Ashley’s mother was sitting in the living room sewing when she heard Ashley scream from the kitchen. She dashed in to see what was wrong, only to find her adopted daughter jumping up and down with excitement.
“Mom, look! I can’t believe it! Look at what Sister Heather says I can do!
Oh, I’m so excited!”
“Settle down, Honey, and let me read it, for goodness sake!”
June 2nd
Dear Ashley,
I trust your Special Olympics experience went well, and I look forward to hearing about it in your next letter.
Your last assignment, if you and your parents are comfortable with it, is to join a French language class that Lyceum is sponsoring. I thought this would be to your liking, as I remember you saying that you dreamed of learning foreign languages. The other students are mostly school and college age, and are not Lyceum members.
It is an intensive field class that begins at the United Nations in New York City on June 14th, flies to Luxemburg the next day, and spends about a month walking between youth hostels in Luxemburg and northern France, returning to New York on July 13th. That will leave just enough time to get you home and back to Lyceum for the evaluation week on July 22nd.
If you can get yourself to and from New York, Lyceum will take care of
the rest. Make your travel arrangements as soon as you can, as reserved seats fill quickly this time of year. I have enclosed a brochure about the class and a registration form for you to return to me. If you need a passport, send the enclosed application directly to our office in New York — we can get it processed quickly.
And above all, I sure look forward to seeing you for the next evaluation week!
Sincerely,
Sister Heather
Ashley bounced all over the house as her mother sat at the kitchen table and read the letter and the brochure. She pranced back in just as her mother was finishing.
“Can I, Mom, can I, can I?”
“Well, we have to run it by your father, and he and I will want to make a few phone calls, but I don’t see why not. Now aren’t you glad you decided to stick with it?”
Ashley was finally settling down. “I have you to thank for that!” she said and hugged her mother tightly.
“You’re very welcome. That’s what moms are for, I guess. You have some work to do, don’t you?”
“I do?” Ashley said, puzzled. She knew she had done all her chores and her homework.
“You have to figure out how you’re going to get to New York City only three days after school’s out, and make your reservations.”
“Even before Dad says yes?”
“Don’t worry, he’ll love the idea! Especially if you can get a discount seat on the train!”
Ashley grinned and reached for the phone book.
When Ashley got over the initial excitement, she quickly realized how much she had to do before leaving, not the least of which was to finish the 6th grade. For the next week, she found she had to use nearly every minute she wasn’t actually in school or doing her homework to visit the people she would
miss, and to get ready for her trip.
She spent several evenings with Jenny in the nursing home. Jenny was happy for Ashley, but she had started coughing more and was having trouble playing her recorder because of it. Neither girl said so, but they both knew that this was probably Jenny’s last summer.
She spent the night at Julie’s house twice that last week, as she couldn’t think of any other time she would have with the friend to whom she owed so much. Ashley promised her a gift from Europe and constant post cards, and Julie asked her to keep her eyes open for good computer programs.
On her last afternoon at the gym, she thanked her coach for helping her become the state champion, and for letting her learn as much as possible beyond the level seven compulsory skills. She had finally let go of the bitterness she once felt at not being able to get elite training in her home town.
On the last day of school, Ashley passed out little gifts from the dollar store to all her classmates. She knew that if she was accepted at Lyceum she wouldn’t be going to school with them again, but she kept that possibility to herself. She had learned her lesson about counting her chickens before they hatched regarding Lyceum membership.
Her mother fixed a special meal that evening, as Ashley would be leaving early the next morning.
“I have the strong hunch that our adopted daughter will only be popping in and out from now on, Honey,” Ashley’s mother said to her husband as they quietly filled their plates with baked pork chops, mashed potatoes, spiced apple sauce, and green beans in white sauce. Ashley blushed as she selected the smallest pork chop to go with her large portion of salad.
“I knew Ashley had something special in store for her,” her father said. “I knew when we first met her that she was just too strong a little girl to be content with a simple life in Rapid City.”
“I’m happy that we were able to give her a home,” her mother said.
“Yes, we are very lucky parents. But she’s going to owe us something,”
Ashley’s father said.
“What’s that, Dear?”
“She’s going to have to show us this Lyceum place of hers as soon as she can.”
