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The love that lasts a lifetime

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Offline EllenShaw

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The love that lasts a lifetime
« on: July 28, 2021, 03:24:54 PM »
Another experiment from me. A story that takes us back to early life of one of my characters and ends with an interesting revelation. I’ve decided to tell this story through the eyes of a man, the club’s stalwart supporter and archivist, Larry. It begins when Gabi calls Larry to a meeting at the club one evening in April 2019. This is his account of how the evening unfolded:

The text from Gabi was brief:

“Meet me in the video room tonight at 8pm. I have something to show you. X”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years it’s to obey a summons from the boss so I arrive at the club in plenty of time and make my way up to the video room a few minutes early.

The video room is basically a small cinema/meeting room just down the hall from the edit suite. It has a huge TV screen on one wall, two comfortable twin-seat couches, a desk with a laptop that can be used to call up and display videos and mini-bar. The girls use it to watch video previews prior to release and training videos, including videos of opponents’ fights. It’s not somewhere I’m allowed to go very often so I knock cautiously on the door and only open it when I heard Gabi’s husky voice invite me in.

I enter the room and take in the scene. Gabi is sitting on one couch and Paige, the club’s video guru, is sat at the desk controlling the screen. The other couch is occupied by Erica and an older woman I don’t know but who looks vaguely familiar. Paige has a glass of water; the other women are drinking white wine.

“Sit.” Commands Gabi before I have a chance to speak and indicates the space next to her on the couch. I sit down obediently. She pecks me on the cheek and whispers: “Watch, I think you’ll like this.”

The big screen fills with grainy footage of two young blonde women boxing. They are topless and wearing sports briefs, one in red and one in blue. The light is poor, too poor to make out the combatants’ features, the colours washed out and the action jittery. I’m no expert but I guess it is and old cine film, not video. After a few seconds the view switches, presumably to another camera. The girl in red now has her back to us, the girl in blue stares at the camera over her shoulder. The picture quality is different but not significantly better.

Then suddenly the whole thing seems to resolve itself. Everything comes into sharp focus, the colours become vibrant, the action smooth. Over the girl in red’s shoulder the unmistakable features of a (very) young Gabi stare at her opponent as they trade punches. The camera pans left to give a view of both women. The woman in red launches a right hook which connects with Gabi’s jaw and she goes down. A male referee steps in and starts to count.

“Thank you, Paige.” Says Gabi and the video stops abruptly.

The woman next to Erica speaks, her voice a heavily accented German with a slight chuckle and that same huskiness that makes Gabi sound so sexy: “Sorry liebling, I didn’t release I’d hit you so hard.”

Gabi ignores her and says: “Clever Paige has been very busy but there’s a lot to tell. Erica, get the man a drink, this may take a while. Now, time for introductions. Larry, this is Erica’s mother, my aunt Lena.”

I stand and extend my hand to the woman sat on the other couch. She looks to be in her late 60s but fit and still very attractive. Her shoulder-length hair is white but had clearly been blonde at one point. She is the woman in the red briefs in the video.

“Charmed” I say, shaking her hand.

“Likewise.” Comes the reply with that heavy German accent and the slight chuckle. She smiles at me sweetly.

Erica returns from the mini-bar and passes me a glass of Erdinger Weissbeir – my favourite.

“Sit down liebling, it’s story time.” Says Gabi, patting my arm.

I’ve definitely done something right (or am expected to). She’s seldom this affectionate towards me these days. She goes on:

“You know we value your opinion Larry so I want to tell you all about this and get your views on what we should do. You always wanted to know about my early fighting experience, before I came here, well here’s the story. I’ll begin at the beginning. As you know, Erica and I are cousins, my mother and Lena are sisters. But my mother is 16 years older than Lena and Lena is only four years older than me. Although she’s my aunt, Lena has always been like a big sister to me. We grew up together in Hannover, my parents lived quite close to my grandparents and Lena and I were very close. We played together a lot and our families went on summer vacations together. Even when Lena was a teenager and I was still a kid we hung out together. When she was 18, she left for college in Munich and I was heartbroken. My big sister and best friend was gone and, at 14, I was wracked with teenage angst. I vowed to follow her and, sure enough, four years later I also headed to college in Munich.”

