Chapter 2

July 2nd 1985 Tuesday

The next morning Lee and Amanda walked over to the Aquarium to meet a contact. As they approached the front entrance, a deep growling voice greeted them, "Hello There."

A startled Amanda looked around. "Did you hear that? Who said that?"

With a knowing glance to the left, a bemused Lee disclosed, "Relax, it's only Hoover."

"Hoover? I know you're not talking about J. Edgar Hoover." An inquisitive Amanda waited for more of an explanation.

"Not that Hoover, this one has long whiskers and does tricks to entertain the crowd." Walking over to the multilevel display fountain, Lee continued, " Hoover this is Amanda, Amanda this is Hoover, the talking seal. He's been taking visitors by surprise for over a decade."

Amanda's expression changed to one of acceptance. "Oh, I see." They continued their journey into the Aquarium. "This is a pretty big place, where are we supposed to meet?"

"The note didn't say. We'll just have to pretend to be tourist, until we're contacted."

They spent the next hour going up through floors of exhibits and heading towards the ramp that surrounded the four-story center tank. Circling down they watched the divers feed the vast array of fish as the tortoises and sharks swam by. They descended to the penguin habitat, which became rather noisy as they yelped at one another.

Amanda whispered, "This is a great place, too bad the boys aren't here with me. I mean, I know I'm working, bit it doesn't feel like work. If this weren't work, it would be a fun place. I mean more fun than I'm having now."

Lee accustomed to her rambling, followed her logic and replied. "I think I got that. But don't forget we are working. I never stop watching the crowd."

It was time to catch the show on board the permanently anchored 'Discovery' ship. They exited the main building. The docks to the right were for harbor cruises and whale-watching tours, and signs pointed to the Discovery ship being docked to the left.

The center of the ship had been converted into a huge tank; stadium-style seating had been created facing the center from both ends. Amanda tugged on Lee's arm as he proceeded to head for the front rows. "Let's go back up to the sixth row, unless you want to get wet."

Lee gave her a questioning look, not quite grasping the consequences of his selection.

Amanda explained, "I'd like to get up close to the dolphins, but some of these benches have water droplets. Looks like the first five rows are the splash zone- that wouldn't be good for the camera."

Lee nodded and followed Amanda to higher ground. The trainer appeared and within minutes the Dolphins were literally jumping through hoops. In keeping with her cover, Amanda began snapping photos.

As the dolphins jumped and played ball, Lee had to agree, "Looks like you were right. Those people in the front rows are constantly being splashed."

As the show ended the commotion of 400 people standing at once blocked any clear views of one's actions. The young man sitting on the other side of Amanda informed her, "You dropped this." He placed a roll of exposed film in the outside pocket of her camera bag and continued to exit.

Lee nodded his acceptance before Amanda could respond.

Her eyes widened, momentarily startled. After two years of working with Lee, Amanda knew enough to hide her surprise.She quietly packed up the camera bag and they exited the ship.

"Oh my gosh," Amanda whispered, "he was sitting next to me that whole time and I never knew it."

"It's okay, you were never in any danger. That was a clean drop."

"What do we do next?" She asked with a shrug.

Lee replied, "I'll take this over to the Boston office to be developed. Why don't you take a few hours off before you meet the professor? There must be something you want to see up here that you haven't seen yet?"

"I was wondering if it was true what I heard about Filene's basement. They get closeouts of famous designers at bargain prices. The price tag has dates on it, and each week the price goes down. Anything not sold at twenty-five percent of the original price is given away to charity. Nothing stays more than three weeks."

"Yes Amanda, its true, sort of a reverse auction, no guarantee you would ever see the same item again. Women have been known to change clothes in the aisles." With a devious grin Lee added, "On second thought, maybe you should drop the film off, and I'll head over to Filene's basement."

Swatting him gently with her guidebook and rolling her eyes with exasperation, Amanda sighed,

"Oh Lee," as they walked off in different directions.

End of chapter 2