Adelaide knew from the moment the plane landed that this wouldn’t be a good trip. She stepped out from the automated doors. Her first breath of American air wasn’t quite as fresh as she expected. She also hadn’t expected how humid it would be here. Her friend had been in America last year and said the weather was always pleasant, then she remembered her friend had been to California, and no where near the nation’s capitol.
She turned around to smile at her mother, who of course was the only person she knew who was clumsy enough to break her leg a week before their long-planned trip. So this would be an adventure, trying to still do everything they had planned, while her mom was bound to a wheelchair.
Their cab driver had been waiting for them in the baggage claim and was pushing the wheelchair while Adelaide juggled the rest of their luggage. The cab driver continued walking to the parking lot and up the elevator to where he left the van. Adelaide helped the driver load the luggage, even though he insisted she go sit down or help her mother into her seat. Ever since her dad had left, Adelaide was used to doing all the work for her mother who was always at work or sleeping, or in her current condition – injured.
The cab ride to the hotel was long and silent. A haze glazed over her eyes as she remembered. She had decided to drive to school that day, but her brother, AJ still wanted to ride the train like everyday. She arrived at school with everyone standing outside, no one even attempting to be in their classes. Peers turned to her and called out her name but before the mob could engulf her, the principal took her by the arm and had her in his office. “My dear, I know this is hard to hear, but there was a bombing of the trains this morning. They found your brother and,” he paused, not able to let out the last few words, “he’s dead.” Her world had changed that day.
Adelaide wished her brother was with her now. She could talk to him about anything. He could fill the silence that her mother always seemed to create. But this was impossible. It had been a year since then and it was still hard for Adelaide to accept her best friend was gone. Maybe it was grief that led her father to leave; maybe he took it as his only chance to get out of a marriage he never wanted. Either way, Adelaide always correlated the two events and she missed them both.
She rubbed her eyes and cleared the fog as they finally reached the hotel. It was about 1:00 when they had finished unpacking their stuff. Their only event of the day was to go on a tour they had booked for the National Gallery of Art and the Sculptures Garden within. The tour was for 4:30 and there seemed to be plenty of time to grab lunch.
Adelaide pushed her mom around the block, looking for the closest Metro station, only to realize that the main way down was a long set of stairs. There had to be an elevator around here. A boy maybe a year older than Adelaide crossed the street to where they were, he started to walk down the flight of stairs when he half-turned and tripped down a couple steps in the process. When he stood straight again, he looked back at Adelaide, barely noticing her mother in the chair, just the fact that a pretty girl needed help down. He was tall and lanky, with a mess of long curly blond hair nearly covering his eyes. As he started back up the stairs, he asked if she needed help finding the elevator.
He led her to what looked like one of the outhouses or security stations in London, with mirrors all around. She thanked him for his help, but he didn’t go away. He entered the elevator with Adelaide and her mom. Apparently, homeless people thought this was an outhouse too, so she took as little breaths as possible for the ride down.
“Hi! My name’s Cameron,” said the boy. “It’s a good thing I found you. I’ve lived here my whole life and know the metro system like the back of my hand…” he rambled for a while. Adelaide zoned out a little, wondering how he could stand the stench by opening his mouth. “…So where are you from?” was the first thing to break through her ears again.
Should she dare risk responding? He might keep talking. Adelaide told him that she and her mother were from England, not too far from London. That seemed to spark his interest. Just as the doors slid open, he asked about five more questions. She tried to excuse herself, saying that she needed to get to the ticket machine, but again, he followed. After they both had their metro cards and were waiting on the platform, he was still blathering. Occasionally, Adelaide’s mom answered his questions or told a bit fact she knew, which Adelaide was grateful for. For once, she wanted to be the quiet one and let someone else deal with this annoyance.
Just then, on her left, barreled down a giant metal urban worm, or at least that’s how she pictured it in her head. She popped a wheelie and parked her mom in front of her seat, and Cameron sat next to Adelaide. While he and Adelaide’s mom took turns with trivia and questions about each one’s hometown histories, Adelaide started to zone again.
From this closeness she could see that hidden under Cameron’s tangled hair was a conglomeration of freckles and acne. They blurred together to the point where it was hard for her to tell which spots were which. He wasn’t dressed for summer, some faded dress slacks and an equally faded polo shirt, and they might’ve been a size too small. Maybe he had just hit a growth spurt and didn’t bother to buy new clothes yet. She hoped he didn’t take her looking at him the wrong way, hopefully he thought she was actually paying attention to the things he said.