Lena takes up the story in her halting English:

“I also missed Gabi, I was a lot younger than my sisters, who both had families by then, and Gabi meant a lot to me. By the time she came to Munich I had already graduated and had a job and an apartment – of course, I insisted she live with me and not on campus.”

“And, of course, I accepted – why wouldn’t I?”

“What Gabi didn’t know when she arrived was that I had taken up boxen, sorry boxing, in Munich. My parents sent me money at college but I had expensive tastes. I had a few jobs in clubs and in one place I was working one night they had topless boxers – the GMC. I watched and I was captivated. I asked if I could join and they said yes.”

“When I arrived in Munch Lena had been boxing for three years. The GMC was over but Wolfgang Meisner had started a club with topless boxers and wrestlers. Lena was fighting there. Initially she didn’t tell me about it but one night she came home crying and with a bloody nose. I asked her what was wrong and she admitted she’d been boxing and lost badly. In a fit of sisterly bravado, I said I would beat anyone who beat her.”

“And she did. I told her about the club and what we did. I told her about Marianne, who had beaten me that night, and she just said ‘let me at her’. I took her to meet Wolfgang and she asked to fight Marianne the next month. He said OK. I did a little sparring with Gabi and before we knew it, it was fight time.”

 “Lena was fighting another girl that night. There were four matches on the card. They put me and Marianne on first. I knocked her out in the third round. Lena won her fight as well and that was us started as a team.”

“Wolfgang told everyone we were sisters even though we weren’t – we had a lot of fun for a few years. He filmed our fights and sold copies of the movies, just like GMC had done, and paid us a share of his takings.”

“It got me through college but then Lena got married and that was the end of her boxing. A year or so later Erica came along, Lena became a wonderful mother to my favourite cousin and I set off on my travels. I was 23 at the time.”

“Wow,” I say, “That’s quite some story – Erica, did you know about this?”

“No. Well, not for a long time anyway. I’d grown up, been to college and been away on my gap year. I got home and I was hanging around the house not rushing to get a job. I think mum felt I was in the way. One day she said ‘Cousin Gabi’s looking for someone to help her out in England. She’ll pay you and you can stay with her.’ I thought why not? I’d grown up knowing Gabi and mum were close. Gabi came to visit from time to time and I liked her. The day before I was due to leave mum came to me and said ‘There’s something you should know about Gabi.’ Then she told me the whole story of how they used to fight and how part of Gabi’s business in England was a topless ladies fighting club. I was a bit surprised but she showed me some old photos of her and Gabi in action. I remember saying ‘That looks like fun, I wouldn’t mind trying that.’ Mum said ‘If I know Gabi, she’ll have you in the ring in no time.” I thought she was joking but I went anyway. Three weeks later Gabi had me in the ring boxing Emma and all these years later I’m still here.”

“I can see that video clip was the two of you boxing. Presumably at Wolfgang’s and presumably about forty years ago but the last part was so clear – how come?”

“I’ll get Paige to explain that in a bit but first there’s a bit more to the story.”

Lena continued: “Yes, Gabi left to seek her fortune…” she chuckles and smiles at her niece “…but I stayed in Munich and kept in touch with Wolfgang and his wife, Marianne – yes, the same one we fought. Marianne and I became good friends. She had a daughter, Heidi, just after I had Erica and they grew up together.”

Erica interjects: “And before you ask, yes we did fight but not like mum and Marianne.”