Ashley grinned from ear to ear. “I love you guys!”
Ashley hadn’t been able to get a discount train seat, or any other kind of train seat, for her eastward journey. When she arrived at the bus station in New York City two days after leaving Rapid City, she was convinced that buses should only be used for short trips. Even though it was ten o’clock at night, she wished for a gym where she could work out all her stiff muscles.
It wasn’t long before she found a lady in her early twenties with beautiful wavy blond hair holding a sign with Ashley’s name on it.
“Hi! I’m Ashley!”
“Welcome to New York, Ashley! My name is Tanya Martin. Is this your first time here?” the lady said with a definite New York accent.
“Yes. Should I call you Sister Tanya?” Ashley asked.
“Oh, no! I’m not one of the Lyceum people. You have to be top notch to get into that place! I’m just a simple secretary at the United Nations. My office is next to the Lyceum office and we do things for each other all the time, and they were short-handed with so many people coming into town so they asked me to help out.”
“Thanks for meeting me. I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea how to find the place from here.”
“It’s not hard to get around in Manhattan once you get to know the place,”
Tanya said as they headed out of the bus station. “We could walk to U.N.
Headquarters from here if it wasn’t so late. I’ll show you how to ride the subway — it’s easy.”
Right outside the bus station they descended wide steps that took them deep underground, and Tanya was soon explaining the subway route map to Ashley. “So as you can see, we’re going to have to change trains from the 23rd Street line to the First Avenue line. See how that works?”
“Yeah! That’s easy!”
“We’ll make a New Yorker out of you in no time!”
“I don’t know about that!” Ashley countered.
Tanya produced subway tokens from a little pouch at her waist and they
went through the turnstiles and down more stairs.
“How
deep
are the subways, anyhow?” Ashley wondered out loud.
“We’re almost there, but I’ll show you one of New York’s secrets when we get to the platform.”
They finally came to the tracks deep underground. Tanya led Ashley along the platform until they were nearing the far end and the lights were getting scarcer, and most of those were flickering. Ashley nearly jumped out of her skin as a subway train suddenly burst from the tunnel in front of them and screeched to a stop at the platform. As soon as she had recovered, she stared in amusement at the graffiti covered cars.
“What
happened to them?”
“Oh, that’s our trade mark. People come from all over the world to see our subway cars! Well, not really. There’s just no practical way to stop people from doing it, so we live with it.”
“Shouldn’t we get on?” Ashley asked, some concern in her voice.
“No hurry. There’s one every ten minutes.”
“Really? Even this late?”
“This isn’t late for New York! I think they cut the runs in half at about midnight.”
They continued walking along the ill-lighted platform as the doors on the subway closed. It quickly accelerated into the darkness of the far tunnel.
Ashley was walking backwards to watch it depart and almost ran into a steel post.
“Watch your head! Here’s what I wanted to show you.”
At the very end of the platform a fence blocked their way, but they could peer through into the darkness. Ashley could hear a faint rumbling sound.
“Here comes a 7th Street train. Watch!” Tanya said.
The rumbling sound came nearer. Suddenly Ashley could see by the subway’s own lights that it wasn’t on the same track they were standing beside, but even deeper underground and going cross-wise to their track.
Where one tunnel went over the other, there was no solid floor beside the upper tracks, just occasional steel beams, and a person could see — or fall —
right through to the lower level.
“And there are even deeper levels than that!” Tanya said with mystery and
fascination in her voice. “And below those are old abandon levels, and below those are old water mains that are no longer used, and supposedly below that are natural caverns, but I hear it gets pretty wet down there.”
“How come all the buildings and everything don’t fall into the tunnels?”
Ashley asked, her eyes wide with wonder as she tried to imagine all the layers.
“Because it’s all in solid rock.”
“There’s a person down there!” Ashley said, pointing, as she caught a glimpse of someone carrying a lantern next to the deeper 7th Street track.
“People lurk around in these old tunnels all the time, even live in them.
It’s kind of like a strata of culture in our city that the tourists never see!”
“Strange!” Ashley said. “Have you ever been down there?”
Tanya chuckled. “No, but my boyfriend has. He works for the water department and can tell some spooky tales about stuff down there.”
