Sisters in Delft by Nika Teran

Author:Nika Teran [Nika Teran]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brown Cat Press
Published: 2022-11-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter sixteen

“You won’t believe what just happened to me!” Antonia burst as soon as Erika and Liese entered the room, planning on telling them how she got herself a date.

“And what was that?” Liese looked at her with her big blue eyes.

“Well it was this...” Antonia stopped, realizing Boude might not like her sharing the news, especially since he was trying to get to Liese’s room unnoticed.

“Nothing important, actually.”

But it was important.

“I mean, it is important because it’s going to be my first date!”

Antonia clamped her hand over her mouth. She had never had so much trouble keeping her mouth shut.

“A date? What are you talking about, Toni?”

Antonia couldn’t tell them about the date. She had to think of something.

She looked at her sister, noticing only now the transformation Erika had gone through.

Erika wore a light silver gown that matched Liese’s in everything, except for the color. Every time she moved, her gown shimmered like the sea in the moonlight, and the ends of her silver shoes sparkled. Her hair was arranged into a bun and so was Liese’s, which made them look like twins. The only thing that didn’t go with Erika’s outfit was her scarf.

“Toni! A date with who?!” Erika cried.

“A date? Hm. A date. Did I say a date? No, I didn’t say a date. I mean, that’s not what I meant,” Antonia mumbled as the girls stood before her, waiting for an answer.

“I forgot,” Antonia finally lied, remembering how forgetful she’d been lately. Erika sighed and left her alone.

“By the way, you look beautiful,” Liese said. “You look like another person.”

“I do?” Antonia walked over to the mirror behind the door.

From the mirror, a girl in a magnificent gown with dark, rich, wavy hair looked back at her; no trace of the ordinary seventh-grader with a high ponytail, a hoodie, jeans and sneakers she used to be. No wonder Boude didn’t recognize her. She also looked blissfully happy, which wasn’t very often the case.

Antonia suddenly felt very grown up, very composed and quite proud of herself. “What’s the event about?” she asked.

“It’s an annual event Mrs. Van den Berch holds in honor of her husband. He was a sailor and disappeared at sea three years ago. He used to sail together with Father, they were friends,” Liese said.

“Your father is a sailor, too?”

“Yes, a sailor and a merchant, at the VOC. The Dutch East India Company. But he doesn’t sail anymore, thankfully. Each trip took him about a year.”

“A year!!!”

“Yes. Well, Batavia is very far. It takes time to make the journey. Come, I’ll show you on the map.”

“Shouldn’t we be going?” Erika asked.

“It will only take a minute,” Liese said.

It was quiet in the hallway, where the drumming of the rain could not be heard. On the golden-framed map, Liese pointed her finger somewhere in Asia. “This is Batavia. Where Father used to go.”

Antonia wasn’t sure where exactly that would be on the twenty-first century map. It looked very far from Europe and from America.

“And this is the boat Father used to travel on.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.