A Summer in Paris (3 page)

Jennifer looked from her father to her mother, then back to her father. She knew them well enough by now to be able to translate the expressions on their faces. And one thing was very clear: like it or not, she would be wise to start brushing up on her French vocabulary.

* * * *

“Je vais à Paris,”
Nina Shaw happily sang as she cleared the table of the coffee cups and dessert dishes, noting with satisfaction that her chocolate
mousse
had been completely devoured. “I’m going to Paris. I’m really going.
Je vais à Paris.”

She had barely been able to eat dinner as she waited until dessert to spring her big news on her parents. Ms. Darcy’s announcement was all she could think about as her younger brother filled the family in on every last detail of the horror movie he and his friends had watched on TV after school that afternoon. As she tried to force herself to eat, she actually pinched herself a few times, just to be certain she wasn’t dreaming.

But she wasn’t dreaming. It was real. Just as real as the fact that her parents had finally agreed to let her go.

They hadn’t been very enthusiastic at first.

“Paris?” her father had repeated, blinking hard. “Paris, France?”

“Yes, Dad. Paris, France,” Nina had replied, laughing. She could remember having said those exact same words herself, not that long before.

As usual, her mother and father were full of doubts. Nina wasn’t surprised. By this point in her life, she was fully prepared for her parents’ timidness about stepping off the straight and narrow path.

Both of them, she knew, had always been perfectly happy with doing nothing more than working and taking care of their house. They found great comfort in always doing the same things, following the same routine, never taking any risks. Even on their infrequent vacations they never did anything more adventurous than visit some tourist spot like Williamsburg, Virginia, or Disney World. Even then, they invariably insisted upon staying at a Holiday Inn and eating all their meals in familiar chain restaurants and fast food places. And from what she could tell, her younger brother was turning out exactly the same way.

She, meanwhile, had always been the dreamer of the family. She was the one who longed to travel, to try new things ... to experience life as fully as she possibly could. And so she had all her arguments ready for what was bound to come after she told them her news.

“Paris,” her father continued muttering, shaking his head in disbelief.

Her mother was at least willing to try to understand. “Well,” she said slowly, “it is true that going to France has been Nina’s dream for as long as any of us can remember.”

“Yes, and now it’s finally going to happen.” Nina was quick to add, “That is, if you’ll let it happen.”

Mr. Shaw frowned as he turned to face his wife. “But Emily, Paris, France? It’s so far away.”

“It’s not as if I won’t be able to manage in another country,” Nina was quick to point out. “My French is good enough for me to get by, and I’m sure I’ll pick up even more in a very short time.”

“But ...”

“And if I’m going to get serious about becoming a writer—which you both know is what I really want to do—I think it’s very important for me to spend some time in Europe. And Paris is such a cultural center that it’s the ideal place.”

“Nina, I don’t think you ...”

“And I know I had planned to get a summer job to help pay my college expenses in the fall. But I do have a scholarship, and I’ll be getting a part-time job once school gets started. Besides, I’m going to a college that’s so close to West on that I’ll be living at home for at least the first year. We all agreed that that made the most sense, since going to school there was guaranteed to keep my expenses low.”

Nina paused to take a deep breath. “Given all that, I just know I’ll manage somehow.”

“And the cost of the trip?” her mother asked. “You know that we’re not wealthy people, Nina.”

“The cost of the trip,” Nina said matter-of-factly, glad she had already thought all this out, “will be covered by the inheritance Grandma left me.”

Her parents’ mouths dropped open. Nina knew then that she had made them see that despite their own reservations, in the end there was really nothing they could do to stand in her way.

“My birthday is in just two more weeks,” Nina went on, “and you’ve been telling me for years that Grandma left me some money to be given to me when I turned eighteen. You always said she had made a point of saying it was to be used in any way I chose. And since Grandma herself spent a year in Paris, studying painting, I’m sure she’d be thrilled to have me use the money she left me for the same purpose.”