Her mention of a boyfriend briefly brought the memory of Chad back to Ashley’s mind. She quickly brushed it away as another rumbling sound approached.
“Here’s a train we can take. Seen enough?”
“Um... sure,” Ashley said, and headed with Tanya back to the center of the platform, but the mystery of the tunnels and the brief memory of Chad were still coloring her thoughts.
The graffiti covered train screeched to a halt and the doors all snapped open simultaneously. People poured out, and the instant they were out of the way, those waiting to get on bustled into the cars. Knowing how soon the doors would snap shut again, Tanya grabbed Ashley’s arm and pulled her in.
The doors closed right behind Ashley.
“Whoa. Gotta be on your toes in this town!” Ashley said.
Tanya chuckled. “You got it, kid!”
The train quickly accelerated to full speed and Ashley grabbed a nearby pole.
“And you have to watch your stations. No one tells you when to get off, and there’s no one to answer questions. You could go ‘round and ‘round for hours if you didn’t pay attention!”
Ashley laughed at the thought.
“Here’s another route map. We get off in two more stations.”
At that moment the subway train emerged from its tunnel beside another lighted platform.
“See, you can always check the name of the station you’re at on the walls.
This is the 4th Street station.”
“Uh huh,” Ashley said, taking it all in, and bracing herself against the deceleration. The doors opened, closed, and they were soon moving again.
They dashed out at the next station, descended some stairs, and found the First Avenue line. Two stations later they got off again, climbed three flights of stairs, and Ashley stood in awe as she gazed at the huge complex of beautifully lighted buildings and fountains, gardens and rows of fluttering flags that were directly across the street from them, all standing out brilliantly against the darkness of the river beyond.
“There she is, Ashley. Headquarters of our puny little world.”
“It’s fantastic!” Ashley said in barely a whisper.
After they had stood for several minutes just taking in the majesty of the United Nations Headquarters, Tanya touched Ashley on the shoulder.
“The place I’m supposed to deliver you to is just a couple of blocks from here. Want to get a snack first?”
“Um... sure,” Ashley said, reluctantly tearing her eyes away from the sparkling buildings. “What can we get around here?”
“Just about anything you could want, at any hour of the day or night!
That’s one of the nice things about New York. How about frozen yogurt?”
“Sounds good. It’s hot in those subways!”
“I know! Over there’s a good place!” Tanya said, pointing, and they dashed across a street before the light changed.
Over dishes of amaretto cheesecake frozen yogurt, Tanya told Ashley all the things she should try to see at the United Nations while she was there: the General Assembly where she could listen in any language, the Museum of International History, the Promenade of Nations where she could find shops and restaurants from around the world, and the Garden of International Cooperation that looked out over the East River.
“It almost sounds like Lyceum!”
“You’ve been there?” Tanya asked with envy.
“Just
once.”
“I’d dearly love to see the place someday. I’ve looked at lots of pictures of it, but I bet it’s really special being there!”
Ashley nodded and smiled, feeling lucky that she even had a chance of becoming a member.
Their dishes empty, they quickly completed their walk to a nearby apartment building. Tanya pressed the button under the mailbox labeled Lyceum International Services, and a man’s voice came over a speaker.
“Good evening, this is Brother Calvin. How may I be of service?”
“Calvin, this is Tanya Martin. I have Ashley with me.”
“Come in, Tanya and Ashley!”
There was a buzzing sound and Tanya was able to pull the heavy main door open.
“Stairs or elevator?” Tanya offered.
“Stairs! I’ve been on a bus for two days!”
Tanya laughed and they started climbing. “Looking forward to learning French?”
“I think so. Actually, my dreams have been coming true so fast recently that I haven’t had time to think about them much. But I know I want to do lots of traveling.”
They arrived on the correct floor and pressed the buzzer at suite 300.
Ashley noticed that a camera was observing them. The door opened, and a smiling gray-haired gentleman about sixty years old ushered them in.
“Come in, ladies, come in! Thanks so much for helping out, Tanya. Any expenses?”
“I can absorb a token and a dish of frozen yogurt, Calvin. Ashley’s fun to be with. You’ll like her.”
Ashley shook hands with Brother Calvin.
