I´m sitting here, dreaming. You want to know what I´m dreaming of, am I right? Ok, I´ll tell you.

Yesterday I came home, tired from school, threw my bag into a corner and wanted grab some sweets to watch my favourite soap an TV. Then the telephone rang.
"Hello", I said. "Carolin speaking."
"Carolin, hi it´s me, Joanna. Dear I´ve big news. We´ll go on holidays – to Miami!"
It was my favourite aunt from "Saxony". She always phones me on Sundays to stay in contact with me and my family. But that day she was too early because it was only Thursday.
"Wow, that´s great! When will you leave?" I asked.
"Wait, wait, I´ve to tell you from the beginning: last week we were watching a game show on TV and I said to Lutz that we should phone there; maybe we would win something. It was a joke, but we did it. I phoned and knew the right answer. And today – oh my goodness, I can hardly believe it – we got a call that WE´ve won a week in Miami."
"That´s great! That`s unbelievable", I shouted and asked her again when they wanted to leave.
"Next weekend, but there`s a problem. It`s a family ticket but there are many activities we wouldn`t be able to do with little Charles because he`s still too small. But we want to take him with us. So we want to ask you if you want to come along with us and be our babysitter there, because we´ve won four tickets, so we´ve got one left."
"What???" I couldn´t believe it. I´ve never been as far away from home as Miami yet. "But… ." I didn´t answer. I thought about my parents – what would they say? – and about my plans for the following holidays. I tould her that I would have to talk with my parents first, and to think about it twice.
"Ok." She said.

Today I promised to come.

Now I´m sitting here, dreaming of the white beaches and the good-looking boys. I´m wondering if I´ll have my own room or if we´ll have a small flat, too small to haven our own rooms. Maybe I´ll live there like a princess.Will Charlie be a good bay? I´m sure he will! I hope my parents will give me some extra money to have a good time there. I think I´ll have a great time there. Don´t you agree?!

But once, many years ago, I read an article about Victoria, a girl that had high hopes for her vacation job and then it was an awful time and she only wanted to go home again, away from the summer camp. Horrible!

So I shouldn´t feel hopeful. And that´s why I imagine what it night be like: horrible, with out fun, bad weather and my uncle and aunt might go out every day and I might nothing to do but look after Charles. I might lose my tooth-brush and might not dare to laugh because of my yellow teeth. And then I´ll want to go home. That´s what it might be like!

The building is very, very big, the windows have colourful glass and the curtains aren´t drawn. On the right there is a big splaching and hear loud voices: a swimming-pool. That´s terrific! On the left there is a small café with a friendly atmosphere to our 5-star hotel. We are standing front of it, on a long stone pathway that runs between very exotic flowers and trees.

"Booa" Charlie says. I can se that his mouth falls open. But I´ve to say that we´re imprssed, too. When we are in front of the entrance two uniformed boys open the front door and take our luggage away.
"Good start". Joanna says, smiling. "Yes." I smile back. At the reception Lutz, my uncle, collects the keys and the hotel manager shows us our rooms. "I wish you a nice stay in hotel "Garbage Can". he says and goes away. "Funny name". I think and go into the first room.

But this really is the nicest, prettiest and bigget hotel flat I´ve ever seen. There´s a big living-room with TV, white leather couches and a big chandelier. There are two bedrooms, a big one and a smaller one. The big one is for Joanna, Lutz and Charlie. There´s a big bed with velvet curtains. The bed in my own room has red curtains, too , and there´s an extra bathroom.

The cupboards are mahogany "giants" and the pattern on the wallpaper glitters like a "magic dream". It takes my breath away. I start running and jump onto the bed. It feels like sitting on clouds. Silence!

"Where are the others?" I think and go to the living-room (over a soft carpet: it feels like heaven).The others are gone. So I change my clothes, which are creased from our flight, and leave,too.

I look for them everywhere, but the hotel is very big.At last I find them outside, having dinner."Oh dear,I have been looking for you everywhere for nearly an hour. Why didn`t you wait for me?!" "Sorry Carolin, but we thought , that you were sleeping and we didn`t want to wake you up." my uncle says.That sounds o.k. for me and so I order my meal.

Diving the dinner we make "plans" for the week. Charlie is sitting on my lap, he looks like an angel. The next day Charles and I go to the beach,very early in the morning. The ocean is murming and the wind is "playing" with our hair. The sun comes out, the sky is red like burning fire and my little three-year-old cousing is clapping his hands. I like him. He laughs loudly and starts running faster and faster."Be carefully! Don`t go near the deep water, it`s dangerous," I warn him and close my eyes for a second to enyoy that wonderfull morning. "I`ve never seen such a quiet and empty beach but…", suddenly I notice that Charles is gone. I`m angry and call his name. I don`t know where he might be and so I start to panic. I look around the beach but I can`t see him anyhere. But wait, what was that? There`s a little spot on the water. " This cannot be him!" I think. But then the spot starts shouting. "Help, help!"
"Oh no, that`s Charles, what can I do? Isn`t there anybody to help?" I shout and rush into the water. My clothes quickly soak up the water, and it`s hard to swim.When I reach my cousin I can see that he`s lost consciousness. But he is still breathing - I hope. I put my arms around his neck and his chest. I start something that looks like swimming but I`ve never rescued a person in the ocean before. His body feels cold and his face has lost its normal colour.When I finally reach the beach I put him on the warm sand but his eyes keep closed. I feel like hidden. I start resuscitation. I`m crying and crying.This can`t be true! He looks as if he were d… Suddenly I hear an ambulance and say:" Charles, now everything will be alright, we are rescued, wake up ! Please."

At the hospital they tell me that an old man saw us and made an emergency call. "I think he must be from heaven; what would have happened without his help!? I tell Joanna. I know that she was very angry at first (Lutz told me ). But after I had explained everything she was very happy (very happy) That I had rescued her son. Two days later Charlie is healthy again. But we decide to fly home because we don´t want to stay there any longer. Maybe that sounds crazy to you, but we can´t enjoy our holidays there anymore so we decided to "go" home.

Now four weeks have gone by. School has started again. Charlie is a little superman, telling his "big adventure story" to everyone in his kindergarden. In his story a dolphin called Flipper has rescued him out of the deep, wild and wide ocean… I know that I´ll never forget that big adventure and the shortest vacation job of my life and I swear: If I ever take a baby-sitting job at the ocean again I´ll be much more careful."