Okay, now Shinobu and her husband are mysteriously in Washington, for reasons not yet known to them both. What will happen to them while there? How soon will they be able to return to Japan and to the Hinata Apartments? Why are they there? What is so special about the camera? Who will they meet next on their unexpected adventure together? And who do you think Shinobu's husband is, as well? All questions you'll have to continue to read this story to find out the answers to here, of course, folks.

This next chapter is a C chapter, and the chapter immediately after it will be an I chapter. Reasonable suggestions for what the I could represent are still more than welcome here, of course, everyone. Please feel free to make some suggestions of that nature, if and when you like and can, then. Or guesses about the identity of Shinobu's beloved husband, as well, for that matter.

Several letters will still remain unrevealed for at least after this chapter and the next one, as the need arises, with each chapter revealing the next planned letter to be revealed as warranted, in its proper turn. I have something in mind for the second chapter after this one, in terms of a potential gift for Shinobu, but you'll have to wait and see what it may be, obviously. Once fifteen letters have ultimately been revealed to spell out something in two words, you will know what she will receive in chapter sixteen. But there will still be one more gift after that one for her prior to the close of this story, for sure. What that last gift is, you'll all just have to wait and see, folks.

With no further ado, then, let's get back to the story, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter a lot and all. TUS out.

Surprise Seven: Camera

After they woke up several hours later, having slept for quite a while since crashing on their hotel room bed mostly dressed, Shinobu took a little while to get her bearings in their current hotel room, all while her husband was still quite asleep next to where she'd slept in it. Looking around, she soon saw a clock on a nearby wall, and saw that it now said 2:30 on it. Judging from the sunlight that was streaming from a nearby window, however, she was quickly able to realize that it was 2:30 in the afternoon, and not 2:30 in the early morning of the next day, for the place where they both now were.

She quickly slipped out of bed and into her socks and shoes before heading to their room's bathroom area for a bit. By the time she returned, about fifteen minutes or so later, her husband had finally woken up in the bed, and he was flipping through channels on the room's television, to see what was then on to watch and figure out what they should endeavor to do next on their unexpected adventure together. He ultimately settled on a channel that was then airing an episode of Cadfael, a mystery series set primarily in 12th Century England and Wales.

She soon joined him, and they spent time watching Cadfael until 4, after which they decided to see if they could get something to eat for themselves elsewhere in the hotel. By 4:30, they both were then in the hotel's main dining area and in the process of consuming a meal of spaghetti and meatballs, assorted fruits and vegetables, and a pitcher of chocolate milk, along with some apple pie for dessert.

As they had their meal, they also conversed with each other in an attempt to figure out what they should do next, seeing as it was now quite obvious to them that they wouldn't likely somehow actually be able to return to the Hinata Apartments together for at least a little while yet here. Shinobu asked, "Seeing as we're here, and won't likely be back home for a while, what do you want to do tonight, then?"

"Let's see what happens. You still have your camera and all, don't you?"

"Of course, Anata-kun. But there's no sense in using it in our room, obviously, most likely. So we'll likely have to go somewhere, you know. What do you have in mind, perhaps?"

"An art gallery, for instance, perhaps? Or simply doing the touristy thing that many do in various places all around the world, instead?"

"Well, I doubt we could get into the White House today, for example, but if an art gallery is open while we're still here, then I might be up for that," she answered, in between bites of her spaghetti and meatballs and a couple of sips of her chocolate milk.

After a bit more of conversation and consideration, they resolved together to try and visit one if they could while they were still in Washington and the surrounding area. Although they didn't yet know just how long they might be in or around Washington, for sure, they still resolved to do that sort of thing, if at all possible for them both here.

They left the hotel restaurant by 6, and then decided to see what they could discover outside the hotel for a while before returning to their hotel room for the rest of the night. But not without first making sure they had their necessary passports and other immediate necessities with them both before leaving the hotel for a while, of course. Especially seeing as they weren't American citizens, after all.

Hours later, after visiting places like the National Mall and a few of the nearby national memorials in Washington, for instance, they eventually returned to their hotel room, with many pictures now having been taken with Shinobu's new camera. Among them were statues of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, to name a few of the things she'd periodically taken pictures of while they'd both been exploring Washington, D.C., for a while that very night. While they'd not officially been part of a tour group, they still did some exploring on their own and going wherever their feet and eyes had then led them to go during it, in any case.

Before they found themselves unexpectedly leaving Washington and its area behind, they ultimately spent nearly five more days there, managing to make it to an art gallery on the third day after their visiting of the National Mall, and to the White House, the Capitol, and the Supreme Court Building within another 24 or so hours after their hoped-for visit to an art gallery elsewhere in Washington. They even somehow managed to make it to two professional sports contests, much to their quite considerable surprise, one being an NBA game between the Washington Bullets and the Philadelphia 76'ers, and the other being an NHL game between the Washington Capitals and the Ottawa Senators. They were, however, unable to catch a football game before their unexpected departure from the area. And it was no longer baseball season, so they unfortunately couldn't catch a Senators game or a game for one of the other Washington pro baseball teams in various baseball leagues, to be sure.

They went to bed the day of their unexpected departure by 11:30 pm local time, in their hotel room, but didn't wake up there the following morning, much to their great surprise, once they realized that well enough, after waking up again some time later. For they had been transported yet again, without any prior warning or anything, but this time while they'd been sleeping. In fact, almost instantly after they had both fallen asleep next to each other in their Washington hotel room, they had been sent elsewhere in the world.

