"Eliza! Hurry up! We're leaving, now!" Mariana Mac Kenzie yelled.

"I know mom, I know. I'm coming, just wait," Eliza Martins replied, as she quickly rushed to turn off her computer and pack up her canvas and brushes.

"Well, we don't have all day. We're leaving in ten minutes whether you're with us or not!" her mother anxiously replied.

"Wouldn't that be great," Eliza though, "four whole weeks, by myself, with nobody to bother me…" But she only said," I know mom. I'm coming." She grabbed the bag with her canvases and brushes in one hand and her suitcase in the other as she stumbled down the stairs.

"Honk, honk!" the horn blew.

Eliza walked faster. She could not miss this trip (even though it would be nice to be alone, without her two pesky little sisters). They were going to Australia to visit Chris's (her step-father) brother. Eliza wasn't quite thrilled with the reasons that she was going, but she still liked the idea of going.

She was trying to think of something to paint for her masterpiece. Maybe, Australia would give her some ideas. Eliza was one of the youngest members of the "T.A.A." (Toronto Art Association) and had won several awards for her pieces already. Her "masterpieces" throughout the years have been of many different types of art, such as: paintings, sculptures, photography, etc.

By this point she was in the van with the rest of the family. Eliza was stuck sitting in between her two little sisters, Madison and Natalie, because their dog had taken over her spot. Madison was seven years old and had light blonde (almost white) hair with bright blue eyes. She loved to dance and act, but most of all to be with her older sister (who did not want a thing to do with her at all). Whereas Natalie was the youngest and the most tomboyish out of them all. She was five years old with nut-brown hair and grey-green eyes. She hated wearing dresses and was an absolute hockey nut.

Then there was Eliza. Eliza was eighteen and had red-brown hair and hazel eyes. She lived with her mother and stepfather because her father had been killed eight years before in a car accident. Eliza had been very upset when this had happened, but had become even more upset when her mother had re-married so soon after. She would have liked it even better if her mother hadn't re-married at all, but she never told anyone that.

Every year they did this: they always went on some sort of family trip. Last year it had been P.E.I., but they had never yet travelled internationally. They had been almost all over North America, and had travelled in the worst of weather. The reason they did all of this was Chris, because "Chris loved to travel", but luckily for her mother Chris always paid all the major expenses. Eliza did not mind the travelling because she could always find something for her art, but she did mind the reason. She hated the fact that they only travelled because that he liked it. And she could not understand why they could only do something if Chris liked it or wanted to do it. She felt the way Jan Brady felt about Marcia, except it wasn't "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" instead it was "Chris, Chris, Chris!"

By this time, they were only ten minutes away from the airport. Considering the fact that they only lived about half an hour away, they actually hadn't been in the car for that long. But even though they hadn't been in the car for very long, Natalie and Madison were already driving Eliza completely up the wall!

The girls (Natalie and Madison) were getting more and more excited as the few minutes left until they got to the airport slowly passed by. They were singing little songs like "row, row, row your boat", and reciting little poems like: " I've never seen a purple cow, I never hope to be one, But, I could tell you any day that, I'd rather see than be one!" This caused no harm to anyone, but after having heard it repeatedly about ten times it began to get on Eliza's nerves.

"Okay! We get the point, now will you please just shush up!" Eliza yelled suddenly.

"Eliza!" her mother cried," do not talk to your sisters like that!"

"Look, I'm sorry and all that stuff," she replied in a bad humour, "but they are driving me absolutely insane!" At that remark her mother looking very annoyed turned her head directly away and made a noise that sounded like a half snort. (In other words it meant that she was not impressed.)

Eliza sat silent for the rest of the drive, whereas Natalie and Madison immediately continued on with their racket. But other than that they were all in pretty good spirits. And they all (well at least Chris and Mariana did) knew that they would have a much better time once they were actually in Australia.

They were now at the airport and were pulling into the airport's driveway.

As they arrived in front of the airport a silent hush went over the people inside pf the Mac Kenzie vehicle. Natalie and Madison sat in awe of the hundreds of people going in and out of the airport doors and of the whole place itself. Eliza just looked out her window thinking of all the places that the people could be going or where they were coming from. Throughout all this state of wonder and imagination on behalf of their daughters Chris and Mariana sat smiling at the looks on all three of the girls' faces. But, Now they must ruin the magical thoughts of the girls and get out of the car and into the airport so that they would not miss their flight.

