Amanda on the Danube: The Sounds of Music

by Darlene Foster

  “Sounds great! See you at the boat.” Leah grabbed Amanda’s hand and started to walk away.

  “Now be safe and watch the time. The boat leaves at 2:00 pm sharp,” said Leah’s father.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be there.” Leah didn’t turn around but gave a little wave.

  The girls continued to look around the market, stopping to pull the strings on jumping jacks and stroking teddy bears dressed in lederhosen, just like the dancers wore the night before.

  “Psst!”

  Amanda looked around but couldn’t see anyone.

  “Psst!”

  Amanda swung around and saw a finger motioning to her from between two stalls. Leah was busy looking at jewellery. Amanda slipped into the tiny space. There crouched in the corner, sat the young boy who played his violin by the Gingerbread House earlier.

  “Please, Miss. I need your help.”

  Amanda noticed blood seeping out of the dirty bandage on his thumb. “What happened to your thumb?”

  “Oh, that. It is nothing.” The young boy reached for his violin case. “You are on the boat, yes? The Sound of Music boat?”

  “Yes, I am. Why?” She looked at the bloody finger. “You should have that cleaned up. You could get an infection.”

  “Please, could you take this with you on the boat?” His large blue eyes pleaded with her as he held out the case.

  “Why can’t you take it to the boat?” asked Amanda.

  “I do not have a ticket. But my violin must get on the boat. It is of much importance.”

  “Well,” Amanda took a deep breath. “I guess I could take it, but then what will I do with it once I’m on the boat?”

  “Perhaps you could keep it in your room until you get to Vienna. I will meet you there.”

  “How—”

  “Amanda! Where have you gone?” She could hear Leah shouting.

  “OK. I have to go.” Amanda snatched the violin case.

  “Danke, fräulein. Don’t tell anyone you saw me, bitte. I mean, please.”

  Amanda emerged from the small space between the two stalls just before Leah spotted her.

  “I found a rad choker necklace.” Leah held up a clear bag and shook it. “What do you have in your hand?”

  “I found a vintage violin case,” answered Amanda. “I think I’ll surprise my dad with it later.”

  Leah looked at her watch. “We had better get to the boat before it leaves.”

  The girls walked down the street toward the bus. A boy dashed past them, knocking Amanda down.

  “Hey, you! Watch where you’re going.” Amanda stood up. She held on to the violin case as she steadied herself.

  “Are you all right?” Leah asked. “That boy looked very much like the one the crew members chased through the market. What is his problem?”

  “I’m fine. I think he tried to grab the violin case.”

  “Where did you say you got it?”

  “I bought it from an old guy at the market while you were looking at jewellery.”

  Amanda spotted a huge nutcracker soldier in a doorway. “Look at that!” She stood beside the wooden figure towering over her. “Take my picture, Leah. I feel like Clara and her gallant Nutcracker Prince from the ballet Aunt Mary took me to last Christmas.”

  Leah snapped a couple of pictures of a beaming Amanda. She shouted, “There’s that boy! He’s hiding behind the nutcracker.”

  Amanda turned around. The blond, curly-topped boy stood, grinning. He grabbed on to the violin case and pulled hard. Amanda held on tight. Leah came over and held on as well. The boy lost his grip and fell over backwards, landing in a pile of spinning tops.

  A burly shopkeeper ran over to them. “Get out of my store you trouble makers! Aus, kinder schlecht!”

  Amanda and Leah dashed down the street just as the bus pulled away.

  “Oh no! Now we’re going to be late and miss the boat.” Leah’s face fell. “My dad will kill me.”

  Amanda noticed two-wheeled motorized vehicles lined up on the sidewalk with a sign:

  SEGWAYS 4 RENT

  “These look like fun. Maybe they will get us to the boat on time.”

  Leah looked doubtful.

  4

  I feel like I’m floating on air.” Amanda moved her body slightly to make the Segway veer to the right. “I just love this!”

  Leah looked over at her friend and gave her a huge grin. “Me too! This was a great idea.” She moved her body to the right as they rounded a corner.

