seymoure

Chapter 38

“Did I Hear Some Thumbs Pricking?”

When they walked into the world they knew, the group found themselves standing inside the Jefferson Memorial.

It was the middle of the night, but it seemed rather bright outside.

Harriet was struck, as she had been as a child, with the beauty of the structure around them. Everyone knows about the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Memorial, but the Jefferson Memorial stands on equal ground with either. It is a true Jeffersonian building, with the strength of the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence and designed Monticello.

Harriet had always had a real feeling for this divided man from Virginia. He was an advocate of freedom and fought to outlaw slavery, and yet he kept slaves until he died. He fought for individual rights, and yet he took a lover named Sally Hemings who was one of his slaves. Most records testify that the man absolutely loved Sally, and yet he didn’t free her or any children they had together. Studying this man for a middle school paper was one of the points at which she began to understand the idea that no one was all good or all bad. She felt sorry for him, and wondered how Hemings felt about him.

As they stealthfully exited the monument, they saw that the moon was full in the sky above them.

“Good,” muttered Ima.

“We’ve got to secure a place for a headquarters,” Chance Rabin said, “We need to put together a plan.”

There was an ATM around the corner and Jason withdrew a couple of hundred dollars, as did Chance, and then Sebastian. At that point the machine was drained and refused to give any more.

“I thought these things had more cash than $600,” Dorothy said derisively.

“This is after the end of the day,” Willy said, sounding like someone who had worked in a bank at some time, “They won’t refill it till morning, but, if they had a big day we were lucky they had that much left.”

“Nobody here can generate gold magically or something?” Coach Hammermann asked.

No one was paying attention, as Chance had picked out a Howard Johnsons and they were going to check in.

They were walking down the nearly empty street when Dorothy inquired of Harriet, “Isn’t this an awfully public location? Shouldn’t we pick something out of the way?”

“I’d say,” Chance offered, “We’re going to be just as open to being picked up by her sensors at any location. Why not be where we’d rather be? And if we get there quickest, we can put together our attack program and get out sooner.”

“Beside,” Sebastian added, “We’re being cloaked by everyone back at the compound.”

“And, be honest,” Harriet said, “Would you look for your only existing enemies at a seedy, out of the way motel, or at the Howard Johnsons?”

Dorothy didn’t seem to be listening anymore, as she had begun the process of lighting another cigarette.

“Guess we’ll need smoking rooms,” Ima concluded.

Dorothy let a puff of smoke escape in a sigh and said, “You bet your life.”

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