The Belgian Adventure

7. A Vacation Begins

I woke up with the Sun's rays softly touching my eyes, like fingers gently trying to pry them open. I squinted and opened them a few times to get accustomed to the light, and then stretched my limbs as far as the steeply reclined seat in front of me allowed. It was hard to believe I'd slept so peacefully and so well that night... flight journeys had, in the past, always made me either too sick to eat anything, or too scared to sleep soundly. Especially after I'd get glimpses of what my parents must have gone through, thanks to my over-active imagination. But it seemed that having Jordan beside me had driven all the negativity away.

I looked out of the window, shading my eyes against the rapidly rising Sun in the almost cloudless morning sky, and saw below me a number of green patches—surely farms. Oh, this was indeed something I enjoyed doing in a flight! Gazing down at the earth, feeling on top of the world (which was true, literally!) ...

Now, there were houses coming up. And there were the black roads wounding through the countryside and in between like coiled serpents! A city was beginning to come into view, clearer by the minute as I realized we were descending. As soon as the thought entered my mind, the flight's PA system cracked to life.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. As we start our descent, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins. Thank you."

Of course, I know how essential the seat belt is for passengers' safety, and that it's important to be reminded of it, but when you hear the seat-belt part of an in-flight announcement for the thirtieth time, trust me, you want to permanently block your ears in order to get rid of that deadpan and still somehow sugary sweet voice!

Anyhow, I didn't need to do anything because my seat belt was already in its place over me. I think I must have forgotten to remove it before I drifted off to sleep...

Talking of which, Jordan, right beside me, started stirring awake too. He was a heavy sleeper, not at all like me. In fact, he was known for falling into the deepest of slumbers even in the worst of situations when sleep would evade any normal, rational human being! I was just glad that being on a flight after so long hadn't changed that.

I looked at him, amused, as he yawned and stretched, and then raised his eyebrows seeing me staring at him. "Good morning, brother. We're almost there now." I teased with a little smile. He hated, like really detested, me calling him "brother". Formalities aren't his thing, apparently.

He winced. I laughed, shaking my head at him. A sudden jerk in the plane pushed him half out of his seat and he bumped his head on the one in front of him, and though I was alarmed, I couldn't help laughing even more. Jordan pulled himself back and nursed his forehead with one hand, the other fiercely reaching out to hit me. I dodged skilfully and directed his hand to his seat-belt instead. "Go on, be sleepy during important announcements and forget your seat-belt, dear brother." I teased again, putting on his seat-belt for him. He just opened his eyes to roll them at me, and then reclined back, defeated.

How I enjoy pulling his leg! I guess it's a part and parcel of any sibling relationship, isn't it? And no one can disagree that it sure is fun! Especially after such a looong time, too.

At last, the flight landed at the Brussels Airport. We hadn't even reached the check-in point when we saw our grandparents waving excitedly to us from among the crowd of people, who were each waiting for someone on the flight with wide, searching eyes. When we finally reached them, they couldn't resist hugging us and pulling our cheeks (like all elders, even though we weren't tiny tots anymore!).

"Look how tall you've grown, my dear! But what have you been eating? You two have become so thin in just a year!" Grandma Malia gushed.

"Oh, some fresh farm food and a few weeks' work under the sun will do them good." Grandpa Jonathan fondly stated.

Jordan rolled his eyes, and I laughed. "Where's the truck?" I said.

"Right here kiddos! Come along!" Grandpa led the way out of the airport.

After grabbing our luggage from the conveyor belt, we piled into Grandpa's old farm truck and started the hour-long journey to Namur. It was May, but so much pleasanter than our Arizona summer! As soon as we settled into our seats, I rolled down the windows on my side and took deep breaths of fresh air, which was instantly rejuvenating after the suffocating fifteen-hour flight.

In about fifteen minutes we had reached the outskirts of Brussels, the capital of Belgium, and Grandpa let the truck roll to a stop in front of a roadside diner. The bright neon sign displayed the name "Averses de Mousson". "Hey, Grandma, what does that sign mean? Do they serve mousse or something?" I asked, curious as well as amused.

"No, dear," she laughed, and I saw Grandpa smile as he stepped out. "It's French for 'Monsoon Showers', actually. You know, Belgium is famous for an almost all-year monsoon season. It's not for nothing that the country is known as the Kingdom of Rains."

I grinned sheepishly; of course, it made sense! Having lived in Belgium for two years, I knew about the local weather, but my French was no better than it had been then.

Jordan added, "The cloudless sky above us right now would beg to differ."

"Just you wait till you've lived here for a week. You'll be used to the unpredictable mood swings of the weather soon enough to hold that opinion for long." Grandpa replied and J frowned. I could practically see his opposite personalities—the newest warm one and the not-too-long-ago colder one—struggling to topple each other.

We entered the restaurant, and were instantly hit by delicious smells. I had forgotten how scrumptious Belgian food was! Grandma ordered and the rest of us found a booth adjoining the glass wall that afforded a great view of the highway and the countryside beyond.

After a hearty brunch of bitterballen (creamy fried vegetable balls) and frites, which is the traditional name for French fries—believed to have originated in the country—we sat waiting for syrupy Brussels waffles, another Belgian specialty, for dessert. Grandpa and Jordan were bantering again and Grandma's attention was fixed on the two, as she watched them with an amused smile. A sudden movement outside drew my eyes to the transparent wall beside me, and I froze.

Two people wrapped in heavy coats, apparently a man and a woman, were walking briskly towards a black sedan parked some way off near the edge of a field. Although their backs were to me and their faces were hidden by woollen caps, their gait and builds struck me hard—they appeared exactly like my parents! They were walking exactly as I remembered they used to when we went on strolls in the park. I blinked a few times and shook my head, but the receding figures did not vanish, but neither did they once turn their faces toward me. Anyway, it wasn't my imagination.

"Jo—" I stopped myself, and bit my lip. No, it wasn't ideal to tell Jordan what I had seen. It would only upset him, and, of course, the Grands, too. I looked back outside, instead, and chewed my bottom lip. Okay, maybe it wasn't my imagination, but it could be a coincidence. Maybe it was just a couple whose figures and styles of walking were similar to my parents'; it was more possible anyway than them being my parents. I decided to put the incident away at the very back of my brain.

Soon, the waffles were served and devoured, and we were back on the road again. As the minutes flew by, so did the trees and frequent farms, silos, windmills and a good range of hills as well. The view was really picturesque; in fact, the whole countryside was sprinkled with a generous number of green farms and little lakes that reflected the sky like silver mirrors.

The Grands couldn't stop talking all the way and when, at last, we rounded a bend in the road and our farmhouse came into view, Jordan breathed an audible sigh of relief. And I? Well, I gazed at this beautiful wonder on earth with wide eyes—even though I had seen it countless times before—wanting to take it all in in one breath, and so excited I couldn't find the words to say anything at all!