“My apologies for not being able to meet you myself,” he said. “Two of the staff are still over at the U.N., and Sister Rae is picking up another French student at the airport.”
“That’s okay,” Ashley assured him. “Tanya and I had fun.”
Brother Calvin took Ashley to the spacious living room of the very nicely decorated and furnished apartment, and introduced her to the two French students who had already arrived, a girl about sixteen and a boy about twenty,
and then showed her the dormitory for visiting members and students.
“Make yourself at home. The only rooms you shouldn’t enter are the six staff bedrooms, and they’re clearly marked.”
“Okay,” Ashley said, picking a bed and starting to unpack her clothes.
“We’ll serve a leisurely breakfast here tomorrow, and then there are regular tours of the U.N. Lunch in the Promenade of Nations is on us, and class starts at one o’clock. Would you like a cold soft drink?”
“No thanks,” Ashley said.
“There’s a room here I believe you’ll like, but I’ll let you find it...” And with that, he left her alone to get settled.
Ashley picked out the clothes she wanted to wear to the United Nations Headquarters the following day and went to explore the extensive apartment.
First she found a room with several different religious shrines in it, all separated by curtains hanging from the ceiling. She knelt in the Catholic shrine and said her prayers.
In the next room she found the library, which had a couple of long work tables, three computers, a drafting table, and shelves of books and papers.
Then she wandered into a room that contained a good size exercise mat, a weight machine, and a hot tub, and immediately knew she had found the room to which Brother Calvin had alluded. The ceiling was even high enough for tumbling. She dashed back to the dorm and slipped into her leotard.
Fifteen minutes later she had loosened most of her stiff muscles and was doing some walkovers and inverted pirouettes when the other two French students entered the room in bathing suits to use the hot tub.
“Hi Tammy. Hi Scott,” she said while standing on her hands, her legs spread in the splits.
“Well, what kind of hidden talent do we have here?” Tammy said.
“Gymnastics,” Ashley said, walked over onto her feet, lunged into a front aerial, and then slowed into another walkover.
Scott whistled. “Fancy!” They climbed into the hot tub. “Mmm. Water’s perfect. Join us, Ashley?”
“In a little while. I’m undoing two days on the bus.”
“Buses
are
for
poor people,” Tammy said. “How’d you pay for this class if you had to ride the bus?”
Ashley had never heard anyone at Lyceum talk to someone like that, but then reminded herself that the French students weren’t members. “I didn’t make my reservations in time,” she said, doing a standing pirouette with her other leg straight in the air.
“Nice!” Scott complimented.
“She’s too young for you,” Tammy snipped, and Ashley could hear the jealousy in her voice. She decided to let out all the stops and finished her exercises with two handsprings, an aerial, and a twisting somersault, which she executed perfectly, then strode out the door.
“She’s certainly not too young to do gymnastics!” she heard Scott say.
Ashley took a leisurely shower, and returned twenty minutes later, her hair toweled dry and combed out. By that time, another boy had joined Tammy and Scott in the hot tub, but there was still room for one more. Ashley climbed in.
“Hell-o,” the black-haired boy of about seventeen said in unsure English with a middle eastern accent. “My... name... Adiv.”
“Hi. I’m Ashley.”
“Ashley’s a gymnast,” Scott informed the newcomer. “Adiv just got in at the airport from Montreal,” he said to Ashley. “His dad owns oil wells in Saudi Arabia.”
“How’d you pay for the class, Ashley?” Tammy asked as she took up the offensive.
“I don’t even know what it costs. I forgot to ask,” Ashley said nonchalantly, and could tell that she had disarmed Tammy.
“Five grand and change,” Scott said, but he obviously didn’t share Tammy’s interest in prying into Ashley’s affairs.
Ashley did a mental double-take at the cost of the class, but tried not to let it show. “It’s part of my membership preparations for Lyceum,” she said honestly.
“You’re joining Lyceum?” Scott said, obviously impressed.
“Yeah. I have to be back there about a week after this trip’s over.” Ashley felt an intense desire to change the subject. “Do you speak French yet, Adiv?”
“French? Little bit.”
“I don’t speak any! You can help me, okay?”
“Okay. You gym... gym person?”
