My Idol's Baby Sister

Holland Hell

Tommy

Katie and Melody both slept on the four hour flight from Athens to Amsterdam, then I slept on the hour and a half drive to my wife's hometown of Nijmegen. Considering that Katie is the only one that speaks Dutch fluently and can understand the street signs it's probably the best idea if she drives.

Once we got into the hotel Katie bathed our daughter because she hates airplane smells and that's all she could smell on Melody, she's fucked but she's my wife and I love her. Now I'm sitting on the end of the bed watching Katie braid our daughter's hair.

"Where did you learn how to braid? You only have older brothers." I wonder and she laughs.

"Only brothers that had girlfriends coming in and out of the house starting at age thirteen. Mum would get Eddie or Alex to babysit me and then they'd get their girlfriends to help." Katie explains. "And I'd braid Eddie and Alex's hair when I got bored."

"Aunt Valerie braided Uncle Eddie's hair one time while I was with them." Melody comments. "Then Uncle Eddie had a tea party with me."

"Sounds like him." Katie laughs and I smile.

"So on average how many people speak English here?" I ask and my wife thinks for a second.

"Not a lot." She admits. "Most people around here speak Dutch or German."

"Why German?" I ask.

"We're right on the boarder, I think this was first city that Germany overtook when they occupied the Netherlands. I don't know for sure though, either way. There's quite a few German speakers here." Katie explains and I nod.

I really don't know how Katie remembers all this stuff about the wars and other stuff she learnt in school. She remembers stories from Greek mythology and quotes from famous Athenians. I think Katie remembers everything she's ever been told about her hometown, maybe it's just connecting her to her culture. Katie's probably the best person to tour around this place with, now that I think about it.

"How do you remember all that stuff?" I wonder and she tilts her head in confusion. "I mean that this was the first city Dutch city to fall to Germany. Or all that stuff you were talking about in Greece with the gods and the goddesses."

"Well everything I know about Holland I learned from my family. My dad lived here through the war years as well as my grandparents. The stories are just things my family would talk about. As for all the Greek history it's stuff I learnt in class and I always found it interesting, history in general has always interested me." Katie explains. "It's the same as remembering how to play drums, piano, guitar, if it interests you it will stick in your head."

"You never fail to amaze me, Kathleen." I admit and her face twists at the sound of her full name as she finishes braiding our daughter's hair.

Katie stands up and pulls Melody to her feet before picking Melody up which makes me a little uncomfortable. I don't think she should be picking up Melody while being pregnant. I quickly go over and scoop up our daughter from her and Katie looks at me.

"You have a hard enough time carrying Melody when you're not pregnant, baby." I tell her and she rolls her eyes.

"I'll be fine." Katie assures me and I smile.

"Let's go look around the city." I offer and she lights up.

"Okay." Katie beams.

Katie

I wish I could describe this better but I feel like something is going to go wrong. That's all I know. I can't explain it and it doesn't make much sense but it's a feeling that's festering in the pit of my stomach. It makes me want to just keep Melody and Tommy in the hotel room until the feeling passes.