Tutti Italia: A Novel (14 page)

Rachel took the bag that she’d used as carryon luggage out
of her closet and packed it with some light, overnight essentials.  She threw
in a second pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt, too.  Packing was done, and
Rachel looked at her watch.  It was only six, but she was exhausted.  She took
a shower and went to sleep. 

Rachel’s alarm went off at quarter after four the next
morning.  She was still tired, because, even though she’d gone to bed early
last night, she’d been so excited about going on this trip that it had taken a
while for her to get to sleep.  She rushed around her room, taking care of some
last minute business before she grabbed her bag and the keys to her new car, and
walked out the door.  She had to grin when she saw her car.  She was so proud
of herself for getting herself more self-sufficient.  She put the bag in the
passenger seat, then drove off base.  She was amazed at how little traffic
there was at this hour.  She knew from Jason that the next shift would be
starting around six, so the people that were coming in to work should be coming
in right now.  Oh well, it was no big deal for her.  She didn’t care about him
anymore, and with the road being so empty, she could break the speed limit a
little bit.  She arrived at the designated parking area for the people going on
the trip, and she went to sign in with the lady that was to be their tour
guide.  Once she did, she put her bag under the bus, as she’d been directed,
then took her seat on the bus.  Once everyone had arrived, Rachel noticed that
the two seats next to her were still empty.  The bus started moving, and Rachel
spread herself over the three seats, curling up for a little nap. 

The bus came to a stop a few hours later, and the sudden
cessation of movement woke her up.  They’d stopped just over the Austrian
border, at a breakfast rest stop.  Everything was written in German, and it
made her smile.  She went through the buffet lines like it was nothing, and
when it was her turn to check out, she spoke fluent German to the lady at the
cash register.  She sat down to have her breakfast, facing the large picture
window that gave her a magnificent view of a mountain range.  It was the type
of fairy tale beginning to an adventure that she’d always wanted.  The only
problem was she was alone.  The adventure was still happening, but the romance
portion of it would be put on hold for now.  The tour guide was starting to
usher people back on the bus, and Rachel reluctantly put her tray in the
bussing station and went back outside.  When everyone was back on the bus, the
tour guide told them that they still had three or four hours to go before they
reached the Oktoberfest grounds.  Rachel yawned, and curled back up on her
three seats for another nap. 

When the bus came to a halt for the second time, Rachel
woke up wide awake and full of energy and excitement.  They were in a crowded
parking lot, full of other buses and a section that was jammed full of cars. 
She knew that they had to be at Oktoberfest.  She looked out the window
eagerly, only to be met by a wall of pine trees.  She frowned and her heart
sank.  She hoped and prayed that this wasn’t going to be a big disappointment
like Jason had turned out to be.  She filed off the bus and joined the large
group reluctantly.  She was itching to run around the fence until she could
gain entrance to the grounds and see what it was all about.  The tour guide
told them all to be back that night at eight o’clock sharp, because they still
had a few hours to go until they crossed back into Austria to get to their beds
for the night.  Then they were set loose.  Rachel was the first one to reach
the gates, and at first, she could feel herself getting a little disappointed. 
Then she found some shops that sold German traditional clothes, and she went in
and entertained herself for about forty-five minutes, trying on the ones she
liked.  Once she saw the price, however, she quickly got out of the store.  She
wasn’t made of money, and according to those prices, only someone that was
could shop there.  As she was leaving the store, she saw that hundreds of
people were lining up along the sides of the street.  Curious, Rachel joined
the throng and dodged and wove her way around until she could get a good look
at the street.  It was the Oktoberfest Opening Ceremony Parade.  She took her
camera out and started clicking away as the parade wound its way past her.  Two
hours later, when the last wagon went by, Rachel’s fingers were numb from
holding up her camera, but she happily packed it away.  That was a hell of a
parade.  She made her way back towards the grounds that were gated in, and she
saw that everything was coming to life.

