"Uncle Preacher" sat in the floor playing with Lee and Abby while Mommy and Daddy took a night off to have date night on the Mall. Other than the monuments, most of the attractions were closed, but the city was beautiful at night, and it was nice just to have some alone time together without work infringing upon their privacy.
Bringing a camera along, they determined that they would record the various aspects of the city since they did not expect to be there long. Adrian snapped photos and laughed as Natalie posed dramatically with the water and the lights of the monuments showing in the background. Natalie took the camera and encouraged Adrian to just have fun, but his pictures always ended up looking somewhat stiff, since he tended to get bashful before the lens.
"Come on, Mr. Monk. You can do better than that." She teased. "Show me whatcha got."
"Natalie, that's…that's alright. Really…" he said waving her off. "We have enough pictures of me. It's pictures of you that I want."
"Why?" she said, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Why, what? Why do I want pictures of you?" he asked.
"Yeah. But more than that. What is it with you and cameras? I mean…you had pictures of Trudy all over the house. Then, it wasn't enough to take one picture of Molly…you had to take, what two or three thousand?" she asked.
"Nine thousand nine hundred and fifty six." He said.
"What! You're kidding!" she said. "I had no idea you had that many... why did you stop at 9,956?"
"Because she already gave me 44 pictures from when she was growing up and…" he said.
"9,956 made an even 10,000." She said. "I get it. But…don't take this the wrong way…I know that Molly was a connection to Trudy, but she wasn't your blood relative and in fact, the only time we hear from her now is around Christmas and Trudy's birth and death days…taking that many pictures was a little weird in most people's eyes. Why did you do it?"
Adrian took her arms from around his waist and asked her to come sit with him on the park bench. As they sat and looked over the water, he sat stiffly with both feet planted on the ground and his hands on his knees and thought through her question. It was almost as if Dr. Bell was back asking him some dark question that would unravel a part of his mixed-up psyche.
"I didn't offend you, did I?" she asked, hooping her arm through his.
He looked down at her imploring eyes and grinned a sad grin, then wrapped his arm around her so that her head rested on his shoulder and her hand on his chest.
"No sweetheart. You didn't offend me at all. I guess…I guess it was kind of weird." He said.
"I wasn't saying it was weird…I was saying others would think it was…" she said.
"No. It was weird. And, truthfully, until you asked me just then, I haven't really thought about it that much, but you're right. My entire adult life, I've taken tons and tons of photos. I think, I think it is because of when dad left. There is one album of photos of my family back at Ambrose's house. Only one. In that album there are pictures of my grandparents and cousins and there are a few photographs of me and Ambrose with Dad and Mom as well. Only a few.
After Dad left, Ambrose and Mom basically checked out as well. They lived in the house but the life had left the house. Mom stayed locked in her room for two years and Ambrose did as well, blaming himself for Dad having gone.
All I had of the life I knew before, my life as a young boy in a home with a father and a mother, were those photographs and memories that were sometimes more bitter than they were sweet. But…I had them. And, I guess I learned that this was a way of holding on to a little bit of something that I loved…holding on to memories, moments in time…because then I still have them when the happiness goes away."
Natalie looked up at Adrian. "I'm not going away. I love you."
He rubbed her shoulder. "Everyone leaves, Natalie. If you are the one person who doesn't…"
"I will be." She said. "We didn't go through everything we gone through to get together and let it not have a happy ending. I'm here for keeps."
He smiled, and kissed the top of her head. "Lucky me." He said. "You know, I thought about us earlier today. When we were at the grocery store. There was this couple…he was probably, I don't know, thirteen or fourteen years older than me. She was about the same. You could tell they had been hippies in their youth. Still held on to that past, peace signs, cool car, music…but time marched on and physically they weren't what they used to be. But, they were still together. I hope we're in better shape when we get to be their age, but they still loved each other and I watched them walking each other across the street…him with is cane, and her with her arm around him. I thought of us when we get older… I mean, I'm always going to be married to this hot chick, but what are you going to do with an old man?"
She snickered… "I haven't honestly thought about it. I don't think about our difference in age. We're just going to have to keep each other young…" she said, leaning up and nibbling his ear. A chill went down his smile and he twitched his neck and shoulders out of sheer instinct.
"Natalie!" he said. "We're in public!"
She laughed. "What? I can't kiss my husband in public? Besides. Nobody is around." She said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Kiss me!"
Adrian bowed his head with a bashful grin then closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss Natalie.