Their flight was scheduled to leave at 3:00pm, and it was 2:50pm. They had 10 minutes to get to the terminal, dispose of the baggage, and get on the plane. "Come on girls," Chris rather impatiently demanded, " we don't have all day. Actually, we only have ten minutes, so get a move on!"

"Chris?" Eliza dared to stop and ask.

"Well, what is it Eliza?" he answered anxiously awaiting the time when the girls would hurry up so that they could find their destined gateway.

" Do we have our tickets already? Or do we still have to buy them?"

"I've bought them all already, but just let me check and see if we still have them or not, thanks for reminding me Eliza." As Chris finished saying this he began searching through his pockets until he pulled out the airline tickets. But when he did pull out the tickets, there were only four!

"Oh no!" he yelled, "Well folks, I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"What? What is it?" asked Madison, Natalie, and Mariana together.

"I think I know what it is," whispered Eliza, "we're missing some tickets or something like that, aren't we?"

"Yes, that's my news, but you see now we must buy another ticket and drop off our luggage in eight minutes along with finding our gateway and getting aboard the plane."

"Who's ticket are we missing?" asked Mariana quietly.

"I don't know, let me check," he said while examining the tickets. He looked up. "Well," he said, "we have two children's tickets and two adults' tickets, but no…"

"Say it! Just go ahead and say it!" cried Eliza, "we all know who's ticket you've lost, so you might as well just say it!" as she suddenly burst into tears of frustration.

"Eliza, dear, dear Elizabeth calm yourself down. All you need to do is go to the ticket counter and buy yourself another ticket. Can't you see dear, everything will be alright," said Mariana trying to reassure her daughter.

"Buy myself another ticket? How am I supposed to do that, mother? You know I don't have the money. I brought what little money I had and that I'm afraid was hardly even $35," Eliza said, her temper rising.

"You silly girl. Chris will give you the money and any other information you will need, won't you Chris?"

"Yes, of course I will. Just wait a second or so and I'll give it to you," replied Chris still trying to unload the last few remaining pieces of Madison and Natalie's "luggage". "No! Why should I wait for you, when we're already late as it is? Just give me whatever I'll need (along with my luggage) and I'll gladly meet you on the plane."

"Eliza! How dare you talk to Chris that way?" exclaimed the mother now becoming quite furious with her eldest daughter.

"No, Mariana it's alright, maybe she's right. After all it may just be an easier way of doing things. Though I do agree that the manner in which she spoke to me was rather unpleasant," he said, but as he spoke he handed her his VISA card, her health card (for I.D. purposes etc.), and gave her a piece of paper stating the gate number.

Eliza received all of these items coolly. After having taken hold of all the items she was convinced Chris would give her she picked up her luggage, smiled a short, sly half-grin, said "See you later" and marched stiffly towards the entrance.

As she was walking through the door Eliza accidentally bumped into a tall young man who was wearing a top hat and dropped her piece of paper. "Excuse me, sir," inquired Eliza, "but would you mind telling me where the ticket counter is?

"Yes, you go straight ahead from here until you reach the luggage claim office and then turn right and keep going until you see it", replied the young man.

"Thank you." Eliza said gently (rather too gently for her).

"No problem, Miss, enjoy your trip."

"Thanks, I will."

"With an attitude like that there's no doubt about it," he said as he stood smiling watching Eliza walk off in search of the ticket counter.

"Ah ha! There it is!" said Eliza as she spotted the counter and began to walk up. But, as she reached the ticket counter she realized she had lost her paper. "Oh great! Where the heck could I have put it?" she mumbled to herself.

"Hello, Miss, how may I help you today?" the lady at the counter asked.

"Well, I'd like to buy a ticket," replied Eliza mockingly.

"Obviously, where to?"

"I need a ticket to gate 377. Oh sorry, I meant I need one for gate 477."

"Oh, okay. Here it is, Miss."

"Thanks, bye." "You're welcome. Have a safe flight."

Eliza walked away to drop off her suitcase and find the gate. Five minutes later she had found the gate and was boarding her plane.

"Okay, so, where are they?" Eliza thought to herself while trying to find her family. But after a few more minutes of searching for the family she still could not find them, so she just sat down and hoped that she would find them when they landed.

Then the engines started and a voice came over the loudspeaker "Hello, and welcome on board Canadian Airlines' flight 477. We hope you have a pleasant flight and enjoy yourselves on your trips to beautiful Rio de Janeiro." And there the voice stopped.

"Rio de Janeiro! Oh no! She was on the wrong plane! What could she do? She couldn't get the plane to stop, because they had already taken off. She sat silent, deep in thought. Then suddenly she had an idea. She stood up and went directly toward the cockpit.