Before the next stop he stood up and gestured them out of their seat, “You said you needed Dupont, right” Adelaide rolled her eyes and agreed. “Great! I’m getting off here, too!” Was he trying to follow them, or did they actually happen to be going the same way? She decided to keep that question to herself. The three exited the train and Cameron rode the elevator with them again.
Adelaide’s mom told him they were looking for a particular Chinese restaurant in the area. Adelaide hoped he’d just point them in the right direction and continue on his merry way. Instead, he walked with them to the restaurant. When they got to the front doors, even her mom was a little disturbed by Cameron still being there. They both thanked him for his generosity and before he left he shook hands with them both, leaving a small piece of paper in Adelaide’s hand with his phone number on it. She wondered if he really thought he was that slick.
They sat at a booth by a window, as Adelaide looked out, she noticed Cameron walk into a Subway across the parking lot, which irked her because no one would go that far for a Subway sandwich, so he really had been following them. She tried to push him out of her mind as they ate lunch, as she did so she realized this might’ve been the first time she was able to speak to her mother comfortably in about a year. When they had finished their food, Adelaide suggested they not leave yet, because she hadn’t seen Cameron come out of the Subway yet, he was probably waiting for them. They stayed and chatted for some time and the minutes seemed to fly. They even laughed together. Adelaide then looked up at the clock – 4:15! No! After all this, they would be late for the museum. They quickly paid their bill and rushed out the door, not bothering to look if a certain local decided to follow them.
The walk to the subway was quicker this time than before, now that they actually knew where they were headed, but the elevator was still slow as ever and it smelled to have been “used” again since they came up.
The lights overhead read Blue – boarding soon, so they rushed to the ticket machine as fast as they could. The train doors opened as they went through the turnstile. Adelaide rushed aboard. Crash! The doors slammed shut. Screech! It began to move. Whoosh! Walls sped by surprisingly fast. Light was seen ahead of them as the train emerged into daylight. Before she knew it, they were back underground and slowly jumbling to a halt. If everything kept going this fast, they might actually make it in time.
The doors hissed open and people pushed to get out, leaving Adelaide spinning in the wake. Another search for an elevator’s passage to the surface meant another five minutes in their way. The doors opened slowly to reveal rows of trees around nearly two miles of perfectly trimmed green grass.
Adelaide pushed the chair across the cobblestone street, cursing whoever built them over 200 years before. She nearly launched her mother from the chair as they rolled up the slanted curb. Bouncing on every nook and cranny of the stones, her mom threatened to get up and walk, so Adelaide threatened to seatbelt her in. The stones subsided to newer pavement and a smoother roll. She could now go faster.
They might just make it in time. She could see the building she was aiming for. The tickets were clenched in her mother’s hand, flapping in the wind.
The chair swerved to the side of the building where the blue ADA sign was pointing to a ramp. She pushed hard up the ramp even though her legs were tired by now. After a switchback on the ramp and another corner around the building, the tall, mirror-like doors were glistening in front of her. She left the wheelchair to run and open the doors, only to find disappointment. The handle shook but wouldn’t open.
Adelaide looked up to see a security guard with the keys dancing around his finger. He smirked at her and shrugged, as if he was pleased to see the defeat consume her face, and turned around to patrol the building. She walked back and flopped on the stone floor next to her mother and softly moaned. Adelaide’s mom, as casual as ever suggested they find something else to do and they can try this museum another day, and then excused herself to find the nearest public restroom.
Adelaide continued to lie on the cement; eyes closed and arms spread wide. Then she thought of Cameron, half of her thinking how frustrating that he had made her late, half trying to remember what his eyes looked like. What had he been talking to her mother about? Now she wished she had paid attention. She thought about the fact that the DC area closes at 5:00, so there was no chance of doing anything else today. And soon after that, it would get dark, and when it gets dark in a big city, that’s when the dangerous people come out. Suddenly, she really wanted to see Cameron.
A shadow covered her eyes from the sun, so she blinked a couple times to find that looming over her was a tall boy with tangled curly blond hair. Now with mustard and ketchup blotched on the front of his shirt. He helped her up and simply said, “Locked out, eh? Come on, I know a place.”
Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad vacation after all.
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