Tuesday, May 18th, 1954
12:50 p.m.

"I think I got some really good tulip shots. Not too sure about the daffodils." Therese said, popping a roll of film out of her camera. "What time is the train back to Amsterdam?"

Carol opened her purse to retrieve the tickets where she'd written in pencil the departure time. "Two-thirty. And right now it's - " she reached to Therese's right arm that had the watch and pulled up the sleeve to expose her wrist, " - twelve-fifty, so there's plenty of time."

"Perhaps when we reach Switzerland, I should pick out a nice watch for you."

"Ah, but then I'd lack a particularly good excuse to touch you."

Therese put a new roll of film into her camera with a smile. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"

Carol shook her head. "Almost overwhelming." She sat on a bench near Therese who was setting up her next shot, lying on the grass, resting on her stomach and elbows to get a close up of a periwinkle-colored tulip. She watched Therese's every motion as she angled her arms up and down to ensure the light wasn't too much or too little, or that the bulb was in focus. Every gentle breeze affected her positioning, causing Therese to wait until the stems and petals stopping moving to click a shot here or there. She then drifted off, looking at the ever-growing line of people outside one of the nearby pavilions.

Once satisfied with her photos, Therese looked up at Carol, comfortably sitting on the bench and staring off at a nearby pond. At least she thought she was staring at the pond; it was difficult to tell in those sunglasses. It would have been so easy for Therese to raise her camera again and take a quick photo of Carol, all lost in her thoughts with arms wrapped around her middle, legs crossed at the ankles, but if she heard the shutter, she would immediately tumble back to reality. Rather than move, Therese relaxed on her grassy perch to observe her. She acted as though she was still taking pictures so that no park employees could come around scolding her for lying on the grass.

After a good ten minutes without a peep from Carol, Therese looked up, "What are you thinking about?"

Carol turned her neck and then her gaze down to Therese, sprawled on the grass. "Oh… I don't know, lost in thought, I suppose. Admiring your photo skills, your patience."

Therese grinned. "I'm not that patient."

"Maybe I'm just hungry."

"You're always hungry," Therese added. She pushed herself up to stand and brushed off any grass or dirt from her knees and elbows. "Let's feed you and then head back to the station, okay?"

Carol looked her over, noticing some blades of grass and dirt smudges on the elbows of her jacket. She reached forward to brush them off; Therese saw them at the same time and got them cleared off before Carol's hand could make contact with her.

Carol took a second bite from her warm stroopwafel. "Sometimes, I think we're just eating our way across Europe, Therese."

"No, I told you you were hungry." Therese briefly thought about taking a bite of Carol's snack, but decided against it when she looked back over to see there was only more one more bite left to it. "Now that you have something in you, you going to tell me what's really on your mind?"

Distracted, Carol stirred her tea, now cooling since there wasn't a stroopwafel covering the top of her cup anymore. She took a sip and put the cup back onto the saucer, stirring it again for some unknown reason. "I've just been thinking what a fool I am."

"You shouldn't say that."

"It's true." Carol insisted. "I've taken so much for granted."

"Like what?"

"When I was with Harge," she began, "I could take his hand, or pull him in for a kiss, or put my arm around his waist, whenever. Anywhere, anytime." Carol lowered her head, speaking very quietly. "And I can't do that openly with you. It's not about showing anyone outside of you and me," she sighed, "it's about me showing you how much I'm in love with you and how happy you make me feel every day."

Therese shifted in her seat, outstretching her right hand on the table top toward Carol, woefully knowing full well that she could not grasp it in return. She looked at her hand, then into Carol's eyes, then back to her own hand. "Maybe someday," Therese speculated.

Carol smiled and cautiously reached with her left hand toward Therese, only making a beeline for the cloth napkin she had placed above her plate. She kept her hand on the napkin, mere inches from Therese's hand, idly tapping her pinky and ring fingers against the metal table.

"Maybe."

Therese smiled and silently mouthed, "I love you."

Wednesday, May 19th, 1954
5:45 a.m.

Tap.

Carol opened her eyes and looked around the hotel room, hankering to figure out where that tapping sound had come from. It wasn't the radiator or the water pipes, it wasn't from inside the room, perhaps the hallway?

Tap.

Not the hallway either. She looked back at the bed to find Therese missing. Her pajamas were draped across the desk chair and her sneakers missing.

Tap.

Tap.

She went to the window, overlooking the Herengracht, to see if there was something outside. Maybe a bird had gotten confused, but there wasn't a bird out there, but there was Therese wearing her herringbone jacket and new red beret, grinning up at her while seated on a bicycle.

Carol opened the narrow window, barely avoiding the last pebble that Therese had thrown at the first-floor window to their room.

"Where'd you get that?" she exclaimed while pointing at the bicycle.

"I liberated it."

"Liberated?" Carol turned up an eyebrow.

"Yes, so get dressed and come on down. I need to get the bike back to Marijke by seven."

"Who's Marijke?"

"Nevermind that, put some clothes on already."

Looking over her shoulder at the clothes strewn about the room, Carol glanced to see what she could throw on relatively fast. She turned her attention back out the window to the eager woman below. "I'll be down once I get wash - "

Therese shook her head. "You're gorgeous as you are," she interrupted without trying to yell too loudly, "just brush your hair, throw on a sweater and that plaid skirt I like, and get on down here."

"Okay, I'll be right there." Carol quickly shut the window and set about finding something to wear. She hurriedly dressed in her blue cashmere and managed to find the loose skirt Therese suggested she wear, and pulled everything on over the slip she'd worn to bed the night before. A quick pass of her hairbrush and slip into her moccasins, and Carol was out the door. She rushed through the lobby, trying not to draw the attention of the night porter on duty still reading a magazine.

"Explain." she requested as she walked out the hotel door onto the vacant canal street.

"Marijke leaves work at seven-thirty, so I told her the bike would be back by seven. Hop on."

"That's all the explanation I get?" Therese nodded. "You don't want me to steer?"

"I might not be able to drive, but I can ride a bike," Therese replied. "You take the rumble seat, and let's get going." She patted the small padded space on the rear carrier and Carol obediently got comfortable in her seat before Therese started to ride. "Oh, and one final thing. You're going to need to hold onto me, okay? Don't want you falling into the canal."

Carol looked down to Therese's waist, hesitating before discreetly placing one hand on each hip. Therese looked ahead, then angled her head to look left for any other cyclists coming up the rear. She wiggled her hips back and forth, still not pedaling, but checking to see if Carol's hands followed her movements. They securely grasped her hips, similarly to how she had been pleasantly gripping them the night before, and didn't stray from Therese's body.

"I'm not sure if this is secure enough," Therese remarked as she almost started to pedal. "Try putting your arms around my waist."

She didn't have to say it twice. Carol slid her hands from hips to waist, intertwining her fingers against Therese's stomach to hold tightly. "Like this?" The thumbs of each hand rested just beneath her breasts, and lightly rubbed from left to right.

Therese leaned back so she was pressed against Carol as much as she could be. "Exactly like that."

As Therese began to ride down the canal in the early hours of the morning, just before all of Amsterdam's cyclists took to the street to ride to work, Carol lovingly clung to Therese as she pedaled down the cobblestoned path. She closed her eyes, and rested her head against Therese's warm back, inhaling her flowery perfume and reveling in their closeness.