  “There’s the church the guy at the rental place told us to turn at to get to the dock. He sure was nice to give us such good instructions.”

  “Yeah, and he was totes cute too.” Leah giggled.

  Amanda checked to make sure the violin case was secure between her legs. Leaning their bodies to the left, the girls negotiated the corner by a church with a tall steeple.

  Amanda pointed to the water in the distance. “We’re almost there.”

  Just then another Segway came up beside them, almost running into Amanda.

  “Hey, watch where you’re going!” yelled Amanda. She recognized the boy from the toy store.

  With a mischievous grin, he aimed his Segway at hers and got close enough to reach over and grab the violin case. Amanda knocked his hand away, keeping one hand tightly on the handlebar of her Segway. Leah appeared on the other side of the boy, leaned sharply to the right and almost pushed him over. He yelled something in a language they didn’t understand while he gained control of his machine and sped off.

  “What did he think he was doing, anyway?” asked Leah.

  Amanda shook her head and shrugged.

  They turned another corner and descended downhill to the port where The Sound of Music waited. The crew was about to pull up the gangway.

  “Wait for us!” shouted Amanda.

  The girls left the Segways on the dock, as instructed, before they dashed up the gangway and onto the boat.

  Mr. Anderson waited at the entrance with a stern look. “You two almost missed the boat.”

  “Sorry, Dad. We only just missed the bus. Amanda had this great idea to rent the Segways to get us here faster. They were totally brill.”

  “How will you return them?”

  “The guy said he would come to fetch them. No worries.”

  Leah’s dad shook his head in disbelief. “Go freshen up and meet us up on top.”

  Once in their room, Amanda placed the violin in the bottom drawer of the dresser, underneath her socks and underwear. She hoped no one would find it there.

  Before dinner, the passengers stood on the open-top deck to watch the boat depart from the city of Nuremberg and enter the Danube River.

  Amanda looked down into the grey-green water and exclaimed, “This water is not blue at all!”

  Everyone around her laughed.

  An elderly German gentleman with a big belly and a bushy, white beard chuckled. “Maybe it once was, I don’t know. So many visitors think the river should be blue like in the song made famous by Johann Strauss II.” His hearty laugh and white beard made Amanda think of Santa. All he needed was a red suit and a large bag of toys on his back.

  “Amanda, are you listening?” her dad asked. “Do you want to go to the presentation in the lounge? It’s all about the locks we will be going through.”

  “What do you think, Leah? Should we go?”

  Leah shrugged. “I guess we can check it out.”

  Michael conducted the presentation and seemed to know a lot about the topic. “A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on rivers and canals,” he explained. “Locks are used to make a river easier to navigate and uses the river’s own water to raise and lower the boats.”

  Michael looked directly at Leah and Amanda. “Did you know water could do that?”

  He switched to another slide and continued, “We will pass through many locks on the Danube. Here is a map of where all the locks are located.”


  Leah yawned and texted on her cell phone. She leaned over to Amanda and whispered, “This is totally boring. Let’s leave.”

  Amanda nodded. “I think I know everything I need to know about locks. Let’s go.”

  They discreetly left the lounge and went back to the deck on top of the boat. Not many people were there anymore. The jolly old man with the white beard stood looking over the railing. He broke into a huge smile when he noticed the girls.

  “So, how do you like our not-so-blue Danube River?”

  “It’s awesome,” said Amanda.

  “It’s lovely,” said Leah.

  He reached out his chubby hand. “I’m Klaus.”

  Amanda shook his hand. “I’m Amanda and this is Leah.” She nodded toward her friend.

  “Where are you girls from?”

  “I’m from Canada.”

  “And I am from England.” Leah shook his hand. “Lovely to meet you, Mr. er…Klaus. Where are you from?”

  “Our home is in Munich, but my wife and I travel all over the world.”

  A woman with curly grey hair walked toward them, shaking her head. “Now, Klaus, I hope you aren’t teasing these young women. They are far too smart to believe that you are Santa Claus. I’m Enid Schmidt, the wife of Klaus here. I am not Mrs. Klaus.”

