"Felicitas, Matze! We have to go now. Please get dressed so we can leave," says Katrin, waiting in the doorway of the children's room for the two of them. "What, time to go already?" Felicitas asks her mum in surprise. "Come on, Matze, I don't want to be late for gymnastics," she calls to her cousin and pulls him into the changing room.
Katrin picked up Matze together with Felicitas from kindergarten because his parents both have to work late on Tuesdays. So he always stays with his cousin Felicitas on Tuesdays and goes with her to the ballet and gymnastics school. Otherwise Matze also likes going to gymnastics … but today he really doesn't feel like it. "Oh dear, what a shame, we're playing animal explorers in the jungle right now. Look, Aunt Katrin, we've found a really interesting spider!" says Matze, holding a big rubber spider under her nose. Katrin laughs, as she's used to Matze's jokes. "You can maybe play for another half hour later, but we really have to go now," Katrin tells her nephew.
Matze puts the spider in his rucksack and walks with Katrin and Felicitas to the bike. Shortly afterwards they arrive at the ballet and gymnastics school. "Listen, you two," Katrin says, "I have an important appointment now. It may take ten minutes longer than your class. Make sure you wait for me, okay?" The children nod, wave to Katrin once more and disappear into the changing room. Felicitas always looks forward to gymnastics because she loves climbing and thinks her trainer is really nice. Matze likes the variety at the different gymnastics stations best and that the trainer always plays different games with them at the end of the lesson. That makes every gymnastics class fly by … and it's just as much fun as football training at the club.
When Felicitas and Matze have changed again, Katrin still isn't there. So they wait and watch the older children's class. Felicitas admires the big ones: look at all the things they can already do! Emma is great at floor work even though she's only seven. And Lukas is a real pro on the apparatus.
But Matze finds waiting boring … he wanted to go on playing animal explorers. So he takes his rubber spider out of his rucksack and lets it crawl over to Felicitas. But she doesn't feel like playing with him; she'd rather watch the older gymnasts. Matze decides to have a look around in the corridor. He sneaks out of the small gym and puts his ear to the door next door. He can hear piano music and Theresa's instructions. She is training the ballet children. "So, Matze, are you coming to ballet now too?" a voice asks behind him. Matze jumps and turns round. Mali and Imke are standing in front of him. Their ballet class has just finished and they're coming out of the changing room. "Nah!" mumbles Matze, hiding the rubber spider behind his back. "I have to wait for Aunt Katrin and I'll just look around a bit in the meantime. That ballet-hopping stuff isn't for me — you girls can do that on your own." Just then Imke's mother arrives to pick them up. "But don't mess about here by the door," Mali says sternly. "Theresa trains my big sister Lena's group and they mustn't be disturbed!" Imke gives Matze a warning look too. Then they say goodbye and Matze is alone in the corridor again. He grins. Messing about … sounds pretty great!
He quietly opens the door to the ballet studio and peeks in. He spots Lena practising at the barre and her friend Eva practising high leaps. A few other girls are sitting on the floor stretching their legs. Matze grins … and throws the spider into the middle of the ballet studio. It lands at Eva's feet and she jumps sideways with a squeal. "Eek, a spider!" she shrieks. Lena turns round in alarm and even the ballet teacher Theresa stands frozen for a moment by the climbing frame. Then she runs to Matze and grabs his sleeve. "Matze, what was that supposed to be?" she scolds. "That's gone too far. Eva could have twisted her ankle and hurt herself. This isn't funny any more!" Matze feels guilty. He only wanted to give the girls a little fright, but he hadn't thought someone could get hurt. He goes red and stammers an apology: "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." He nearly starts to cry when he sees Theresa's stern face. She sighs and shakes her head. "Okay," she says then, "luckily nothing happened. But you will apologise in person to all the girls now and promise that this won't happen again. Agreed?" Matze nods. "Besides, as a way of making amends you'll help out at our summer party. We could certainly use someone to help wash up the cake plates. But now we won't talk about it any more — back to training." Matze breathes a sigh of relief. He was going to come to the summer party anyway and he doesn't mind helping wash up the cake plates. He knows Theresa can be strict sometimes. Matze shakes hands with each of the ballet girls and apologises. Then he takes his rubber spider, goes back into the gym and sits down on the bench next to Felicitas. "Where were you?" she asks him. "Oh, I just popped into the ballet jungle for a moment and scared some pink animals," he replies. He doesn't want to tell Felicitas any more. Matze is still ashamed and decides it'll be better to leave his rubber spider at home next week.
