I guess my friends are happy to spend our last few days together here in the Alps. How odd that, looking back, I wish we could have done the trip differently. I wish we were going camping with Tonio. I’d be a completely different camper now. I’d go fishing with Todd and bathe in the stream every day. I’m just now ready for my vacation.
“This has to be one of the most incredible, spectacular, amazingly beautiful corners of God’s green earth,” Todd said. He leaned back and gazed at the sky. “It’s just a breath away from heaven.”
“It is amazing, isn’t it?” Christy sat down next to him and reached into the picnic basket. “Are you hungry? This bread looks homemade.”
Katie flitted over to them and said, “Okay, I’m a happy woman. I’ve danced in an Alpine meadow. Now all I need is a ride in a gondola, and my life will be complete.”
“Yeah,” Todd agreed. “We passed that one up, didn’t we?”
“I can’t believe we made it all the way to the train station and then left,” Katie said. “What were we thinking? We were in such a rush to get somewhere. I don’t even remember where.”
Christy remembered. It was Salzburg. And their decision had been a group choice, but she felt responsible since she was the one who had pushed them to go and see and do so much at the beginning of the trip.
Katie bent over and plucked a wild flower. “Did you ever hear that Norwegian legend about the wild flowers?”
“No. Where did you hear it? In Oslo?” Christy asked.
“No, it’s an old tradition my grandmother taught me when I was around eight or nine. I did it at her house when I was staying there once on Midsummer’s Eve.”
“That’s tonight,” Todd said. “Mr. Zimmerman was talking to me about it in the barn this morning. I didn’t understand what he was saying, but then I figured it out when he said today is the longest day of sunlight in the year. That’s Midsummer’s Eve, right?”
“Yes!” Katie’s excitement colored her cheeks rosy. “This is perfect! Chris, do this with me. You’re supposed to pick seven wild flowers and sleep with them under your pillow.”
“Seven of the same kind or seven different ones?” Christy asked.
“I don’t think it matters,” Katie said, quickly moving on with the rest of the legend. “If you sleep with seven wild flowers under your pillow on Midsummer’s Eve, you’ll dream of the one you’ll marry.”
“I want to try,” Todd said with a teasing grin. “How many? Seven?”
“You can’t play,” Katie said. “This is a girls-only game.”
“Katie,” Christy said, “are you sure this isn’t some kind of medieval incantation? I don’t believe in doing any of that.”
“I don’t, either,” Katie said. “It’s just a little folklore. You don’t say anything magical or throw in any bat wings. It’s just a bit of tradition from my heritage. Like making a wish when you blow out candles on a birthday cake.”
Christy took off with Katie to find seven wild flowers while Todd watched. When they were far enough away that he couldn’t hear them, Christy asked, “How are you doing with the whole boyfriend-jealousy thing?”
Katie stopped and gave her a pained expression. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m wondering. I think it must be uncomfortable for you sometimes around us, even though you don’t act like it.”
“I’m doing better than I was at the beginning of the trip. I guess if Antonio or Marcos had acted at all interested in me, it wouldn’t have hurt so much whenever I saw you and Todd falling in love right before my eyes.”
Christy smiled. She couldn’t help it. And her cheeks blushed.
“You guys are so perfect for each other,” Katie said with a sigh. She bent over and plucked her first yellow wild flower. “I’m happy for you, really. Deep down, I’m thrilled. If the two of you ever broke up for good, I think a part of me would shrivel up and die. You give me hope that some God-lover guy is out there who will think I’m the sun and moon and stars and one day will look at me the way Todd looks at you.”
Christy plucked a tiny white flower. “There is, Katie. I know he’s out there.”
“Oh, he’ll probably be an ‘out there’ kind of guy, all right,” Katie said with a laugh. “He would have to be to put up with me.”
“He’ll probably be shy and kind of quiet,” Christy guessed. “You know how they say opposites attract. What about the baseball player at Rancho? What was his name? Number 14, wasn’t it? Is he shy?”
