Recap: Miri and her family are heading for Spain and the plane ride is dipping dangerously.
Somehow, the plane evened out and glided forward. The pilot announced that he had taken off the Fasten Seat Belt sign and we could move freely around the cabin.
I was holding my stomach. “That was scary,” I said.
Katie nodded. Breindy was still whimpering and clutching Daisy.
“I don’t like flying,” I said.
Katie put her finger to her lips. “Flying is usually fine. Breindy has flown a lot. That was unusual.”
Why did the unusual have to happen when I was on board?
…
Finally, we landed in Madrid. Ima joined us and walked with us off the plane. “I am not flying ever again, bli neder,” I said.
“Well, then I guess you will be staying in Spain,” Ima said.
Ima was scanning the crowd. I knew why: It made my stomach knot. Why did he have to be the one meeting us at the airport?
“Sarah!” Mr. Norman was there with smiles.
“This is my niece Katie and my niece Breindy,” Ima said, introducing my cousins.
“Nice to meet you girls.”
“This is my daughter Miri.”
He turned toward me. “Hi, Miri. Nice to meet you.”
He had blue eyes and a blond beard. His hair was blond with gray at the temples. He was tall and thin, and I knew right away I did not like him.
I mumbled something in return.
He reached into his pocket. “This is a little something you might find useful during your visit.”
He handed me a small rectangular box. I did not want any gift from him, but Ima was watching me.
I opened the box. Inside was a gold watch with a delicate bracelet wristband. “It belonged to someone special, and I thought...”
“Thank you,” I said, trying to put more enthusiasm than I felt.
He wanted to make Ima see how he was being so nice to me. Gifts are not going to buy me off, I mused.
When he looked away, I stuffed the watch into my pocket. There was no way I was going to wear his gift.
“How was the flight?” he asked us.
Ima answered and then Ima and he were talking, and I walked away with Katie and Breindy toward the luggage carousel.
When our luggage showed up, Mr. Norman loaded our suitcases onto a cart and then led us out of the airport. “It is much warmer here than in New York,” he said. “March here is really spring.”
That was one good thing: I hate cold weather.
“I am parked over there.”
I noticed palm trees and an azure sky.
We followed him to his rental car.
On the way, Ima approached and whispered in my ear. “That was so kind of Mr. Norman. That watch belonged to his daughter who was niftar.”
“Why is he giving it to me?” I whispered back.
“He thought you might like it, and that was so sweet of him,” Ima said.
I did not say anything.
Mr. Norman was in Spain because he works with my aunt and uncle. That was how my mother met him to begin with: My aunt set up the shidduch. He is a writer and producer, and he is working with them on the documentary.
Ima had never actually met Mr. Norman in person until now.
I was hoping maybe they would not like each other, and it would end.
Ima’s happy expression made that outcome doubtful.
“The castle you are staying in is really something,” he said. “We filmed some of the scenes there already. You will find it quite fascinating if you like history.”
We drove down a narrow cobblestone road. “It is how it was centuries before: The architecture and roads in this area are like the Middle Ages.”
In the distance, I glimpsed mountains.
“Over there you see the Sierra de Guadarrama Mountains. And the Manzanares River runs through the center of Madrid.”
We drove down a street lined with blossoming almond trees. Sunlight sparkled on their pink and white blossoms.
“They are beautiful,” Ima said.
We pulled up to a large castle. It had turrets and towers, and it really looked like a castle in a fairy tale.
“Wow!” Katie said. “It is a real castle!”
Bella greeted us. “Come in. Welcome.” The golden retriever was wagging away beside her. It did not bark or jump up on us.
Katie and Breindy bent down to pat it and make a fuss over it.
I stayed back.
Bella gave us a little tour. Upstairs were the bedrooms. All the walls were stone. There were high ceilings and old-fashioned-looking furniture. The beds in our room had canopies. That was kind of neat.
There were old-fashioned oak dressers and a big, wide, dark wooden desk. The corner of the large living room had a fireplace and a rocking chair. There were modern light fixtures on the ceiling, and she said the whole castle had heating and air conditioning installed. “The stone floors and walls keep it very cool in summer,” Bella said.
She showed us the kitchen that was adjacent to a courtyard fitted with all modern appliances.
We stepped outside into the courtyard. It was like another world: There were shady olive trees on the perimeter of the yard and a row of poppies splashed red against the emerald-colored grass. All different-colored roses, like a rainbow, scented the air. “The roses just bloomed in time for you,” Bella said. She pointed to an herb garden with jasmine and mint and other spices. The scent of lime and lavender perfumed the courtyard.
The dog ran around the yard and Breindy ran with it. The grass was a soft carpet and one huge olive tree stood in the middle of the yard.
I had to admit the courtyard was beautiful.
“Step out here at night and you see the whole sky of constellations,” Bella said. She called her dog over. “Come, Goldie. Don’t trample the poppies.”
We heard music playing.
“That is the carnival starting today,” Bella said.
Breindy pulled at her sister’s sleeve. “Let us go to the carnival.”
“I told my friends I would call when I got here. They want to hear all about the plane ride and all,” Katie said.
Breindy turned to me. “Will you take me now?”
“Okay,” I said. That was better than sitting and listening to Katie chat with her friends. I did not have anything else I had to do, and Breindy really wanted to go.
“I do not have any money,” I said. “We will just go take a look.”
Breindy held my hand and clutched her stuffed dog Daisy in her other hand as we headed down the narrow cobblestone street toward the carnival. As we drew closer, the music and noise grew louder.
The first thing I saw was a Ferris wheel, and near it were crowds of people lined up by carnival booths.
A carousel with painted horses was spinning around to a lively tune. Children clung to horses and parents stood nearby, holding onto them, as the carousel spun faster and faster.
A clown approached us. “Hola,” he said.
He had a tall red hat and painted circles around his eyes. His outfit had blue, pink, and green polka dots.
Breindy shrank back.
“I will show you how I juggle.”
He began juggling four balls.
“I don’t like clowns,” she whispered. “I wanna go back.”
“Breindy, we just got here.”
Just then, a woman who looked like a Gypsy – the way she dressed with a long, loose skirt, an overshirt and kerchief, and hoop earrings – approached and started speaking to me in Romani. She wanted to know where something was. I explained that I had just arrived and did not know. I directed her to an information booth.
The woman thanked me and strode away. Breindy tugged at my sleeve. “Who was that lady? What was she saying? It didn’t sound like Spanish or English.”
“She was a Gypsy lady, I think. That language is Romani. I learned it from my housekeeper.” Lucinda was my housekeeper back home: She had been with us since I was a baby. She taught me Romani and told me stories about Gypsies. She had grown up with a Gypsy family in Spain and then she converted to be Jewish.
The same lady who had approached me before strode over to me again. She was gesturing and began asking me about booths in the carnival.
I tried to explain to her that I did not know much about it because I was new here, but she kept on talking to me in Romani. I guessed she was happy to find someone who understood her language even though I could not help her with the information she wanted.
Finally, she left. “Come on, Breindy. Let’s go see some of the booths.”
I looked down. Breindy was not next to me.
“Breindy!” I looked all around. I ran up and down the pathway by the booths.
She was nowhere to be seen.
A terrible knot formed in my stomach: Where could she be?
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of 11 popular Jewish books, including her newly released historical fiction novel The Blizzard (Menucha 2026) and recently published novel Captured (Menucha 2025). She is also the current news editor of Binyan Magazine.