“Yes. Gymnastics is the most important thing in the world to me.”
“Ever win a medal?” Tammy asked, still searching for a way to put Ashley down.
“Only at the state level. South Dakota, last year.”
“Bronze?” Tammy prodded, figuring that since Ashley didn’t specify, it must have been a bronze.
“Gold.” Ashley was getting very tired of the course of the conversation.
“Adiv, would you like a soft drink? I’ve had enough hot water!” Not to mention hot air.
“Soft... drink?” he said with a puzzled expression, trying to understand the concept.
“Soda pop,” Ashley tried.
“Soda water! Yes... okay... thank you!”
She hopped out, followed by the Arab boy. They toweled off and headed into the large kitchen and dining room area. Ashley hadn’t been planning on a soft drink, but it would be better than listening to Tammy.
They both worked at finding glasses, cans of soda, and ice cubes, and were soon sitting at the kitchen table sipping their drinks.
“You join... Lyceum?” Adiv asked.
“I hope so.”
“Lyceum... respected very... in Saudi Arabia.”
Ashley suppressed the temptation to giggle at his English. She knew she would be making far worst mistakes in French very soon. And, she reminded herself, she didn’t know a word of Arabic. “That’s good to hear. Have you been to Europe?”
“Europe... times many. Luxemburg... not.” He looked like he wanted to say something else. “Maybe...”
“What,
Adiv?”
“Maybe... show me... gym-nastic?”
“Sure! After Tammy and Scott are done in the tub.”
They sipped on their drinks for a few more minutes, and soon noticed that the other two students were back in the living room. “Now’s our chance!”
Once in the recreation room, Ashley tied back her hair, which was almost
dry, and then went through what she could of her skills, given the facilities.
Adiv watched wide-eyed. She finished and sat down on the floor to take out her hair band.
“You have... gold... award... in State... games?”
“Yes.”
“Like Olympics... gold medal means best?”
“Yes. But that was last year. I was too busy this year. Jeez, it’s almost midnight,” she said, spotting a clock on a disk player in one corner. “We’d better go to bed!”
“Yes. Good... sleep, Ashley. Thank you for... gymnast.”
“You’re welcome! Good night!”
As Ashley got ready for bed, she already knew she preferred Adiv’s company to Tammy’s. Scott seemed to want to stay near Tammy, and Ashley could sort of understand why... she was very pretty. But, Ashley remembered, there were about ten other students in the class that Ashley wouldn’t meet until the following day at one o’clock. Between Adiv and the ones she hadn’t met, she figured she’d find friends.
Ashley slept better than she had on the bus, but the sounds of the city could be faintly heard, compared to the silence of her neighborhood in Rapid City, and she found herself waking several times to tires screeching or sirens wailing somewhere in the distance.
Even though Ashley did not sleep well her first night in New York City, she woke when someone began working in the kitchen and quickly hopped out of bed, excited about the things she would get to see that day. As soon as she had showered and dressed, she crept toward the sounds to see what was cooking.
“Hello,” she said in a soft voice to the black lady in the kitchen who must have been about fifty.
The lady, busy cracking eggs, turned her head. “Good morning. I bet you’re Ashley.”
“That’s me. Can I help?”
“Yes. There’s a can of orange juice concentrate in the freezer, and a big pitcher on that shelf. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m Sister Rae.”
Ashley got the can of concentrate and the pitcher. “You work at the United Nations too?”
“I’m a Lyceum member, just like you’re applying to be, and I’m serving at our U.N. office right now. We generally take four to six month shifts there and in our other offices sprinkled all over the world.”
Ashley worked at spooning the concentrate into the pitcher. “I bet you have to know lots of foreign languages to get assigned there...”
“Yes. English, Russian, and French are absolutely required, and Chinese, German, Arabic, and Spanish or Italian are really helpful. You’re going to be learning French starting today, aren’t you?”
“Yes. It’s hard to believe. I wonder how many words I’ll learn before the class is over...”
“On a one-month intensive with Sister Viviane? You’ll be conversationally fluent by the time you get back here! You’ll have trouble remembering how to speak English!”
“Really? Wow.” Ashley was having a hard time imagining herself speaking fluent French. “O.J. is ready.”