“I don’t know. Matt wasn’t shy or quiet when I met him, but then, they had just won their final game. He has such a look of honesty and simpleheartedness about him. He seemed like an uncomplicated person, and I like that.
“You know,” Katie said a moment later, after they each had picked three more flowers. “What I really want is to trust God more in this area of my life, and I’m learning about how to do that a little bit better. Weren’t you the one who told me that God gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him?”
“I don’t know. I might have said that. It sounds more like something Todd would say.”
“I want to trust God more,” Katie said decisively.
“That’s funny because I’ve been saying the same thing on this trip. I keep thinking I know what’s best or what the future holds, but really, I don’t have a clue. Only God does.”
Katie looked up with her bouquet of tiny flowers in her hand and gave Christy a grin. “Guess it doesn’t matter what stage we’re at in life, does it? With a boyfriend or without a boyfriend.”
Christy quickly added, “With a major in college or without one.”
Katie nodded. “We have to, as they say, ‘let go and let God.’ I’m just glad we’ve had each other on this journey, Christy. This journey through life, I mean, not just this journey through Europe. I’d be a mental case by now if I didn’t have you and Todd and the rest of our friends as my circle of sanity.”
“I like that,” Christy said. “Circle of sanity. You guys are that for me, too.”
“Okay, we better stop this before I burst out crying. My sobs and loud wailing would start an avalanche!”
Christy laughed and held out one of her seven wild flowers to Katie. “Here, you take one of mine, and I’ll take one of yours.”
They swapped, and Katie said, “This means we have to be each other’s maid of honor, right?”
“Definitely. We’re creating our own version of this folklore.”
They laughed and linked arms as they headed back to where Todd lay stretched out on the picnic blanket. Then, carefully pressing their flowers in a cloth napkin, they secured the napkin inside the picnic basket.
“Did you ever wish on these when you were a kid?” Todd plucked a dandelion with a full, fuzzy white head. “We used to pick them in the schoolyard, make a wish, and then blow off all the dandelion fuzz. I think my friends and I single-handedly kept our schoolyard seeded with dandelions.”
Christy reached over and picked one of the dandelions near her. She closed her eyes and heard herself say, “I wish we could still go to Venice.”
When she opened her eyes, Todd was sitting up and looking at her with a wild, blue-eyed gaze. “Are you serious? You’d be up for that?”
“Yes, I really would. I want one more adventure before Monday.”
“That means we probably won’t make it to your bakery for morning pastries.”
“That’s okay.”
Todd looked at Katie and then back at Christy. “We can do it, you know. We catch the bus back to Frutigen, and then we pick up the train out of Basel that stops at Spiez. We change trains in Milan, and we’re in Venice before midnight.”
Katie laughed and broke off a piece of bread. “You’re scary, Todd! What did you do, memorize the whole train schedule in the hayloft last night?”
“No, I looked up how far it would be from here to Venice this morning because I had the same feeling Christy must be having. I could go for one more adventure.”
“W
ait a minute,” Katie said. “What would be wrong with staying here another night and then tomorrow going to Christy’s school in Basel and hanging out there on Sunday?”
“Are you turning down an adventure?” Christy asked. “You sound like me when we started this trip, and now I’m sounding like you.”
“I like it here,” Katie said.
“You’ll like it in Venice, too.” Todd plucked a dandelion. “I wish Katie would change her mind about Venice.” Then he blew the fuzzy part right in her face.
“Okay, okay! If you’re going to torture me like that, we can go.” Her face brightened. “Oh yeah, and we can see Marcos again. I’m with you.”
Their ride down the mountain on the rickety wooden ski lift felt charged with electricity that shot between the three of them. They called out back and forth and pointed to the magnificent scenery as they rolled toward Adelboden with their faces to the world below them. A quick explanation to the Zimmermans, an even faster packing job, and they were out the door, climbing up into the back of the “grandfather’s” horse-drawn wagon.