In the end, her parents had agreed. They were still worried, but they recognized their daughter’s determination. Nina, meanwhile, was already making plans. In her head she was drawing up lists of what she would pack and what she would need to do before she left.

But there was something else she simply had to do. Immediately after finishing up in the kitchen, she went upstairs to the second floor of the Shaws’ house, then continued up to the third floor.

The attic was dusty, filled with old junk that nobody ever bothered with anymore. Nina couldn’t remember the last time either of her parents had been up there.

To Nina, however, it was a special place. Stacked up behind the old clothes and the ice skates that no longer fit anyone and the cartons of her old art projects from elementary school, there was a heavy wooden trunk. It had belonged to her grandmother, and it was one more thing that Anna Wentworth had left to her favorite grandchild.

Nina went over to it and opened it up. Lovingly she lifted out the old clothes, the fanciful hats, the albums filled with black-and-white photographs. And then, after pausing to make sure no one was coming up, she reached down to the bottom of the trunk. With great care she pulled out the real treasure her grandmother had left her, the secret that only her beloved granddaughter had shared—and even then, not until Nina’s grandmother had died.

As she took out the small bundle and held it in her hands, Nina’s eyes filled with tears.

“This is for you,” she said aloud, her voice catching even though she was only speaking in a whisper. “Don’t worry, Grandma. Wherever you are, I want you to know that I haven’t forgotten. I’m going to Paris. Finally, hopefully, I’ll be able to put things right.”

“I can’t believe my parents are really making me go through with this.” wailed Jennifer Johnson. “Oh, Danny, how am I ever going to live without you for two whole months?”

“Well, Jen, I’m afraid we’re both going to have to find a way to deal with being apart—and pretty darned fast, too.”

Danny glanced around at the crowds surrounding him at New York City’s busy John F. Kennedy Airport. Throngs of people were rushing by, lugging heavy suitcases, periodically checking the boarding passes and passports that were tucked into their pockets. Most of them looked happy, filled with anticipation about the trips they were about to take. He and Jennifer were definitely the exception.

“I’m going to write to you every single day,” Jennifer insisted. She swatted at the tears streaming down her cheeks, no longer concerned about whether or not her mascara was running. “I’ll write
twice a
day.”

“And I’ll write back,” Danny promised. “Look, it’s only eight weeks. The time is going to whiz right by. You’ll see. Now come on, Jen. It’s not the end of the world. Be brave.”

Jennifer took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, I’ll be brave.” And then she burst into tears once
again,
burying her head in Danny’s shoulder and holding on so tightly it looked as if she had no intention of ever letting go.

“I feel like I’m watching my favorite soap opera,” Kristy commented, glancing over in their direction from where she and Nina were sitting inside the waiting area of Gate 15. “I haven’t seen this much drama since Brent Hayworth on ‘The World is Wide’ left Courtney Galloway to join the Peace Corps.”

Nina laughed. “Come on, Kristy. Have a heart. Jennifer is really torn up about this. And leaving Danny behind is only part of it. You know as well as I do that she simply doesn’t want to go.”

“Well, as far as I’m concerned, this is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me. To any of us, in fact. I’ve been waiting for this day for weeks. Ever since I first found out about this summer program, it’s just about the only thing I’ve been able to think about.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Nina said. “I haven’t been able to think about anything else, either.”

The girls weren’t exaggerating. It had been a busy spring, what with the Senior Prom, final exams, and, finally, graduation. But through it all, the main concern of more than half the students in Ms. Darcy’s advanced French class had been getting ready for their summer in Paris. They were all excited as they shopped for clothes, got their paperwork in order, and brushed up on their French.

Instead of merely memorizing vocabulary words and conjugating verbs, Nina and Kristy had gotten together two or three times a week to work on their French together. They learned phrases that would be helpful on their trip. They practiced talking to each other, using only French as they did the simplest things: strolling at the mall, going to McDonald’s, discussing what they planned to wear to a particular school event.

Nina cast one more glance at Jennifer and Danny, who were still clinging to each other. With a sigh, she said, “I just hope that once we get there, Jennifer can stop being mad at her parents long enough to have some fun.”