Gabi takes up the story: “When I took over the club here Lena told Marianne about it and Wolfgang got in touch. He was a bit of a mentor to me in the early days but then we lost touch again. I probably hadn’t spoken to him in 15 years. Then, six months ago, he died. He was about 75 but fit and healthy so it was a bit sudden. Anyway, Lena went to the funeral…”

“Yes, and Marianne asked me if Gabi was still running her club. I said she was and Marianne said, ‘That’s good because Wolfgang left her something.’ She asked me for Gabi’s address…”

“…and a few weeks later a large box arrived from Munich.” Gabi paused for a moment and looked across to Paige, “That’s when I gave this young lady a call. Tell him about it, Paige.”

“Yes, a large box. Filled with 16mm cine films. Everything Wolfgang had filmed at his club. Gabi asked me if I could do anything with it.”

“And?”

“I like a challenge so I got struck in. The good thing was that everything was labelled so, with Erica’s help, I could work out what was what. We worked out that all the fights were filmed using two cameras on tripods mounted at 90 degrees to each other, looking into the ring from two sides.”

“I could have told you that.” Said Lena. Erica scowled at her mother. Paige didn’t react, she was already in techie guru mode.

“So, we paired up the tapes and digitized them.  The quality was poor but I thought I could do something with that. The trick is at each frame has some missing detail but it’s usually different detail, so you can plug the gaps in one frame with the bits from another.”

“She makes it sound so simple.” Says Lena in that husky, accented voice. Paige continues:

“After a few weeks playing with algorithms I had something that looked sharp and in focus. Then I thought if we have two perspectives, I can blend them. That’s basically how I do the videos we make today, although we have five cameras, not two – so I’ve already written the software.”

Paige is something of a genius when it comes to digital media. She earned her master’s degree developing a technology that allows the source of multiple fixed cameras to be blended together to create an image from any point between them. For the club this means that videos can follow the action without needing camera operators.

“We had two camera angles so, once I’d equalised the footage, we could blend them and rotate the view through 90 degrees. But then I thought about extrapolating the images. It needs a lot of computing power but I’ve managed to stretch it to almost 180 degrees. Look at this…”

With that she restarts the video.

Gabi is face down on the mat. The camera pans left and zooms in as she lifts her head. As the referee counts, she slowly gets to her feet and finally stands facing him but with her back to Lena. The referee stops counting and turns Gabi to face Lena again.  They both raised their gloves and begin trading punches again. Gabi still looks shaken and it’s no surprise when a right upper cut puts her down on her back a few seconds later. The view quickly pans around to show Lena stepping aside to reveal a dazed Gabi pushing herself up on her elbows. She stares at the camera with a vacant expression while the ref counts over her. At 8 she tries to get to her feet but can’t make it. She is still sitting on the canvas as the referee counts to ten and the bell rings. The view pans back around to show Lena coming back in and squatting in front of Gabi, checking she’s OK before hugging her and helping her up.

Paige stops the video again.

“Wow! That’s amazing. How much of this stuff do you have?” I ask.

Gabi answers: “At least one where I beat Lena. No, seriously, that’s what I wanted your thoughts on. We have all of Wolfgang’s output. Something like 150 fights in total. Should we update them and sell them?”

“It’s taken me three months to produce two videos of Gabi and Lena fighting but I’ve cracked the process now. In between other work I could probably a couple a month.” Said Paige. “More in the next few months as I’ll have time on my hands.”

She glances down at her lap and, for the first time, I notice the bump.

“Congratulations.” I say, “How long?”

“I’m about 14 weeks so no fighting for me for another year at least.” She replies.

“Yes.” Giggles Erica. “She’s been busy on other things as well.”

I realise it’s been seven weeks since she was last in the ring. Before I can ask, Paige anticipates my next question.

“No, I didn’t know when I fought my last match, but now I’ve retired – at least for the foreseeable future.”

Happy as I am for Paige’s pregnancy I want to get back to the matter in hand:

“So, you could do them all in a couple of years?”

“Maybe less.”

“Then do them, I’ll bet they sell – vintage stuff like that. People will love to see a young Gabi in action, I’d buy them all.”