Christy felt more charged up than she ever had before. Then she remembered. “Wait! Our wild flowers!” She jumped off the back of the wagon and ran into the house, trying to explain to Mrs. Zimmerman that she had left her flowers in a cloth napkin at the bottom of the basket.
Mrs. Zimmerman chuckled and gave her the whole napkin, flowers and all, before shooing her out the door. The wagon rambled down the narrow road to the bus stop. From their uphill view of the village’s main street, Todd spotted the bus as it came winding around the corner.
“That’s our bus,” Todd told Mr. Zimmerman. Todd had been consulting the train schedule and now announced to all of them, “If we don’t catch that bus, we won’t make our connection at Spiez.”
“Can this buggy go any faster?” Katie asked Mr. Zimmerman.
His reply was in German, or perhaps it was French. Whatever he said the horses understood, and they took off. Christy and Katie tumbled into each other and held on, laughing all the way.
“Hold the bus!” Todd yelled when they were still a few yards off.
The bus let out a billow of smoke, and the door closed.
“Wait!” Todd yelled.
Mr. Zimmerman seemed to enjoy the chase more than any of them. He kept the horses headed straight for the bus. As it pulled out, he put his thumb and finger in his mouth and gave a sharp whistle. The bus driver didn’t seem to hear it, but the horses did. They were confused and reared back.
Two men came out of the shops along the main road. One wore a long white butcher’s apron. A woman in a local Dirndl dress exited a shop at the end of the street with two little boys wearing leather Lederhosen. When everyone saw Mr. Zimmerman chasing the bus and whistling, they all joined in, waving their hands, yelling, and running after the bus, as well.
Christy couldn’t stop laughing. She felt as if their fairy-tale land had turned into Busy Town, and they were now cartoon characters on a mad romp. All they needed was Sergeant Murphy and his trusty whistle.
Someone in a blue Mercedes pulled around their wagon and took off after the bus, honking until the bus pulled over just outside of town.
“Thank you, thank you,” Katie said, reaching out from the wagon like a parade princess, shaking the hands of all the helpful townsfolk. She hopped down, swung her pack over her shoulder, and kept shaking hands. “Thank you. We couldn’t have done it without you. You guys were awesome, really.”
The jovial crowd gleamed with appreciation. Mr. Zimmerman waved and laughed as Todd, Christy, and Katie ran to the bus. The bus driver was the only one who didn’t find the antics of these three backpacking students humorous. As a result, Todd led them to the back of the bus so they could finish laughing and could retell every detail without the driver’s critical eye staring at them in the rearview mirror.
Not until they were safely on board the train headed for Milan did Christy begin to relax. The scenery was breathtaking, and she felt as if she were still on top of the world. She didn’t want this time with her two best friends to end, ever.
All their connections were smooth until they hit Milan. The train station was packed on this Friday night. Todd directed them to a ticket booth where they had to wait in a long line to make reservations and upgrade their tickets to first class. Todd kept checking his watch.
“Are we going to make the next train?” Christy asked.
“We have five minutes. Unless the train has been delayed, I don’t think we’ll make it.”
“What if we run to the train? We could stand in second class,” Christy said.
“Sure,” Katie agreed. “We’ve done it before.”
With another mad dash, they found the train to Venice, but the conductor wouldn’t let them on. Reservations only. The train was packed. Everyone seemed to want to travel to Venice for the weekend.
They went back to the ticket booth and stood in an even longer line than before.
“How about if Christy and I find some food and bring it back to you?” Katie asked.
“I could sure use something to eat,” Todd said. “Thanks.”
“Sure. We’ll be right back. Just don’t leave this area, and we’ll be fine.”
Christy stayed close to Katie. Their backpacks kept bumping into the mob of travelers. This was the busiest she had seen any of the train stations so far. She wondered if it was because school was out in the States as well as in Europe and throngs of students were just starting out on their adventures. Christy knew they had avoided some of that crowd by leaving on their trip so early in June.
