As I gazed off my balcony in Heidelberg, I sniffled, and then cleared my throat. This was to be my last day in Germany. I would miss the large house with its rose gardens, pansy beds and woods in the back. I would miss my friends in fourth grade such as Barbara Bowers, who shared my first name, and whose last name rhymed with mine -- Towers. Also, Linda, the little girl who lived next door and was two years younger, and Eliska, our German maid, who became my best friend while we were there.
Eliska hid our Easter eggs and jelly beans for my sister, Marilyn, and me among pansies while our parents spent holidays in Italy. Eliska was my confidant when kids at school beat us up or the Germans stole our bicycles and sleds. Eliska invited me to Cologne on a train ride to meet her family one weekend. I'll never forget the majestic cathedral in Cologne, northern Germany, or the bedroom dresser filled with homemade cakes and strudels her mother had baked.
The evening we arrived at Eliska's farmstead home outside Cologne, we dined on two of those cakes with German coffee. What a treat! I wanted to stay with her family forever. "Don't want to go back, Eliska. Let's phone Mom and tell her we're not coming."
"We have to return." Her big brown eyes studied mine. "Your mom wants you back home."
"No, she doesn't." I folded my arms and grunted. "She's got Marilyn, anyways. Why would she want me?"
Eliska grasped my skinny shoulders. "Your mother would miss you, and I can't leave you here."
Reluctantly I returned with her by train. But I have never forgotten that visit to her home, which is why I had problems saying "Good-Bye" later on when it was time to leave her, forever. Never to see my best friend, again.
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