The Jewel Thief

The Lady and the Attic

After a few days of living on this thing I am already sick of it. We barely get anything to eat and there is nothing to do. The nice captain tries to stay optimistic about it but already he seems a bit weary. I spend most of the time lounging on deck. We are in the Atlantic Ocean, but I like to call it the Sea of Certain Doom. Why? Because it is frightening to see that there is no land visible as far as the eye can see. In all directions. It is just us, the ship, and the water. No land. I wonder if we will ever see it again. 

Tomorrow we leave this place! Land has finally appeared very far off in the distance, and the captain says we will land in about eight hours. I am going to miss dear Molly lots, because she is my only friend besides Maddie. She has given me her address so I will write to her lots. I am becoming not so sure I want to live with my Uncle Henry, but now I have no choice. I pack up my satchel and make sure that Mr. Bearface is comfortable. I introduced him to Molly last night and she loved him. She showed me her stuffed rabbit, and he is very cute. Maddie is again unnecessarily re-folding her clothes ever so neatly. Maybe she is just anxious about Uncle.

We are here! Before we dock we see an amazing statue. It is very big and is a lady holding up a torch in the air. It is very tall and is on a little island in the sea. We sail past it and finally land. Wow, America is fantastic. And busy. A lot like London, but tidier. MUCH tidier. And there are huge, very tall buildings. It is very different. Everyone speaks in a funny accent. It sounds a bit Western, almost Australian. It is funny to think England used to rule this place.
I give Molly an extremely large squeeze. She has more tears trickling down her cheeks. I know she is sad to leave us, so I say we will definitely visit. She rushes up to her very kind-looking granddad and tells him about me and gives him my address. He also gives me their address. I introduce myself, and he smiles. I give Molly one last hug and then rush to join Maddie.

Pointing at a strange man, she leans down and whispers something into my ear: 'That's Uncle. We met him with Mum and Dad. You won't remember, you weren't even born. I barely remember it myself. He is very strict and doesn't like children very much, I don't think. Oh, and he used to have a wife, but she died a few years ago.' I groan. He doesn't like children? Is this going to be a repeat of the dreadful Earl?

Looking where she is pointing, I see my first glimpse of Uncle Henry. He is a tall, wiry-looking man wearing a classy white shirt and fancy black trousers. He has very hollow cheeks. He is scowling. I gulp. I do not want to live with this man! We slowly walk towards him and tell him who we are. He grunts 'hello' and takes us by the hands, pulling us away from the dock. I glance one last time at Molly, still chattering to her granddad. She sees me and waves. I smile. Uncle pulls us to a large, white car in excellent shape. I gasp. I have never ridden in one before, let alone use one regularly as we shall now do. He ushers us in and shuts the door.

The experience of riding in a car is entirely new to me. I had been on a train, but this is different. The world rushed by me, turning the trees and houses into blurry swirls of color. Then when Uncle slowed down, it was as if I was at walking speed. And sometimes the car was cruising slowly, so it was like I was running.

It feels odd, and my tummy ached. I ask Uncle if it would always be like this when we drove. 'No,' he says, 'you're just not used to it.' And that was that. I establish that Uncle was not a man of many words, but I could just be jumping to conclusions.

I start to feel slightly giddy, and my tummy ache goes away. This is so exciting! I hope we get to ride in the car a lot! I grin like a twit at Maddie. She grins back. I think we're both feeling the same. Of course, Uncle is unmoved. I bet he's enormously used to having a car. I narrow my eyes at him. I don't know why, but I've come to hate Uncle. Already.

It takes us a while to drive us across the island and over a large bridge to another island, but eventually, Uncle drives up to a beautiful, pale yellow house.