Postcard
- Rain, rain, go away, come again another day. It's pouring by the time Jacob gets to the railway station where he's supposed to get off to go to his friend Daan's house.
- He makes a pit stop to get a flower to take with him, mainly so he can ask for some paper to cover his head; plus his grandma always told him not to show up empty-handed in Holland. Never mind that he was pickpocketed—he'll use some of the coins that Alma gave him.
- He gets to Daan's house, which used to be a warehouse right by a canal; it's large and beautiful. Before, he was staying with Daan's parents who live over in Harlem, outside of Amsterdam, but Daan's place is more central, plus it's full of exotic tiles and large, bright windows. How does a university student like Daan afford this? The truth is, he doesn't—it's actually his grandma Geertrui's place, but she's in a nursing home now.
- As Daan and Jacob eat lunch, the pair reminisce about when Daan and his family came to visit Jacob's family in England. Jacob doesn't remember it well because he was only five, but Daan was twelve, so he remembers Jacob and his dad getting in a big fight and then his grandma spoiling Jacob anyway.
- The two laugh and get along pretty easily, but every now and again, they have a couple language blunders, like when Jacob says something is funny when he means weird or interesting. Daan doesn't really get how furniture could be a laugh-out-loud comedian.
- Then the conversation switches to something darker. It turns out Daan and his mom Tessel didn't even know Jacob was coming until a couple days ago. Geertrui invited Jacob through his grandma Sarah—she couldn't come because she hurt herself, so Jacob came instead.
- The only issue is that neither Sarah nor Jacob knew Geertrui was sick in a nursing home. In fact, she's got an incurable disease and won't live too much longer. No one knew Jacob was even coming, and well… they're not really that up to taking care of him since they want to spend time with Geertrui.
- Awkward. Jacob starts to feel really uncomfortable. If no one knew he was coming, and they've got other things going on, perhaps he should just leave; he's starting to feel like an intruder.
- Daan insists he stay, though, partially because he really needs to hear the whole story, since it involves Jacob too.
- Wait, what?
- Jacob is totally confused about how something with Geertrui could involve him at all. Daan's lips are sealed, though, since he promised his mom he wouldn't say anymore—looks like Jacob will just have to wait until later to find out.
- Jacob's really ticked off. He hates when people know something and don't tell him. Looking at Alma's message again, he write below it, "Nothing ventured, noting gained."