Amanda on the Danube: The Sounds of Music (11 page)

Leah pointed to the statue of St. Stephan. A splash of red could be seen between the horse's legs. Amanda went one way and Leah the other. On the other side of the statue, they found the dreadlocked knight with Enid in his grip.

“Let go of me, you brute!” The woman struggled to release herself from his firm hold.

“We do not take kindly to people impersonating a falconer. It takes years of training. You need to know how to handle birds of prey.” With one hand, he picked up the falcon laying on the ground. “And what is this?” He shook the bird in her face.

“I didn't hurt it. It isn't real.”

“I can see that.”

He handed the bird to the girls. “Would you like a toy falcon?
Steiff
toys do look very lifelike, don't they?”

Amanda placed her hands on her hips. “Enid, what are you doing? Your husband just collapsed in Heroes' Square and here you are masquerading as a falconer!”

“He is not my husband, you meddling little fool. You should mind your own business.” Enid spat out her words. “Where is that boy who thinks he is another Mozart? And where is that violin you were supposed to give to me for safe-keeping?”

T
his place is full of psychos and weirdos.” Leah shook her head and heaved a sigh. “We had better get back to the bus before it leaves without us.”

The girls left the real falconer to deal with the imposter.

“Where did you get the toy falcon?” asked Leah's mother when they got on the waiting bus.

“You could say a sort of knight in shining armour gave it to us,” replied Leah with a smirk.

The bus took them back to the boat for lunch where Amanda devoured potato pancakes with sour cream and applesauce. “Yum, these are so good. I think I'll try making them when we get home.” She took another bite. “I want to go back into town after lunch.”

“So do I,” said Mrs. Anderson. “I'd love to do some more shopping. The shoes here are fabulous.”

“Not more shopping!” Mr. Anderson chortled. “I best come along then, so you don't buy too much.”

They all took the short walk to the main street of town. Shops and restaurants of all sorts lined the crowded pedestrian street. Colourful kiosks, selling handmade crafts, toys, spices and other items filled the centre. Leah and her mother stopped to look at a rack of pashmina scarves. While they decided which to buy, Amanda scanned the shops until she saw a sign hanging over a small doorway:

Blue Danube Violin Makers

Her heart skipped a beat. “Mom, I want to look in that violin shop. I'll meet you along here in a few minutes.”

A bell tinkled when she entered the shop. The smell of cedar and varnish greeted her. Violins of all sizes and shades hung from racks like dresses in a clothing shop. She looked up and saw more violins dangling from the ceiling.

‘How would you ever pick one from all of these incredible instruments?' Amanda wondered.

“I see you made it.” Jozsef appeared from a back room with a serious-looking gentleman. “This is the young woman I mentioned, Heinrich.” Jozsef introduced Amanda to Heinrich Mueller, the owner of the store.

“You have a question for me?” asked Mr. Mueller.

“Yes, I wondered if you could tell me anything
about a violin you once made for someone. The number under your label is 2897.”

The man stiffened. He pulled his round glasses down and looked over the rim. “This is unbelievable. You are the second person to ask me about this very same instrument. A young man brought in this violin just this morning, inquiring about it. I told him to come back this afternoon after I looked it up in our files. We keep records of all the violins we have made and sold over the years.” He pulled out a piece of paper from the file folder in his hand. “This particular violin was made in 1912 for the Steiner family. It is a very valuable instrument.”

“What about the family? Does it still exist?” asked Amanda.

Jozsef went pale. “
Ja.
This is my mother's family. Her niece, Anna, was an accomplished violinist. She fell out with her family when she married a man her parents disapproved of. She died young, never seeing her family again. My mother has often mentioned the family violin that had been handed down through the generations. She told me that Anna was the last person to play it. She also thought Anna had two sons, twins I believe. They would be about ten years old by now. We have no idea what happened to them.”

Amanda smiled slyly. “I think I know where they
are.”

The bell tinkled as the door opened. Amanda saw Sebastian enter at the same time he saw her. He turned and ran out the door and down the street.

“Sebastian, stop!” Amanda chased after him.

He ran into a table of hand-embroidered linen, knocking it over. Like a flock of white geese, linen flew everywhere.

Amanda dodged the tablecloths and napkins and called after him. “It's OK, Sebastian. I have good news for you!”

The boy kept running. He darted around an old oven smelling of freshly baked bread and knocked over a rack of pillows. Amanda picked her way through the pillows, careful not to step on them.

“What do you think you are doing?” Leah appeared in front of her.

“I'm trying to catch Sebastian. I have something to tell him.” Amanda looked left and right. She had lost sight of the boy. “You will not believe what I just found out.”

