| A summer in Austria |
| Dear Torian Diamonds, |
| His name was Wolfgang. I still remember how difficult it was for me, as a Spanish speaker, to say his name. Wolf…gang… “You can call me Wolf”, he told me once, spreading a smile across his face as he heard my efforts to pronounce every consonant. It happened during the summer of 1995. I was in the third year of my German studies, when I decided to travel to Austria. I wanted to spend a month with a host family, which would give me the opportunity of improving my language skills and also being immersed into the Austrian culture, which I found so fascinating. The Pöllitzers had a beautiful cottage nestled deep in the woods near Zell am Moos, a small village 12 kilometers from Salzburg, which had very few transport connections. Martina Pöllitzer was a lovely, open-minded and very cheerful woman, with whom I clicked straight away. One night, after having been in Zell am Moos for two weeks, Martina told me that she was very sad about the fact that I had not met someone my age to go out with. As we were talking, she suddenly thought of the Hoffmanns’ son. The following Friday Jens Hoffmann came round to pick me up and we went to a very popular night club near Zell am See, where some of his friends were waiting for us. As we arrived, Jens helped me out of the car and I followed him to the entrance. As I opened the main door, I found in front of me the most beautiful green eyes and the most sensual smile that I had ever seen in my life. “Come” - said Jens, “I will introduce you everybody. This is Mayke.. And this is…” – I was hardly able to understand Jen´s words. It was lust at first sight. All I could do was staring at this handsome stranger. ”Hi! I´m Wolfgang and you are…? Jens told us that you come from Spain”. “Yes”, I said, “my name is Rachel.” Wolfgang and I got along each other right away and we talked and laughed all night. At the end of the night, when I was just about to go home, he held my hand and whispered to me: “Rachel, I am coming back to Innsbruck on Sunday. I would love it if you visit me before you go back to Spain… It is really sad that you are leaving Austria in fifteen days. Wait, I am writing my address and phone number in Innsbruck, so you can contact me if you decide to come. It is a really beautiful city and I would love to show it to you. I remember that all weekend I couldn´t get him out of my head. I kept trying to make up my mind about whether to go and meet him again. If I decided not to go to Innsbruck, that night would be the first, last and only time I would ever see him. I ventured to surprise him and the following Monday, very early in the morning, I was at Salzburg railway station, getting on a train and setting off towards Innsbruck. The last two weeks of my stay in Austria were unforgettable. Wolfgang and I met almost every day and he showed me really wonderful places that I will stay in my memory for ever. The night before my return to Spain, we promised to write to each other. And we did so for a year. When summer came around again, I decided to go back to Austria and see Wolfgang again. Unfortunately, life had a nasty surprise in store for me. I found out that Wolfgang had got engaged. I did not want to interfere in his life and we said our goodbyes to each other with a long kiss. The last thing I can remember that day is Wolfgang saying: “I will never forget you, Rachel. I hope I will see you again and if I ever have a chance, I wish I could meet you at the Innsbruck railway station, as we did last time.” Ten years later, Wolfgang was still in my thoughts even though I had married. But the marriage didn´t last and one evening in Mai 2002, on returning from a stay in Germany, I received a letter from Austria. I rushed to open the letter and suddenly felt my heart beating as it used to in the old days. Finally I have found you. I have not stopped thinking about you all these years. I have just found out about your separation and return to Spain. I got separated from my wife several months ago. I wish you were here. If you come, I will be waiting for you at the railway station. When I looked inside the envelop I found a plane ticket to Vienna and a train ticket for Innsbruck. Raquel Mateo González |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