  Everyone laughed.

  Once in their room later that night, Amanda remarked, “For a minute I thought perhaps that man was the real Santa Claus.”

  Leah looked up from texting and rolled her eyes. “Please, don’t tell me you believe in all that.”

  Amanda shrugged. “You never know. Saint Nicholas was a real person. He could have been related or something.”

  Leah continued texting. She didn’t seem to want to talk.

  Amanda pulled out her notebook and jotted down a few new things she had experienced.

  Later, after Leah fell asleep, Amanda got out of bed and crept to the dresser. She quietly opened the bottom drawer, reached under her clothes and pulled out the violin case. She unlatched it and carefully opened it. Inside, nestled in red satin, lay a reddish-brown violin, gleaming like a freshly polished apple.

  Amanda drew in a breath. She slowly lowered the lid, protecting the violin from light as if it was a vampire in its coffin.

  She sensed this was a very special instrument she harboured.

  5

  The next morning, Amanda jumped out of bed and pulled open the curtains. The boat stood still. Outside the window, she noticed a green slope leading up to an old stone wall with a large sign that read:

  Regensburg

  “Leah! Wake up!” Amanda shook her friend. “We’re in another town and it looks way cool.”

  “Mmmm.” Leah snuggled deeper under the covers. “I want to sleep some more.”

  “You wouldn’t be so tired if you hadn’t been texting late into the night. Who were you texting anyway?”

  “Um, nobody.” Leah sat up and stretched. She swung her long legs over the side of the bed. “I am sort of hungry. We should see what they have for breakfast in this floating hotel.”

  Michael beamed when he saw the girls enter the dining room. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Yes, thank you,” said Amanda.

  Leah smiled and nodded. They filled their plates from the buffet and found both sets of parents at their designated table.

  “I see you finally decided to get out of bed and join us,” said Amanda’s dad. “There’s a walking tour of Regensburg in an hour. Will you both be joining us?”

  “Of course,” said Amanda with a mouth full of blueberry pancakes. “I can’t wait to see this place.”

  Leah looked up from the cell phone on her lap and mumbled, “Sure. All right.”

  Mr. Anderson frowned. “Leah, put that phone away while we are eating. I’ve told you before, it is rude to text while sharing a meal.”

  “It’s just breakfast.”

  “Leah, we agreed you could have the phone only if you used it responsibly and politely. Now please, put it away.”

  Leah scowled, hit a button and surrendered the phone to her jacket pocket.

  Later, walking into town, Amanda asked, “Who is so important that you need to text constantly?”

  “Just a friend.” Leah looked down as if watching her footing on the uneven cobblestones.

  Karin, a local young woman, guided the tour. She shared funny stories and interesting facts about the town. She explained the town was very old, dating back to 170 AD and pointed out an original Roman wall.

  Amanda reached out and felt the stones. She thought about how many people had touched that wall over the centuries. She took pictures of everything she saw including a curved, old stone bridge with a funny little carved figure standing in the middle, shielding his eyes with one hand.

  Karin explained, “It only took thirteen years to build the bridge, which was quite a feat in the twelfth century. There is a legend that the bridge builder and the cathedral builder had a bet as to who would finish first. When the building of the cathedral progressed faster than that of the bridge, the bridge builder made a pact with the Devil. The Devil agreed to help him in exchange for the first three souls to cross the bridge. The Devil helped and the bridge was completed before the cathedral. The clever bridge builder sent a rooster, a hen and a dog across the bridge first. The angry Devil attempted to destroy the bridge, but failed. That is why it is bent.”

  “But what about the stone figure in the middle?” Amanda asked.

  “He is called Bruckmandl, the bridge manikin. No one really knows why he was put there. Some say he symbolizes the city’s freedoms. Others say he represents the clever bridge builder. Originally he was seated on the roof of a mill but now sits on the bridge itself on the roof of a miniature toll house.”