Ashley soon met Sister Tamiko and Brother LeRoy who were both about middle age, and learned that between them and the two members she had already met, the Lyceum United Nations staff could speak about a dozen different languages. She helped butter and warm sweet rolls in a microwave oven while Sister Rae scrambled the eggs and fried rashers of bacon in two different frying pans.
The other three students began to filter into the dining room, and Ashley helped to carry the food to the table. Tammy looked like she hadn’t slept at all, but the two boys looked ready for the day. They learned that Brother Calvin had left for the U.N. office hours before.
After breakfast was all cleaned up, at which Ashley again assisted, the four students walked with Sister Tamiko and Brother LeRoy the two blocks to the United Nation complex. It was 8:30 in the morning, and the New York City traffic was heavy. As they stood waiting to cross the last street, Sister Tamiko spoke.
“The United Nations was created at the end of World War II so there
would be a place where all nations could come to talk and work together. It’s main purpose is to help us avoid another world war. When we cross this street, you will no longer be in the United States of America. The land upon which it sits belongs to all the people of the world. It has its own post office, its own police, it’s own administrative structure. Inside, you can use money from any country in the world.”
Ashley was fascinated and a little confused by the idea that it was in New York City, but not in the United States. She noticed that Scott and Adiv were listening, but Tammy looked bored. The light changed and they crossed the street.
The wide walkway they were on took them up broad but shallow steps with beautiful landscaping all around. At the top, they opened solid glass doors and found themselves standing inside an immense lobby of polished marble with clusters of furniture and plants in some places, huge open spaces in other parts. Ashley had never seen such a large room, not at the University of South Dakota, not even at Lyceum. She looked all around with wonder in her eyes.
“We’ll show you where the Lyceum office is, and then you’re free until one o’clock” Brother LeRoy said.
They followed him across the lobby and down a wide corridor. Ashley was constantly looking this way and that, trying to remember all the signs she saw.
She spotted arrows pointing to the Promenade of Nations, but not the other things that Tanya had mentioned. Everywhere she looked there were people of every race and nationality wearing every manner of clothing she could imagine, and some she hadn’t yet imagined. Her ears picked up several languages she could name, and as many more she had never heard before.
They soon came to a smaller lobby where only hundreds of people could gather, instead of thousands. A short way down another corridor the two members, followed by the students, turned into a pleasant office with couches, plants, information racks, and a conference table. Ashley noticed small religious shrines built into little alcoves in the walls that could be covered by curtains. Brother Calvin was sitting at a desk.
“Good morning, Calvin!” Brother LeRoy said in greeting. Then he turned to the students. “Class starts in the conference room across the hall at one o’clock sharp. I recommend you take the nine, ten, or eleven o’clock tour.
Here are your lunch coupons. Any questions?”
“Who’s the teacher?” Scott asked.
“Her name is Dr. Viviane Guise. She’s in the city now. You’ll be able to learn a great deal of French history and culture from her in addition to the language.
“Where does Tanya work?” Ashley asked.
“Next office to the right.” After a moment of silence, he said, “Enjoy your morning!”
“Ashley!” Brother Calvin called from his desk. “Here’s your passport.”
“Thank you!” She opened it and smiled when she saw her own picture inside, the one she had sent in with her application form. Most of the pages in it were blank. She mentally added to her dreams that someday it would be full of stamps from the many countries she hoped to visit.
She slipped both her passport and her lunch coupon into her little purse and walked down the corridor in the indicated direction to find Tanya. The next office down was labeled International Exchange Student Placement Service. She poked her head in.
“Hi, Ashley!” Tanya said, looking up from her desk.
“Hi! Just thought I’d say hello. We’re free ‘til class starts at one. Want to eat lunch with me in the Promenade?”
“Sure! But it’s a zoo at noon. Want to go at 11:30?”
“Okay. I’m gonna take the ten o’clock tour. What should I see before then?”
“Let me think...” she said, looking at a schedule on her desk. “General Assembly’s in session, and the tour doesn’t go inside, so I’d recommend you check it out. You could even listen in French if you wanted!”
Ashley
smiled.
“Also, if you have time, take elevator three to the top of the Secretariat Building. Great view!”
