Until Tomorrow (24 page)

She convinced Todd to exit the train with her and find a way to the top of the ferry. She wanted to wave to the tourists on the dock the way the school children in their yellow shirts had waved at Katie and Christy.

“I can take a hint,” Katie said when Christy didn't include her in the invitation. “Don't worry. I'll stay here with the luggage. You two go and have a good time. Don't worry about me. I'm sure I'll be just fine.”

“We'll find a candy bar for you,” Todd said as they left.

“You're my hero!” Katie called out after him.

“What's it like being a hero?” Christy teased.

Todd grinned but didn't answer. She could see that the hot-water burn she had inflicted on his forehead hadn't improved much. Still red, it looked a little swollen.

“Does your face hurt?” she asked.

Todd gave her a funny look.

“I mean, your forehead. Does the burn bother you much?”

“No, I think it will be okay.” Todd led her up some stairs until they reached the top deck. He immediately spotted a snack bar and stood in line for some food and for a candy bar for Katie. So many people were waiting it took nearly all of their fifty-minute ferry ride to buy the food.

At first Christy was disappointed they had spent their alone time standing in line. But when their train pulled into Hamburg a little late and they had to run to catch their next train to Cologne, Christy was glad she had something extra to munch on. The ride from Hamburg to Cologne took five hours. The three friends played chess and read the tour book to one another.

Katie was so caught up with reading every detail of every major city and giving Todd and Christy full reports, that Christy was beginning to think she actually had been to some of the cities. Katie said she had a philosophy. If they couldn't see Helsinki, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and Berlin, they might as well know what they missed.

The descriptions Katie read of the Netherlands and France made Christy glad they had decided on those two places for their next destinations. The only problem was that Christy really wanted to see Luxembourg and Belgium, too, after hearing about them.

“I think after Paris we should go to a small city,” Christy said. “Or at least a small country. We've been hitting the major cities, which is great, but we could see a lot outside the big cities. I think that way we would know more what people are really like in those countries.”

“Sounds good to me,” Todd said. “Where do you want to go after Paris?”

“Germany,” Christy said.

“We're in Germany now,” Katie said.

“I know, but we're zooming through. A Rhine River cruise is listed in the book that I marked. Did you see it, Katie? It sounds really wonderful.”

“I saw that,” Todd said. “Doesn't it start in Cologne?”

“No, you don't,” Katie said. “Don't start changing plans on me. We're going to Amsterdam.”

Christy couldn't believe how rigid Katie had become now that she had the power of the tour book at her fingertips. “What happened to the Katie Weldon who started this trip as a free-spirited woman on an adventure?”

Katie smirked. “She got information. Knowledge is power, you know.”

“Knowledge can lead to arrogance and legalism,” Todd
said. “Let's use the knowledge to make us a kinder bunch of grace-givers.”

Christy remembered hearing Todd say those exact words at a Bible study he had taught years ago. He was referring then to the Bible and how some people can get so much information and knowledge about God that they turn into a bunch of rigid rule-makers. She knew he was talking about the tour book now with Katie, but the comparison was strong in her mind. At this point, all she could hope was that Katie would extend grace to her and agree to the Rhine River cruise.

“Oh, all right,” Katie said. “I don't want to be a brat about this like I was about not going to the Arctic Circle. We have to stop in Cologne anyway, don't we? We can stay there tonight, take the river cruise in the morning, and be on our way to Amsterdam before the sun goes down. Then we'll spend one day there and go on to Paris because we're going to need at least a couple of days in Paris.”

Even though Katie's plan sounded clear and easy, Christy had a feeling it wouldn't go as smoothly as all that. She was just glad that they would see more of Germany, the home of her ancestors. She hoped their boat tour would be a new highlight of the trip.

Once they arrived in Cologne, at Katie's insistence, they walked around the
Dom
before finding a place to stay. The Dom was a twin-towered cathedral close to the rail station. It dominated the area because it was so large. According to Katie, the cathedral was one of the largest Gothic structures in the world, with the foundation built in 1248.

“I'm so bummed we can't go inside,” Katie said as they stared up at the massive, twin gray spires that pierced the evening sky. “They closed a half hour ago. I told you, didn't I, that this cathedral has relics of the wise men who brought their gifts to baby Jesus? The tour book didn't say what the relics were specifically. I wanted to see the display.”

“We could come back tomorrow,” Todd suggested.

“No, let's keep going. Youth hostel first, some food, and then in the morning we'll go see Christy's castles.”

It didn't settle well with Christy that the reason they were spending an entire day floating down the Rhine River was because she wanted to see more castles. She would have felt better if Todd and Katie were as interested in this tour as she was.

The next day, an hour into the cruise, Christy could tell that Todd and Katie were being nice friends and acting as if this slow boat was fun. But she knew they were miserable, and that made it hard for her to enjoy the leisurely journey.

The first time they went past a castle high on the hillside, tucked behind ancient trees and overlooking the wide Rhine River, Christy could get Todd and Katie to look up and do a little imagining with her.

They answered with clever words when Christy said, “Who do you think lived there? A handsome prince, maybe? Do you think he ever had to fight any battles to defend the castle and his princess?”

By the third castle, no one, not even Christy, wanted to play twenty questions about the imaginary past of the castle.
I think I've seen too much. I feel numb. I mean, this is beautiful and romantic and wonderful, but all I want to do is find a patch of sunshine and curl up like a cat and sleep
.

