her life story stating that there had been various men of different ages in her life in the past twenty years, but none of them really cared for her, but more for her property and money. Thus she finally decided to take a lover with a sort of a contract with certain rules and her expectations. After two failures, it then worked out with Romeo. He was a fitness trainer, mainly for personal training, and fulfilled all agreed arrangements so far with care and dedication. In the beginning even with some passion, in the meantime more with dedication, that was clear to her from the beginning, but it worked. Romeo could live in the studio, had enough free time, but knew exactly when he had to be there and what was expected. He was following attractive women, whenever they appeared, somehow he needed this. But basically he liked life as it was. And Carmen had a partner who gave her uplift.
Attila tried hard to remain sitting in his elegant pose. However the wine at lunchtime, the two sherries early afternoon, and now the half bottle of champagne had their effect. He would have liked to lean back and fall asleep.
Carmen must have noticed that, and also she wanted to finish her preparations for the upcoming excursion in Vienna, where she and Romeo would attend a concert in one of those wonderfully renovated historic cellars, and then go to a late night wine tasting.
She touched his arm and said: "Tomorrow, before breakfast we will practice yoga on the upper deck, at the back of the ship. This will do you good and keep your body young and fit. See you then!" and disappeared into the bathroom.
Attila got up with the power of a thousand horses, gritted his teeth and pretended to walk seemingly light-footed to the door. Somehow he managed to reach, without tripping or rolling, the door of the Christopher Columbus suite. After closing the door and turning the key, he let himself fall on the double bed, with shoes and clothes still on, sinking into a deep sleep and wonderful dream.
He was a handsome man of about forty years, running on a home trainer, wearing a tuxedo, running like an athlete and at the same time watching on a giant screen women wearing French knickers, always running ahead of him on a sandy running track. The audience cheered and applauded. He was running and running, following the women in French knickers. The door opened, a beautiful lady with a large flower in her dark hair, and wearing a colourful long dress, came in and walked up to him, and then switched the training machine to double speed. "Hop, hop, hop, follow the girls!" She gave him a wonderful smile, turned around and left. The double pace was too much for him and he was about to collapse, still running and running, half bent over, with his head almost on his knees. His tongue was hanging out. The door opened again and an old man with his face, and dressed as a butler, came and brought him a large glass with a bright blue drink, and said in a dry voice: "Your dinner, sir."
Attila awoke totally drenched in sweat, and looked at his watch. Dinner time was almost over, but he felt very hungry. After a quick shower, he dressed hastily and rushed to the dining hall. Half of the passengers had already left, and at his table, apart from the couple from Germany, both pastors, the seats were empty. He was lucky and could still get a warm main course. To the astonishment of the two pastors, he fell like a starving lion into his meal. The woman pastor expressed her joy over the fact that he no longer needed his walking stick, and both pastors smiled at him in that endless benevolent way, which Attila had all his life long admired in religious dignitaries. ‘Walking stick? Where is my walking stick?’ He asked himself. He must have left it in Carmen’s suite, and now realized himself, that he was walking around without his stick since his visit to the Vasco da Gama suite! Amazing! He gave the two pastors his best smile, and they wished him a good evening, and left.
After dinner Attila walked to the lounge at the bar. When passing the steep stairs leading to the upper deck, he hesitated a moment, toying with the idea to try to climb them. ‘Maybe tomorrow’ he said to himself. He enjoyed a good night drink, this time sitting facing the land and dreaming into the flood of lights of Vienna. Imagining how Carmen and Romeo just came out of the concert, hand in hand, while people around them turned their heads, whispering, and how the two then disappeared in a taxi that brought them to the wine cave. At about eleven o’clock he returned to his suite, walking upright and confident.
He brushed his teeth and put on his pyjama. He stood for a longer while at the large balcony window and looked out at the lights of this wonderful city full of culture and great history. Then he turned one of the two armchairs in the other direction, sat down and stayed there, facing the wall to the Vasco da Gama suite. He must have fallen asleep, but awoke to laughter and voices coming from behind the wall. ‘Aha, they’re back !’ he whispered, sitting up. Facing the wall. He could make out steps, then opening of a window, opening a cupboard, maybe the minibar, again laughter, then silence. Attila sat there, staring at the wall. He was almost hypnotizing the wall. He saw how the two were about to move towards the double bed, tightly embracing. He closed his eyes for a moment, he did not want to see any more. Then he continued to stare at the wall. Sitting upright, as a guardian of the loving couple in the Vasco da Gama suite. Finally, at about four in the morning, Attila stood up with the face of a wise man, and went to bed.
Someone knocked on the door and pulled him from deep sleep. He walked to the door and opened it. It was Romeo holding something in his hands, and greeting with the words: "Good morning Mr. Attila, we are waiting for you on the upper deck, it’s time for yoga. This is your outfit. I’m waiting here for you." Attila was holding the package in his hand, still half asleep and not believing what was going on. Almost desperately he argued: "Young man, I have never practiced yoga in my life, not even for a second, my body is the body of an octogenarian, and I would hardly even survive an attempt!" He was about to close the door, but Romeo was quicker and placed his foot in the gap. Then he said with total conviction: "Mr. Attila, yoga can be practiced at any age, there is no age limit, and of course you will survive it. But you would most probably not survive Mrs. Carmen’s thunderstorm, if you do not join us for the morning yoga!"
For a moment Attila saw her in front of him in her French knickers smiling at him, with her wonderful warm, mature and uplifting smile. He turned around, went to the bathroom and moved his body into the yoga outfit. After a quick glance in the mirror, he just shook his head and joined Romeo, who was waiting at the door.
They climbed up the steep stairs, Attila pretending that he did this with no special effort. In fact he was already half exhausted when arriving at the top. With his last strength he followed Romeo to the back of the boat, where Carmen was already sitting in yoga position on a purple mat, with closed eyes. Extremely grateful that he could sit down, Attila let himself flop on the mat, in front of Romeo’s feet, and then remained there half sitting, half lying, close to swearing. He could hardly move. But Romeo told him to sit crossed-legged, and somehow moved his legs into the correct position, at the same time pushing his back upright. Attila was sure that his hips would not stand this, and that he was close to death. He waited to faint. Romeo whispered in his ear, still supporting with his hands Attila’s back: "Please Mr. Attila, you need to breathe deeply, this will carry oxygen to your lungs and body, and helps you to hold the position!"
‘Amazing, that his handsome Romeo obviously has deep technical knowledge about what human bodies can do or can not!’ thought Attila, and would have loved to smile, but it was all too difficult. Not even deep breathing was easy. His breath seemed to stumble. After a while which seemed to be an eternity, Romeo moved Attila’s legs into another position and ordered him to open his eyes. Attila could not believe what he saw. In front of him was Carmen now standing on one leg, the other leg was bent like a triangle and its foot was placed on the upper part of the standing leg. She was holding her arms stretched upright above her head, hands put together as when praying, and staring straight ahead.
"This position is called the tree, and you are going to try it now too," instructed Romeo and before Attila could collect himself, Romeo helped him up, and gave him a series of short commands: "Stretch your body, stand upright, pull in your tummy, breathe deeply, look straight ahead!" So far, so good, Attila was still standing on his two feet. But now Romeo moved his left foot off the ground. Attila almost fell, but was professionally supported by handsome Romeo, who then placed Attila’s left foot onto the right ankle. "Here we go, now we try to hold this position, press the left foot to the right ankle, balance your body, keep your arms above your head, and breathe deeply!" Romeo stood behind him, holding one arm in front of Attila’s belly, to prevent a collapse. Attila bit his lips, staring at Carmen, trying to be a hero, but feeling like a wounded giraffe.