“Yes, we know you would Larry.” Says Gabi, giving me a playful poke in the ribs. “It’s why I don’t let you in here very often, I’d never get you out again. But it’s not that simple, we’d probably need to get the other fighters’ permission.”

“Really?”

“Jay thinks so.”

“But surely the rights belonged to Wolfgang and he left them to you.”

“Yes, but times have changed, you can’t just post content with other people in it anymore.”

“OK, so how much is just the two of you?”

“Probably 10 or 12 fights with just Lena and me. Mostly boxing but some wrestling. Then there’s our fights with the other girls. Boxing, wrestling, some tag team matches. Maybe 50 in total but we’d need to ask our opponents if they were happy with the new mixes. Marianne has said yes and so has one other girl that she’s asked but we need to contact about 15 other girls who we haven’t seen in 40 years. Some might no longer be with us. It’ll take some doing.”

“And I can guess who’ll be doing it.” Says Erica.

“Well, start with the ones featuring the two of you and Marianne and add go from there.”

“Thank you, that’s sort of what I was thinking. Would you like to see another sample?”

Without waiting for my answer Gabi nods to Paige and another video starts. This one begins in crystal clear quality and shows Gabi, looking incredibly young, and a slightly older brunette standing either side of the male referee (presumably Wolfgang) in the centre of the ring.

Lena gasped: “Liebling – your first fight!”

We watch, enthralled, as the beautifully restored footage brings the events from 40 years ago to life.

The referee introduces the two women in German. First the brunette, Marianne, who is described as “our champion” and then Gabi, “a new girl”. No stats or other info.

Both girls are topless with Gabi being an inch or two taller than Marianne and probably 10lbs heavier. Gabi is wearing blue sports briefs with a white stripe up the side and Marianne black ones with a yellow stripe. Both have black boxing gloves and boots on. Gabi’s skin is pale and her hair is cut short in a wedge, which was fashionable at the time. By contrast Marianne is tanned and her brown hair frames her face and cascades down to her shoulders.

Introductions over, the girls retreat to their corners to await the opening bell. In the blue corner Lena (also topless in blue briefs and clearly intending to fight later) can be seen giving her niece last minute advice.

At the sound of the opening bell Gabi charges out of her corner, fists flying, and batters the brunette with a hail of wild punches. The more experienced Marianne simply hunkers down and takes the blows on her arms so the assault had little effect.

As the round wears on Gabi seems to punch herself out and, as she pauses for a breather, the brunette goes on the attack, knocking her backwards. Now it’s Gabi’s turn to cover up as she retreats around the ring. Eventually an uppercut from Marianne finds its way through and Gabi drops to one knee, a gloved hand held to her nose.

The referee steers Marianne to a neutral corner before starting to count over the blonde. Gabi gets to her feet at 7 and the action resumes for a further 20 seconds until the bell rings to signal the end of the first round.

Between rounds the camera first shows Gabi in her corner with Lena, clearly wired and seeking advice from her aunt, before switching to a more relaxed looking Marianne in the opposite corner.

Round two starts much the same way as round one with Gabi charging in with fists flying, in brawler mode. Once again Marianne just covers up and rides it out. But midway through the round things change. Gabi suddenly backs off and adopts an altogether more professional stance, slowing down, taking guard and feeling out her opponent.

Marianne sees it but clearly assumes it’s just the blonde punching herself out again. She goes on the attack only to be shut down by a series of precisely aimed punches that drop her to her hands and knees. She is quickly on her feet again but goes down again 20 seconds later when a hay making right cross from the rookie blonde connects with her temple and sends her sprawling. This time Marianne rises slowly, getting to her feet as the count reached nine.

