Sometimes a hetary is not only a breathtaking companion, but can also help to bring on a light, in the truest sense of the word.
As the saying goes, in the beginning was the light? I swear, with all the nice tricks I’ve already done, I was never responsible for a power outage. At most indirectly.
Revered Holly
But let’s start from the beginning. Hello I am Holly, Holly Hirschfeld, one of the new hetaries. My name, like the evergreen holly (botanically Ilex) stands for happiness, protection, strength and eternal life. Not only the Christians used this winter berry at Christmas time. Even the Romans and Germans worshipped this plant. The Celts samed their homes with brooms made of holly branches to ward off disaster. Later, Holly Golightly conquered readers and viewers in the novel by Truman Capote and on the movie screen, with the immortal Audrey Hepburn. And nowadays you can be enchanted by me in Berlin. Do I show you my tenderness or my strength? Find out for yourself!
Today I report on an (almost) perfect date. It was a spring-like late afternoon I was preparing for one of my first meetings. I was invited to a 7-course menu at the Bandol. He had, as befits a true gentleman, reserved a table and booked a fine room at the Gorki. Perfect, I thought to myself, so the evening would start with the meal in style. I slipped into dark floral tights. Well, more ornament than tights, certain places were not hidden by the fabric, which my black dress did not suggest. I rounded off my outfit with a dark blue bouclé blazer that sparkled mysteriously. I sprayed my favourite perfume, Prada Paradoxes, a composition of Calabrian Bergamot Heart, Mandarin Essence and Pear Chord. If my date does not want me not to put on any fragrance in advance, this is always part of the last part of my little ritual of cleaning up.
Star restaurant
I was happy and excited, even excited, would I recognise him right away? When I arrived at the restaurant, a man stood in front of the entrance. He smiled knowingly at me and at that moment I knew it too. He directed me to the table where we soon forgot the time to enjoy the various delicacies such as cashew parfait and N25 caviare. I liked to listen to him talking about his just finished book. He was actually my picture book date. He had the discreet envelope with him, which he carefully plugged into me in between. I was a little relieved, because I had already experienced something else during the handover.
At this point I would like to mention, although on our page the note is also written, please no loose bundle of banknotes is enough. I had actually come across more than once on my previous dates that my date at the table or outside was just enough for me to have loose bills. If you find the normal cover too boring or too striking, between the pages of a book, in the box of my favourite perfume – let your imagination run wild. What is less offered, between the pages of the wine list. A legend says that a hetary had already had the incident that the waiter took the card with him before she knew what was there between the pages.
Who turned off the light?
When we later moved on to give ourselves to other pleasures in private, we walked the short distance to the hotel on foot. Although actually two strangers who had met for the first time, we were connected by a special familiarity. He took my hand as if I were his girlfriend for a few hours. And so we reached the room, exhilarated by the good food and the walm spring air.
When we arrived, he explained to me that he would turn off the loud ventilation in the bathroom and what steps on the fuse box were necessary for this. He would have had this explained in advance and tried it out so that only the ventilation, but not also the bathroom light, would be switched off. I listened conscientiously.
A few minutes later we had no humming in the bathroom, but also no more light. And not only in the bathroom, the entire room had no more electricity. After my companion repeated the steps… nothing happened. We were still sitting in the dark.
It was a somewhat absurd situation after I had just dined in a star restaurant. Should the mayor be disturbed while playing tennis, or should the hotel be contacted? No. Even is the woman. He became visibly nervous and apologised several times. I took it calmly and offered my help. I can’t reconstruct in which order which switch was flipped by me, but I got it done. We had light again. And it would have been a waste not to see me.
Your black tights
At the end of the evening, I got into the taxi with my hair still slightly damp and thought about whether I should study electrical engineering in another life. How the rest of the evening went exactly remains a secret. But that’s how much I’ll tell you: Electrifying for everyone involved. The next morning, I answered his question if I had arrived safely with a tease, I hoped he had slept well and not caused another blackout in Mitte.
A few days later I got an email from him, with a few lines that made me smile: “Blackout… I actually had it… when I first saw you through your black tights.” I like to think back to the evening – and that’s the only kind of blackout I’d like to be responsible for.