Read Melanie Martin Goes Dutch for Free Online Page A

eyes. He gave me a brochure. Hesays “Hello” like “Hollow.” He is explaining everything in Dutch, English, Spanish, and French. Mom said many Europeans speak several languages. She said that if people in Connecticut had their own language and people in New Jersey had their own language, maybe New Yorkers would learn Connecticutese and New Jerseyese, but since most Americans speak English, most don't try very hard to learn other languages.
    “I speak pig latin,” Cecily said. “Ig-pay atin-lay.”
    Mom smiled and said, “E-may oo-tay,” which means “Me too.” Mom told me that to speak pig latin, you take the first consonant of a word and move it to the end and add ay. So I said, “Ello-hay!” to Cecily, and she said, “Ello-hay, Elanie-may!” back to me.
    Mom speaks Spanish, French, pretty good Italian, and okay pig latin. But even Mom says Dutch is difficult.
    It sounds difficult.
    For example, if you want to say “please,” it'swhich you pronounce Ahl Stoo Bleeft. (Sorry for the cross-outs. I had to ask Mom how to spell it because it is as impossible to spell as it is to say.)
    It sounds sort of like “All stew is blecchh!” but last night when I was thirsty, I pointed to my empty water glass and said, “All stew is blecchh!” and the waitress looked at me as though I'd flown in from Pluto.
    “Thank you” is easier. It's
dank u wel
(Don Coo Well).
    “Yes” is
ja
(Ya) and “no” is
nee
(Nay).
    Here's the point: I'm glad our guide speaks English! (I'm glad he's cute too!)
    He asked me my name, and I said Melanie, and he said, “That's a pretty name,” so I asked him his name, and he said Hans, and I said, “That's a handsome name.” I couldn't believe I said that! I started to blush, and he just smiled (really cutely). Then Matt and Cecily introduced themselves and he ruffled Matt's hair and asked Cecily where she's from and said her name was pretty too!
    Hans stood up at the front of the bus and told everyone to look out their windows. “You see that lovely green countryside? It used to be covered with water. We are driving along the bottom of an old dried-up lake.” Then he said, “Cecily?”
    She glanced at me and half giggling, answered, “Yes?”
    “Cecily, what do you call my country?”
    “Holland?” she answered.
    “
Ja
, you call it Holland,” he agreed. “But to us, North and South Holland are just two of twelve provinces. You see the bumper stickers on those cars? They say NL. We are the Netherlands. We are part of the Low Countries. Much of our land is low—below sea level!”
    “
Below
the sea?” Matt asked.
    “
Ja
, Matt,” Hans said, and Matt sat up tall and proud. “Hundreds of years ago, we took the land back from the sea by building dikes and dams and using windmills to pump water out of the lakes. Who remembers my name?”
    I raised my hand, but Cecily blurted out, “Hans.”
    “
Ja
. And who knows the book Hans Brinker,
or the Silver Skates
?”
    “I do,” Mom said. “It's written by an American woman.”
    “
Ja
. It's not Dutch at all,” Hans smiled. “In the book, there's a story of a boy who sees water trickling through a hole in a dike—which is a low wall built to prevent floods. Come here, Matt.” Matt stepped up and Hansgot him to stick out his pointer finger. “That boy poked his finger in the hole to stop the leak,” Hans continued, “and stayed that way all night and until the next morning, when a man saw him and helped him. He was a hero!” You could tell that Matt felt like a hero too, but then Hans told him to go sit down. “That story is make-believe. Today, we have modern ways to prevent floods.”
    I tried to picture myself saving the day and being a hero.
    In front of me, Dad whispered, “I hope this excursion isn't a tourist trap.”
    Matt said, “What's an excursion?”
    Dad said, “A field trip.”
    Matt said, “I love field trips. Especially the bus rides.”
    Cecily said, “What's a tourist trap?”
    Dad said,