The Spanish Kidnapping Disaster Read Online Free Page A

his "Spanish for Travelers" tape. Ever since we'd boarded the plane in Baltimore, he had played it over and over again—even when he was asleep. He claimed the words went straight from his ears into his brain and lodged there. Next year when he was in sixth grade, he planned to prove it for his science fair project.
    I tried to fall asleep, but I was intensely aware of Amy on the other side of her imaginary line. I didn't want any part of me to touch any part of her. Every time I moved, 1 worried about poking her, but I couldn't lie still. My legs were twitchy and so were my feet. To make it worse, I kept seeing the man with the cobra eyes. Why couldn't I forget him?
    After I'd rolled from my side to my back to my stomach several times, Amy sat up. "What's the matter with you?" she asked. "Are you hyper or something?"
    "I can't sleep," I said.
    "You and I followed that weird woman all over Toledo and you're not tired?" Amy stared at me. "I'm exhausted, so if you don't mind, if it's not too much trouble, lie still and let me sleep!"
    "Grace isn't weird," I said. "Honestly, Amy, how can
you be so ungrateful? She rescued us from being lost, didn't she?"
    "You never even noticed we passed the same square two or three times, did you?" Amy asked. "You were too busy lying about horses and swimming pools and Jacuzzis!"
    "I was just—"
    "Showing off." Amy completed my sentence for me. "Like you always do. You wanted her to think we were millionaires or something."
    "I did not—"
    "You're a liar, Felix, admit it." Amy was really mad now. "I was embarrassed half to death!"
    As I bit my lip, trying to think of a good comeback, Phillip suddenly yelled, "If you
estúpidos pulpos
don't shut up, I'm telling!"
    "You hush," Amy shouted at him, "and you too, Felix!" Then she flopped down with her back to me. She huffed a couple of times, but she didn't say another word.
    I lay beside her, staring at the shadows on the ceiling and thinking about what she'd just said. Grace had taken us past the same square more than once? How could I have failed to notice that? Amy must be mistaken. After all, one square looked pretty much the same as another. She was probably confused. And what reason would Grace have to lead us in circles? It didn't make sense.
    Shutting my eyes tightly, I told myself I was going to forget about everything and go to sleep. But then I remembered the man at the Plaza de Zocodover, the one who had scared me. With his face in front of me again, I couldn't relax.
    "Amy," I whispered, "are you asleep?"
    "What do you want now?" Amy asked, keeping her back to me. Her voice sounded as if she were forcing it out between clenched teeth.
    "Do you remember that man in the black leather jacket?"
    "He was really handsome, wasn't he?" Amy turned over then and looked at me. "He reminded me of a movie star."
    "Did you see the other man?"
    She frowned. "What other man? He was all by himself."
    "No," I said, "Another man came and sat down with him. He was older, heavier. Meaner."
    "Meaner?" Amy stared at me.
    I nodded. "His eyes were scary," I said. "And they were both staring at us,
all
of us. Not just you."
    Amy sighed. "Do you know what's wrong with you, Felix? You have too much imagination. At least that's what my father thinks."
    I shook my head. "Mom says the same thing, but I didn't imagine that man and I didn't imagine the way he was looking at us. He scared me."
    "Listen, Felix," Amy said. "I want to go to sleep, okay? I don't want to hear about mean men with scary eyes or anything else. Can't you just lie still like a normal person and be quiet?"
    Her voice was rising again, and Phillip made a funny snuffling sound right in the middle of a snore. Not wanting him to wake up, I lay down on my back and told myself I would not move or speak till morning. I would not think
of the man again, I would not worry about him, I would lie still like a normal person and not bother anyone.
    Pretty soon, Amy fell asleep. Lying so close,