"And finally, we practice five pushups!" called Romeo. And before Attila could say anything, Romeo put his finger over his mouth, implying that complaining during yoga was not usual, and then gently pushed Attila to the ground on the yoga mat, so that he finally knelt. "I’ll show how to do it, then you do it after!" said Romeo, moving elegantly and easily as a fly above the ground, standing on his toe tips and spread hands, the body flat as a board above ground. Then he started to do pushups, one after the other, light as a feather.
Carmen changed her position, and was now standing on the other leg, fully concentrated on the tree. Romeo knelt beside Attila and moved his body into the correct position, hands directly under the shoulders and flat on the ground, arms stretched, elbows looking backwards. Attila crashed after the first attempt. "We try it again, very slowly, Mr. Attila, I am supporting you!" came the voice of Romeo. Attila pulled his muscles together, followed the instructions, forgot to breathe and collapsed again. "It is all useless, Romeo, my body cannot perform this, you are responsible if I die right now and here on this yoga mat!" said Attila sighing, and kneeling there on the mat like a man under torture. "By the end of this Danube cruise you will be able to make at least five pushups, Mr. Attila, I promise that!" said Romeo, smiling all over his face.
Attila did not know why, but he took a deep breath, exhaled, took another deep breath, and then put his body into the plank position, moved his elbows and the body down, then pushed the body back up again, then with closed eyes and clenched teeth down again, and up again, and then he collapsed with snorting noises onto the yoga mat. And he knew, he was one hundred percent sure that he would never again make such pushups. Absolutely ridiculous, he was eighty years old and at that age one simply did not have to do such things anymore. There was no one that one needed to impress.
‘Bravo, not bad for the beginning!’ Carmen sang and applauded.
Romeo helped him up and brought him to his suite. In front of the door he said: "Have a nice day, Mr. Attila. Tomorrow morning I will pick you up again, at the same time, for the yoga session," smiled and left.
Attila opened the door and stepped with the last strength into his suite and thought: ‘Never in my life will I do this again, never, this is absolute torture!’ First he wanted to let himself fall to the ground, and rest extensively. But after two more steps, he actually felt quite well, stood upright, breathing deeply, and he realized that he indeed felt better than before. He was surprised, nodded approvingly and went to the bathroom. Somewhat later he strolled casually along to the dining hall, greeting two other passengers with a smile. The pastor couple was welcoming him full of excitement in their faces and she could not hold back: "We saw you practicing yoga. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. I would love to do it too, but my husband thinks that we are too old to start with." Her husband nodded over the table: "We are over fifty you know!"
Attila smeared butter onto a large piece of toast, and explained proudly: "Well, you two are at least thirty years younger than I am, and should therefore easily get into it. Why not join us tomorrow? I will inform Mr. Romeo." The two sat there paralyzed. And Attila thought to himself, while generously smearing marmalade on his toast: ‘What the hell is going on with me, I said to myself that I will never ever again go to this bloody bending around my poor old bones, certainly not!’ But when Carmen and Romeo passed the table, Attila gave Romeo a sign to come closer, and then told him about the great wish of the pastor couple. "They will join us tomorrow morning," he said aloud, and smiled over the table, then up at Carmen, who smiled back.
In the afternoon was an excursion, first per bus, then in horse-drawn carriages going to a large farmstead in the Puszta, where guests could enjoy typical local food and wine, accompanied by gypsy music. This was followed by a daring horse show. More than half of the passengers would go on this tour, so it would be empty and quiet on the boat.
Attila wore one of his colourful shirts and put on the foldable straw hat from Cuba, both packed by his grandson, and went upstairs to the upper deck. He ordered a bottle of mineral water, and made himself comfortable in one of the chairs in the front row, so that he had a perfect view of the gangway leading from the boat ashore. When Carmen and Romeo came up the stairs, they naturally saw him sitting there, and Attila waved and wished them a good time. They waved back and walked across the gangway. Carmen was wearing a yellow ribbon in her hair to match her long folkloric skirt and her ballerinas. The way she walked across the gangway never let suggest that she was older than fifty-five.
The evening was calm, because most passengers were probably tired after the long excursion, which apparently had been very pleasant, as one could hear from some comments. Attila enjoyed the fresh breeze on the upper deck for an hour. He leaned back and looked up at the stars. They seemed to beckon him.
And he decided to book a taxi for the next day in Budapest, and to find a book about Franz Liszt, as a present to Carmen. Yes, exactly, Franz Liszt was the right man, with whom one could please her. A man, who had composed such fantastic, profound and passionate music, was the most suitable link to please such a wonderful woman.
Before falling asleep, he remembered the yoga session of the coming morning. But he decided to postpone any further thought of it, turned around and fell into a wonderful dream. He was sitting as a coachman on a richly decorated Hungarian horse-drawn carriage at full speed. Next to him sat a beautiful black-haired woman, wearing colourful ribbons in her hair and on the sleeves of her blouse. The ribbons were flying in the wind, as if they were dancing merrily. Somewhere in the Puszta they sat then at a small round table with two huge glasses full of dark red wine. Opposite stood a brand new piano. Franz Liszt came, bowed and sat down. Then he played his fantastic passionate music. The whole night long.
There was a knock on the door and Romeo’s voice could be heard: ‘Mr. Attila, it’s time for your yoga session!’
Attila jumped up, he was already dressed for the yoga, and went to the door. Inwardly he was swearing and outwardly sweating, and could not believe why he was doing what he did. But outwardly he acted as if it was the most normal thing in the world. There were five more passengers joining, and Romeo had his hands full with giving instructions, as well as supporting here and correcting there, but he managed very well. Attila succeeded in two and a half pushups, but thought he would never be able to get up anymore.
Attila also wanted to scream: ‘No, no, no more, no more of it!’ But he did not. At breakfast it was discussion all about yoga, the two pastors were enthusiastically praising Romeo. The female pastor’s eyes shone with joy. The others at the table, a couple from Austria and a Swiss historian, could first not understand what it was all about, and when they finally heard about yoga on the upper deck, they promised to also join the next day.
Most passengers left after breakfast in different groups for their excursions in Budapest. Attila waited until the last bus had left, and then walked over the landing stage to his reserved taxi. He instructed the taxi driver to take him to a good bookshop, and within a short time he already held in his hands two recently published books about Franz Liszt, He decided for the thicker one with a heroic image of Franz Liszt in his best years on the cover, wearing a blue jacket and giving a perfect picture of a passionate, splendid-looking artist and man.
After enjoying a heavenly piece of chocolate cake and a cup of coffee in one of those famous coffee houses of Budapest, Attila felt great happiness. He bought three new shirts in dark colours, which perfectly complemented his white hair, as the Hungarian taxi driver stated, who had helped him to find the right store.
After a nap on the boat, he went for a drink in the bar, and then to the dining hall. Carmen and Romeo already were at their table. Attila waved and sent his best smile. At his table was an intensive discussion in progress about the Basilica of Esztergom, which was on the program for the next day. The Swiss historian, who had so far spoken hardly a word on the trip, was in full speech, and the two pastors were arguing with every statement. Obviously there were different points of view. Attila tried to be the wise man in the middle, and gave some answers that led the whole discussion to another aspect. In fact, the Swiss historian found his input of great interest, approvingly nodding various times over his soup plate.
