Greetings from the sky! We left New York about an hour ago. Currently, we're high above the Atlantic Ocean. Still hours and hours away from Amsterdam! I'll bring everyone a special gift back from Amsterdam.
Your Big Sis,
Mal
"This is so dibble!"
I admit, I'd said that a few times already. I couldn't help myself. It really was so dibble. (Dibble is a word my friends and I made up. It means super duper cool). I had been excited ever since my parents gave me permission to go to Amsterdam. My family's on a tight budget with eight kids, but Mom and Dad said they could scrounge up the money if it got me out of Stoneybrook for two weeks.
Not to sound conceited, but I was looking pretty dibble, too. I thought I should dress up since we were on an international flight. Europeans are very cosmopolitan and sophisticated. I didn't want any of them thinking I'm stale. (Stale is not dibble). That's why I wore my best red jumper. It has Mallory embroidered across the front. I also wore a pair of white tights with red hearts on them. I looked at least fifteen. Maybe even sixteen. I received several admiring looks from sleek and chic women. Some of them were traveling with male companions. They probably thought I was competition. Little did they know, I already have a sort-of boyfriend back in Connecticut.
However, my outfit paled in comparison to what Stacey McGill and Claudia Kishi were wearing. They could easily have been mistaken for sophisticated Europeans. Stacey had on a floor-length chiffon skirt and a spaghetti strap tank top with strappy heeled sandals - all in black. (Stacey's a native New Yorker. And a diabetic). She also wore ten silver bangles on each wrist, huge silver hoop earrings, and silver combs in her permed blonde hair. Stacey looked so romantic! I imagined her lounging beside a canal with a hunky Dutch boy, reading french poetry.
Claudia looked great, too, but in a completely different way. Claudia's an artist and uses fashion as a creative outlet. For the flight, Claudia put together a traditional Dutch costume. She wore a blue and white striped dress with a pinafore. She made the pinafore herself, out of a tablecloth. She also made this funny little white bonnet out of a dish rag. From her ears dangled red tulip earrings and her silky black hair was pulled into two thick braids. The best part, however, were her shoes. You know how the Dutch are known for those silly wooden clogs? Claudia carved her own out of styrofoam! She spray painted them yellow and glued paper windmills and tulips on them. She looked more Dutch than anyone else on the plane! People kept turning in their seats to stare at her, obviously impressed. Claudia was seated in front of me, but hopefully everyone knew we were together.
I was sitting with Dawn and Mary Anne in the very last row. Mary Anne had the seat next to the window (lucky duck), a seat Dawn had graciously relinquished, saying, "When you've flown as often as I have the scenery all looks the same." If only my siblings were that thoughtful.
We were pretty spread out on the plane. Tiffany, Maria, Amanda Delaney (who had met us at the airport), Jessi, Abby, and Kristy were near the front. Claudia and Stacey were directly in front of me and Dawn. Then, Shannon, Greer, and Anna were across the aisle from me. Mrs. Kilbourne and Mrs. Carson were in first class!
"Hey, Mal," Mary Anne said to me, "did you know that Amsterdam uses the Euro for its currency? Eleven other countries use the Euro - Belgium, Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Germany, and Italy. The same coins can be used in all these countries. Isn't that neat?"
"Wow. That's dibble," I replied.
Across the aisle, I heard Greer whisper to Shannon, "Why does she keep saying that?"
Hm. Shannon must not have told her SDS friends about the words we made up. Shannon obviously respects the BSC's privacy. Shannon's really distant.
Mary Anne was still talking to me. "There are four main canals in Amsterdam - Prinsengracht, Herengracht, Keizergracht, and Singel. Plus, there are smaller canals, including the Leliegracht, where Shannon's house is." Mary Anne's famous for spouting facts during our vacations. As much as I adore Mary Anne, it can be annoying. I appreciated it on this trip because I don't know much about Amsterdam. Except that it's the capital of The Netherlands (and that The Netherlands also include Holland). Back in Stoneybrook, Ben Hobart (my sort-of boyfriend) and I looked up some books about Amsterdam on one of our library dates, but Mary Anne had already checked them all out.
"I wonder what we'll get to eat," I heard Claudia ask Stacey. Claudia's always thinking about food.
"Probably deep fried pig fat," Dawn replied, loudly. "Or, garlic roasted cow carcass."
Several people turned and glared at Dawn. Greer rolled her eyes and snorted. Something was going on between Dawn and Greer. In the airport, they argued at the Dam Airways counter over who got to put her luggage on the conveyer belt first. Then, Dawn hit Greer in the face with a bag of tofu-carob treats. A security guard had to separate them. It was pretty stale.
Dawn and Greer managed to avoid physical altercations while on the plane. Shannon, Greer, and Anna played cards for awhile and Dawn took out a book called Ending the Slaughter. I decided to work on a story I'm writing about a caterpillar family on vacation in Amsterdam. Their adventures are based on those of my friends and I. I wrote a couple paragraphs, then started an illustration of the caterpillars walking (or, inching) along a canal. I gave Papa caterpillar a monocle, which made me giggle.
It was then that I felt a pair of eyes staring at me. I glanced up just in time to catch the girl before she turned forward again. She was seven rows ahead of me, on the opposite side of the plane. I had noticed her earlier because she kept looking back at us. I figured she was admiring Claudia's outfit. But, the last time, Claudia was in the bathroom. I just got this creepy feeling that the girl was watching me. I tried to ignore it, but the feeling wouldn't go away. I went back to my drawing until the hairs on my arms raised. That's when I saw the girl walking down the aisle - toward me!
The girl appeared harmless enough. She was probably twelve or thirteen, a bit bird-like with long, curly brown hair and round silver-framed glasses. She wore jeans and a maroon sweater monogrammed with the letter "G". She didn't stop at my seat, just looked me in the eyes and mumbled, "Guten tag", then stepped into a vacant restroom.
Was she introducing herself? Should I have introduced myself? What kind of name is Guten Tag? I drew a sharp breath and shivered as another thought crossed my mind: could I have...a stalker?