Sensing victory Gabi switches back into street fighter mode, abandoning her guard and flailing at her opponent until the beleaguered brunette launches a desperate upper cut that connects with Gabi’s chin and put her flat on her back. The round ends with Gabi staring at the ceiling, gloved hands either side of her head. The bell sounds with the count at four and camera follows the blonde as she gets slowly to her feet and walks unsteadily back to her corner

The view switches to the red corner where a worried Marianne slumps on her stool talking urgently with her second, who is fanning her with a towel, we can’t hear what is being said. After a few seconds we see the activity in the other corner. Gabi sits upright and focused while Lena massages her shoulders.  Gabi looks up and speaks to her aunt. Again, we can’t hear what’s being said but Lena’s expression radiates reassurance as the referee calls seconds out and a confident Gabi gets to her feet.

Coming out for the third round Gabi adopts a determined look and raises her guard as she closes on the brunette. Thus far it may be two knockdowns each but I’d say Gabi was dominating, despite her rather unorthodox, wild style. She definitely won the second round, despite being on the deck at the end of it.

It seems Gabi is a quick learned as all traces of the street fighter have gone and she stalks her opponent like a professional boxer, pushing out jabs at every opportunity.

Half way through the round the pace picks up again and, once again, it’s the rookie blonde taking the fight to the experienced brunette. Marianne is rocked by a series of hard lefts and rights from the young blonde and eventually goes down hard on her backside. She sits dazed, with a blank expression on her face as Wolfgang counts over her and eventually pushes herself up as the count reaches nine.

Wolfgang checks her over and she raises her guard as he waves Gabi back in. Marianne stands slightly unsteadily as Gabi dances across the ring and releases another salvo of punches culminating on a right cross that connects with Marianne’s temple, spinning her round and sending her face first to the canvas.

Gabi retreats to a neutral corner and Wolfgang starts counting over the fallen brunette again. Marianne pushes herself up to her hands and knees before coming to her feet as the count reaches eight. As Wolfgang stops counting, she staggers into her corner and uses the ropes to steady herself before turning to face him.

He looks concerned and speaks to her, clearly considering stopping the fight. She shakes her head and raises her guard. He waves the blonde back in as she staggers out to meet her. Marianne is finished. Gabi closes on her and launches a left hook that connects with her jaw.  Marianne goes down on her back, arms spread wide.

For a moment she doesn’t move but, as the count reaches six, she rolls over onto her knees, her black clad backside in the air. But that’s as far as she gets. The count is at nine as she tries to push up on her elbows but she can’t, she had no strength left. Wolfgang counts to ten, the bell sounds and Gabi raises her hands in victory.

Marianne’s second is quickly in the ring and helps her to her feet and back to her corner, where she slumps on her stool catching her breath, as Gabi excitedly dances around the ring with her arms raised. It’s a convincing win for the rookie blonde and a major defeat for club champion Marianne.

When the brunette has had a chance to recover Wolfgang brings them together in the centre of the ring and announces the result. Gabi is all smiles while Marianne is close to tears as the film fades out.

In the video room a ripple of applause breaks out. We’re all impressed by the film’s quality and young Gabi’s performance.

“Sorry about the sound,” says Paige. “Only one camera had a microphone so a lot of the conversation in the corners and with the ref was muffled – I decided to leave it as it was. Apart from that, what did you think?”

I look across at Lena. She looks back at me. We were both a bit stunned. Lena speaks first:

“That was wonderful. I remember it so well. Little Gabi the tigress. My little avenger.”

Gabi smiles coyly at her aunt.

“Brilliant work Paige.” I said, “And Gabi, what a brilliant debut!”

“Would you like to see another one?” Asks Paige.

“Yes please.” I reply enthusiastically.

As Paige starts the video Gabi sets the scene: “This was about a year later. I’d had about 9 fights by now and was still undefeated. I’d beaten all of Wolfgang’s fighters, including Lena, and Marianne a second time…”

“…but you’re not going to beat me again.” Says Lena.