“There he is!” Leah pointed to a place called
Paul's Hungarian Bistro
. “I saw him go in there.”

The girls crossed the street and waited outside the café behind a large potted plant. Sebastian peered out the doorway, looked both ways and stepped out onto the terrace. As he hurried past the plant, Leah
stuck out her foot. He fell flat on his face.

“Sebastian, I need to talk to you.” Amanda knelt over him, placing her hands on the pavement, one on each side of the boy. He turned over, holding his nose. Blood trickled between his fingers.

“I think you broke my nose.”

“Sebastian, do you know who your parents are?”

He shook his head. “No. My parents died when I was a baby. I lived in a
Kinderheime
, a children's home.”

“Who are Klaus and Enid Schmidt?”

“Klaus came to the children's home and heard me play the violin. He approached me to help him find a special violin. He said it would be easy, and I could make a lot of money. Enid is just an actress pretending to be his wife.” He scowled. “They are not nice people.”

“What if I told you that you have a twin brother, and the violin you stole actually belonged to your mother?”

“What?” exclaimed Leah and Sebastian at the same time.

“Let's all return to the violin shop and clear this up. Jozsef will be happy to see you. Seems he is a relative of yours.” Amanda handed Sebastian a tissue from her pocket.

“Then, I am not in trouble?” The young boy looked
around with wide eyes as he wiped his bloody nose.

The last night on
The Sound of Music
, the guests were treated to a lively operetta. After the performance, Jozsef announced, “Tonight we have a special treat for you. It is my pleasure to introduce to you, together for the first time, The Steiner Brothers.”

Sebastian and David, dressed in long, cream coloured jackets, tight breeches and white ruffled shirts, climbed onto the stage. They each held a violin in one hand and a bow in the other. They looked at each other and smiled broadly.

“Let's do this, bro,” said Sebastian.

David nodded. Raising their violins, they played the beautiful Blue Danube like no one had ever heard it before. The crowd stood and cheered. Amanda beamed with happiness. She clapped the loudest and longest.

The next morning while everyone waited for taxis to take them to the airport, Michael approached Amanda and Leah to say goodbye.

“I hope you girls had a good time on the cruise, in spite of all the problems.”

“We had an awesome adventure,” said Amanda. “Thanks.”

“Totes,” added Leah.

“What will happen to Sebastian and David?” asked Amanda.

“Jozsef and his family will look after them. They will continue to attend school and play their music. You know, I didn't realize there were two of them. I knew we had a stowaway on board at the beginning, but I was confused when the same kid kept showing up.”

“What about Klaus and Enid?” asked Leah.

“I never did trust them. Those aren't even their real names. They will be dealt with by the authorities. Those crooks only wanted the violin because it is worth a lot of money.” Michael snorted. “So where will you two journey next?”

The girls looked at each other and raised their shoulders.

“We don't know, but we plan to do a lot more travelling to cool places!” Amanda exclaimed. “I've applied to go on a class trip to New Mexico—and I'd love to visit Holland and see the tulip fields. What do you say about that, Leah?”

Leah gave her a knowing smile.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the many friends, family and fellow writers who have given me support, encouragement and assistance while writing this book. A huge thank you to my dear mom, Bette Frisch, my biggest cheerleader over the years, and to whom this book is dedicated. Thank you to my good friend and cruise buddy, Sheila MacArthur, for providing a second set of eyes during the editing process. Thanks to my brilliant critique partners, Yvonne Pont, Cyndy Greeno and Marion Iberg, for patiently pointing out misplaced commas, poor word choices and glaring errors. Without their able assistance this book would have not been completed.

Thank you to the fans of Amanda, who insist she continue to travel, to my publisher, Michelle Halket, who continues to publish these adventures, and to my long-suffering husband, Paul, who shares my love of travel and gives me the space and time to keep writing.

The Sound of Music, a real boat, provided the inspiration for this Amanda adventure. Thanks to the friendly and knowledgeable staff and crew for bringing attention to the many historical sites and sharing details of the places we visited. Although the boat and places are real, the characters and events in this work of fiction have been invented by my imagination. Any factual errors are mine alone.

Brought up on a ranch in southern Alberta, Darlene Foster dreamt of writing, travelling the world and meeting interesting people. She also believes everyone is capable of making their dreams come true. It's no surprise that she's now the award-winning author of a children's adventure series about a travelling twelve-year-old girl.

A world-traveller herself,

Darlene spends her time in Vancouver, Canada and Costa Blanca in Spain.

web: darlenefoster.ca

twitter: @supermegawoman