  After the tour, the mothers went shopping and the dads went back to the boat. Amanda and Leah were left to explore on their own.

  They stopped at a cute shop where Amanda bought a teddy bear wearing lederhosen. “Won’t he look great sitting on my bed beside the Harrods bear I bought in London?”

  Leah didn’t hear her. She was bent over her phone, texting again.

  “Leah!” Amanda shouted.

  Leah looked up with tears in her eyes.

  “What’s wrong, Leah?”

  “Well, it’s just this guy I thought liked me…”

  “Ho! Ho!”

  Amanda jumped and looked around. Klaus Schmidt stood behind them.

  “Are you enjoying this old town of Regensburg?”

  Startled, Amanda stammered. “It’s – it’s totally interesting.”

  “My nephew is staying here. We are supposed to meet him in this square. It is not like him to be late.” Klaus shaded his eyes with his hand and searched the area.

  “Oh, there he is. Why is he not showing his face?” Klaus pointed towards a large tree in the middle of the square. “Sebastian, over here!”

  A familiar-looking boy with curly blond hair emerged from behind the tree.

  6

  Amanda glanced at Leah, and then back at the boy Klaus called Sebastian. He was definitely the boy they saw in Nuremberg; the one who tried to take the violin.

  “There you are, Sebastian. Why were you hiding behind that tree, you silly boy?”

  Sebastian shook his head and sighed. “I vas not hiding, Onkel Klaus. I vas just standing in the shade. The sun is wery bright today.” He pronounced every word clearly except w sounded like v and v sounded like w.

  “Well, now you are here.” Klaus ruffled the boy’s hair. “You must meet my friends, Amanda and Leah. They are on the same cruise as us.”

  Sebastian smirked. “Nice to meet you.”

  “I think we’ve met already,” replied Amanda. “You were in Nuremberg.”

  “No, that could not haf been me. I haf never been to Nuremberg.”

  “Sebastian is here, in Regensburg, studying music. He is a talented violinist.” Klaus put his arm around the boy’s shoulder and pulled him towar
d him. “We are very proud of him.”

  Sebastian grimaced and stood rigidly.

  “I’m sorry, but we must be going,” said Amanda. “We promised to meet our moms.”

  As they walked away, Leah whispered, “Now that was weird. I’m sure he was the same boy.

  Amanda glanced back. “I know he was.”

  They walked down a street on the way to the boat when Leah suddenly stopped and pointed. “Look at that!”

  A painting of a warrior giant looking down at a young man aiming a slingshot at him covered the entire wall of a large building.

  “OMG! That is amazing.” Amanda stared at the colourful depiction of one of her favourite Bible stories. Goliath stood three floors high and David, ready to fling a stone with his slingshot, stood between the first and second floor. “I always liked that story from Sunday school of the young boy, David, and how he killed the mean giant, Goliath with only a slingshot.”

  Leah, texting again, made no comment.

  Amanda saw a shadow move out of the corner of her eye. “Wait here, Leah. I want to look at the side of the building.” She went to investigate.

  Her heart beating rapidly, she scanned the shadows. A boy with a flat cap and a bandaged finger appeared.

  He whispered, “Do you still have it?”

  Amanda’s mouth went dry. She nodded and murmured “Yes.”

  “Please, don’t let anyone take it from you.”

  “Don’t worry, it’s safe.”

  “Danke.”

  Amanda heard Leah shouting, “Amanda, where are you? What are you doing?”

  “Nothing. I just wanted to see the other side, but there isn’t anything here.” Amanda emerged from the side of the building. She looked away from Leah and quickly changed the subject. “Now tell me about this boy you’ve been texting like mad. Is he, like—your boyfriend?”

  “Well, I thought so, but my friend saw him snogging with another girl at the mall.” Leah hung her head.

  Amanda put her arm around her friend. “I’m so sorry, Leah.”

  BANG!

  Someone on a skateboard ran right into them, knocking them both down. Leah’s phone went flying through the air, landing with a loud crack on the cobblestones.