The film opens with Wolfgang in the centre of the ring flanked by two topless blondes, Gabi in blue briefs and Lena in red. He announces:

“Meine Damen und Herren, unser nächster Kampf ist ein Boxkampf zwischen unseren fliegenden Schwestern. In Rot, 24 Jahre – Lena. Und in Blau, 20 Jahre alt – Gabi.”

(“Ladies and gentlemen, our next bout is a boxing match between our flighting sisters. In red, 24 years old – Lena.  And in blue, 20 years old – Gabi.”)

Looking at them it’s easy to see why he is introducing them as “our fighting sisters” – they really do look like sisters. Gabi’s hair is longer than in the previous film but still a short bob which contrasts with Lena’s shoulder length locks. Gabi is slightly taller and more solidly built but Lena has a slight edge in the breast department.

No more details supplied and, after a brief discussion with a referee, the girls retreat to their respective corners and speak to their corner women. Lena is assisted by Marianne, wearing black sports briefs, boots and little else. In Gabi’s corner another tall, lithe brunette wearing white sports briefs and boots, is her corner woman

After a few seconds the bells sounds for the start of the first round and the two women face off. Initially they seem very evenly matched, feeling each other out with jabs and trading punches as they dance around the ring. At around the two-minute mark Gabi goes on the attack, raining punches down on the shorter woman and forcing her to back up. Lena retreats around the ring for the rest of the round. Although she avoids standing count, she is completely dominated in that final minute and looks grateful when the bell rings and she is able to retreat to her corner.

It’s unclear how these matches would’ve been scored but, under our current club rules, I would have scored this one four-two to Gabi.

The bell sounds for round two and the girls come out and square off again. Once again, they seem evenly matched there is very little to choose between them. They trade punches with equal enthusiasm. Neither make significant progress until a few seconds before the end of the round Lena goes on the attack and backs Gabi up into a corner. Wolfgang intervenes and gives Gabi a standing count of six before the bell sounds

By my reckoning this round was probably four-three to Lena so, going into the third round, it’s Gabi seven and Lena six.

Round three follows the same pattern as the two previous rounds with both girls seeming equally matched and, despite their obvious enthusiasm, unable to break through the others defences. The only excitement in the match comes at the two-minute mark when Lena goes on the attack again forcing Gabi back into the ropes. Under a hail blows Gabi is forced to cover up and sits down on the middle rope. Wolfgang intervenes again with another standing count this time account reaches eight before he stops and waves Lena back in. Gabi has recovered her poise and the remainder of the round continues in the same fashion with neither woman dominating particularly.

After three rounds I would score of the match equal at 10 points each but Lena is dominating more as the fight progresses. Between rounds we see Gabi talking urgently with her corner woman. She seems anxious, after dominating the first round she has been on the back foot for the last two rounds and is obviously concerned she may be about to suffer her first defeat since joining the club.

As the break draws to a close, we see the big blonde adopt a determined expression. It looks like Gabi means business and when the bell sounds for the start of round four, she comes out fast and hard, taking the fight to Lena. Gabi rains punches down on her aunt knocking her around the ring. Lena does her best to cover up a ride out the assault but after about 30 seconds a left hook from Gabi connects with her temple and the older woman goes down for the first time in the fight. Wolfgang ushers Gabi to a neutral corner and begins counting over Lena. Lena pushes herself to her hands and knees, shakes her head and then gets to her feet as the count reaches eight. Wolfgang waves Gabi back in and the pair square off again. Gabi is unable to capitalise on her early knockdown and, as the fight progresses, it’s Lena who starts to dominate again. With a few seconds of the round remaining Lena steps up a gear and goes on the attack hitting her young niece with a series of hard punches. A left the temple brings Gabi’s guard up and a right upper cut parts of breasts and connects with her jaw putting the big blonde down on her back. Wolfgang steps in as Lena retreats the neutral corner. He starts counting over the fallen blonde. Gabi is still on her back when the count reaches seven and the bell rings for the end of the round.

