The Dead Drop Read Online Free Page A

“We can afford to take up a lot of space,” the National Mall seems to announce to visitors from foreign lands. “We’ve got plenty of it! And furthermore,” the Mall declares to old ladies tottering from their air-conditioned tour buses, “If you’re too weak to climb all these steps and too squeamish to use a Porta-Potty, you can just turn around and go home right now.”
     
     
    THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT:
    If you want to think about big, inspirational ideas (for you that might mean a division problem with a really long remainder), just go sit at the foot of the Washington Monument, which is basically a giant arrow pointing up to the sky. It’s very uplifting, and you also have the feeling that it just might fall over on top of you since it’s so much taller and more important than the antlike people walking around it. (Slight disappointment: Caitlin didn’t want to wait in line to ride the elevator up to the top.)
     
     
    THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL:
    The Lincoln Memorial contains a truly giant statue of President Lincoln sitting on a big throne and gazing at the U.S. Capitol building. Something about the sheer giantness of this statue (yes, Wendy, giantness should be a word) and the serious look on his face makes even the most sweaty, hyper kids fall silent when they enter the memorial.
    Did I ever tell you Lincoln is my favorite president from history? Why?, you ask?
    1. Our nation’s tallest president (so far)
    2. Liked the theatre (although getting shot to death while watching a “funny” play is a big price to pay)
    3. Just about the best writer we’ve ever had as a president
    4. Psychic abilities! (Lincoln had a premonition of his own death--a dream in which mourning people gathered around a coffin in the White House. When he asked what was going on, someone said, “The President is dead.” Very spooky.)
    5. Numerous sightings of his ghost by foreign dignitaries visiting the White House
    6. He knew what it’s like to lose a close family member. (Lincoln’s mom died when Lincoln was only nine years old and Willie, Lincoln’s twelve-year-old son, died while Lincoln was serving his term in the White House. Sad!) President Lincoln was thoughtful and sometimes moody--a man of deep thoughts. Not the cheer-leader type!
    SIGNING OFF FOR NOW--I’ll write more tomorrow!

5

    The Spy Museum
    I just realized you’re dressed very nineteen-eighties.” Caitlin stood behind Gilda on the long, steep escalator descending into the Dupont Circle Metro Station.
    Gilda didn’t respond; she focused on quelling a feeling of vertigo as she looked down into the underground station. She was also intrigued by a Walt Whitman poem engraved into the granite wall encircling the escalator:
    I sit by the restless all the dark night—some are so young;
Some suffer so much—I recall the experience sweet and sad. . . .
    Gilda wasn’t quite sure what the words meant, but she liked the haunting, poignant sound of the words—the eerie feeling of reading a poem while being lowered into the ground. She pulled out her reporter’s notebook and jotted a note to capture the feeling:
    So many buildings and monuments in this city are engraved with poetic messages that make you think about the suffering of people in times past. It reminds me of walking through a graveyard: it’s beautiful and interesting but also lonely and a little spooky, too.
    “Earth to Gilda,” said Caitlin. “You look very eighties!”
    “Oh, thanks.” Gilda decided to interpret this as a compliment even if it wasn’t intended as such. She had read somewhere that you should dress for the job you want rather than the job you have, and after much deliberation between her Nancy Reagan-style red power suit and her Avengers -style spy jumpsuit with boots, she had settled on the power suit combined with a red pair of cat’s-eye sunglasses for her first day on the job at the Spy Museum. “I believe in dressing for success,” she added.
    “The Spy Museum might have a