Part 10

Zander and Quinn walked down the path in the woods to the Box Car. V. and Elizabeth had tacked signs to trees to lead people there.

They saw the Connors and Joe Quinn were there already.

Elizabeth and V. were wearing colonial dresses, which Carly had made them. Elizabeth looked like a farm girl or town girl, while V. looked like more of an elegant city woman. Their boyfriends were the opposite; both colonial, but it was Paul who was dressed like a colonial city gentleman. Jasper Jacks looked like he was a blacksmith.

"You are adorable," Kathleen was informing them all. "Can I get you to visit my class like that?"

The colonials liked that idea.

Zander and Quinn admired them. Elizabeth had an engagement ring on. She showed it to Quinn when she realized Quinn noticed it. "We got engaged," she said.

"Oh, congratulations," Quinn said. "When is the wedding?"

"In November, when my parents come," Elizabeth answered.

They walked on and came across Paul. Quinn congratulated him, too. "Thank you, Quinn," he said, simply. "Hello, Smith," he said, holding out his hand.

Zander shook his hand, a little cautiously, but he shook it.

"Well, well," he said to Quinn, when they had walked along. He had taken her hand.

"How interesting," Quinn said.

"Does it bug you?"

"I don't have any reason for it to bug me."

"OK, but does it?"

She laughed. "No," she said, and gave him a kiss. "It surprises me. But - I'm used to it already! Next!"

He smiled and walked on with her. They went up into the box car.

"Look," he said. "Alexis and Jerry. Looking at the painting of you and the race car."

"Do you think they ran into each other here?"

"Maybe they came together!"

"Wouldn't that be something!"

Quinn and Zander went to stand behind Jerry and Alexis.

They turned and noticed the younger couple. "There's the Girl Racer herself!" Jerry exclaimed. "How are you?"

"Pretty well," Quinn answered. "How are you two?"

"Pretty well," Alexis said, smiling a little, then looking sideways as Jerry, as she answered Quinn. "We had some lunch at my place – Jerry's not real big on restaurants – and then came here."

"That's nice!" Quinn said.

Jerry couldn't help laughing. "Arranged it all ourselves!" he said.

"Very good," Zander said. "Good job," he seemed to direct this to Jerry. Then he looked at the painting. "I wonder if Elizabeth will sell me this painting."

"Girl Racer?" Alexis asked. "Ask her. If she's really mercenary, she could get top dollar for it, from you."

"Maybe I should get an agent," Zander said.

"OK, I'll do it," Alexis said, with a laugh.

Jackson Delaney had brought his sister and their cousin to the Box Car Art Exhibit, because his sister's friend knew about it, because one of the artists was her uncle's girlfriend. So he and Branwyn and their cousin Kara were there looking at the paintings when he saw Amanda Friel looking at them, too.

They started to talk, and Amanda said she knew about it because Zander had told her to come to it. The girls had gotten started on the whole project, helping Zander out with history by doing drawings.

"I hope he passed that test," Jackson said. "He had a ton of help!"

"He did," Amanda told him. "It was just right for him, to learn this way."

"So you won't have any more trips?"

"We might. We've got college to get started on. I'm supposed to help get him on the right foot. For the summer he has History 21 – American History."

"Who is Zander?" Branwyn asked.

"My student, that I tutor," Amanda said.

"I flew them to Monticello, and to Quebec City," Jackson explained. "They went to study history!"

"Cool," Kara said.

"I could go for that," Branwyn agreed.

"There are those guys we met," Kara said.

Branwyn looked towards where Kara was looking.

"That's Zander's brother, Peter," Amanda observed.

"Oh, and Tim," Branwyn recognized him. "They're talking to Taryn, so we could go over there, Kara."

"By all means, do," Amanda laughed.

"He said he wanted to date other girls," Taryn was saying.

"So you broke up with him," Tim said.

"Hi!" they all said, stopping, when Branwyn and Kara came up to them.

"She told you how she and Jeremy broke up," Branwyn observed.

"Yeah, he wants to date other girls," Tim said. "Makes it only fair that she gets to date other guys, doesn't it?"

"Sounds fair to me," Branwyn said.

"Lemme show you this painting of my brother's girlfriend, Taryn," Pete said. "You want to see it, too?" he directed this at Kara. "Come with us."

Kara accepted this invitation, finding it irresistible.

"Taryn doesn't seem too upset about it," Tim said. "But I guess you knew her better."

"She's more upset than she acts like," Branwyn answered.

This conversation caused them to linger behind.

"American History 21," Kathleen way saying, amused, to Amanda. "They still use the same number they used when I was there."

"What else do you think Zander should take besides that?" Amanda asked.

"Music," Kathleen said. "That would be an elective, but would balance out nicely."

"Do you think he'd find it easy, you mean?"

"In a way. To him, yeah, it may come easy, or balance against having to memorize all those facts for American History."

"Balance the left brain and the right brain."

"Yeah! Like that."

"I'll talk to him about it," Amanda said. "I think I see what you mean."

"Such a big help you are," Tim laughed, when he saw Pete later, after Branwyn and Kara had gone off with Jackson.

"Well, did it work? Did you ask her?"

"Yes." Tim grinned mischievously.

"And she said?"

"She said she'd go!"

"Cool."

"Very cool. And you impressed the other two with your art exhibiting."

"That I don't know about! You're the Romeo."

"Yeah, I guess I am," Tim hit Pete with his baseball cap.

They came upon Kathleen. "Well?" she asked. "Did you ask her?"

"Yes, and she said she'd go, Mom."

"Wonderful."

"Pete took the other two girls off so I could ask her."

"Thank you, Pete," Kathleen said, her eyes twinkling, "We knew you could draw any number of girls away with you."

"Oh, thanks, Mrs. Con," Peter smiled at her, and put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed them. "I try to provide that service wherever I can."

"It's a tough job, but he can do it if he puts his mind to it," Tim said with a grin. "I'm going to go and tell Quinn." He walked off.

Oksana had come out, being that there were signs all over the hallways at Deception advertising the Exhibit. Then Elizabeth had come and told her she had a painting of Zander in the exhibit.

"Hi, Oksana, let me show you the one where I painted Zander into the Continental Congress," Elizabeth said.

Oksana smiled when she saw it. "So clever, you are," she said to Elizabeth.

"Hey, Elizabeth," Alexis said, "Will you sell me Girl Racer?"

"So long as I always know where it is," Elizabeth answered. "It's one of my favorites."

"It won't go far, of that I can assure you. What's your asking price?"

They went off, haggling.

Zander went over to Oksana and the painting of the Continental Congress. "I get involved in some good stuff sometimes," he said.

"You mean this Congress?"

He laughed. "Of course. We declared independence."

"Oh, and the Constitution and that kind of good thing?"

Quinn looked up from her conversation with Tim to see Zander and Oksana standing by a painting. She went over to them. As she came upon them, she heard the conversation going on in Russian.

As soon as Zander saw her, he switched to English almost in mid-sentence.

"You don't have to switch right over on my account," Quinn said. "I like listening. I try to make out a word here and there."

"What words do you think you know, nurse?" Zander demanded, drawing her to him.

"None. Or, no, nyet, that is my entire vocabulary, but isn't the word 'I' the most used in conversations? I try to guess what word that might be."

"Which do you think it is?"

"Is it me-neya?"

"That's me, to me."

"Don't tell me. I'll keep trying to guess. Go ahead."

"This is a wonderful girl," Zander said to Oksana. Quinn could tell he was saying something nice about her, though. She put her arm around him and leaned her head on his shoulder.