Ships Ahoy!

The Vagabond

A/N I love the fact that you can right-align on Wattpad. Could never do that on FanFiction.net, and it's very useful in this chapter!

Note: If you see a word underlined with hyphens on either side, it's supposed to represent a strikethrough on it.

Oprah typically prided herself on thinking quickly and making clever snap decisions. But she also knew when to recognize a decision that needed time before it could be made. Time and a whole lot of distraction. And in this case, "a whole lot of distraction" had somehow been translated into "go on a two-month-long trip through Europe, because reasons!" Oprah still wasn't 100% sure how this would help her decide whether to keep the fruit stand or join Odd Squad—after all, traveling abroad kind of defeated the purpose of choosing a career path in her hometown—but a Europe-sized breath of fresh air certainly wasn't a bad idea. Especially since O'Donahue had put all of Odd Squad's available transportation services at her disposal. ("I assure you, she is the most promising recruit we could ever hope for. And we do owe her for exposing Olga. If it takes a Europe trip for her to join, then we need to be the ones funding it!" he had insisted to Old Missie, unbeknownst to Oprah.)

To give Yucks a role in her excursion (and to keep a record of her travels), Oprah decided to write to her friend every week. Yucks has saved all of the letters ever since, and to this day when the two girls get together, they always spend time reading back through them to remember how each girl's lifetime career began. They go something like this...

* * * * *

June 7, 1870

Dear Yucks,

How I wish you were here with me! Europe is so different from anywhere in Canada. There are so many people here! I've been spending my first week in Oslo, the capital of Norway—what would you bet Odd Squad sent me here first because the city's name starts with O? I laughed at first, but it really is a pretty place. I cannot wait to tell you about all the fun things I've seen and done here when I get back! The only problem is not very many Norweajans (is that how you spell it?) speak English, but I think O'Donahue thought of that before I left. Since Odd Squad agents have to know a lot of languages, I can borrow a different agent every day to translate for me. Which is nice, but it's not very helpful when I can't have a translator on my paper route.

Oh! I forgot to say this earlier. I miss running the fruit stand back home, so I decided to get another job. The easiest one I could get here was delivering newspapers from Oslo's printing press, but it was still hard to let them hire me—at first they didn't want a little girl who doesn't speak Norweejin, but I got my way, as always. Anyhow, delivering newspapers is fun because they gave me a bicycle—a bicycle! can you believe it?—to ride, and I think I've gotten most of the addresses right without a translator! But...I don't know if it's the right job for me. I don't see myself doing a job like this for the rest of my life. Maybe I'll find a different one in the next country I go to.

I think that's enough for now. I shall write you again in a week!

Yours, Oprah

* * * * *

June 14, 1870

Dear Yucks,

This week I have been in Copenhagen (I know I spelled that right, I looked it up in the encyclopedia!), which is the capital of Denmark. You won't believe this, but the Odd Squad agents hosting my stay here told me I wasn't allowed to get another job! They said a trip to Europe is supposed to be for relaxing, not for working. So I told their Mr. O that it actually is for working, because I'm trying to decide if I want to keep the fruit stand or join Odd Squad. And do you know what he said? He told me, "Aha! Then no competition there!" Hmph, the NERVE of him! O'Donahue always said not every agent is like that, but I'm not so sure. That Mr. O almost makes me not want to join Odd Squad all over again.