After dinner a large amount of the passengers left for an exciting evening tour of Budapest. Attila again spent some time on the upper deck, admiring the stars. Feeling the gentle cool breeze on his face and body, enjoying this wonderful night.
Suddenly, the voice of Romeo whispering: "Mr. Attila, sorry to disturb you, but I just want to tell you something important." Attila looked up at the handsome man and expressed his astonishment that Romeo was not in Budapest with all the others. Romeo answered: "No, she wanted to go alone, to meet some friends." Then he bent down very close to Attila’s ear, and his voice became somehow conspiratorial: "Mr. Attila, did you bring a silk scarf in your luggage?" Attila looked at him with a frown, and meant ironically: "Do I need this for the yoga?" Romeo specified: "No, no, not for the yoga session. You must know, Mrs. Carmen loves a man to wear a silk scarf. She gets excited. She finds it elegant and sensual. I just wanted you to know that."
Romeo disappeared into the dark night, before Attila could say another word.
Attila again sat for several hours in his pyjama in his armchair in his suite, deeply engrossed in his thoughts looking at the wall towards the Vasco da Gama suite. Then he went to bed, and soon began to dream. This time he was Franz Liszt in a concert, wearing a white silk scarf that was flying in all directions during the passionate piano playing, and he had to catch the corners of the scarf several times with his free hand while playing piano with the other. It looked like a dance of the hands and arms around his face. And with the applause a beautiful woman came on stage with an armful of silk scarves, and she put one scarf after another around his neck. The audience applauded and applauded.
His mobile phone, which he had left on the table, rang and got him out of bed. It was his grandson asking how everything went. "Fine, fine, absolutely fine. Listen, I have to get ready for my yoga. I’ll talk to you later!" Attila said into the phone. "What, what is going on, granddad, are you ok?" asked his grandson, obviously totally confused. Attila smiled into the room and enjoyed the moment. "Granddad, I can come at any time to any station and pick you up, no problem!" shouted his grandson, almost a bit desperate into the phone. "No, boy, no, by no means will you pick me on the way, everything is at its best, but I must now go to my yoga lesson, ciao!"
Attila could very well imagine how his grandson was sitting at his enormous desk in his office, with his mouth open and not understanding the world anymore.
After the yoga and breakfast, Attila rested on the upper desk. He decided to join the excursion to the Cathedral of Esztergom in the afternoon. He wore one of his new shirts, loose over the trousers, as instructed by his grandson. It was a very hot day and he was more than pleased to have brought the cute foldable straw hat. Carmen waved as she passed, and gave him a nice smile. Attila bowed, raising the Cuban straw hat in his hand. During the guided tour he could see, that Carmen kept looking over at him. And while he was discussing with the Swiss historian and the two pastors on the bottom of the grand stairs in front of the cathedral, Romeo led Carmen down the stairs, holding her elbow, and the female pastor said solemnly: "She has such a nice son, Mrs. Carmen, how he is always nicely guiding her over steps, or down the stairs, very well educated, very nice son."
"Exceptionally nice, yes, I agree," answered Attila kindly, but thought to himself: ‘What a silly woman this pastor, she has no idea of real life!’
After dinner in the evening, Attila walked up and down on the upper deck, enjoying the dark silhouettes of the landscape flying by, then the many lights between trees or far away on the horizon. He went all the way forward to the bow, and stood there for quite a while, feeling like a world explorer.
He decided to get some silk scarves in Bratislava. He had no idea where, but he just had to find silk scarves.
On the next morning, there were already nine passengers in the yoga session. And Romeo was in stress. Attila managed in the meantime three and a half push-ups, and could stand almost one minute in the position of the yoga tree for beginners. He threw his towel elegantly around his neck after the lesson, drank some water from a tiny plastic bottle, which sporty people carry around and which he bought in the shop on board, and strolled along passing by the rows of deck chairs, greeting here and there some passengers.
After breakfast he went ashore and walked up to the taxi stand. He told his driver to find a shop with silk scarves for men. The first two shops did not have scarves. And the shopkeeper in the second shop told him that he would not find such a thing in this town, because it was totally out of fashion, and indeed had been for quite some time. Attila was just about to give the shopkeeper an instructive lesson about silk scarves, as a young man cleaning the windows said: "My sister has a small shop in the old part of the town, and she has silk scarves from India." Attila gave the young man a generous tip and rushed out of the door.
His driver found the shop quickly, and within a short time Attila was standing in front of a counter loaded with silk scarves in all colours and patterns. He bought four of them. One with blue and yellow stripes, one white, one green and one red.
Back on the boat, he tried out his clothes for about two hours in front of the mirror, which shirt and jacket matched what scarf best, and how to wear the scarf. Just folded loosely around the neck, or wrapped around the neck once, or twice? He came to the conclusion that loosely wrapped around the neck was the best way, but he felt a little strange at first. Then he remembered a famous orchestra conductor as well as various movie stars of a certain age wearing such scarves, always loosely. So it must be the right way. He stood a moment before the mirror and looked at his reflection, and asked the mirror: ‘Have I gone completely crazy? Or should I still be saved by my grandson and flee from the boat at the next stop? Is this all a warning sign of rapid aging overnight, that one does crazy things all of a sudden?’
He found no answer to all of these questions, but looking at his reflection, he thought that for an octogenarian man he was quite attractive with his white hair, contrasted now with the green silk scarf on the dark linen jacket. He smiled contentedly and full of thirst for action.
His mobile phone rang. Again, it was his grandson, who wanted to know if everything went well. "Fine, fine, everything is absolutely fine. Listen, I am very busy preparing myself for this evening, I’ll call you tomorrow morning after yoga!" His grandson insisted this time, and wanted to know why there was all this constant stress on this boat. He thought when selecting the trip that this cruise was especially for older folks. Now it seemed that every time he called his grandfather, he caught him at the wrong moment between great activities. A fact that very much surprised him. Attila could finally persuade him that everything was great.
He was at the entrance to the dining hall in time, waiting for Carmen and Romeo, and when the two appeared he bowed and invited them to join him for the after dinner music in the lounge, where he already had reserved the front table. Carmen accepted and seemed pleased, and it was obvious that she was intensively inspecting his new green scarf. Carmen and Romeo then went to their table, and Attila joined his dinner table group. They maintained an interesting discussion about heraldic emblems on windows, shutters and house walls. The Swiss historian was in full action, and Attila played as usual the role of the wise and amusing table neighbour, in the manner of a connoisseur. A couple of times he exchanged glances with Carmen across the hall.
After dinner he wished his table neighbours a very nice evening, and went back to his suite, where he combed his hair, controlled if the scarf was sitting properly, and took the nicely wrapped book about Franz Liszt. For a moment he stood with the wrapped present in his hand in front of the mirror, posing like the picture of Liszt. He took a deep breath, and said: "Tonight or never!"
He was the first at the table in the music lounge, and chose the seat from where he had a good overview. After about ten minutes Carmen and Romeo appeared, and while they sought their way around chairs and tables, Attila gave the barkeeper a sign to serve the champagne. Once all three had a glass of champagne in hand, Attila spoke a toast with his most charming words and face. When the glasses were back on the table, he reached for the present and handed it over to Carmen with the words: "As a thanks to the most wonderful woman in the world, the woman who managed to motivate me for yoga, thus giving me a magnificent uplift, and showing me, that life is not over, that there is still more to discover and enjoy!"