“There’s a pizzeria,” Katie said. “Let’s buy some extra in case we’re stuck here all night.”
After waiting in another long line, Christy and Katie bought a whole pizza and three sodas. The fragrant garlic and spices tortured Christy as she carried the pizza with both hands back to the ticket booth. Todd still hadn’t reached the front of the line.
Fifteen minutes later he joined them on a bench with the news that he had miraculously secured three seats in first class. The seats apparently were the only ones available for the next twenty-four hours.
“The only thing is,” Todd said after he handed them their tickets, “the train leaves at 6:00 in the morning.”
“Should we look for a youth hostel here in Milan?” Christy asked.
“I have a feeling it might be full already,” Katie said. “The tour book said the hostels in the major Italian cities fill up quickly, and you should check in early.”
Todd looked at his watch. “I’d say let’s find a hotel, but I’m getting low on money. Which reminds me, I need for you both to pay me back for these first-class tickets. I’d like to say I could cover them for you but—”
“We planned to pay for them,” Christy said. “And the pizza is on us.”
They found a corner of the station away from the mobs and settled their money. Then they ate their cooled pizza and drank their warm soda.
“Where did all these people come from?” Todd asked.
“It looks as if summer travel in Europe has officially begun,” Christy said. She didn’t like feeling sweaty, smelly, and sticky. Whatever they did tomorrow morning when they arrived in Venice, she hoped it included a shower.
The three of them took turns walking around the huge station. Katie bought some chocolate and a key chain souvenir. Several other American students stopped to talk to them. The travelers compared stories and gave one another advice and names of places to stay. Sometime around 2:00 in the morning, Todd ate the last slice of cold pizza. The scent of garlic in their small corner of the station overwhelmed Christy. She turned down Todd’s offer for another round of chess and tried to find a way to curl up against her backpack to sleep. Their spontaneous adventure to Venice was quickly losing its glamour.
Christy closed her eyes and leaned her head against her backpack. That’s when she remembered the wild flowers. “Katie, where did we put that napkin with the wild flowers?”
“Oh yeah! The night is half gone, and we haven’t been sleeping with our wild flowers. I think you put the napkin in your day pack.”
Rummaging around, Christy found the cloth napkin and opened it carefully. The brightly colored wild flowers were not only pressed, but they also had gotten crumpled and squished with some of the stems broken off. “Do you think it will still work?” she asked Katie. “Will we dream of our future spouses even if our flowers are mangled?”
“Hey, if we can manage to have any kind of pleasant dream in a place like this, I think we’re doing okay.” Katie carefully extracted her seven flowers and folded them up in a wrinkled bandana scarf.
Christy found a piece of Italian newspaper and made a crooked sort of envelope in which to place her flowers. She slid the envelope into the zippered pouch on the front of her pack and tried to settle in so that her head rested against the pouch. She wiggled to get comfortable and opened her eyes. Todd was watching her with a smile. She smiled back.
“I want a full report on who you meet in your dreams tonight,” he said.
You know it will be you, Todd. It’s always you. Only you.
But all she said was “Okay.”
Christy didn’t know how long she dozed. She didn’t know whom she dreamed of or if she dreamed at all. Her sleep ended abruptly when she heard Katie scream.
“Get away from me, you creep!” Katie cried.
Through bleary eyes, Christy saw a large bald man bending over Katie, trying to talk to her. He reeked of alcohol.
As soon as Todd woke and said, “Be on your way, buddy,” the man ambled off, talking to himself.
“So much for the wild flower theory!” Katie said, sitting up and adjusting her sweat shirt.
“Are you okay?” Christy asked.
“That was a living nightmare,” Katie said. “There I was, dreaming of my mystery man, and then I felt someone touching my hair. I thought I was about to see the face of my true love, but when I opened my eyes, I saw him!”
Christy couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, Katie.”