In five years, Roal’s ‘Christmas Story’ will become the annual highlight of the village. Rolde looks forward all year to how its own residents are fooled by Jacco Fluks.
Now this is Rolde. Geert Barringa drinks his beer at the bar. He has just tried to explain what Roal’s ‘Christmas story’ means. And after the village event, he wants to know with what sentence the story in the newspaper will begin. “This is Rolde. Just write that down: This is Rolde.”
It is the fifth time that Jacco Fluks has presented his ‘Christmas Story’, but it has never been so busy. The large hall in Hofsteenge is packed. No more chicken can be added. The starting time of the annual highlight in the village is three o’clock in the afternoon and the hall would open at half past three, but at a quarter past two a packed room full of Rolden residents and former Roldeners awaits, whom Fluks will once again be celebrating this year. to take.
Ammunition
Fluks is in everything. On behalf of the VVD, he sits on the municipal council of Aa and Hunze, in football, in theatre, in the ice skating club and in the business association. He does it for the community, for the village.
You would almost think that Fluks is in everything to have enough ammunition for the next edition. Because in the village, you sometimes hear something there. And so, over the course of the year, Fluks collects the ingredients for his hour and a half story.
Well, everyone in Rolde actually knows each other quite well. Actually it goes like this: if you want to belong in the village of 4,000 inhabitants – import or not, you can do so with ease. Then you come to Rolder Boys. Or join Unitas. Then you roll up your sleeves for the community. At the ice skating club or the business association.
Not quite fit
The hall is filling up. From old to young, age doesn’t matter. A few lucky ones still manage to get a seat. Like Ko Pots, the village baker. He is looking forward with anticipation to the review – because that is what this afternoon can best be compared to – and to what Fluks has come up with again this year. So far he has been mentioned every time. And that is becoming an honor in Rolde.
There is still a place at the bar for Geert Barringa and Chris Mos. Not a problem either, because then you are close to the fire. The two know Fluks quite well. He works on Barringa’s farm for another six months. And the evening before the Christmas story, he borrows Mos’s trailer. When Fluks returns the cart, Mos asks if he wants a drink. Thanks Fluks for that. He doesn’t feel completely fit.
Fit enough
Mos, and with Mos all of Rolde, holds his breath. Can the Christmas story continue? Because the last few years in the village are unthinkable without Fluks’ self-invented Christmas story, in which Rolden residents can suddenly, without even knowing it, play the leading role.
But Fluks is fit enough for his story. Beforehand, he watches from the corner of the room to see who is coming in. And whether the main characters themselves are listeners. Because that’s the most fun.
Full halls
Around three o’clock there are about 500 people in the room. Former football coach Rolf Veneboer jokingly whispers that Jacco Fluks is currently the only VVD member who attracts full houses. That stitch under water fits perfectly into Rolde’s Christmas story.
Five years ago he started telling his story at the Christmas concert of the Klein Orkest Rolde, but gradually the story came to dominate. And the music was pushed into the background. Now the orchestra (in a clever way) supports the story of Fluks, who has become the main act.
In flat Drents, Fluks talks about the past year. It is a crazy story in which the Christmas circus in the village threatens to end in disgrace, but where various villagers still provide a blast. The audience screams with laughter.
Pastor
The last thing Jacco Fluks wants is to be a preacher. Delivering a sermon. Saying how it should be done. But there is an undertone in his story: that there needs to be laughter in Rolde. And that there is enough happening in the village that it can be a party, as long as you are willing to do something for each other.
The entrepreneurs in the village, the baker and the butcher, are mentioned by name. They are the beating heart of the village. These are the addresses that each association calls every year for a contribution.
Milk can
It has never been so busy at his Christmas story. If you charged five euros for admission at the door, you could still rake in quite a bit of money just before Christmas. But Fluks shakes his head resolutely. No entrance. Then the Christmas story would no longer be a Christmas story.
There is a milk can at the exit. Anyone can make a voluntary contribution to this and that money is divided among the orchestra and the ice skating club. And Hofsteenge makes the room available selflessly.
Because that’s Rolde.