Carmen seemed genuinely touched by Attila’s words, and pleased by his present. Elated she loosened the ribbon, unwrapped the parcel and then – after realizing what it was – she jumped up, embraced him passionately around his neck, and finally kissed him on his mouth. Then she sat down again and stated: "What a wonderful present, how could you possibly find out that I am a great fan of Franz Liszt, whom I admire very much. You are wonderful, so wonderful, and so sensitive, Attila!" She was for a moment fully absorbed with her book and happily browsed through the pages.
Attila took two sips of champagne, saw out of the corner of his eye that Romeo seemed to feel that things had begun to shift, some changes had occurred. For a tiny moment Attila felt compassion, but then Romeo surprised him and gave a wink, and pointed at Attila’s scarf, nodding approvingly.
The music started to play a waltz and Attila got up, bowed, and invited Carmen to dance with him. She accepted immediately, and in her eyes a fire began to blaze. They danced the next six music pieces, came to the table to drink some champagne, and went immediately back to dance. They danced until the last piece of music played, and then went upstairs to the upper deck, where they disappeared to the back of the ship. First, they were standing a long time embraced at the railing, and feeling the wind. Then they nested in two deckchairs, close to each other, holding each other and talking for over an hour. Then about two o’clock early morning, they walked slowly, still closely embracing, to the Christopher Columbus suite.
The following morning, Romeo moved to the Christopher Columbus suite, and Attila moved to the Vasco da Gama suite. The two lovers spent the whole afternoon on the upper deck, holding hands and dreaming into the landscape passing by. They spread such a wonderful happiness, infecting all the other passengers, so that no one wondered or ever asked a question. Everything was crystal clear to all.
During a brief visit to the bathroom, Attila called his grandson and ordered: "Listen, when you come to pick me up in the port of arrival, please come in an elegant luxury car, and bring all discs with music by Franz Liszt, which you can find, ok?" His grandson could not follow so quickly, and repeatedly asked the same thing, almost stammering. This was all a bit much and totally unexpected. But Attila made it short and clear and shouted into the mobile phone: "Get a dark Jaguar or a silver Rolls, whatever you find, and fill the back seats with discs by Franz Liszt, be there in time, and the rest I will tell you then!"
Attila, wearing the red scarf, and Carmen left the boat at dinnertime, and went for a private dinner in an exclusive restaurant in the old town of Vienna. They came back just before midnight.
They spent the last day on the boat away from the others, either in the Vasco da Gama suite, or then on the upper deck in the back, lying on deck chairs, holding hands with eyes closed. They were not seen at dinner on the last evening.
When the boat arrived at the port of Passau, Attila and Carmen went first on land, waving to the others. All waved back. All on the ship knew in the meantime, what had happened, and were happy about it.
Ashore waited Attila’s grandson with a midnight blue old-timer Jaguar plus driver. Attila led Carmen to the Jaguar, and said to his grandson straight out and without further ado: "May I introduce you to Carmen, your new step-grandmother. We are getting married next month!"
Attila’s grandson was confused and overwhelmed, well mannered he shook hands with Carmen, who kissed him left and right on his cheeks. She walked towards the Jaguar, where the driver was holding the door open, while Attila’s grandson still stood there, looking from Attila to Carmen, from Carmen to Attila. "By the way, you will travel in Romeo’s car behind us, please!" added Attila, and pointed to Romeo who was waiting with the luggage.
And then came a cascade of joyous laugh, and most happy chuckles from inside of the Jaguar. Carmen sat there on the back seat, with happiness beaming eyes, amidst countless music discs. Attila got into the car. All other passengers applauded. And the Jaguar left with the couple in love.
French Knickers on a River Cruise(Dill McLain)
It was a warm summer day. The ship had left the port on time and was just now in the first lock. It was like being in a dark tunnel, left and right of the boat one could see dark grey walls. All other passengers had gone to the upper deck to watch the action from there. Attila sat alone in a deckchair at the very front of the lounge, from where he enjoyed a perfect view over the bow. His elegant walking stick with a silver head in the form of an exotic bird as handle rested on the nearest chair. He sighed and yawned lightly thereafter, holding his right hand in front of his mouth. Of course, he already knew beforehand that this boat trip would be rather boring for him. He had as a young man alone, and later for many years with his wife, extensively travelled the world. Why on earth was he now on this boat? After having seen at lunch the other passengers, it was obvious that there would be no excitement for him on this cruise, and that he would have to spend hours alone in the bar, or then in his cabin. He did not have the slightest intention to participate in any of the excursions. Why bother, he already knew all these places. Attila turned his head in the direction of the bar and called: "Waiter, bring me another sherry, please!"
When the waiter brought the sherry, Attila signed the receipt and left a small bill on the tray. The waiter bowed, visibly pleased, and went back to the bar. ‘Well, one never knows when one needs good contacts,’ Attila thought to himself and made himself comfortable in the deckchair, stretching his legs he reached for the sherry. He had celebrated his 80th birthday a month ago, and his grandson, who had organized a dinner with a few golf colleagues at an exclusive restaurant for him, surprised him with this Danube cruise as a birthday gift. So he had no choice but to accept this gift and, as a consequence, he now sat on this boat. His wife had died ten years ago, after nearly forty years living together, and since then he had lost some of the bite for life. His daughter was living with a new partner far away in Australia and had no interest in taking over his business. After the death of her first husband, his daughter had left her son in Attila’s care, and settled down in Australia. The boy had grown up in the house of his grandparents and developed into a well-educated young man. At the age of seventy-five, Attila finally put his well running real estate company, which he had founded after marriage, into the hands of his grandson, who proved to be very talented and hard working.
At this moment, the huge gates of the lock began slowly to open. It was like in a James Bond movie when a ship caught inside of a bigger ship started to glide through the open mouth to freedom. Attila leaned forward and smiled amused. He could imagine the faces of all those men on the upper deck, standing there with a knowing expression, watching the spectacle and commenting on it with their knowledge of technical terms. It would be the same at each lock throughout the whole trip. He then repeated all for himself: ‘No, no, he would never willingly climb those steep neck breaker stairs, if it were not absolutely necessary. He would remain below deck and enjoy the cruise actions from the bar. He was absolutely not interested in meeting any new people and did not want to be forced to make conversation with strangers, who then would want to tell him their boring life stories. Not one of these passengers seemed to him to be the slightest bit interesting. He had known it in advance and told his grandson, it would result in total boredom for him. Endless boredom.’
Attila yawned again, then finished his sherry and decided to get back to his cabin for an afternoon nap. He stood up, grasped his walking stick and strolled along to the door leading into the entrance hall with the reception desk and several showcases on the walls, as well as some pictures of castles from along the route, and some posters with interesting information about certain navigation details.
He moved on into the corridor with the six suites, and inspected the paintings on the doors. Each suite carried the name of a famous seafarer whose portrait was painted directly on the door. Attila lived in the Christopher Columbus suite which was at the far end of the corridor, but now he took the pleasure to inspect the other seafarers and portraits. He walked past Marco Polo, Amerigo Vespucci, Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and finally stood in front of the second last one, Vasco da Gama. He seemed to have had an interesting face with a gigantic moustache and beard. Attila stepped closer to the door and adored the painted Vasco da Gama from head to toe, an imposing figure with an impressive hat and a colourful uniform. For a moment he slipped into the personality of Vasco da Gama. A touch of great history mixed with adventure crept through his body, and he proudly stretched himself. He must have touched the door that suddenly opened further. And as Attila wanted to close it, a voice shouted: "Finally, you are here, where the hell have you been fooling around again? I have told you explicitly that your place is here by my side! Get me my dress and help me with the zipper!"