"Umm, excuse me Miss," her plan was interrupted, "but you're not allowed in there."

"Oh? And why not?"

"Because, that is for authorized personnel only (it is where the pilot is)."

"Exactly. I knew that. That's why I was going there."

"What business do you have with the pilot?"

"Well, I sort of have a problem that I must discuss with him."

"And what might that be?"

"Didn't you hear me? I said '…that I need to discuss with the pilot', not with you. So, if you will excuse me, I'll be on my way."

"Sorry, Miss, but I can not excuse you. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to know the details of your 'problem' so that I may introduce it to the pilot and he can take it from there."

"Oh, well…"

"Go on! Really? If that's the problem then you might as well go sit down."

"Upon my word! I never! My problem is simply this ma'am: I have gotten onto the wrong plane. I will describe further details with the pilot, and the pilot only."

"Yes, well…okay, Miss, only this once though."

"Good. Or should I say 'thank you'?"

" Just as long as you leave me alone from now on, I'll be happy." Eliza smiled, she found it quite amusing to irritate other people, but now she must get on with her own business. As she followed the annoyed stewardess up the aisle she felt that every single eye was watching her, but this was just her imagination gone wild. Her imagination tended to do this sometimes when she got excited or agitated over something.

"James!" the stewardess called the pilot.

"Yes? What's the matter now?" replied the pilot.

"One of our young passengers wants to talk to you; says she's got a problem."

"Okay, send her in."

"What did you say?"

" I said 'let her in'!"

"Sorry. Here she is." And with that Eliza Martins walked in.

"Hello, Mr. Pilot," said Eliza trying to be polite.

" How do, Miss? So, What's your problem? And, please call me Jim."

"Yeah, well, whatever. The problem is simply this: I have gotten onto the wrong plane."

"How could you have gotten onto this flight without having a ticket for it?" the pilot asked rather confusedly.

"Well, you see, my 'step father' lost my ticket so I had to buy another one and accidentally bought the wrong gate number."

"Oh, I see," said Jim smiling.

" Its not a laughing affair," Eliza snapped, "I as supposed to be spending an enjoyable period of six weeks in Australia, instead I am going to be stuck in Brazil for who know how long?"

"Come now, deary it surely won't be that bad."

"Yes it will be, you can not prove it otherwise. And by the bye who are you calling 'deary'?" asked Eliza becoming rather touchy.

"You. Sorry, it's just a habit of mine," said he evidently surprised at her touchiness. "Now, come. Here is my plan. Do you want to hear it or not?"

"Yeah, sure I do. Why wouldn't I? If it is truly to help me, that is."

" You self-conceited little thing, of course it will," he said smiling at her air.

"Upon my word, you are certainly the strangest man I've ever met. But, I do not care about that; all I care about is getting back home to Canada, with my family. So, the plan please?"

"Okay, here it is: (since I'm not going to get anything else from you I might as well tell you) you will finish you flight with me to Rio, the from the airport we will contact your parents and let them know your whereabouts, and then I will personally fly you to Australia. What do you think?"

"Well, it's not the best plan I've ever heard, but it will have to satisfy me," replied Eliza, still not sure if she should have accepted or not.

"Good. I'm glad you accept. Now, you may sit down again, Miss," he smiled once again, as he gloried in his success of getting this interesting young creature to approve his ideas. Gladly, Eliza stood up to escape the unusual being and get back to her seat, when he called her back.

"You may stay up here with me, if you wish, Miss."

"No. It's okay. I'd rather not. Bon midi!"

"As you wish. But, may I have your name?"

"No, you may not."

"Initials?"

"Peut-etre."

"Huh? I'm not bilingual…please?"

" I am Miss Elizabeth Jane Martins, otherwise known as Eliza Martins. But I must be on my way now. Good day," she giggled as she left the cockpit and found her way back to the seat she had once dreaded so much.

"What an odd little humbug. I had better get her back to her parents. Julia*, keep an eye on that girl," Jim murmured as he went back to driving steadily towards his destination, Rio de Janeiro.

* The stewardess Back at her seat, Eliza was looking out her window and thinking of many things. For example, "What was her family doing right about now?" "What would Rio be like?", "Could she turn this into a story?", and "What was wrong with that crazy pilot?". She'd been on this plane for about three hours, but she still had about four hours left.

The time seemed to be passing by very slowly; it was now only 8pm and they were flying over the Amazon. Eliza had just finished watching the movie "The Titanic", when an announcement occurred over the speakers "Excuse me. The pilot wants your attention at the front. All passengers, eyes towards the front immediately, this is urgent." And with that pilot Jim appeared at the front.