“Okay, thanks! Should I come back here at 11:30?”
“Yeah. See ya!”
Ashley made her way back to the huge entrance lobby, and soon found directories with floor plans in many different languages. She skipped Chinese, Arabic, and Portuguese, and studied the English version. A minute
later she was heading for the General Assembly Hall.
At the reception counter, she asked if she could watch the session, and the lady handed her a visitor’s ticket. A man standing nearby with a German Shepherd at his side looked her over as she stepped through a security scanner. She walked to the heavy wooden doors and another man opened them for her.
The room was more massive than she ever could have imagined. The two or three hundred people in the public area where she was standing hardly put a dent in the thousands of seats. Below the public area were hundreds more seats where the delegates from all over the world were sitting at their tables.
At the very bottom was an empty open circle where clerks carrying papers occasionally crossed. Above them all was the symbol she had seen many times, the Earth surrounded by laurel leaves. She felt pride in that symbol, having seen it many, many times when peace treaties were signed, or conflicts were avoided through the use of international forces, or relief supplies were rushed to people in need. She found a seat and sat down to listen.
The speaker’s voice was being amplified, but she was speaking in an oriental language and Ashley couldn’t understand a word. Then she noticed the little pair of headphones in front of her, and the selector buttons labeled with the names of different languages. Spanish was flashing, and Malay was lit brighter than all the others. She put on the headphones.
She recognized the language she heard as being Spanish, but only an occasional pronoun or conjunction held any meaning for her. She touched the button marked Malay, and found that she was listening to the lady who was speaking. Her language had a melodic, flowing sound that Ashley liked. Then she touched the button labeled English.
“...so when we sent workers to the tribes... those that were effected... by the epidemic, we found... to our surprise, that the people had... they had already discovered how to reduce the death, mortality rate to under ten percent.
They... the tribes... were at first reluctant to reveal to us their methods, but...
eventually did so. They were achieving these results with only local herbs and... rituals, whereas with the vaccine the government was distributing, the mortality rate was still... seventeen percent...”
Ashley did what Tanya had jokingly suggested. She switched to French,
and even though she didn’t understand a word, she got comfortable in her chair and just listened to the sound of it. She would soon be speaking it —
Lyceum was giving her that much of a gift, even if they didn’t accept her as a member. She was about to start a class that cost more than five thousand dollars, and Sister Rae had told her that she’d be fluent when she got back.
She liked the sound of the language, so peculiar, so romantic sounding. She decided then and there that she was going to enjoy learning French, and learn it as well as she could, and she wasn’t going to let Tammy or anyone else spoil it for her.
When she happened to glance at a clock, she was surprised to see that it was already 9:30. She replaced the little headphones and headed for the doors.
Signs guided her to her next destination, the Secretariat Building. She arrived in the building’s lobby without ever going outside, and then wondered how to find elevator three. She spotted an information desk and headed for it.
“Good morning, young lady,” the young man, twenty or less, said.
“Hi!” she said, momentarily lost in his handsome face and smile. “Um...
oh yes, where is elevator three?”
“To the observation deck? Right down that corridor.”
His smile, after he had given her directions, made her heart throb.
“Thank you!” she said, and reluctantly turned and headed for the elevator, but could not resist the temptation of looking back once or twice before she was out of sight of the information desk.
It was an express elevator that went straight up fifty stories, and Ashley’s stomach and sense of balance were both trying to tell her she was doing giant circles on the uneven parallel bars. She found herself instinctively wanting to fold her body into a pike position to clear the low bar, but resisted the urge, especially since she wasn’t alone on the elevator.
After walking along a short corridor, she discovered that the observation deck was a wide hallway that went all the way around the building, the outside of it completely made of glass. She gazed out over the city of New York.
The Secretariat Building wasn’t the tallest building in the city by far, but it towered over most nearby buildings and allowed her to peer down into the
streets that looked like canyons with ants scurrying around in the bottoms of them.
She went to the other side and watched the shipping traffic on the East River for a minute, and then looked out at Queens and Brooklyn in the haze beyond. She realized, before she left, that she did not feel any great desire to live in a city like the one she was seeing.
The clock above the elevator said 9:45. Ashley took the next car down, smiled at the young man at the information desk one more time, and then headed for the main entrance lobby.