Attila stood there completely surprised, staring wide-eyed at the back of a tall woman in her late fifties. Her wonderful black hair was formed into a lose chignon decorated with a flower, and she was wearing a purple satin bra and some absolutely interesting purple silk panties with lace flounces. Never before had he seen such panties. He stood rooted to the spot, staring.
"Who are you, with whom do I have the pleasure, and why are you in my suite? But since you are now here, please get me my dress from the chair over there!" her voice brought him back to earth.
Since he was still standing there, staring at her panties, the woman took a deep breath and added: ‘Have you really never before seen a woman in French knickers?’
Attila gathered himself, reached for the dress hanging over the chair next to the table, and walked toward the woman, who for a brief moment turned her head, then took the dress with a quick gesture, turned her head back and slowly slipped into the dress, keeping her eyes on Attila in the mirror, who stood behind her to close the zipper.
An exceptionally handsome young man, he was probably about thirty-five, then appeared in the doorway. The woman shouted over her shoulder: "Go away Romeo, we are busy, go and get us champagne and ice, please, and some olives. Then you can go to your favourite, fooling around the boat!"
The young man left without a word.
And Attila said, trying to show his experience: "Is your son looking for a girlfriend on the boat? Is that why you call it fooling around? It will be extremely difficult because the average passenger on this boat is over sixty. He should have gone on another cruise." Attila closed the zipper of her dress, smiling amused by his well-placed comment.
When the woman yelled back with full power: "He is not my son! Where on earth are you living, somewhere hidden in the meadows in the hills, or behind some old giant trees? He is my lover!"
The woman stood now directly in front of Attila and he immediately noticed the fire in her eyes. He found that she was a marvellously well-preserved female, with everything one wished to see and feel from the point of view of a cultivated man.
The woman smiled proudly and added: "Yes, he is much younger, this is obvious. In fact, he is thirty-eight years younger than me, so what!"
Attila made up a quick calculation in his head and wanted to respond like a gentleman. However, when he rapidly checked the calculation in his head, it all could not be, because the man would then be in the age of a teenager, which was impossible. The man he saw was about thirty-five.
The woman was still smiling, and explained as if it was the most normal thing in the world: "Aha, you are still calculating. It is simple: I am seventy-eight and he is forty!" She turned around and moved toward the two fauteuil chairs in front of the window.
Attila raised his chin, which was folded down, back up, trying desperately to compose himself, to catch up with the current scene and the unexpected facts, as well as his totally wrong guessing about her age. ‘This woman looks absolutely great and stunning, never like seventy-eight,’ shot him through the head. He was speechless.
"Come on, now put your walking stick aside, you do not really need it anyway, and take a seat. We two are having aperitif before arriving in Vienna!"
Attila deposited the stick in the corner next to the cupboard and moved slowly to his seat. The handsome man of before appeared with a waiter carrying a tablet with the champagne, ice cubes, glasses and a plate with delicious looking olives. When the champagne was served, the waiter left and behind him also the handsome man, throwing a lightly sulky glance into the room.
The woman raised her glass and toasted: "My name is Carmen, cheers!" Attila took his glass, stood up, bowed and said: "Delighted to meet you, my name is Attila!" Then he sat down again and placed his legs in the way shown on old paintings, where French dignities sat there elegantly, one leg stretched out, one leg slightly bent.
Carmen wanted to know everything about him, and he gave willingly a summary. Now and then she raised her eyebrows and showed her sparkling teeth. After the second glass of champagne, Attila started to feel his brain dashing and his ears rushing. He thought the next step would be flying away on an oriental carpet, but he held on to his glass, that was just freshly filled, before Carmen started to tell her life story. Her husband had died a long time ago and had left a considerable fortune and a large attic with a separate studio. She had worked until the age of seventy at a law office, and since then organized cultural exchange with Hungary: events, concerts, folkloric groups, visits, trips and per year some stipends for Hungarian students from poorer families. Her maternal grandmother was Hungarian, and Carmen spent as a child many summer holidays with her grandparents in Hungary, and from there she always felt attached to that country.
Attila emptied his glass, not letting his eyes wander from this wonderful person.
Carmen finished her summary of her life story stating that there had been various men of different ages in her life in the past twenty years, but none of them really cared for her, but more for her property and money. Thus she finally decided to take a lover with a sort of a contract with certain rules and her expectations. After two failures, it then worked out with Romeo. He was a fitness trainer, mainly for personal training, and fulfilled all agreed arrangements so far with care and dedication. In the beginning even with some passion, in the meantime more with dedication, that was clear to her from the beginning, but it worked. Romeo could live in the studio, had enough free time, but knew exactly when he had to be there and what was expected. He was following attractive women, whenever they appeared, somehow he needed this. But basically he liked life as it was. And Carmen had a partner who gave her uplift.
Attila tried hard to remain sitting in his elegant pose. However the wine at lunchtime, the two sherries early afternoon, and now the half bottle of champagne had their effect. He would have liked to lean back and fall asleep.
Carmen must have noticed that, and also she wanted to finish her preparations for the upcoming excursion in Vienna, where she and Romeo would attend a concert in one of those wonderfully renovated historic cellars, and then go to a late night wine tasting.
She touched his arm and said: "Tomorrow, before breakfast we will practice yoga on the upper deck, at the back of the ship. This will do you good and keep your body young and fit. See you then!" and disappeared into the bathroom.
Attila got up with the power of a thousand horses, gritted his teeth and pretended to walk seemingly light-footed to the door. Somehow he managed to reach, without tripping or rolling, the door of the Christopher Columbus suite. After closing the door and turning the key, he let himself fall on the double bed, with shoes and clothes still on, sinking into a deep sleep and wonderful dream.
He was a handsome man of about forty years, running on a home trainer, wearing a tuxedo, running like an athlete and at the same time watching on a giant screen women wearing French knickers, always running ahead of him on a sandy running track. The audience cheered and applauded. He was running and running, following the women in French knickers. The door opened, a beautiful lady with a large flower in her dark hair, and wearing a colourful long dress, came in and walked up to him, and then switched the training machine to double speed. "Hop, hop, hop, follow the girls!" She gave him a wonderful smile, turned around and left. The double pace was too much for him and he was about to collapse, still running and running, half bent over, with his head almost on his knees. His tongue was hanging out. The door opened again and an old man with his face, and dressed as a butler, came and brought him a large glass with a bright blue drink, and said in a dry voice: "Your dinner, sir."
Attila awoke totally drenched in sweat, and looked at his watch. Dinner time was almost over, but he felt very hungry. After a quick shower, he dressed hastily and rushed to the dining hall. Half of the passengers had already left, and at his table, apart from the couple from Germany, both pastors, the seats were empty. He was lucky and could still get a warm main course. To the astonishment of the two pastors, he fell like a starving lion into his meal. The woman pastor expressed her joy over the fact that he no longer needed his walking stick, and both pastors smiled at him in that endless benevolent way, which Attila had all his life long admired in religious dignitaries. ‘Walking stick? Where is my walking stick?’ He asked himself. He must have left it in Carmen’s suite, and now realized himself, that he was walking around without his stick since his visit to the Vasco da Gama suite! Amazing! He gave the two pastors his best smile, and they wished him a good evening, and left.
After dinner Attila walked to the lounge at the bar. When passing the steep stairs leading to the upper deck, he hesitated a moment, toying with the idea to try to climb them. ‘Maybe tomorrow’ he said to himself. He enjoyed a good night drink, this time sitting facing the land and dreaming into the flood of lights of Vienna. Imagining how Carmen and Romeo just came out of the concert, hand in hand, while people around them turned their heads, whispering, and how the two then disappeared in a taxi that brought them to the wine cave. At about eleven o’clock he returned to his suite, walking upright and confident.
