Baby trouble
17.2 Mariella Schnautz
Autumn 1997, Brandenburg house
Mariella looked puzzled at the ugly doll in her hand.
Next to her, Anna Brandenburg babbled some nonsense with a squeeking voice.
And behind Anna, Liam and Milan Brandenburg almost beat each other up about some stupid dinosaur toy.
At least the T-rex didn't look as stupid as the doll in its frilly dress.
She had to get out of here.
"Uhm... I have to go to the bathroom", she lied to the girl next to her.
"Okay!", Anna said cherfully.
Unbelievable that Anna was the same age as her, Mariella thought.
When Mariella went outside, she saw Mae sitting on a bench in front of the house.
Mae looked about as happy as Mariella felt now.
"Mae? What are you doing here?", she asked her.
Even though Mae was somehow her mom now, she still felt more like the cool aunt to Mariella. So she sticked to her first name.
And she knew Mae preferred that, too.
Mae sighed. "Honestly? I had to take a break!", she exclaimed then.
"All Jenny and Herbert are talking about, is school, their students and other teachers! And Jonas... is just plain boring", she finished.
"Don't tell me you ran away, too?", Mariella had to laugh.
"Let me guess - Anna bored you to death!", Mae also laughed now.
"Yeah... she only knows how to play dolls, she doesn't have not even one cassette tape!" Mariella complained. "And Liam and Milan are still such babies..."
Still better than Anna, she thought.
Mae seemed to think a bit.
"Hey! One of my friends got a dog now. How about you fake some belly ache, we say we go home, but instead visit him?", she proposed.
Mariella loved animals, especially dogs.
Mae always had the best ideas ever!
Kindred spirits!
ReplyDeleteThey have a lot in common! c:
DeleteDogs? Agreed.
ReplyDeleteLol...teaching her early about fake belly aches, well, she did fake go to the bathroom....so maybe not. Lol
ReplyDeleteMae knows all the important tricks of life! :D
DeleteI feel like Mae could be more of a grown up, but she's still young. I guess she should be a better role model and less of a friend to her new step daughter. Like I get where she is coming from, and I understand that they seem boring to her because they're well... normal, but these are her husband's friends, and I feel like Mae has an aversion to normalcy and adulthood responsibilities. She just wants to play and have fun and be liked. I thought motherhood might help her some.
ReplyDeleteYes, Mae is very young.
DeleteAnd since Mariella is already almost a teen, she doesn't need much care, so Mae doesn't feel like a mother to her. Both girls are bored out easily and love to play. Together they're a whirlwind of mischief! xD
Cassette tape? in 1997? The only cassette tapes we had were if we had older model cars that didn't have CD players. Otherwise, everyone had CD players.
ReplyDeleteTbh I had this set in the 80s first, but the criminal lack of cc that would be era appropriate made me change it to the 90s.
DeleteOfc NOW there's more than abundant, also thanks to stranger things -_-
And while CDs were probably taking overhand, I at least knew still enough people that used cassette tapes in 97 so I left it like that
These two are soul sisters at heart.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!
DeleteMae gets better along with Mariella that with her husband, lol
I love how similar these two are. They're such a good match. Yeah, I can't imagine she'd see Mae as a mother figure, but they're close in a different way of their own.
ReplyDeleteThey are probably too close in age as that Mariella would see Mae as a mom. They're only 10 years apart!
Delete