Sabrina. You always are. I wish I was.'
'Don't be silly, of course you are. You told Daddy you were me.'
'Oh, I had to do that, after I was such an awful coward in
that cellar. At least now we're both being punished, instead of just you.'
'Did you see Daddy's face? Was he confused!'
'Mother knew.'
'She knows what clothes you wear.'
'But Daddy hardly ever looks at us.'
They fell silent, thinking about their father.
'Stephanie,' Sabrina said slowly. 'What if you couldn't have adventures without bad things and good things both? Would you want to give them up?'
'Oh, I don't know. I suppose not. I just wish I had some way of knowing ahead of time—'
'But we don't.' They watched a bird light on a tree branch near the window, so close they could see each feather. Sabrina loved to sit like this, next to Stephanie, comfortable and peaceful. Sometimes she wished she was as calm as Stephanie and didn't talk back to her parents and teachers, or think danger was exciting. But she was so restless, and there were so many tantalizing things to try, that she couldn't sit still for long. And, strangely, she thought Mother secretly liked her best that way. So sometimes she talked back or tried something risky in gymnastics (with teachers yelling at her not to, which made it even more fun) just so Mother or other people would admire her and love her.
But mostly she got excited about doing different things because there was so much to discover. 'What I think,' she said to Stephanie, who was sitting quietly, waiting for her to go on, 'is that I'd rather have some bad things happen than not have any adventures at all.'
Stephanie thought about it. 'Well,' she said finally. 'It's a good thing you're here. Because if you weren't, I probably wouldn't have any adventures. Ever. And I wouldn't like that, either.'
Later that year, they read about the settlement of the war in Cyprus. Dmitri and his sisters had gone away with their aunt, and Sabrina and Stephanie devoured stories in Greek newspapers and magazines, hoping to find news of anyone named Karras. But there was nothing, and in the fall they
moved to Paris without knowing what had happened to them.
Gordon Hartwell was appointed charge d'affaires of the US Embassy in Paris in the summer of 1960, the year President Makarios took ofGce on the independent island of Cyprus and John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States. But whatever changes occurred in the world, life for Sabrina and Stephanie was the same as in Athens. Their rented house was in an enclave of Americans; they attended the American school; they shopped in the famous flea markets on the edge of Paris only with their mother, never alone.
But Laura knew that explosive pressures were building in Sabrina and when the girls were fourteen she let them go to social events for the sons and daughters of diplomats from other embassies. There were picnics and swimming parties, dances, tours of the wine country, excursions to soccer games, horse races, tennis and bicycle races and ski holidays. They made friends from a dozen countries, and their speech soon blended the accents and vocabulary of all of them. It was if they had their own country, separate from the rest of the world.
But then, once again, everything changed. At dinner one winter night their parents told them the great news that Gordon had been nominated by the President, and confirmed by the Senate, as ambassador to Algeria. But, Laura added, there was a problem. Speaking quickly so the girls could not interrupt, she reminded them that Algeria had just won its independence from France and it was still unsettled, possibly even dangerous for foreigners. It was certainly no place for teenage American girls.
'But there is a boarding school in Switzerland,* she went on, 'that we have looked into.'
They had selected it from a dozen recommended schools. Juliette Institut International de Jeunes Filles was a high school of impeccable reputation. Under the
'Don't be silly, of course you are. You told Daddy you were me.'
'Oh, I had to do that, after I was such an awful coward in
that cellar. At least now we're both being punished, instead of just you.'
'Did you see Daddy's face? Was he confused!'
'Mother knew.'
'She knows what clothes you wear.'
'But Daddy hardly ever looks at us.'
They fell silent, thinking about their father.
'Stephanie,' Sabrina said slowly. 'What if you couldn't have adventures without bad things and good things both? Would you want to give them up?'
'Oh, I don't know. I suppose not. I just wish I had some way of knowing ahead of time—'
'But we don't.' They watched a bird light on a tree branch near the window, so close they could see each feather. Sabrina loved to sit like this, next to Stephanie, comfortable and peaceful. Sometimes she wished she was as calm as Stephanie and didn't talk back to her parents and teachers, or think danger was exciting. But she was so restless, and there were so many tantalizing things to try, that she couldn't sit still for long. And, strangely, she thought Mother secretly liked her best that way. So sometimes she talked back or tried something risky in gymnastics (with teachers yelling at her not to, which made it even more fun) just so Mother or other people would admire her and love her.
But mostly she got excited about doing different things because there was so much to discover. 'What I think,' she said to Stephanie, who was sitting quietly, waiting for her to go on, 'is that I'd rather have some bad things happen than not have any adventures at all.'
Stephanie thought about it. 'Well,' she said finally. 'It's a good thing you're here. Because if you weren't, I probably wouldn't have any adventures. Ever. And I wouldn't like that, either.'
Later that year, they read about the settlement of the war in Cyprus. Dmitri and his sisters had gone away with their aunt, and Sabrina and Stephanie devoured stories in Greek newspapers and magazines, hoping to find news of anyone named Karras. But there was nothing, and in the fall they
moved to Paris without knowing what had happened to them.
Gordon Hartwell was appointed charge d'affaires of the US Embassy in Paris in the summer of 1960, the year President Makarios took ofGce on the independent island of Cyprus and John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States. But whatever changes occurred in the world, life for Sabrina and Stephanie was the same as in Athens. Their rented house was in an enclave of Americans; they attended the American school; they shopped in the famous flea markets on the edge of Paris only with their mother, never alone.
But Laura knew that explosive pressures were building in Sabrina and when the girls were fourteen she let them go to social events for the sons and daughters of diplomats from other embassies. There were picnics and swimming parties, dances, tours of the wine country, excursions to soccer games, horse races, tennis and bicycle races and ski holidays. They made friends from a dozen countries, and their speech soon blended the accents and vocabulary of all of them. It was if they had their own country, separate from the rest of the world.
But then, once again, everything changed. At dinner one winter night their parents told them the great news that Gordon had been nominated by the President, and confirmed by the Senate, as ambassador to Algeria. But, Laura added, there was a problem. Speaking quickly so the girls could not interrupt, she reminded them that Algeria had just won its independence from France and it was still unsettled, possibly even dangerous for foreigners. It was certainly no place for teenage American girls.
'But there is a boarding school in Switzerland,* she went on, 'that we have looked into.'
They had selected it from a dozen recommended schools. Juliette Institut International de Jeunes Filles was a high school of impeccable reputation. Under the
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