Today something wonderful had happened: my father had invited me to visit him in New York. He had decided that I was old enough to travel by plane myself. Which was super scary because I had never flown in my life. From Heathrow airport I left all alone for the United States. My father was waiting for me at the airport. 'Here's my daughter', he welcomed me with a relieved smile. 'I'm glad you got off that plane alive.'
'Yes, because I could have just crashed', I answered ironically.
'And Belle, you'll never guess what car I'm here with', he said enthusiastically. Since I had no clue what cars were popular, he might be right. Outside was an old black muscle car .
'Ta da! A real Dodge Charger R/T', my father called proudly. Since two young man were taking pictures of the car, I assumed that it was indeed quite appreciated.
'From '71, 375 hp, top speed 140 mph, V8 hemi ...', my father rambled on and on. Although those numbers meant nothing in my head, I let out a weak "wow" to please him.
'Come on, I'll show you where I live. Or yes, where I sometimes live.' My father had a simple apartment in several places where an important office of his company was located. My home, for example, was one of them. He told me he will only buy a real chic villa when he retires. My father's apartment was in western Queens.

'You see Belle, all those apartment values, especially those across the river in Manhattan, are on a more upward trend than anywhere else in the world. In about thirty years they might be worth close to a million. That is one of our main revenues. We buy them at the lowest possible price, maintain them for about ten years and then sell them.
'And what if the price suddenly drops again?' I wondered.
'Oh that never happens.'
'How do you know for sure?'
'I don't... experience maybe. My gut just says it is, do you understand?'
'Yes, I understand', and I meant that.

My father had taken a few days off to give me a tour of all the sights of New York. And there were many. We took a small river cruise, climbed the statue of liberty, visited the Empire State building and Times Square... Although I was used to big cities, New York was different from London. It smelled like a mixture of pee and gasoline. But the trucks were prettier than in England.

'Belle, how about I take you to work for a day? So that you get a better view of what I do', my father suggested me after a few days.
'Uhm... yes that would be interesting yes', I answered without thinking. But on second thought, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. What if one of my father's colleagues asked what school I go to?
'Just say you're going to Westminster or Sevenoaks or something', father replied.

So the next day we drove to a luxurious skyscraper. We took the elevator to the 22nd floor and arrived in a modern entrance hall. I couldn't resist walking up to the window and enjoying the beautiful view. Luckily I wasn't afraid of heights. My father, who joined me, received a good morning from everyone. A middle-aged man added to his greeting: 'And that must be...'
'My daughter, Belle', my father added.
'Ah, what a beautiful young girl. I am sure that a prosperous future awaits you if you follow in your father's footsteps. How's school going?' This was exactly the question I feared for.
'Good, good', was all I could come up with. The more precise the answer, the more questions. It sounds illogical, but I knew it was true. When the man had left, I asked my father who he was.
'A good colleague. We have the same position, so we often work together.' The rest of the day was pretty boring. In fact, I couldn't see myself working here in the future.

Still, my vacation in the US went by way too quickly. I was going to miss the people, the sea, the new... But my flight back to the old was waiting for me.

For the rest of the summer I went to Spanish camp, which was more fun than expected, I visited Gwyrdan with Charlie and the Diagon Alley with the Weasleys. When I told Charl about my trip to America, his eyes burst with jealousy.
'Why does everyone go on holiday abroad apart from my family?' he sulked.
'Next year we'll go on holiday together', I suggested.
'To where?'
'The sea?'
'Deal?' he grinned
'Yeah yeah, deal'