Once again the round has been very even with both girls scoring a knockdown but it’s clear that Lena was just seconds away from victory. There was no way that Gabi was going to beat the 10 count from the position she was in when the bell rang. It was a full 10 seconds later before she rolled over, got shakily to her feet and made her way back to her corner. I would score this round five points each so, going into the fifth round, the girls are still equal on 15 points each despite Lena’s clear dominance.

Once again between rounds we get views of the fighters in their corners. Lena now seems confident while Gabi is most definitely worried. Her attempt to shut her aunt down at the start of the fourth round failed and she is now once again on the back foot. How much damage that late knock down caused her we don’t know but when the bell sounds for round five, she is hesitant as she comes out of the corner.

Lena dances confidently out of a corner, gloves raised to engage with her young niece. Initially we get the view over Gabi‘s right shoulder as Lena closes on her. Then the camera pans around and suddenly everything becomes familiar. The view over Lena’s shoulder as they trade punches. Lena’s hard right hook dropping Gabi to the canvas. Her fight to beat the count. Lena’s uppercut dropping her back to the canvas. Gabi’s futile struggle to beat Wolfgang’s count. The bell ending her undefeated run and Lena dropping to her haunches to comfort the distraught Gabi who is still sat on the mat unable to believe that she is finally been bested in a fight.

As the screen goes blank, I applaud politely. Lena looks at me and smiles. Gabi turns to me and says:

“So now you’ve seen it my first ever defeat. There would be many more but the first one always hurts the most.”

Turning to her aunt sitting on the other couch she adds: ”I am just glad that I lost you, Leibling.”

Lena smiles back at her and the pair are briefly lost in the moment so I take a few seconds to congratulate Paige on her work and to question her about what else she’s working on

“I don’t have anything else finished yet but I am working on several other matches. Gabi, Lena would you mind if I show Larry some of the clips from the work I’m doing?”

“Not at all” says Lena “I’d like to see them too.”

Gabi says nothing but nods approval.

A few seconds later the screen springs back into life. This time there are four women in the ring and no boxing gloves in evidence. It’s a wrestling tag match between the fighting sisters and the two brunettes who seconded them in the boxing match we just watched. Lena and Gabi are dressed in black briefs while Marianne and the other girl, who I’m told is called Marcia, are dressed in white. The action starts with Marcia parading Gabi around the ring. The big blonde is trapped in a hammer lock and she’s being marched within near touching distance of her aunt who is desperately to try and tag her. But the canny brunette keeps her just out of reach.

There is no referee in the ring, suggesting this is a submissions only match – a view borne out by the fact that Marcia is constantly screaming at Gabi to submit while Gabi screams her defiance and Lena calls imploringly from the ropes for her to tag her in.

In an almost superhuman feat strength Gabi reaches behind herself with her free arm and manages to flip big brunette over her shoulder dropping to the knees she does so. Marcia lands heavily on her back releasing with the lock on Gabi’s arm and Gabi pitches sideways towards the ropes just managing to tag her aunt as she rolls onto her back.

Lena vaults over the ropes and lands on the fallen Marcia. They struggle on the mat, Lena on top and Marcia underneath. The camera pans around and we see Gabi lying on her back the ring apron. Her fight is clearly over and it’s all down to Lena now. Lena has the big brunette trapped in a grapevine and she’s looking up at the camera. Marianne’s disembodied voice can be heard calling to her partner to fight back but it’s in vain. Eventually we hear Marcia scream out to submission. The bell rings and the video deteriorates back to the low-grade original film from one camera position.

Paige stops the video and says:

“That one is almost done probably only another 30 seconds also of the videos of the process my computer is working on it now but it may take a day or 2 to finish.”

By way of explanation Gabi adds:

“It was a best-of-five submissions tag team wrestling match between Lena and myself and Marianne and Marcia.  We were two falls each at this point. I’d been badly double teamed and I was pretty much done for. We were about to lose. Fortunately I managed to make the tag and Lena managed to pull off the winning submission. Another victory for the fighting sisters.”