He brushed his teeth and put on his pyjama. He stood for a longer while at the large balcony window and looked out at the lights of this wonderful city full of culture and great history. Then he turned one of the two armchairs in the other direction, sat down and stayed there, facing the wall to the Vasco da Gama suite. He must have fallen asleep, but awoke to laughter and voices coming from behind the wall. ‘Aha, they’re back !’ he whispered, sitting up. Facing the wall. He could make out steps, then opening of a window, opening a cupboard, maybe the minibar, again laughter, then silence. Attila sat there, staring at the wall. He was almost hypnotizing the wall. He saw how the two were about to move towards the double bed, tightly embracing. He closed his eyes for a moment, he did not want to see any more. Then he continued to stare at the wall. Sitting upright, as a guardian of the loving couple in the Vasco da Gama suite. Finally, at about four in the morning, Attila stood up with the face of a wise man, and went to bed.
Someone knocked on the door and pulled him from deep sleep. He walked to the door and opened it. It was Romeo holding something in his hands, and greeting with the words: "Good morning Mr. Attila, we are waiting for you on the upper deck, it’s time for yoga. This is your outfit. I’m waiting here for you." Attila was holding the package in his hand, still half asleep and not believing what was going on. Almost desperately he argued: "Young man, I have never practiced yoga in my life, not even for a second, my body is the body of an octogenarian, and I would hardly even survive an attempt!" He was about to close the door, but Romeo was quicker and placed his foot in the gap. Then he said with total conviction: "Mr. Attila, yoga can be practiced at any age, there is no age limit, and of course you will survive it. But you would most probably not survive Mrs. Carmen’s thunderstorm, if you do not join us for the morning yoga!"
For a moment Attila saw her in front of him in her French knickers smiling at him, with her wonderful warm, mature and uplifting smile. He turned around, went to the bathroom and moved his body into the yoga outfit. After a quick glance in the mirror, he just shook his head and joined Romeo, who was waiting at the door.
They climbed up the steep stairs, Attila pretending that he did this with no special effort. In fact he was already half exhausted when arriving at the top. With his last strength he followed Romeo to the back of the boat, where Carmen was already sitting in yoga position on a purple mat, with closed eyes. Extremely grateful that he could sit down, Attila let himself flop on the mat, in front of Romeo’s feet, and then remained there half sitting, half lying, close to swearing. He could hardly move. But Romeo told him to sit crossed-legged, and somehow moved his legs into the correct position, at the same time pushing his back upright. Attila was sure that his hips would not stand this, and that he was close to death. He waited to faint. Romeo whispered in his ear, still supporting with his hands Attila’s back: "Please Mr. Attila, you need to breathe deeply, this will carry oxygen to your lungs and body, and helps you to hold the position!"
‘Amazing, that his handsome Romeo obviously has deep technical knowledge about what human bodies can do or can not!’ thought Attila, and would have loved to smile, but it was all too difficult. Not even deep breathing was easy. His breath seemed to stumble. After a while which seemed to be an eternity, Romeo moved Attila’s legs into another position and ordered him to open his eyes. Attila could not believe what he saw. In front of him was Carmen now standing on one leg, the other leg was bent like a triangle and its foot was placed on the upper part of the standing leg. She was holding her arms stretched upright above her head, hands put together as when praying, and staring straight ahead.
"This position is called the tree, and you are going to try it now too," instructed Romeo and before Attila could collect himself, Romeo helped him up, and gave him a series of short commands: "Stretch your body, stand upright, pull in your tummy, breathe deeply, look straight ahead!" So far, so good, Attila was still standing on his two feet. But now Romeo moved his left foot off the ground. Attila almost fell, but was professionally supported by handsome Romeo, who then placed Attila’s left foot onto the right ankle. "Here we go, now we try to hold this position, press the left foot to the right ankle, balance your body, keep your arms above your head, and breathe deeply!" Romeo stood behind him, holding one arm in front of Attila’s belly, to prevent a collapse. Attila bit his lips, staring at Carmen, trying to be a hero, but feeling like a wounded giraffe.
"And finally, we practice five pushups!" called Romeo. And before Attila could say anything, Romeo put his finger over his mouth, implying that complaining during yoga was not usual, and then gently pushed Attila to the ground on the yoga mat, so that he finally knelt. "I’ll show how to do it, then you do it after!" said Romeo, moving elegantly and easily as a fly above the ground, standing on his toe tips and spread hands, the body flat as a board above ground. Then he started to do pushups, one after the other, light as a feather.
Carmen changed her position, and was now standing on the other leg, fully concentrated on the tree. Romeo knelt beside Attila and moved his body into the correct position, hands directly under the shoulders and flat on the ground, arms stretched, elbows looking backwards. Attila crashed after the first attempt. "We try it again, very slowly, Mr. Attila, I am supporting you!" came the voice of Romeo. Attila pulled his muscles together, followed the instructions, forgot to breathe and collapsed again. "It is all useless, Romeo, my body cannot perform this, you are responsible if I die right now and here on this yoga mat!" said Attila sighing, and kneeling there on the mat like a man under torture. "By the end of this Danube cruise you will be able to make at least five pushups, Mr. Attila, I promise that!" said Romeo, smiling all over his face.
Attila did not know why, but he took a deep breath, exhaled, took another deep breath, and then put his body into the plank position, moved his elbows and the body down, then pushed the body back up again, then with closed eyes and clenched teeth down again, and up again, and then he collapsed with snorting noises onto the yoga mat. And he knew, he was one hundred percent sure that he would never again make such pushups. Absolutely ridiculous, he was eighty years old and at that age one simply did not have to do such things anymore. There was no one that one needed to impress.
‘Bravo, not bad for the beginning!’ Carmen sang and applauded.
Romeo helped him up and brought him to his suite. In front of the door he said: "Have a nice day, Mr. Attila. Tomorrow morning I will pick you up again, at the same time, for the yoga session," smiled and left.
Attila opened the door and stepped with the last strength into his suite and thought: ‘Never in my life will I do this again, never, this is absolute torture!’ First he wanted to let himself fall to the ground, and rest extensively. But after two more steps, he actually felt quite well, stood upright, breathing deeply, and he realized that he indeed felt better than before. He was surprised, nodded approvingly and went to the bathroom. Somewhat later he strolled casually along to the dining hall, greeting two other passengers with a smile. The pastor couple was welcoming him full of excitement in their faces and she could not hold back: "We saw you practicing yoga. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. I would love to do it too, but my husband thinks that we are too old to start with." Her husband nodded over the table: "We are over fifty you know!"
Attila smeared butter onto a large piece of toast, and explained proudly: "Well, you two are at least thirty years younger than I am, and should therefore easily get into it. Why not join us tomorrow? I will inform Mr. Romeo." The two sat there paralyzed. And Attila thought to himself, while generously smearing marmalade on his toast: ‘What the hell is going on with me, I said to myself that I will never ever again go to this bloody bending around my poor old bones, certainly not!’ But when Carmen and Romeo passed the table, Attila gave Romeo a sign to come closer, and then told him about the great wish of the pastor couple. "They will join us tomorrow morning," he said aloud, and smiled over the table, then up at Carmen, who smiled back.