The boat ride was restful, and more than any of them, Christy felt ready to rest. She knew she hadn't recovered from the exhaustion of her recent difficult school term. Traveling was exciting and fun, but it was anything but restful.

The clouds played hide-and-seek with the sun for the next few hours. While the weather never turned cold, Christy did end up pulling a pair of jeans out of her backpack, going to the rest room, and changing from her shorts.

The stretch from
Koblenz
to
Bingen
was spectacular. A hilltop
castle gazed down on them every time they looked up. Christy had a feeling that this part of their trip would be something she would remember years later, as if it had been a dream.

But she was ready for the cruise to be over when they arrived in
Mainz
a little after one in the afternoon. Getting on a modern train and figuring out a way to sleep for the rest of the afternoon appealed to her, as if the gentle Rhine, with its fairy-tale guardian castles, had lulled her into a dreamland. She was eager to go there and allow her weary mind and body to rest deeply.

Todd, however, had different plans. “You guys, the Gutenberg Museum is here. Mind if we go there before heading to the train station?”

“What's at the Gutenberg Museum?” Katie asked.

“The first printed Bible. You've heard of Gutenberg, haven't you? He invented the modern printing press. And the first book he printed, of course, was the Bible. I really want to see it.”

Off they went, with their bulky backpacks, to see the first printed Bible and a short movie on Gutenberg's life. Todd was really into the exhibit. Poor Christy couldn't help it; she dozed off when the lights went down for the movie.

They bought some cheese and bread at a corner market and walked to the train station, eating as they walked. Christy was happy to let Todd and Katie do all the discussing about which train to take and when. She couldn't care less where they ended up. The food hadn't helped make her headache go away, and now her throat hurt when she swallowed.

I wish I could go home to Escondido for one day and sleep in my old bed. My mom would bring me tea with honey for my throat. I would take a long bath before sleeping a full ten hours. Then I would wake up refreshed, clean, and energetic and instantly be transported back here. I wish I could do that. Then I'd be able to finish this journey
and appreciate everything I'm seeing
.

The train ride to Amsterdam was a blur to Christy. She carried her pack and changed trains when Todd told her to. When the conductor asked for passports and tickets, she automatically pulled her Eurorail pass from her travel pouch the way she had dozens of times before on this trip. The rest of the time, she snoozed.

When Christy finally began to come back around, she opened her eyes and peered out the window. The sun had set. The world they were rolling past was filled with shadows. Darkness covered the horizon.

“Where are we, you guys? Did we miss the stop for Amsterdam?”

She turned, expecting an answer from her travel companions. But they were gone.

18

Christy told herself not to panic.
Todd and Katie must have gone for something to eat and didn't want to wake me. We've done that before with each other; this isn't unusual
.

But something didn't feel right. They should have arrived in Amsterdam before dark. Christy vaguely remembered Todd waking her when they changed trains back in Cologne, around 5:00. He had said something about taking three hours to reach Amsterdam, that they would be there before dark, and he would call his friends when the train arrived to see about staying with them.

Christy looked up and down the long aisle for Todd and Katie. The train was slowing to a stop. All she could think to do was to grab her pack and be ready to exit if this was Amsterdam. She would figure out how to find Todd and Katie later. The worst thing would be to miss getting off at the right place the way Katie had almost done in Naples.

When Christy reached up for her pack on the overhead shelf, she noticed Todd and Katie's packs were still there. They wouldn't have left without their packs. They wouldn't have left without her. But where were they? And more important, what station was the train stopping at?

Christy tried to read the station's sign as they rolled in.
The sign said
Nancy
. Christy was stunned.
How did we end up in France?

Just then Katie came bounding up and said, “Hey, Sleeping Beauty. You decided to wake and face the real world, huh?”

What Christy was experiencing at that moment felt like anything but the real world. “Katie, what are we doing in France?”

Todd was right behind Katie. Following him was a guy wearing a baseball cap and toting a backpack. “Christy, this is Seth. What was your last name?”

“Edwards,” Seth said. He looked a little older than Todd and just as scruffy, evidence that he had been traveling for a while.

“Seth Edwards,” Todd repeated. “This is Christy.”

Then, to Christy's surprise, Todd added with a gentle smile, “Christy Miller, my girlfriend.” Todd never had described her that way. If she hadn't still been confused and shocked about being in France instead of Holland, she might have taken Todd's words deeper into her heart.

“We met Seth in the dining car, and he has lots of great tips on what to see and do in Paris,” Katie said.

“Would someone mind telling me what's happening?” Christy asked as the three of them sat down. “I thought we were going to Amsterdam.”

“We changed plans,” Katie said brightly. “We told you on the train from Mainz to Cologne, and you said that was fine; whatever we wanted.”

“I don't remember,” Christy said.

Seth smiled at her. He had nice eyes. They were deep blue and matched the dark blue denim shirt he wore over a stained white T-shirt. “It catches up with you, doesn't it?”

“What catches up?”

“Travel fatigue. All the new sights and sounds and food.
From what Todd and Katie told me, you guys have been going at it pretty hard and fast. I'm on a much slower pace, but it still hits me about every two weeks, and I have to stay somewhere for a few more days before I can go on.”

“Seth has already been to Paris,” Katie said. “He had way more information than our tour book. He's going back to meet up with some friends. He just spent the last two weeks in Venice. Can you imagine spending two weeks in one place?”