“…Eyeballs…” Book II” 32. Senior Class Trip

#32. Senior Class Trip

One day the next week after school, they were again in their favorite booth at Family Ties Restaurant. The waitress brought them their sodas and stuffed potato skins.

“Our Class Advisor said we’d have free time between our group tour of the Smithsonian Institute’s Space Museum and dinner at the Watergate Hotel before the play “Hair Spray” at the Kennedy Center to visit whatever we’d choose,” Edie said. “Any suggestions?”

“I’d like to see the Yoshino cherry trees that Japan gave the United States,” said Joe, the aspiring Forrester. “They’re dying out, but, they used cuttings from the original trees to start saplings.”

“I’ve read that the organ in the cathedral is really awesome,” said Ken, the musician. “I doubt they’d let me play it, but maybe we’ll hit a concert or something.”

“I wouldn’t mind visiting the National Cathedral,” Grace said. “Helen Keller’s sarcophagus is there.”

“I wonder if I could get my hands on a gargoyle?” said Edie, the aspiring artist. “I guess it’s the cathedral., Maybe, if we take a taxi, we could drive passed the cherry trees on our way to the Kennedy Center.”

The day hadn’t even dawned yet when the four friends with their classmates and advisors boarded the Greyhound Bus waiting for them in the school parking lot. Most of the students went right back to sleep and awoke hours later to see the tall buildings of our nations’ capitol, Washington, D.C.

After the group tour of the Smithsonian Institute’s Space Museum, the four teens and Crackers stood at the curb and tried to hail a taxi. No one would stop for them.

“Aren’t you just supposed to raise your arm?” Joe asked

“Well, that’s what I thought,” Ken said.

“Let a lady try,” Edie said with a twinkle in her eye. A taxi stopped right away.

The driver took one look at Crackers and repeatedly said in broken English, “No dog! No dog!” He drove off, leaving the astonished teens wondering what that was all about.

A Smithsonian’s Security guard, who had witnessed the fiasco, jotted down the taxi’s license plate and told them that what the taxi driver had done was illegal.

The guard watched them hail another taxi. The driver saw the guard watching and begrudgingly let Ken in the front seat so the other three could sit in the back with Crackers on the floor.

The driver dropped them off at Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues; right in front of The Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul.

Joe paid the fare that was shown on the meter, but, as he walked away, the taxi driver yelled at him, “Don’t you country bumpkins know you’re supposed to gimme a big tip?”  Joe hurried his step toward the group.

They stood at the back of the large tour group. The tour guide was excellent. Her voice projected to everyone in precise diction and grammar as she described each feature of the large organ that loomed in front of them.

“Do you want to feel it?” an unfamiliar man’s voice whispered into Grace’s right ear.

Adrenalin, like hot lava, crashed around in Grace’s body. She reached for Cracker’s harness preparing to bolt to the left to get away from the creep.

“Grace,” Edie’s familiar voice said, “let’s go with this docent, instead of staying with the big group.”

Grace relaxed with relief and almost laughed out loud at her own foolishness. The new docent meant the pipe organ.

“Won’t I get into trouble, if I start touching things in a museum like this?”  Grace asked, picking up Cracker’s harness again.

“No, Miss,” the docent said. “You and your guide dog are special guests and we have many things for you to experience by touching. Please, come this way to the elevator.”

As Grace stood in a display and eagerly explored the nooks and crannies of the sandstone models used to make the gargoyles and grotesques that adorn the top of the massive seven story stone cathedral, the docent passed around pieces of the statues to Edie, Joe, and Ken.

“Can you find the drain pipe that distinguishes the gargoyle from the grotesque?” Edie asked Grace, wishing she could get in the display, too.

In another part of the cathedral, Grace looped Crackers’ long leash over her arm as she stood on a chair to stretch up to feel the intricately carved wooden panels behind an altar.

“The wood is so beautifully grained,” Joe said, wishing he could run his hands over the panels, too.

The docent told Grace to go passed the fencing to stroke the Canterbury Pulpit from which so many famous speeches and sermons had been given.

When Grace got down on all fours to feel a tapestry runner, Crackers put her forelegs on the floor with her but in the air, furiously wagging her tail and licked Grace’s face. Crackers thought it was finally time to play!

They all had a good laugh at that.

“Oh, Crackers,” Grace said. “You silly puppy. It’s hard to be good for so long, isn’t it?”

She gave Crackers a hug. Then, they all rode the elevator down into the lower catacombs.

Grace gingerly traced the edge of Helen Keller’s sarcophagus.

“Look,” Grace said, “this braille plaque commemorates her life and work.”

“Being so far down in the bowels of this place,” Joe said, “makes me nervous.”

Crackers was nervous, too. She was subdued and tried to get Grace to go toward every exit she found.

The docent took them up to the loft where the organist would sit with a small choir.

“This is awesome,” Ken said. “The ranks of keyboards are fantastic. There are so many pipes.”

“There’s just enough time to get down to the main floor for a performance by a Boys’ Choir from North Carolina. Shall we go?”

Of course, Ken wanted to stay, but came along with the others.

During one of the organ’s crescendos Edie said in a loud whisper, “I sure hope those big stones in the arches don’t vibrate loose or any of the flying buttresses take off.”

Out in front of the cathedral, it took them four tries to get a taxi to take them to the Jefferson  Memorial.

“Oh, Grace,” Edie said as they stood near the Jefferson Memorial. “The cherry trees are in full bloom. Can you smell them?”

“Yes,” Grace said. “Are they planted in a design?”

“The cherry trees encircle the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial,” Ken said to described the scene for Grace. “They also line the grounds of the Washington Monument.”

“They were given to us by Japan as a token of friendship in 1912,” Joe said. “Other trees have been added over the years to make a truly splendid sight.”

Their taxi dropped them off in front of the Watergate Hotel.

“Perfect timing,” Ken said. “Our advisor is just starting to count who’s here and who’s not.”

After the play at the Kennedy Center, on the bus, Ken whispered to Grace, “I think you have to be blind to get the special tour you had,” Ken said, as he laced his fingers with hers. “You and Crackers make a very special team.”

Crackers nudged Ken’s knee, as if to say, Fella, you’re a part of this team, too. Then, she curled up at their feet and slept until the bus was once again in the school’s parking lot.