In the afternoon was an excursion, first per bus, then in horse-drawn carriages going to a large farmstead in the Puszta, where guests could enjoy typical local food and wine, accompanied by gypsy music. This was followed by a daring horse show. More than half of the passengers would go on this tour, so it would be empty and quiet on the boat.
Attila wore one of his colourful shirts and put on the foldable straw hat from Cuba, both packed by his grandson, and went upstairs to the upper deck. He ordered a bottle of mineral water, and made himself comfortable in one of the chairs in the front row, so that he had a perfect view of the gangway leading from the boat ashore. When Carmen and Romeo came up the stairs, they naturally saw him sitting there, and Attila waved and wished them a good time. They waved back and walked across the gangway. Carmen was wearing a yellow ribbon in her hair to match her long folkloric skirt and her ballerinas. The way she walked across the gangway never let suggest that she was older than fifty-five.
The evening was calm, because most passengers were probably tired after the long excursion, which apparently had been very pleasant, as one could hear from some comments. Attila enjoyed the fresh breeze on the upper deck for an hour. He leaned back and looked up at the stars. They seemed to beckon him.
And he decided to book a taxi for the next day in Budapest, and to find a book about Franz Liszt, as a present to Carmen. Yes, exactly, Franz Liszt was the right man, with whom one could please her. A man, who had composed such fantastic, profound and passionate music, was the most suitable link to please such a wonderful woman.
Before falling asleep, he remembered the yoga session of the coming morning. But he decided to postpone any further thought of it, turned around and fell into a wonderful dream. He was sitting as a coachman on a richly decorated Hungarian horse-drawn carriage at full speed. Next to him sat a beautiful black-haired woman, wearing colourful ribbons in her hair and on the sleeves of her blouse. The ribbons were flying in the wind, as if they were dancing merrily. Somewhere in the Puszta they sat then at a small round table with two huge glasses full of dark red wine. Opposite stood a brand new piano. Franz Liszt came, bowed and sat down. Then he played his fantastic passionate music. The whole night long.
There was a knock on the door and Romeo’s voice could be heard: ‘Mr. Attila, it’s time for your yoga session!’
Attila jumped up, he was already dressed for the yoga, and went to the door. Inwardly he was swearing and outwardly sweating, and could not believe why he was doing what he did. But outwardly he acted as if it was the most normal thing in the world. There were five more passengers joining, and Romeo had his hands full with giving instructions, as well as supporting here and correcting there, but he managed very well. Attila succeeded in two and a half pushups, but thought he would never be able to get up anymore.
Attila also wanted to scream: ‘No, no, no more, no more of it!’ But he did not. At breakfast it was discussion all about yoga, the two pastors were enthusiastically praising Romeo. The female pastor’s eyes shone with joy. The others at the table, a couple from Austria and a Swiss historian, could first not understand what it was all about, and when they finally heard about yoga on the upper deck, they promised to also join the next day.
Most passengers left after breakfast in different groups for their excursions in Budapest. Attila waited until the last bus had left, and then walked over the landing stage to his reserved taxi. He instructed the taxi driver to take him to a good bookshop, and within a short time he already held in his hands two recently published books about Franz Liszt, He decided for the thicker one with a heroic image of Franz Liszt in his best years on the cover, wearing a blue jacket and giving a perfect picture of a passionate, splendid-looking artist and man.
After enjoying a heavenly piece of chocolate cake and a cup of coffee in one of those famous coffee houses of Budapest, Attila felt great happiness. He bought three new shirts in dark colours, which perfectly complemented his white hair, as the Hungarian taxi driver stated, who had helped him to find the right store.
After a nap on the boat, he went for a drink in the bar, and then to the dining hall. Carmen and Romeo already were at their table. Attila waved and sent his best smile. At his table was an intensive discussion in progress about the Basilica of Esztergom, which was on the program for the next day. The Swiss historian, who had so far spoken hardly a word on the trip, was in full speech, and the two pastors were arguing with every statement. Obviously there were different points of view. Attila tried to be the wise man in the middle, and gave some answers that led the whole discussion to another aspect. In fact, the Swiss historian found his input of great interest, approvingly nodding various times over his soup plate.
After dinner a large amount of the passengers left for an exciting evening tour of Budapest. Attila again spent some time on the upper deck, admiring the stars. Feeling the gentle cool breeze on his face and body, enjoying this wonderful night.
Suddenly, the voice of Romeo whispering: "Mr. Attila, sorry to disturb you, but I just want to tell you something important." Attila looked up at the handsome man and expressed his astonishment that Romeo was not in Budapest with all the others. Romeo answered: "No, she wanted to go alone, to meet some friends." Then he bent down very close to Attila’s ear, and his voice became somehow conspiratorial: "Mr. Attila, did you bring a silk scarf in your luggage?" Attila looked at him with a frown, and meant ironically: "Do I need this for the yoga?" Romeo specified: "No, no, not for the yoga session. You must know, Mrs. Carmen loves a man to wear a silk scarf. She gets excited. She finds it elegant and sensual. I just wanted you to know that."
Romeo disappeared into the dark night, before Attila could say another word.
Attila again sat for several hours in his pyjama in his armchair in his suite, deeply engrossed in his thoughts looking at the wall towards the Vasco da Gama suite. Then he went to bed, and soon began to dream. This time he was Franz Liszt in a concert, wearing a white silk scarf that was flying in all directions during the passionate piano playing, and he had to catch the corners of the scarf several times with his free hand while playing piano with the other. It looked like a dance of the hands and arms around his face. And with the applause a beautiful woman came on stage with an armful of silk scarves, and she put one scarf after another around his neck. The audience applauded and applauded.
His mobile phone, which he had left on the table, rang and got him out of bed. It was his grandson asking how everything went. "Fine, fine, absolutely fine. Listen, I have to get ready for my yoga. I’ll talk to you later!" Attila said into the phone. "What, what is going on, granddad, are you ok?" asked his grandson, obviously totally confused. Attila smiled into the room and enjoyed the moment. "Granddad, I can come at any time to any station and pick you up, no problem!" shouted his grandson, almost a bit desperate into the phone. "No, boy, no, by no means will you pick me on the way, everything is at its best, but I must now go to my yoga lesson, ciao!"
Attila could very well imagine how his grandson was sitting at his enormous desk in his office, with his mouth open and not understanding the world anymore.
After the yoga and breakfast, Attila rested on the upper desk. He decided to join the excursion to the Cathedral of Esztergom in the afternoon. He wore one of his new shirts, loose over the trousers, as instructed by his grandson. It was a very hot day and he was more than pleased to have brought the cute foldable straw hat. Carmen waved as she passed, and gave him a nice smile. Attila bowed, raising the Cuban straw hat in his hand. During the guided tour he could see, that Carmen kept looking over at him. And while he was discussing with the Swiss historian and the two pastors on the bottom of the grand stairs in front of the cathedral, Romeo led Carmen down the stairs, holding her elbow, and the female pastor said solemnly: "She has such a nice son, Mrs. Carmen, how he is always nicely guiding her over steps, or down the stairs, very well educated, very nice son."
"Exceptionally nice, yes, I agree," answered Attila kindly, but thought to himself: ‘What a silly woman this pastor, she has no idea of real life!’
After dinner in the evening, Attila walked up and down on the upper deck, enjoying the dark silhouettes of the landscape flying by, then the many lights between trees or far away on the horizon. He went all the way forward to the bow, and stood there for quite a while, feeling like a world explorer.
He decided to get some silk scarves in Bratislava. He had no idea where, but he just had to find silk scarves.