The beer tents were opening. There were a few rides for younger
kids, bratwurst stands, pretzel stands, and games.  She made a full round so
she could make sure she saw everything, then she hurriedly got in line at her
favorite brand’s beer tent, before it got to be overwhelming.  She got a two
liter mug that she took with her as she perused the grounds once more.  There
was a large hill where people were sprawled out, already drunk.  She chuckled
to herself, knowing that it would fill up steadily as the day wore on.  She got
to sit on one of the wagons from the parade that was horse drawn, and get her
picture taken with her big mug in her hand.  This was a great trip already. 
She was on her way over to the games when she froze.  Right in front of her was
an older couple, in traditional German clothes, and she
knew
them.  They
were one of the best known Volksmusik singers in Germany.  She started snapping
their picture right away.  That was going to be the highlight of her day,
regardless of how the rest of the day went.  She couldn’t wait to tell her
grandparents about it.  Time wore on, and she found herself eating one of the
big pretzels that they sold, and playing a few of the games.  She’d gone back
and waited in line for another large beer, and by the time she’d finished it,
it was time to start making her way to the parking lot.  She was still floating
on a high from life.  She’d seen one of her favorite singer couples, and she’d
had a huge pretzel that reminded her of home.  She’d finished the second beer
at the top of the stairs that were overlooking the drunk hill.  She’d been
right.  The hill almost didn’t have a free space left by the time she got down
and left the grounds. 

It took her a few minutes to find the right bus, but then
she saw that she was still a little early.  There were only four other people
there.  One was a man in his late twenties, who had apparently come on the trip
alone, and a group of three, that was closer to her own age, that consisted of
two guys and a girl.  They were sitting together on the curb, laughing and
joking and showing each other pictures that they’d taken over the course of the
day.  Rachel looked away while tears stung her eyes.  She would love to be here
with a group of friends.  She only wished that people didn’t hate her so much. 
For some reason that she couldn’t figure out for the life of her, people just
generally didn’t like her.  She sat down, far away from the happy group, and
just went over her own pictures again.  A wet nose snuck its way into her face,
and Rachel jumped back, startled.  A big husky had come over to say hi.  She
laughed and petted the big fur ball, laughing more as he licked her face and
jumped up on her.  The owner came running up, apologizing profusely for the
dog.  It turned out that he had slipped his collar, and had come running to someone
that he thought was acting sad.  Rachel knew he was right, but she wasn’t going
to admit it out loud in front of all of these strangers.  She petted the dog
one last time and gave him a kiss on the nose as he walked off with his owner. 
When she went to pack up her camera, she noticed that one of the two boys from
the group of three was looking at her. 

Chapter 19

Everyone trickled over in ones and twos, and eventually
the tour guide unlocked the bus so everyone could get on.  Rachel went back to her
lonely seat, and curled up across the three seats that she’d been napping on. 
She didn’t go to sleep this time. She just pulled her hood over her head and
let her pain get cried out.  She was holding back the sound, but the tears
flowed freely, making her thankful that she’d grabbed a black hoodie.  Black
material didn’t change color when it got wet.  She listened to the other sounds
on the bus of people snoring peacefully, and she wished again that she could
have gone on a trip like this with friends.  Once the bus had been on the road
for a while, Rachel wiped away her tears, sat up, and looked out the window. 
She watched the Austrian countryside slip by in patches of moonlight, and felt
homesickness sink its teeth into her.  Rachel’s memories of when she lived in
Germany came flooding back, and she was hard pressed to keep the tears at bay
again.  She let herself get swept up in the beauty and just ignored everything
else. 

