CHAPTER 15: Sightseeing

The next morning, we had to get up early, but not quite as early as the day before. We were going sightseeing today. The first thing I did was make sure my camera was ready to go, and that I had batteries and a spare memory card. I was going to have a lot of pictures to take today.

I was dressed and ready by 8:30. When I stepped out into the hall, I saw a bellhop pushing a wheelchair down the corridor toward the Everetts' room. Feeling curious, I decided to follow him. And no, I wasn't planning to spy on him. Do you really expect me to act seven years old for the rest of my life? Come on!

Just as I'd thought, the bellhop with the wheelchair stopped outside the Everetts' room and knocked on the door. "Room service," he called out, sounding exactly like the concierge from Home Alone 2. I'm just glad he said that, instead of "Housekeeping", because I would've started singing "Holly Jolly Christmas", even if it was July!

Then he turned and saw me. "Good morning, Miss Brewer," he said. "How are you today?"

"Fine," I answered, then I gestured toward the wheelchair.

"Oh, this?" he said. "Young Mr. Everett's doctor recommended it, with his recovering from surgery and all."

I nodded as Diann opened the door and took the wheelchair inside. "Hi, Karen, would you like to come in?" she asked, handing the bellhop his tip.

"Sure," I said as I entered the room, where I found Jason already dressed and sitting on the bed. "Hi, Jason."

'Hi," he answered as Diann and Bebe helped him into the wheelchair as Steve was coming out of the bathroom.

"Are you looking forward to sightseeing today?"

He nodded. "I've always wanted to see Washington, but I don't mind doing it in a wheelchair, though."

I patted his arm and left the room. When I returned to our room, Mom, Seth, and Andrew were coming out. "Ready, kids?" Seth asked.

"Oh, yeah!" Andrew grinned. I hadn't seen him that excited since he'd gotten his first bike with training wheels. On the upside, there was no way he could hurt himself this time.

I was pretty excited, too, to tell you the truth.

After breakfast, we got on the bus to go downtown. Mr. Drubek stood at the front of the bus with the microphone, giving us some last-minute instructions.

"Now, remember," he began, "Washington is a big city, and it's very easy to get lost. Whatever you do, please stay with your groups at all times. Also, we'll be meeting back at the bus in exactly two hours, and we'll decide what to do for lunch. Any questions?"

We shook our heads, and the bus pulled up to the curb beside the Treasury Building—which, if I'm not mistaken, is on the back of the 10-dollar bill. As soon as we got off the bus, we split into groups: Hannie, Nancy, their moms, Andrew, and I went with Mom and Seth; David Michael, Scott, Dru, and the Pikes went with Kristy; Becca, Pamela, and Rosie went with Jessi; Johnny and Jamie went with Jenny, Natalie, and their moms; Rick and Jackie went with the Everetts; and Bobby and Hank went with Mr. Drubek.

"Remember, two hours!" Mr. Drubek called out as we walked away.

About half an hour later, we were walking away from the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial when we saw a family with two kids, a girl who looked about eleven and a boy who looked about nine. Something about the girl looked vaguely...familiar. "Amanda Delaney?" I mouthed.

She turned around. Sure enough, it was Amanda, all right, but she sure didn't look the same way she did when she was eight. Not only was she taller, but her hair was shorter and had dark brown streaks in it, as well as two earrings in each ear. She also had on a neon-green top with quarter-length sleeves, a blue denim thigh-length skirt, and green and white Crocs. Max had on a Patriots jersey, tan cargo shorts, and white high-tops with black and silver trim.

When Amanda saw me, her face just lit up like the Fourth of July. "Hey, Karen!" she exclaimed. She ran up to me, with Max close behind.

"Amanda!" I exclaimed as we gave each other a bearhug. It was great to see her again! It seemed like only yesterday that I watched her house being emptied, and now, here she was. What are the odds, huh?