On the next morning, there were already nine passengers in the yoga session. And Romeo was in stress. Attila managed in the meantime three and a half push-ups, and could stand almost one minute in the position of the yoga tree for beginners. He threw his towel elegantly around his neck after the lesson, drank some water from a tiny plastic bottle, which sporty people carry around and which he bought in the shop on board, and strolled along passing by the rows of deck chairs, greeting here and there some passengers.
After breakfast he went ashore and walked up to the taxi stand. He told his driver to find a shop with silk scarves for men. The first two shops did not have scarves. And the shopkeeper in the second shop told him that he would not find such a thing in this town, because it was totally out of fashion, and indeed had been for quite some time. Attila was just about to give the shopkeeper an instructive lesson about silk scarves, as a young man cleaning the windows said: "My sister has a small shop in the old part of the town, and she has silk scarves from India." Attila gave the young man a generous tip and rushed out of the door.
His driver found the shop quickly, and within a short time Attila was standing in front of a counter loaded with silk scarves in all colours and patterns. He bought four of them. One with blue and yellow stripes, one white, one green and one red.
Back on the boat, he tried out his clothes for about two hours in front of the mirror, which shirt and jacket matched what scarf best, and how to wear the scarf. Just folded loosely around the neck, or wrapped around the neck once, or twice? He came to the conclusion that loosely wrapped around the neck was the best way, but he felt a little strange at first. Then he remembered a famous orchestra conductor as well as various movie stars of a certain age wearing such scarves, always loosely. So it must be the right way. He stood a moment before the mirror and looked at his reflection, and asked the mirror: ‘Have I gone completely crazy? Or should I still be saved by my grandson and flee from the boat at the next stop? Is this all a warning sign of rapid aging overnight, that one does crazy things all of a sudden?’
He found no answer to all of these questions, but looking at his reflection, he thought that for an octogenarian man he was quite attractive with his white hair, contrasted now with the green silk scarf on the dark linen jacket. He smiled contentedly and full of thirst for action.
His mobile phone rang. Again, it was his grandson, who wanted to know if everything went well. "Fine, fine, everything is absolutely fine. Listen, I am very busy preparing myself for this evening, I’ll call you tomorrow morning after yoga!" His grandson insisted this time, and wanted to know why there was all this constant stress on this boat. He thought when selecting the trip that this cruise was especially for older folks. Now it seemed that every time he called his grandfather, he caught him at the wrong moment between great activities. A fact that very much surprised him. Attila could finally persuade him that everything was great.
He was at the entrance to the dining hall in time, waiting for Carmen and Romeo, and when the two appeared he bowed and invited them to join him for the after dinner music in the lounge, where he already had reserved the front table. Carmen accepted and seemed pleased, and it was obvious that she was intensively inspecting his new green scarf. Carmen and Romeo then went to their table, and Attila joined his dinner table group. They maintained an interesting discussion about heraldic emblems on windows, shutters and house walls. The Swiss historian was in full action, and Attila played as usual the role of the wise and amusing table neighbour, in the manner of a connoisseur. A couple of times he exchanged glances with Carmen across the hall.
After dinner he wished his table neighbours a very nice evening, and went back to his suite, where he combed his hair, controlled if the scarf was sitting properly, and took the nicely wrapped book about Franz Liszt. For a moment he stood with the wrapped present in his hand in front of the mirror, posing like the picture of Liszt. He took a deep breath, and said: "Tonight or never!"
He was the first at the table in the music lounge, and chose the seat from where he had a good overview. After about ten minutes Carmen and Romeo appeared, and while they sought their way around chairs and tables, Attila gave the barkeeper a sign to serve the champagne. Once all three had a glass of champagne in hand, Attila spoke a toast with his most charming words and face. When the glasses were back on the table, he reached for the present and handed it over to Carmen with the words: "As a thanks to the most wonderful woman in the world, the woman who managed to motivate me for yoga, thus giving me a magnificent uplift, and showing me, that life is not over, that there is still more to discover and enjoy!"
Carmen seemed genuinely touched by Attila’s words, and pleased by his present. Elated she loosened the ribbon, unwrapped the parcel and then – after realizing what it was – she jumped up, embraced him passionately around his neck, and finally kissed him on his mouth. Then she sat down again and stated: "What a wonderful present, how could you possibly find out that I am a great fan of Franz Liszt, whom I admire very much. You are wonderful, so wonderful, and so sensitive, Attila!" She was for a moment fully absorbed with her book and happily browsed through the pages.
Attila took two sips of champagne, saw out of the corner of his eye that Romeo seemed to feel that things had begun to shift, some changes had occurred. For a tiny moment Attila felt compassion, but then Romeo surprised him and gave a wink, and pointed at Attila’s scarf, nodding approvingly.
The music started to play a waltz and Attila got up, bowed, and invited Carmen to dance with him. She accepted immediately, and in her eyes a fire began to blaze. They danced the next six music pieces, came to the table to drink some champagne, and went immediately back to dance. They danced until the last piece of music played, and then went upstairs to the upper deck, where they disappeared to the back of the ship. First, they were standing a long time embraced at the railing, and feeling the wind. Then they nested in two deckchairs, close to each other, holding each other and talking for over an hour. Then about two o’clock early morning, they walked slowly, still closely embracing, to the Christopher Columbus suite.
The following morning, Romeo moved to the Christopher Columbus suite, and Attila moved to the Vasco da Gama suite. The two lovers spent the whole afternoon on the upper deck, holding hands and dreaming into the landscape passing by. They spread such a wonderful happiness, infecting all the other passengers, so that no one wondered or ever asked a question. Everything was crystal clear to all.
During a brief visit to the bathroom, Attila called his grandson and ordered: "Listen, when you come to pick me up in the port of arrival, please come in an elegant luxury car, and bring all discs with music by Franz Liszt, which you can find, ok?" His grandson could not follow so quickly, and repeatedly asked the same thing, almost stammering. This was all a bit much and totally unexpected. But Attila made it short and clear and shouted into the mobile phone: "Get a dark Jaguar or a silver Rolls, whatever you find, and fill the back seats with discs by Franz Liszt, be there in time, and the rest I will tell you then!"
Attila, wearing the red scarf, and Carmen left the boat at dinnertime, and went for a private dinner in an exclusive restaurant in the old town of Vienna. They came back just before midnight.
They spent the last day on the boat away from the others, either in the Vasco da Gama suite, or then on the upper deck in the back, lying on deck chairs, holding hands with eyes closed. They were not seen at dinner on the last evening.
When the boat arrived at the port of Passau, Attila and Carmen went first on land, waving to the others. All waved back. All on the ship knew in the meantime, what had happened, and were happy about it.
Ashore waited Attila’s grandson with a midnight blue old-timer Jaguar plus driver. Attila led Carmen to the Jaguar, and said to his grandson straight out and without further ado: "May I introduce you to Carmen, your new step-grandmother. We are getting married next month!"
Attila’s grandson was confused and overwhelmed, well mannered he shook hands with Carmen, who kissed him left and right on his cheeks. She walked towards the Jaguar, where the driver was holding the door open, while Attila’s grandson still stood there, looking from Attila to Carmen, from Carmen to Attila. "By the way, you will travel in Romeo’s car behind us, please!" added Attila, and pointed to Romeo who was waiting with the luggage.
And then came a cascade of joyous laugh, and most happy chuckles from inside of the Jaguar. Carmen sat there on the back seat, with happiness beaming eyes, amidst countless music discs. Attila got into the car. All other passengers applauded. And the Jaguar left with the couple in love.
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