The Spanish Kidnapping Disaster Read Online Free PDF Page B

said to Grace, "If you're sure it's no trouble, I think the children would really enjoy themselves."
    "These three trouble?" Grace tightened her grip on Phillip and me and smiled at Amy. "They are splendid children, magnificent children. I will take care of them as if they were my own."
    "You'll behave, won't you, Felix?" Mom asked. "You'll stay with Grace and do what she says?"
    "And, you," Don said to Phillip. "No climbing on walls, no running off, no silly stunts."
    As Phillip and I promised to be good, I saw Amy slip her hand into Don's. "I don't feel good," she said. "Can't I go with you to the hotel? I won't bother you, I promise. I'll go to my room and lie down. You won't even know I'm there."
    Don sighed. "Oh, Amy," he said. "Don't spoil things. Go with Felix and Phillip. I'm counting on you to keep an eye on your brother."
    With great reluctance, Amy let go of Don's hand and trudged toward Grace's car, pausing every few steps to look back at Don. "I don't want to go," she pleaded.
    Ignoring her unhappiness, Don smiled and waved at Amy. "We'll see you soon, sweetie," he called, hugging Mom with his other arm. "Have fun."
    Phillip climbed into the back seat and I chose the front, the place of honor beside my friend, the citizen of the world.
    As Amy hesitated, Grace revved the Citroen's engine. "Come, Amy," she said, "we must get there before the sun sets or we will have driven in vain to see the windmills."
    "Who cares?" Amy said as she got in next to her brother and slammed the door.
    Although I was happy to be with Grace, I looked out the window at Mom before we left. She smiled and waved and I waved back. But, even before we were out of sight, she turned to kiss Don.
    "At least we won't have to watch that stuff for a while," Phillip said as Grace headed the car away from Segovia.
    Amy said nothing, but I silently agreed with Phillip—surely for the first time.

8

    As Grace's little car bounced along the road, leaving Mom farther and farther behind, I told myself I had a new friend now, someone who thought I was "magnificent and splendid." She was taking me to see her Spain, the true Spain. Why should I care what Mom and Don were doing? At last I was with someone who appreciated me.
    Focusing my attention on Grace, I noticed she was wearing a different tee-shirt today, even more faded than the one she'd worn yesterday, but her jeans were the same. I recognized the hole in the right knee. She had a new flower in her hair, a pale pink one with a red center. Staring intently through the mud-spattered windshield, she looked as beautiful and mysterious as ever.
    "I was glad to see you again," I told her. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming to Segovia too?"
    Grace shrugged. "It was sudden my coming, a thing of impulse. Yesterday I myself did not know."
    I nodded, thinking that made sense. A free spirit had no schedule, no place to go every day like clockwork. To Grace, life must be one long vacation.
    "Did you think you'd see me today?" I asked.
    Grace glanced at me. "Fate is strange," she said. "I told myself perhaps you would be at the castle, perhaps not. I could not be sure."
    "But you were happy I was there, right?"
    "Of course," Grace agreed, but she seemed tense, worried. Without saying more, she gripped the steering wheel and leaned forward, watching the traffic and the road. Her mood had changed after we'd gotten into the car. She wasn't laughing or smiling or even talking.
    As the silence lengthened, I felt my stomach tighten. Had I offended Grace? Or, worse yet, had Mom said something to make her think we weren't Dallas-style millionaires after all? Maybe she knew what a liar I was and hated me for it.
    "Guess what?" I asked, trying to win Grace's approval again. "When I grow up, I'm going to be a citizen of the world just like you. I'll go wherever I want and see everything. Maybe we'll run into each other at the pyramids or someplace. That is, if fate allows it."
    Grace looked at me and frowned. "I