"How have you been?" I asked

"Oh, I've been doing all right," she said. "Lawrenceville's been a great place to live, too. Oh, and you won't believe this, but Max and I now have a baby sister!"

"Get out!" I cried. "Really?"

Amanda nodded. "Her name's Bonnie, and she just turned two last month."

"Yeah? Where is she?" I asked.

"Back at the hotel with the nanny," Max answered. "She's got a cold."

Just then, Hannie and Nancy came over to us. "Amanda!" they exclaimed as the three of them started bouncing up and down in a circle. Apparently, Hannie had long since gotten over her hostile feelings toward Amanda.

A little while later, the Everetts and their group happened to be passing by. I waved them over to where we were standing.

"Amanda, this is Jason and Bebe Everett and their parents," I said as they shook hands. I could also tell that she was wondering why Jason was in the wheelchair. Before she could ask, Jason answered her.

"I had my appendix out a few days ago, and the doctor told me to take it easy for a while," he explained.

"Oh," Amanda said. "I had my tonsils out last fall, and I couldn't talk for two days. The only upside was that I got all the ice cream I wanted." Then she checked her watch and said, "Well, I'd better run. We're on our way to the Capitol."

"Okay. Nice meeting you."

"You, too." After a quick picture of the four of us girls, not to mention exchanging e-mail addresses, Amanda ran back to her family as my friends and I returned to our group.

It's interesting, the places you can run into old friends, isn't it?

The next place we stopped was the Lincoln Memorial. It was a beautiful summer day, even though it was pretty windy, even more so than Chicago. (Seth once had a short-term job there, and took all of us. I stayed for a little while, then came back to Stoneybrook, and stayed with Daddy and Elizabeth until they got back, which was around the time Boo-Boo died.) I'm just glad the wind wasn't blowing too hard, because if I took one wrong step, I'd be in the water.

When we made our way inside, I glanced over my shoulder and saw two African-American teenage boys sitting on the top step. One had dreadlocks that came down to his shoulders, and was wearing a green Oakland A's jersey and blue denim shorts. The other had a shaved head, a little gold earring in his left ear, and was wearing a peach polo shirt and khakis. He was also talking on a cell phone.

I didn't think anything of it as we looked up at the statue of Abraham Lincoln, but something on the floor by my right foot caught my eye. I looked down, and saw that it was a shiny gold ring with a ruby in the center, surrounded by tiny diamonds. It was really pretty.

"I wonder whose this is," I said to myself as I picked it up. I also saw the two boys looking around on the floor, so I figured it belonged to one of them.

"Excuse me, but did one of you lose this?" I asked them, holding out my hand.

"Yes," the kid with the dreads said in a very thick Jamaican accent as he turned around.

Then, as he put the ring back on his finger, his eyes widened. "Hey, I remember you! You're with the Stoneybrook Kids, aren't you?"

"Yeah," I answered. "How'd you know?"

"We saw you perform yesterday," the shaved-head kid said as he also turned around. He also had the accent, as well as a slightly deeper voice. "You were great!"

"Thanks," I smiled.

"We're in the competition, too," the kid with the dreads said. "Our group is called the Company, and we're from Oakland."

Aha! So that's why he was wearing the jersey.

"My name's Manette Hughes, and this is my cousin, Blane," the kid with the dreads said.

"Karen Brewer," I said, shaking their hands.

"Oh, by the way, who's this Jason you were talking to?" Manette asked.

"He's one of our chaperones, and he had his appendix out a few days ago," I explained. "He was recovering back at our hotel."

"Oh, okay," Blane said. "How is he doing?"

"He's doing much better. He just has to take it easy for a while."

"Karen?" Seth called. "Time to head back to the bus."

"Coming," I answered, then I said to the boys, "Well, I should get going. Nice meeting you."

"You, too," Manette smiled. "And thanks again for finding my ring."

"No problem."

They seemed like nice boys. I wonder what their show is like?