Until Tomorrow (17 page)

Since she didn't want to get any more upset with Katie, Christy turned her thoughts toward Todd. Her scruffy-faced sweetheart lay curled up on the wooden bench across from hers, with the hood of his navy sweat shirt pulled over his head. Christy was amazed that he could clock out whenever he wanted to, although she knew she shouldn't be surprised. Over the years, Todd had managed to clock out emotionally at times when she was wide awake, so to speak, in her feelings for him. Or at least that's how it had seemed to her.

So what have we decided, Todd? We're not going to have any more should-we-break-up conversations, but where does that put us? Where we've always been? Friends? Close friends? Friends-forever kind of friends for another five years until your internal alarm clock goes off and you wake up to me? I'm here. I'm wide awake. I know I'm in love with you, and I always will be. I'm ready for more. Are you?

Christy closed her eyes and turned over on her side. She tried with all her might to force herself to go to sleep, physically and emotionally. Her efforts didn't meet with success. Instead, her thoughts wandered off to her family. She knew her parents had grown used to her calling home only about once a month and writing a quick note every few weeks. As a matter of fact, she had talked to her mom for about twenty minutes the day before Todd and Katie had arrived, and her mom had told Christy again how she hoped Christy would have a great time on this trip. Maybe Christy should call her
parents now. What time was it at home? Her mind was too tired to do the calculations.

And what exactly would she tell them? “Hi. We're sleeping on benches in the Venice train station, and we haven't exactly been eating balanced meals or managing to stay together all the time, but don't worry about anything. The trip is going great so far. The three of us are getting along just peachy.”

Christy knew she couldn't call them. Not now. Not when she didn't have a positive report. It wouldn't help to let them know details at this point, she decided. It would be better to call them at the end of the trip, after she was back in her dorm room and life was normal again.

Things will get better in Austria. They have to. Then I can send a postcard home, and nothing in my news will be false or strained
.

The train ride to Innsbruck and then on to Salzburg turned out to be comfortable. Their compartment had pullout beds called
couchettes
, and Christy stretched out and slept deeply for the first four hours. When she woke, Todd said he had breakfast for her. It turned out to be one of his oval tomatoes, some cheese, and a hard roll. Christy ate it gratefully and shared her water with Todd and Katie.

They barely made it to the train that took them to Salzburg. But, once settled in, they found their window seats provided a fantastic view of some of the most spectacular scenery Christy had seen since she had been in Europe. It was much better than the view out of Tonio's van. This was the kind of experience she had hoped to have with Todd, and she scooted closer to him as they gazed out the window so they could comment on the dramatic mountain ranges that seemed to go on forever.

Katie was noticeably quiet by the time they arrived in Salzburg. They found a
Gasthof
that was recommended in the tour book and checked into two rooms. The friendly owner of the Austrian-style bed-and-breakfast told them that
Jause
would be served between 4:00 and 5:00. She explained that was a traditional coffee time. However, they were too hungry to wait and politely excused themselves to go find a full meal.

They left their heavy luggage, exchanged their money, and went off to see the sights. Christy wished they had taken time to shower and change before hitting the streets. She promised herself that a shower would feel even better that night when they returned.

Deciding on a restaurant they could all agree on turned out to be easy. Two blocks from the Gasthof they came to a large, open-air restaurant. It offered plenty of outside tables under umbrellas, allowing them to sit below an austere fortress on the top of a hill and watch the horse-drawn carriages promenade by on the cobblestone streets.

After they had eaten
Schnitzel
and discussed what to do next, Katie said, “We need to find the fountain where all the Von Trapp children danced and sang. I think it had statues of horses in it.”

Todd consulted the tour book while Christy savored her cherry strudel dessert. She didn't feel the need to run and see and go and do. Salzburg seemed willing to strut by and show Christy plenty of her charms. A young couple strolled past the outdoor café walking a small, fluffy dog. The woman laughed a light, airy titter at something the man said, and Christy saw him wink at her.

Someday. Someday you and I will stroll side by side, Todd. And someday you'll wink at me like that
.

Christy turned her attention to two women at a table next to them. As the women carried on an afternoon chat, she thought about how different the Austrian people were from the Italians. Here the local language around her flowed like a broad river with earthy, rolling sounds. In Italy she had felt as if the entire population was eager to get its point across with whatever amount of drama required. At one point,
when they were at the top of Saint Peter's Basilica in already close quarters, Christy remembered thinking that about Marcos's style of communicating. She felt as if he were trying to lick her nose at the top of his voice.

“Hey, this sounds like something Christy would want to see,” Todd said, reading an entry from the tour book. “It's a castle called
Schloss Hellbrunn
. We should go there first, in case they close in the evening.”

Christy felt warmed inside knowing that Todd had been taking notes again and that he remembered her saying she wanted to go to as many castles as they could find. She let Todd figure out how to get to the Schloss Hellbrunn, and once there, she continued to feel charmed by Salzburg's unique beauty as they toured the castle. The guide told them to pay attention to the outside dining table. It looked as if it was made of cement with individual cement seats. Suddenly jets of water shot straight up from the seats and from the middle of the table, spraying the tour group with a light mist.

After the laughter subsided, their guide said, “Yes, Marcus Sitticus, the host of Schloss Hellbrunn, had a grand sense of humor. He enjoyed surprising his guests this way at summer picnics. To appreciate such innovation, remember, this was all built in the early 1600s.”

