Chapter IX - I'LL SHOW YOU THE WAY

Patricia was driving the Dodge, kids in the back, sandwiches in a cool box, and me sitting next to her in the front, loving her with gratitude for being with me and I was so excited to go to Washington DC! “So now we are driving on Route 29, it is the old road and it will take us all the way to DC” “Look here on the right, do you see that white building, that is Restaurant Seibel’s where I wrecked my Mustang into their wall, I told you about it” “And this is Silver Spring, Silver Spring always had a big Jewish community and when I was young we went there to the Jewish baker because he had the best bread” “You see that street, at the end of it my grandfather had its gas station, I slept there a lot of times when I was little and they always spoiled me” “So now this is Rock Creek Park, I came here often when I was a student at College Park and my parents always brought us here for Sunday picnics” “And this is 16th street, my father had his paper route here when he was a kid, It goes all the way to the White House which is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, do you know that President Thomas Jefferson designed the layout of Washington D.C. and Paris was his big example?” “Look, Jack Kennedy always went there to church when he was in office, my parents saw him one time. You can see the White House now, right in front of you, do you see it? There is the shop I told you about where I worked, a lot of senators came there to buy presents but I will show you later.” “So this is where we park, at the Potomac river, you see there on the other side of the river, that is Arlington, that is in Virginia, look that is the Lincoln Memorial, we will walk over there and I will tell you all about it”

So we went to the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, The Capitol Building, The White House, and finally the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum where you can touch the Apollo 11 capsule, Neil Armstrong’s space suit, and a piece of the moon. More than enough impressions for one day and I ran out of film for my camera, I thought I could speak fairly good English until then when it showed that pronunciation is quite important. “Hello, how are you, can I have three films for my camera” “I cannot do that sir” “Yes, you have them, I see them behind you over there, I need three films “ “Now sir, once again I tell you, I cannot do that!”

“IF YOU WANT TO BUY FILMS YOU NEED TO PAY FOR THEM, JUST LIKE ANYBODY ELSE”

With me holding up three fingers she understood that I didn’t ask for free films and we could solve the problem.

We were driving home during rush hour and the city traffic was quite congested. “You are better in city traffic so you take the wheel, but listen! This is not Amsterdam, there are a couple of things you can’t do here: no littering, so don’t throw your cigarette butts out of the car, we will get a $200,00 fine and no speeding, they-will-arrest-you!!” she tried to scare me. So now drive us safely home, I will show you the way.

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