She chuckles at that final reference to Wolfgang’s description of the pair.

After that Paige shows us rushes from three more videos she’s working: on wrestling match between Lena and Gabi, a boxing match between Gabi and the brunette Marcia and another boxing match between the two blondes, clearly filmed a year or so later as Gabi’s hair is now shoulder length.

“So what’s the next step with this?” I ask Gabi.

“We are thinking about doing a launch with a big screen in the ring room and a live web cast that our customers can subscribe to. I welcome your thoughts on how we can best present package this stuff.”

I’m no marketing expert but I venture a suggestion.

“These videos are really something but if you want a launch event you need a live event. A real live fight – would you do that?”

“What?” Says Gabi: “Us old ladies boxing in our sixties? Are you serious? I’m 62 for god’s sake, Lena’s 66. Who would want to see us with our saggy tits punching each other, other than you of course?”

“I think a lot of people who saw your earlier fights would love to see a final battle between you.”

“Boxing grandmas.” Chuckles Erica.

“Except neither of us are grandmas…”

“Yet.”

“But I haven’t fought in six years and Lena probably hasn’t boxed in twenty.”

“Sixteen, Leibling.” Corrected Lena: “My fiftieth birthday present to myself and I beat Marianne again.”

“What!” Says Erica: “How did I miss that?”

“You were on your gap year, Leibling, somewhere in Australia as I recall.”

I decide to try goading the boss by recalling her last fight – a match against Ellen that ended with a double knockout: “You didn’t exactly go out in style in your last fight, did you?”

“What do you mean? I didn’t lose!”

“But you didn’t win either. If Suzi had done what you did in Ellen’s title match with Tee you would have lost. You were out cold; Ellen was seconds from beating that count.”

Gabi’s shoulders slump and she sighs: “I should have won, I dominated the first three rounds, she was behind all the way. I should have won.”

Lena gets up and walks over to her niece, placing her hands affectionately to Gabi’s shoulders. Gabi stares up at the olde woman, blinking back tears.

“So, would you do it again? One last time?” I try not to make it sound like a plea but I’m desperate to see these ladies in live action.

“I would.” Says Lena: “We may be old but we still know how to fight and we still love doing it. How about one last time Liebling?”

“Ich auch, fuer dich mien Liebe.”” Says Gabi

“Would you? For me?” asks Lena, smiling down at her niece.

Gabi doesn’t reply but the look on her face says everything. For me it’s a light bulb moment. Suddenly I realise what I’d been missing. I’ve known Gabi for close on 30 years. We had a brief fling (too brief I felt) years ago. She’s had many male friends before and since but had never married. As far as know she’d never had a female companion either – which was rare for the female fighters I know. Now, at last, I understand why.

From playing in that garden in Hannover 60 years ago, through flat sharing in Munich and discovering a mutual love of fighting, through losing her to marriage, through holding her hand in child birth, through giving that child a job, teaching and coaching her in the thing that bonds them most, Lena is the love of Gabi’s life and there can never be another.

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Offline papillon

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Re: The love that lasts a lifetime
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2021, 09:34:52 PM »
This is really original and interesting!

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Offline bosom-buddy

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Re: The love that lasts a lifetime
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2021, 06:04:52 PM »
Fabulous story filling in some background to the club and explaining how the ladies got involved with the sport. Your time and skill is truly appreciated.

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Offline F4UCORSAIR

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Re: The love that lasts a lifetime
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2021, 07:10:22 PM »
Wonderful story, excellent writing.

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Offline Raven Boxer

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Re: The love that lasts a lifetime
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2021, 06:19:43 PM »
Brilliant story. Great drama and loved the detailed descriptions of the boxing

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WATCHTHELADIESBOX

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Re: The love that lasts a lifetime
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2022, 12:06:00 AM »
 :)Wonderful Read, Great Narrative indeed, Quite a Gift!