"Good evening, folks. I'm afraid I have some rather unfortunate news for you…"

"Well, what is it?" shouted a very ignorant man.

"I was just getting to that, sir. We are experiencing technical difficulties and are prepared to experience the worst. But we would recommend everyone puts on the parachute in the compartment above their seat and then fasten their seat belts."

"What's going to happen to us?" a little girl asked.

"Well, we have reason to believe that this plane is on the verge of severe engine failure."

But they were too late. The warning had not been soon enough. Seconds after Jim had spoken the last word the plane stopped dead in its tracks and began to fall helplessly down towards the earth. (Eliza, like many other passengers, hadn't had the time to get the parachute on, so she had just quickly fastened her seatbelt and hoped for the best.) Electrical problems, which the engine had somehow encountered, caused the plane to crash. When it crashed, the fuel tanks exploded on impact. Flames were shooting up everywhere you looked; chairs were sent flying in every direction (with the people still in them). Almost all the chairs were flung into the fire and unfortunately all of the 350 passengers except for 10 were killed instantly in the crash. (Then, 9 of those 10 bled to death within a few hours.)

When they crashed Eliza's chair went flying and landed in a tree. And there she lay cold and unconscious for many hours yet to come. Though she lay unconscious, she lay unharmed excepting the bruise on her forehead where a piece of the airplane's wing had hit her and knocked her unconscious.

Then, suddenly the branch on which she was sprawled out across began to give out. (And she unknowingly clutched tighter still to it!) She wriggled in her sleep, but just a little too much. The branch split immediately after Eliza's last movement, causing Eliza to fall all the way down past the bottom of the tree and onto the forest floor. And there she lay until she woke up.

Early morning had arrived and it was time for Aline Fernatelli and her cousin Larano Ammagedes to go on their morning hunt. Aline and Larano were two 19-year-old Brazilians who had decided to go camping in the Amazon (but they normally lived in Manaus), so they had set up their tent just a few miles north of the river.

Aline Fernatelli was the nineteen year old Brazilian girl. She had slightly tanned skin and hazel eyes, along with long, thick, black hair that reached about mid-back, which she usually wore in braids. Today, she was wearing a pale yellow tank top with short denim shorts. She was helping her cousin, Larano; find their food for the day.

Larano Ammagedes was the nineteen-year-old Brazilian boy. He had somewhat tanned skin and green eyes. Larano also had cropped dark brown hair. Today, he was wearing black tear away shorts and a red Nike t-shirt. He was very good at teaching survival skills, and that's what he was doing on this trip: teaching his cousin Aline. They had already been at it for a week and their time was quickly running out, as today they were to start their trip home at mid-day.

As the two cousins were walking (with a small distance between them) Larano suddenly spotted something.

"Aline!" he shouted in his Portuguese accent. "Look at this!"

"What? What is it?" she cried, running to catch up with him.

"It's a…a…a girl," he confusedly replied (in Portuguese of course).

"Really? Is it alive?"

"Umm…well, I don't exactly know. I guess I had better check," said he running up to Eliza's side.

"Wow! It's beautiful!" he exclaimed, now that he was closer to her.

"Really, that's oh so very nice Larano, but IS SHE ALIVE?"

"Oh, I forgot about that, yes, she is, thank goodness," he said smiling. Aline walked up now. At that moment they both stopped talking and gazed at Eliza; they noticed something: Eliza may have been alive and breathing but she was not moving! (They did not know about her being knocked unconscious, they didn't even know about the plane crash.)

But then suddenly --"Ah! Where am I? What the…? Who are you?" Eliza had suddenly awakened.

"I'm Aline Fernatelli, and this is my cousin Larano Ammagedes," answered Aline.

"Where are you from?" asked Larano, "not from around here I suppose?"

"No, I'm from Canada."

"Really? How did you get here?"

"Plane crashed; caught on fire; threw me over here (well, actually in the tree)."

"Oh, dear! I'm sorry!" said Larano, seriously trying to look it. "Where are your parents?"

"In Australia. I got on the wrong plane."

"Oh my," the cousin looked at each other, "how do you plan on getting back?"

"I don't. I mean, I don't know how."

"That's great!" Larano burst out.

"It's great? How the heck is that great?" said Eliza starting to become herself again.

" 'Cause then you could live with me."

"No, really. Why's it great?"

"Because you could live with me."