The tour guide directed them to the garden exit. On both sides a line of spraying water shot into the air and formed an arch for the visitors to run beneath. Todd and Christy went first, holding hands and moving quickly under the refreshing mist. Katie was right behind them, but when she jogged through, the direction of the water changed, and she was doused with a jet of wet stuff that came at her from all sides.

Dripping and laughing, Katie said, “Now I know why the ladies from that era wore those long dresses. It was protection from crazy dinner hosts like this guy. I wonder if his guests ever came back a second time?”

When Christy snuggled under her down comforter at the Gasthof late that night, she thought about how she wanted to come back to Salzburg a second time, if ever the invitation was given.

She wrote that in her new diary the next day on their train ride through Germany. Part of her entry read,

The charm of that happy city will never leave me. When we walked past Mozart's birthplace this morning, I thought of how his music still resonates here in a timeless, majestic way. The tour book said that people lived in Salzburg five hundred years before Christ was born, because of the salt deposits found here. That astounds me. All Katie seemed to be impressed with was the number of fountains we found as we walked around yesterday evening. At every fountain that had a horse statue in it, she made us stop and listen to her sing, “Doe, a deer, a female deer, ray . . .” etc. Poor Katie tried so hard to get Todd and me to stand on the edge of the fountains and sing with her, but we let her do a solo every time
.

Their train rolled to a stop at the Munich station in Germany a fast two hours after they left Salzburg. Christy threw her diary into her pack and followed Todd and Katie off the train. It took them a while to figure out which train they wanted to take next. With the help of an attendant at the ticket window, they made reservations on one of the newer direct trains. The attendant told them the train would shoot them to Hamburg in the northern part of Germany at 165 miles per hour. They had to pay an extra amount, but they had become used to that in Italy.

Instead of compartments, the train to Hamburg had comfortable seats similar to first class in an airplane. Each seat came equipped with earphones and a dial so all the passengers could select their own favorite music.

“This is a big change from the Italian trains,” Katie said.
“How long are we going to be on this one?”

“I think she said it was six hours to Hamburg.” Todd settled into his seat next to Christy and said, “Not bad, huh?”

“We'll have to stop in Hamburg to buy hamburgers,” Katie said. Her seat was directly across from Todd's and Christy's. They all stacked their day packs in the empty seat next to Katie.

“Do you suppose Hamburg is where hamburgers were invented?” Christy asked.

“Your handy tour book might help us.” Todd unzipped his pack and pulled out the book.

“Didn't some cook invent hamburgers for an earl of something?” Christy said.

“You're thinking of sandwiches,” Todd said. “I've heard that before, too. The Earl of Sandwich. His chef invented sandwiches for him. I don't think any Earls of Hamburg existed. Although it says here that Hamburg dates back to the medieval times. But the city was almost destroyed in World War II. That's awful.”

“Can I just say,” Katie said, leaning forward, “that you have your face in that tour book just a little too much to make me believe we're really on an adventure, Todd.”

“It's a great book,” he said, looking up. “But it doesn't say anything about hamburgers in Hamburg.”

“It might have said something about Hamburg in one of the other books I left back at my dorm,” Christy said.

“You had more books?” Todd asked.

“Seven. One of them was just about Italy and another one was about Scandinavia.”

“You should have brought them. I'm really getting into finding out some of the history of these places,” Todd said.

Christy glanced at Katie and gave her friend a sassy little see-I-told-you-so expression.

“I didn't stop you from bringing your books,” Katie flared
at Christy. “All I said was that they would take up a lot of space, and they would. Don't blame me, Christy. You could have brought them if you really wanted to.”

Christy hadn't expected such a reaction. “Katie, it's not that big a deal. I think the book I brought is the best one. It's helped us out a lot.”

Katie turned away, fiddled with her earphones, and then curled up in her chair with a sweat shirt over the front of her like a blanket. The air conditioning was blowing right on them, and Christy felt chilled, too. She slipped her arm through Todd's and cuddled up close to him to get warm.

“What are you reading about now?”

Before Todd could answer, Katie stood and, pulling off her earphones, said, “Six hours is a long time. I'm going to walk around and see if I can meet some people.”

Christy felt the words “Just don't lock yourself in the bathroom this time” burning on the tip of her tongue. But she made herself keep quiet.

Then, as if Katie could smell the smoke from Christy's burning words, she said, “Don't worry. I'll be back before we reach Hamburg.”

With that, she brushed past Todd and Christy and took off down the long aisle.

13

As soon as Katie walked away from Todd and Christy, Christy thought,
Good. Now Todd and I can snuggle and talk quietly, just the two of us
. But then another thought marched into her mind.
Katie looked really upset. I better go after her and find out what's wrong
.

“Do you think she's okay?” Todd asked.

Christy continued to struggle. She wanted to hold tighter to Todd's arm and brush off Katie's mood as normal Katie behavior. With a sigh, Christy said, “I don't know. She's upset about something.”

“I'll go check on her,” Todd said.

“No, that's okay. I'll go.”

“Actually, Christy, I think I should go. What if she's mad at you?”

Christy felt her defenses rise. “Mad at me? What for? What did I do?”

“I don't know,” Todd said calmly. “That's what I might be able to find out.”

Christy reluctantly pulled her arm out of Todd's and took the tour book as he handed it to her. He didn't even look back but strode down the aisle in the direction Katie had gone.