“Attention!” a voice suddenly crackled over the loudspeaker. “Air France Flight Number Seventy, New York City to Paris, is now boarding at Gate fifteen. Will passengers with boarding tickets for rows thirty-five through fifty please—”

Kristy nearly jumped out of her seat. “Well, Nina, this is it!” she cried excitedly, reaching for her carry-on bag.

“Yes,” Nina said, her dark eyes glowing, “this really is it.”

She could hardly believe it was actually happening. But as she gathered up her things to board the plane, there was no mistaking the fact that what had been just a dream for so long was now about to become a reality.

* * * *

“Attention, Mesdames et Messieurs.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I please have your attention. Now that Air France Flight Number Seventy has landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport, we ask that you please remain seated with your seat belts fastened until—”

“We’re here.” Nina’s eyes were glowing as she pressed her face against the cool glass of the airplane window. Instead of feeling tired after her six-hour flight from New York, she was exhilarated, buoyed up by a sudden burst of energy. “We’re in Paris!”

“This
is
Paris?”
Jennifer, sitting right beside her, groaned. “Great. It’s raining.”

“Oh, it’s just a little summer shower,” insisted Kristy, sitting across from them on the aisle. “Besides, I think it’s kind of romantic.”

She leaned across Jennifer so she could get a better look at the activity on the airport runway as the plane neared the passenger terminal. “Oooh, look at all those French people,” she squealed. “Gosh, I can hardly wait to talk to them. Do you think they’ll really understand me when I say,
‘Bonjour, Monsieur. Comment allez-vous?’ “

“Not with that accent,” Jennifer grumbled.

“Come on, Jen,” Nina said gently. “Don’t tell me you’re not even a little bit excited about being in Paris. Just think, this is the home of the Louvre Museum and Napoleon’s tomb and the palace of Versailles....”

Jennifer scowled. “All I can think about right now is Danny. I wonder what he’s doing at this exact moment.”

“If he has any sense at all,” Kristy returned, “he’s fast asleep. Back home, it’s still the middle of the night. Don’t forget, here it’s six hours later than it is in Connecticut.”

“And here,” Nina said, turning her face back to the window, “the city of Paris is just beginning to wake up. But just think: today, we’re all a part of it.”

The girls spent the next two hours in a daze. Between jet lag and their disbelief that they were finally in Paris, Nina, Jennifer, Kristy, and the other five students from their class who were spending their summer abroad were like robots as they followed Ms. Darcy around the airport. They had their passports checked, retrieved their luggage from the revolving carousel, and waited in line to change their American dollars.

“Look at the funny money,” Kristy cooed. Her eyes were wide as she examined the handful of exotic-looking coins and bills the teller had just handed her. “It looks like a kid’s toy.”

“Wait until you start spending it.” Jennifer made a face. “I bet you’ll find it only goes about as far as a kid’s toy, too.”

Nina and Kristy just looked at each other and shrugged.

Riding from the airport into the city with their other classmates gave the girls the chance to catch their first real glimpse of the city that for the next two months would be their home. First they drove along highways, congested roads from which they could see little more besides billboards—all of them, much to the girls’ delight, in French. Then, finally, the airport bus began making its way through the outermost streets of the city. Both Nina and Kristy were beside themselves with glee.

“Look at the shops,” Kristy squealed, pressing her nose more tightly against the bus window. “Aren’t they cute?
Boucherie—
that’s the butcher shop.”

“And look over there,” Nina chimed in.
“Épicier.
That’s the corner grocery.”

“Oh, look!” cried Kristy.
“A patisserie.
Ummm, I can’t wait to go into one of those. I love French pastry, and I can’t wait to try the authentic version!”

“And there’s another French eating place,” Jennifer observed, showing more enthusiasm than she had since they had arrived. “I’m going to make a point of trying that one!”

Her two friends turned to look where she was pointing—and saw that they had just gone past Kentucky Fried Chicken.