The Sauna Part 238

I woke the next morning with a banger of a headache and swore I’d never touch Jagermeister again. I stumbled into the bathroom and filled a glass full of water and rummaged through one of my bags until I found aspirin. I swallowed the pills and crawled back into bed and curled up against Jon who was still sound asleep.

It was just after seven-thirty when the phone rang with our wake up call and Jon grumbled a ‘thank you’ before hanging up and rolling back to sleep. The next thing we heard was a knock on the door followed by the sound of Richie’s voice.

“Jon? Trish? Are you guys up? It’s time for breakfast” he called.

“Later, man. We’re still in bed, we’ll get something later” Jon called back and I heard Richie respond.

“Wuss” he cackled before heading down by himself.

“Shit” Jon said with disgust. “C’mon, babe, let’s just go down and eat. We’ll both feel a lot better with food in our stomachs” he prompted me.

“Just leave me here. I’d rather die in the bed. It would make better headlines” I groaned.

“C’mon, trust me. We need to eat and there will be good, German coffee” he coaxed.

The bribe worked and I sat up in bed and grimaced as my head was still aching. Jon was already up and he threw on his jeans and a clean sweatshirt and tossed me some clothes. I pulled on my skirt and a sweater and ambled into the bathroom to wash my face and at least brush my hair. I soon decided the situation was entirely hopeless and pinned it up with a clip instead and we straggled down to the dining hall just after nine-thirty.

The guys were all there and they looked rather rough, but I took the prize for being in the worst shape. Tico poured me a coffee and pushed it into my hands and smiled sympathetically. I looked at him gratefully as he nodded towards the buffet.

“Eat something, querida. The food will soak up the alcohol” he advised and I bowed to his wisdom.

They were right and I soon began to feel human again after I’d eaten some cheese and a brötchen. By the time I’d finished my second cup of coffee, I was actually smiling and I listened while the guys talked over the set list and other details about tonight’s show. Richie was anxious to play his new mandolin and Jon finally agreed they could change things up just a bit and include ‘The Battle of Evermore’ as a special surprise cover. Richie grinned at me and I smiled back at him as Jon looked on with indulgence.

We went back to our room after breakfast and hopped in the shower and I was starting to feel almost normal as I dried off and changed into some comfortable clothes. We were planning to head to the Marienplatz, a large open square in the center of the city, where we could see the Rathaus-Glockenspiel which Jon hadn’t seen previously. From there we had talked about meeting up with the guys at the Biergarten or possibly doing a bit of shopping.

Jon’s cell phone rang just as we got into the limo and it was Rick calling to fill us in on the status of his assignment. He’d arrived in the States and had flown into Buffalo by way of NYC and he was now parked outside the office where Dave was working while he waited for him to leave. It was approaching five o’clock in Buffalo, but it was only quarter to eleven in Munich.

“Nothing much to report so far, boss. He hasn’t done anything unusual as far as I can tell” Rick said with a yawn.

“Okay, thanks man. We’ll call you with any news from our end. Is there anything else that you need?” Jon inquired.

“I needed someone for back-up since I gotta sleep, so I brought Jared along with me so we can take shifts keeping an eye on this character . I hope that’s okay? I wanted one of our people as I don’t trust anyone else” Rick replied.

“Yeah, of course, man. No problem. Charge anything you need and we’ll straighten it all out when this is over. Thanks Rick, keep us posted if anything changes” Jon finished and hung up the phone.

We’d just reached the Marienplatz and we exited the car and headed straight towards the main building where a crowd was beginning to form. The Glockenspiel always went off at eleven and we waited patiently with the crowd full of tourists and locals alike. The Glockenspiel was a Munich tradition since the early 1900’s and the show came in two parts. The first was a joust sequence that celebrated the marriage of the Duke at the time, where the Bavarian knight conquered the knight from his bride’s part of the country. The second sequence of figurines commemorated the cooper’s dance that the barrel makers did to celebrate the end of the plague. It was still re-enacted during Fasching, but only every seven years.

“Trish, how in the hell do you know all this?” Jon demanded after I’d explained what we had just watched.

“I looked it up on the web because I was curious” I grinned.

“And you remembered all that?” he asked, looking a bit dubious.

“I remember Fasching when I was here before as the locals were all very excited about the festival and it was quite the celebration. But we won’t get the chance to see it this year” I explained, but Jon just shook his head.

“Who needs a tour guide? I’ve got you” he smiled as he turned his attention towards the next thing on the agenda-the Biergarten.

We headed straight for the Hofbrauhaus as the Biergarten was closed for the season. It was far too cold to be sitting outside in the winter, but the Hofbrauhaus itself was lively and full of history too. I had begun to recount some of what I had read when I spied Richie and waved him over towards our table. He was talking to a gorgeous, tall, leggy blonde and appeared to be in no hurry to join us.

“I’ll go and get him” Jon grumbled and I had to laugh.

Richie followed Jon back to our table after assuring the woman that he’d see her after the show and we learned her name was Heike. She was a native of Munich and had offered to show Richie around and he’d gladly accepted her hospitality.

“She’s ‘heard of’ Bon Jovi, but she’s not actually a fan, so I invited her to come see the show tonight. Ain’t she a knockout?” Richie grinned with excitement.

“She sure is a looker” Jon readily agreed, “but isn’t she a bit on the young side,man?” he wondered.

“Yeah…” Richie drawled. “Don’t worry, Father Jon! I promise I’ll behave myself” Richie laughed. “It’s just nice to spend time with a pretty woman right now. I’m not looking for anything else, okay, bro?” he assured us.

“Yeah, man, okay. I just worry about you, you know?” Jon said seriously.

“I know, but trust me when I say I’ve learned my lesson. She seems like a sweet kid, but she is just a kid and I know that. Besides, I’m not ready to rush into anything just yet, but I am getting tired of being a third wheel all the time. I love ya, Trish, but neither Jon or I do well with sharing” he grinned.

“Hey! Richie, don’t you ever call yourself a third wheel! Don’t you know how much we miss you when you’re not around?” I reassured him.

“I love spending time with you guys too, but you know what I mean. Sometimes I just wish I had my own Trish” he smiled softly.

I did understand and I badly wanted Richie to find the happiness that Jon and I had been blessed with, but I wasn’t going to deny him some female companionship along the way. We ordered another round of beers while we waited for the others to arrive.