"Oh my gosh. What are you saying? Oh! Hold that thought, I don't want to know."

"No, don't. I'll tell you. Will y-…." He started.

"Larano, hush it!" Aline interrupted, and ran off to get Eliza, who had run off into the forest.

"Hey! Come back!" she yelled. "He didn't mean any harm. He's not exactly normal in that way."

Then --"Ooh! Ouch!" Eliza moaned, as she jumped out of a tree, which she had been trying to climb. "Well, I sort of noticed that already."

"Okay, so come with us, we're heading home today. We can figure out how to get you home and you can stay with us 'til we do."

"Oh, alright. I might as well; there's nothing better for me to do. I'd rather be with you and your unusual cousin than stuck in this rainforest (even if it is a rather enchanting place)."

"Okay, it's settled then. Come with me now, and we'll find Larano, pack up our stuff, and board our raft. The trip back usually only takes about 3-4 hours."

"Okay, it sounds like it will be int'resting," Eliza said, " that's for sure".

"Yes, it is. Now, come. Oh! And once we're on the raft mind you don't fall in otherwise the piranhas will eat you." With that Aline walked off to find Larano, and Eliza began to walk faster to catch up with Aline.

"Wow, what strange people these two are!" Eliza thought hurrying along.

"Larano!" Aline cried, "she's going to come with us!"

"She is? That's wonderful!" he said, "well, I'm all packed up now. So why don't we get going right about now?"

"Sure. Might as well," she said, "I'll go get the girl".

"Oh, do! Do! I'll meet you two down on the raft; over there."

"Okay," she said. As she left Larano and went to get Eliza. "Come now, Miss, we are leaving."

"Yes, okay. But, please call me by my name."

"Oh, I gladly would. If you would tell me what it is."

"Sorry, my name is Elizabeth Martins, but people call me Eliza."

"Oh, that's nice. I like that name." And the two girls walked away to get onto the raft.

To get onto the raft was simple enough, and there was no specific way to do it. All they had to do was walk across the little bridge, which Larano had built to be able to cross while he was loading the raft. But, it didn't seem like it would hold out much longer. So, Aline walked briskly across, and was waiting for Eliza on the other side.

Now it was Eliza's turn. Eliza put her first foot down on the board; she was shaking and quivering, nervously afraid that she should fall into the rushing water beneath her feet. She was about to take her second step when -- crack! -- The board split in two, and Eliza plunged into the rushing water.

"Help! Aline! Larano! Help me!" Eliza screamed, desperately trying to escape the jaws of the piranhas.

"Oh gosh!" Larano yelled, "Aline, quickly, help me get her up. Grab her arms!"

The two cousins grabbed Eliza frantically by the arms and got her safely on board their raft. And Larano began to paddle his raft once again (and every now and then shaking the odd piranha off his paddle).

"Oh, thank goodness! Thank you so much for saving me. I am very grateful, to you both."

"There's no need to thank me, it was all Larano," replied Aline modestly, as she smiled at Larano.

"Now girls, let's not worry about who saved who. Let's just get on with our trip. We still have three hours to go."

"Yes, I quite agree with you, now that you mention it," said Eliza, "but, might there be a place for me to sit?"

"You're looking at it."

"You mean to say that I am to sit on the floor?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I mean, but of course you may sit on top of a sleeping bag."

"Oh that just adds so much more comfort to it; now, doesn't it?" she said sarcastically as she grumpily sat down.

And that's how she sat the rest of the trip: staring into space, watching the scenery go by, and wondering what her family was doing at the moment. But, that was not something she was to know.

After two and a half more hours they arrived in Manaus (the largest city in the Central Amazon). Eliza was to stay in Manaus for about four months until Aline and Larano's summer holidays began in December. In December Aline and Larano were going to drive her to Rio de Janeiro where she had been expected and then from there they would send her back to Canada.

So, there she stayed until December. She got a job writing articles for a newspaper and sold paintings to earn enough money to pay for her ticket home. Besides that, Eliza led a high class Brazilian life and enjoyed herself incredibly well considering she was hundreds of thousands of miles away from home.

But for some reason, when December came Eliza decided that she didn't want to go back; she was having the time of her life here and wouldn't change it for the world.

Ten years later Eliza still lived in Brazil, but now she was living in Rio de Janeiro. She lived in a big mansion (well, as big a mansion as there could be in Brazil) and was famous world wide for her art and writing. Her first book, "Tragedies Unknown", had become an international best seller within the first two days it was published. And for the biggest surprise of all, she was married to Larano Ammagedes!

THE END