When they finally awoke, it was nearly 2:30 in the afternoon where they now were, and they were lying on the grass under a tree on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, with their belongings in a fairly neat pile near them under that same tree, with a couple of sheep providing comfortable headrests for them before they woke up, as they quickly found out, once they were both conscious enough in their now-current location. Sitting not far from them, on a nearby rock, was a young-looking shepherd dressed in traditional attire for shepherds in Israel, watching not only over his sheep, but them as well. It took them a while to realize that, for they'd needed a few moments, at least, to get their bearings sufficiently after waking up unexpectedly in a strange place to them, of course.

When they did, Shinobu's husband was the first to speak here. He soon asked, unconsciously speaking in English, "Where are we, and who are you, if I may ask?"

The young shepherd briefly said something to himself in Hebrew that neither Shinobu nor Kei could hear, before realizing that they probably wouldn't know Hebrew well enough to converse in it, once he'd gotten a better look at them both at the present time. He then said, in English, even though it wasn't his primary language of conversation, "You are in Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives. I am Baruch Judah Jacobs, son of Herschel Shiloh Jacobs and the former Dana Hershon, but you can call me B.J., if you don't want to call me Baruch instead. As for why I am here with my sheep, I do not entirely understand at the present time, but I was drawn here with them for some reason, just the same. Normally, I don't take the royal family's sheep here to graze and all, but this time I did, in truth. My family and I are shepherds for the royal family currently led by King Ephraim and Queen Zipporah, and I'm tending these sheep for Prince Shalom, their eldest son, at the present time."

Shinobu said, "Very nice to meet you, Baruch-san. I don't know why we're here either, but maybe you can show us around Jerusalem for a while, once you return these sheep to where they're kept again."

"I would be delighted to do so, with my father's permission, Ma'am. May I ask your names, please, or not, then?"

"I am Shinobu, and this is my husband Kei. Seeing as we don't know you well enough yet, I hope you understand why we won't reveal our last name to you. But I still will say here that Kei is a shortened name of my husband's actual given name, and our last name begins with the English letter U when written out in Latin-style letters. Maybe by the time we leave this land, you'll be able to figure it out, though, somehow. Although I don't think you will, I suspect you might. But even if you do, I'm reasonably certain you won't needlessly reveal it to anyone else, for some reason I can't quite explain right now, at least, if ever."

It was about four or so more hours before B.J. could return the sheep currently under his control to where they were normally kept when not taken anywhere to graze for a while. Once they were all secured and attended to as needed, and he'd gotten cleaned up as necessary, it was nearly 8 in the evening, local time. And Shinobu and Kei were with him, as were all their current belongings, including the camera she'd gotten a while before, for instance.

By 8:30, they'd both dropped off most of their belongings in his family's guest room, and quickly discovered that their money had changed yet again, just as mysteriously as it had changed from Japanese yen to American dollars earlier. This time, it had changed from American dollars to Israelite shekels, much to their still-considerable surprise. Not only that, it had mysteriously increased from what it had been at the end of their unexpected time in the area of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Although they didn't know just why yet, they didn't really complain here, for sure.

When they came out of that room, they quickly saw B.J. again and he unexpectedly handed them a slip of paper he'd just written some place names on of certain cities in Israel, while they'd been in that room by themselves. He said, "I just experienced a vision of some sort without warning, and I was told to write down these place names, and give them to you both as an itinerary for your later travels in the near future. Now I don't know why these places are on that itinerary, exactly, but I still suspect you both will have to go to those places before you can return home later on for a long enough time. Fortunately, you are in the first city listed as part of that itinerary, which is Jerusalem. Now I don't know what you'll have to find here in Jerusalem just yet, of course, but at least you can start your itinerary here in Israel and see what you can find before moving on to Hebron elsewhere in Israel."

They didn't actually know it just yet, but their itinerary in Israel was planned in a certain order by certain friends of theirs back in Japan and in various other places all over the world. When they then went to each of those same places they'd both need to go to, they'd periodically find certain parts of another surprise birthday gift for Shinobu, but without realizing that fact immediately, for sure.

"I see," said Shinobu, a few moments later, after briefly conversing with Kei in Japanese, so that B.J. wouldn't likely know just what she was saying to her husband at that time here. Ultimately, though, she said, "Then let's get this itinerary started here, because I'm sure Kei and I would really love to go home as soon as possible back to where we now live with each other."

So B.J. and his two new Japanese friends soon entered his four-door sedan, and he began driving them around Jerusalem for a few hours, while they did the touristy bit and shopped a little with the additional money they'd discovered for themselves not long before. Of course, Shinobu took quite a few more pictures of various things in and around Jerusalem, as often as she could, whenever the mood or need to do so ultimately struck her to do that.

By local midnight, however, they'd both returned to the home that B.J. shared with his family for the rest of the night, and soon fell asleep in the guest room's bed next to each other. They'd not yet found what they'd needed to find, though, in Jerusalem, so they'd have to spend at least one more day in it until they did. And so they slept, not knowing yet just what might happen as they were attending to their new itinerary they'd just been given for themselves here, of course.

Shinobu and Kei will be spending a yet-to-be-revealed length of time now in Israel, hunting for the parts needed to construct the N item that will be featured in chapter nine of this story. I haven't decided all the places they will need to go yet, to find all those needed parts. But chapter eight will cover their itinerary while in Israel to at least some degree, if not totally, for sure.

Chapter Eight will be called Surprise Eight: Itinerary. As to what those parts will be related to the item in question for chapter nine, you'll just have to wait and see, everyone. Hope to see you all continue to read this story and all, and hope you enjoy what you see, once it's released, of course.

Until this particular story's next chapter, then, I'll close this one. Hope you enjoyed this chapter here, folks. And to those of you all here who are currently celebrating America's Independence Day, I hope you have good ones, if at all possible, Lord willing, of course, for sure. TUS out.