Just then, someone jumped out of the bushes and grabbed Natalie's purse, taking off running. Adrian and Natalie were startled from their positions, and as soon as Adrian knew what had happened, he took chase.
"Stay here!" he told her. "STOP!" he yelled toward the running man.
He ran as fast as his feet could carry him across the lawn and through the trees, following shortcuts along the way. This guy clearly knew DC. Running across the street towards the Washington Monument, he jumped the fence and followed the man past the metal barriers that would usually be filled full of tourists, however the monument had been closed for repair of its elevator and the only person around was a night guard, or attendant. On this night, the attendant was busy texting on his cell phone and did not notice both men running past him into the building nor did he realize that someone had gotten into the spiral staircase which hadn't been used by the public in years.
Climbing as quickly as his feet would take him up the stairs, Adrian kept pace with the man who was always about thirty feet ahead. Flight after flight, he kept up, though by the thirtieth flight he felt like he would pass out and he had a side stitch that almost caused him to buckle over. Reaching the top, he entered the observation deck expecting to find the man inside. Since the monument was enclosed the only light in the room was coming through the three-foot observation windows that looked out over the city.
Gasping for breath, Adrian walked slowly through the room trying to catch any glimpse of the thief. About ten feet into the room he heard a shuffle of feet. Spinning around, he had barely caught the silhouette of the man in the light of the window when suddenly he was sucker punched in the gut. Stumbling backward he fell to the floor and then watched the black shadow as it ran back out the door and towards the spiral stairs.
Adrian quickly sprung to his feet and ran to follow. However, when he started down the stairs, he made the mistake of looking down the center of the steps and the sudden realization of how high up he was in the air hit him hard. He became dizzy and began to reel as the room began to spin. Unable to continue, he decided to curl up against the wall until he could regain some composure. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, he picked up his phone and called Preacher.
"Hello?" Armstrong answered.
"Preacher. This is Adrian." he replied.
"Hey man! The little ruffians are doing fine. They are sleeping, if that's what you're calling about." Said Preacher.
"Good. I'm glad. That's not why I am calling. Someone stole Natalie's purse and I took off running after them. I told her to sit still and wait there while I went to get it back. She's should still be down by the water, Tidal Basin near the Roosevelt Memorial. Would you go pick her up? I don't want her sitting there by herself at night." He said.
"Sure, man. Where are you? You sound like you're in a cave." Said Preacher.
"I'm in the Washington Monument. Top of the stairwell. Don't worry about me. I'll get myself down. Please go get Natalie." He answered.
"On my way." Said Preacher.
Rather than wake the children, Preacher called the next door neighbor over to watch them while he went to pick up Natalie.
It took him about 20 minutes in light traffic to get from his home in Mt. Pleasant to where Natalie sat worrying on the park bench near the Roosevelt Memorial, but she was greatly relieved when she heard that Adrian had called and was okay. Making their way towards the Memorial, they arrived just in time to see Adrian stumble out of the building. He had clung to the handrail so hard that his hands were red from the pressure, but he had made it outside. Leaning against the building, he looked up and saw Preacher and Natalie coming, and was disappointed that he wasn't able to get her purse.
Walking up to Adrian, she hugged him tight and said "I'm so glad you're okay! You scared me!"
"I'm sorry." He said, exhausted "He got away."
"Sorry! Adrian, you took an unnecessary risk. My purse is just some material thing. He could have been armed! You could have been hurt!" she said, stroking the side of his face. "Don't ever do something like that again! It's not worth it!"
"I'm sorry. I just want to protect you and what's yours." He said.
"Then protect yourself! I don't care about some stupid purse." Said Natalie.
"Hey guys…" said Preacher, from about twenty feet way near the grass. "What did this purse look like?"
"It's a tan leather satchel. Designed by Armand Bouvier." she answered.
"Is this it?" he asked, walking up to her with a handbag.
"Yes! That's it!" she said, taking it. As she sat next to Adrian she rifled through her purse and took account of everything that was in it. "Cell phone, wallet, credit cards, cash, photographs…It looks like it is all here!"
The three friends looked at each other confused.
"He didn't take anything? That doesn't make sense." Said Adrian. "Why would you steal a purse, make someone chase you across town and up fifty flights of steps, and then not take anything?"
"You're right. That doesn't make sense." said Natalie.
Preacher scratched his head and then suggested going home. "Don't mess around with things too much. Maybe he left some prints. We can take it to the station tomorrow morning and get things dusted."
The couple agreed and walked arm in arm with Preacher back to his car to go pick up their own as they headed for home.
