{"id":16300,"date":"2024-01-04T14:49:37","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T13:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dirkvanbabylon.com\/?p=16300"},"modified":"2026-03-30T12:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T10:37:07","slug":"hi-hanna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dirkvanbabylon.com\/en\/hannas-mind-wanderings\/hi-hanna\/","title":{"rendered":"Hi Hanna!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Hanna!!<\/h2>\n

July 2010<\/span><\/p>\n

I slide the rhubarb cake into the oven and close the door. I see myself in the reflection because the oven light no longer works.<\/span><\/p>\n

I look at my reflection.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hi Hanna, I wave.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wave back.<\/span><\/p>\n

Always been a friendly child.<\/span><\/p>\n

The oven looks a bit like a face. The two knobs as eyes and the door a big mouth.<\/span><\/p>\n

A mouth where raw food is pushed in and baked food comes out again.<\/span><\/p>\n

I imagine the oven\u2019s mouth suddenly opening and throwing my cake back out with a retching sound.<\/span><\/p>\n

I push the handle down harder to keep the oven door closed.<\/span><\/p>\n

I begin cleaning the kitchen \u2014 the condition for baking a cake \u2014 and accidentally drop the spatula covered with raw batter.<\/span><\/p>\n

I look around in shock.<\/span><\/p>\n

No one nearby.<\/span><\/p>\n

Only the oven face staring at me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I smile at it awkwardly, the way I would smile at my mother if she saw me fumbling like this.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBOOM DRUMROLL,\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>I say, because the clattering sound of the falling spatula startled me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I look at the oven again and repeat:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBOOM DRUMROLL\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There lies everything<\/span><\/p>\n

FLAT<\/b><\/p>\n

0___________________o<\/span><\/p>\n

I open the door to let the oven say <\/span>0_____o<\/b>. A warm breath blows in my face. A breath that smells like cake but does not say oooh.<\/span><\/p>\n

I appear again in the mirror of the door once it is closed and wave again. I wave back kindly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nice to run into yourself sometimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

I almost think the Hanna opposite me will answer if I ask something.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember the time I thought I had found a new friend. It seemed as if someone answered when I shouted \u201chello\u201d over the fields behind our garden and my voice echoed clearly.<\/span><\/p>\n

(It only dawned on me when the far distance seemed to answer \u201cHanna\u201d after I asked what his or her name was.)<\/span><\/p>\n

I cannot resist and say something to myself in the oven door:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHi Hanna!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I look at myself for a moment.<\/span><\/p>\n

No answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is usually what happens when people say hello to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just like the real Hanna then.<\/span><\/p>\n

Behind my reflected head the cake continues baking patiently.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes I think my mother sees me the way I now see myself in the oven door.<\/span><\/p>\n

My thoughts floating like a faint image behind my head.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like the rhubarb cake now.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next time I decide I will pour the cake batter into a bundt pan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then when I look in the oven door<\/span><\/p>\n

I will have a little halo around my head.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

~Hanna<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Hanna!! July 2010 I slide the rhubarb cake into the oven and close the door. I see myself in the reflection because the oven light no longer […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[150],"class_list":["post-16300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hannas-mind-wanderings","tag-hanna-brems-en","authors-hanna-brems"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHi Hanna!! - Hanna Brems - dirk van babylon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I slide the rhubarb cake into the oven and close the door. I see myself in the reflection because the oven light no longer works. I look at my reflection.Hi Hanna, I wave. I wave back. 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