The bus pulled up to a beautifully decorated, carved wooden
house that stood three levels tall.  It was beautiful.  Buildings like this
were what Rachel would see when she visited her grandparents in the mountains
of Germany, and it stabbed her even more with homesickness.  The group was
tired, and the distributing of luggage took a little longer than Rachel would
have liked.  Thankfully, the tour guide had been in the building, getting their
room keys while everyone was looking for their bags.  When the tired group
traipsed into the building, Rachel had to smother her gasp of awe.  It was
beautiful.  Decorated just the way the old houses were one hundred years ago,
in the beautiful countryside of Germany.  She kept to herself, trying to keep
everyone from knocking into her.  Looking around, she saw that most of the
people that were standing there had packed enough to last them for a week. 
Rachel and the group of three were the only ones with a duffel bag for
overnight.  She had to laugh a little at that.  The tour guide came back over
to them with a piece of paper and a small basket of keys.  She put the basket
down on a small table and pulled a key out at random.  She looked at the number
hanging off the key, matched it up with something on the page in her hand, and
called out two names.  Rachel was a little nervous now.  She’d thought that
everyone would get their own room, like in a hotel.  It looked like it was
going to be two people to a room.  She didn’t know anyone here closely enough
to want to share a room with them.  She stood nervously, waiting for her name
to be called.  When it finally was, she waited to see who was going to be
spending the night with her.  It was the girl from the threesome.  Rachel
smiled at her and gave her the key, letting her precede her up the stairs.

“Wow.  This is beautiful.”  The girl had opened the door
and walked in, allowing Rachel to follow her.  Rachel couldn’t agree more. 
There were two twin beds, separated by nightstands, with trunks at the foot of
each bed.  Both the girls dropped their bags on to the trunks.  The bathroom,
by comparison was completely modern.  Everything was in white ceramic and
frosted glass.  It was beautiful.  The shower doors were glass with mountain
scenes frosted on them.  Both girls were impressed with the décor. 

“So, my name is Rachel.”  Rachel stuck her hand out to
shake the other girl’s. 

“Oh, hi.  My name is Anna.”  They shook hands, and the two
of them stood around, not quite knowing what to do.

“Well, I’m going to take a shower and head to bed early, if
that’s alright with you.  Do you want to shower first or is it ok if I do?”

“You can go ahead.  I’m going to see if I can catch up with
my guys before I go to bed.”  Anna left the room, pulling her phone out as she
went.  Rachel waited until she was gone before she started to get undressed and
head to the shower.  When she was finished, she used the hair dryer that was
hanging on the wall, and put on her pajamas.  She curled up in her bed with a
smile.  Rachel had been lucky enough to get the bed by the balcony.  The doors
were glass, and she could look out and see the moon shining down over the
mountains.  It was peaceful, and it lulled her to sleep before Anna came back. 

In the morning, Rachel woke up early and got herself up and
dressed before Anna even stirred.  She was ready to go, with her bag repacked,
and out the door within twenty minutes.  She went downstairs with her bag and
was ushered into the breakfast room.  She was excited.  It was set up just the
way the German breakfast rest stop had been.  She went through the buffet style
tables, and then found a table to sit at in the far back corner of the
breakfast room.  She sat and watched as the rest of the group trickled in.  She
had finished her breakfast by the time the other girl walked in, and was simply
sitting there at her table because she didn’t want to go outside and possibly
lose the group.  When the tour guide came in and announced that the bus was
unlocked so people could board, Rachel grabbed her bag and left the breakfast
room.  She was back in her seat long before everyone else loaded up.  The ride
back to Saltzburg was going to take three hours.  Rachel had slept peacefully
the night before, so she stayed awake this time, looking out her window at the
scenery. 

The bus stopped in a small town, and in the distance,
Rachel could see the castle.  The excitement was back in her belly.  She didn’t
have to lug her bag around with her this time because she left it under the
bus.  She skipped off the bus and saw that they were in a shopping area.  There
were thin, narrow cobblestone roads with shops lining both sides, and it
reminded her of when she was younger, going places with her parents and
grandparents, shopping in the tourist towns, and racing up and down the
cobblestone streets.  Rachel had to push those thoughts to the back of her
mind.  She went in and out of the shops for the next two hours, and by that
time, her belly was reminding her that it was lunch time.  She found a classy
little bistro and went in.  She was seated at a table by herself, and when she
looked up, she saw the threesome sitting two tables over.  She didn’t know
them, and they didn’t know her.  Even though she’d spent the night in a room
with one of them that didn’t change.  She ordered her food, and went back to
admiring the décor.  She could see out of the corner of her eye that the
threesome kept looking furtively over at her.  She pointedly ignored them,
pretending like that table was empty as far as she cared.  Finally, Anna got up
and came over to Rachel’s table.