When she arrived back in its massive space, a voice came over the public address system. “The next tour departs the Main Information Kiosk in five minutes.” Ashley approached the circular counter in the middle of the lobby.
“I’d like to go on the next tour, please,” she said to the lady.
“Okay! I’ll be doing that tour,” she said, stepping out of the kiosk through a little door that locked behind her. “Where are you from?”
“Rapid City, South Dakota,” Ashley said with pride, but even as she did so, remembered that she may not be spending much time there in the future.
“Wonderful!” the lady said, but soon had to turn her attention to greeting other people who were arriving for the tour. She spoke in German to some, but soon a group arrived speaking Greek, and a second tour guide was added.
A few minutes later the tour began with about thirty people following the two guides.
They first went by the General Assembly Hall, and the guides explained little more than what Ashley already knew, first in English, then in German, then Greek, then Spanish. There were plenty of nearby murals and display cabinets to look at while the languages Ashley didn’t understand were being spoken.
Next they were able to enter the Security Council Chamber, as it wasn’t in session. Ashley listened closely to the guide’s explanation of how it related to the General Assembly as she looked at the immaculate meeting room that was much smaller than the other hall, but still quite large.
The guides pointed out corridors that led to different kinds of offices, including the Non-Governmental Organizations that she knew included Lyceum. Soon they had arrived at the Museum of International History,
where the guides gave them a ten minute overview of the exhibits, and concluded by inviting them to spend more time there after the tour.
In the Promenade of Nations, every country in the world had one shop or restaurant where they offered their most interesting wares, some for sale and some just on display. Ashley peered into as many of the little shops as possible, and wished she could spend days there looking for gifts for her mother and father, Julie, and Jenny.
The tour then went outside and wandered through the Garden of International Cooperation. It reminded Ashley of some of the gardens at Lyceum, with plants and decorations from all over the world.
The tour concluded at almost exactly eleven o’clock, and many of the people who had taken it hurried off to the General Assembly Hall to listen to the session. Ashley thanked the guides and headed back to the museum.
She quickly found what had caught her eye during the tour, something she had always wanted to know more about than was taught in her school. She entered the area of the museum that was all about World War II, and stopped at the first exhibit, a three dimensional relief map of Europe as it looked in 1935. She began to read the explanations of why the war began.
When she was only about halfway through that section of the museum, she overheard someone say that it was 11:32. She dashed out at a fast walk and headed for Tanya’s office.
“Sorry I’m late!” she said as she skidded to a stop in front of the International Exchange Student Placement Service. “I was in the museum.”
“No problem,” Tanya said, grabbing her purse. “Everything’s open until ten at night, you know. Maybe you’ll be free this evening and can come back...”
“I’m gonna try. What are we eating? French?”
Tanya chuckled. “There is none. France did a fancy dress shop instead of a restaurant.”
“I guess I’ll have plenty of French food soon enough!”
“Yeah, lucky dog! Do you know what those classes cost?”
“I heard. I guess someone believes in me.”
They were entering the Promenade of Nations. Little shops of every
description lined the pedestrian walk, in the middle of which were benches, planters, fountains, and little play spaces for children. Ashley already knew that the restaurants were all clustered together in a part of the Promenade where there were plenty of tables and chairs.
“How about... Greek food. You know, tyropita, dolmades, gyros...” Tanya suggested.
“Do they have any salads? That’s what I need!” Ashley said.
“If you like tomatoes and cucumbers, and yogurt dressing...”
“Perfect! Let’s do it!”
“I hope you don’t mind if I have some tyropita or spanakopita on the side.
I’m hungry!” Tanya exclaimed with a grin.
They soon entered the restaurant area, and just as people were starting to pour in for lunch, they carried their Greek food over to a little table beside some small trees in a planter.
“Yum!” Ashley said, enjoying her first mouthful of Greek salad.
“Sure you don’t want one of these delicious items?” Tanya tempted, taking a bit out of a fillo pastry with white cheese inside.
“That thing is oozing with calories!”
“How come you’re on such a strict diet? You’re skinny if anything!”
“Because as soon as I’m accepted by Lyceum... I mean if I’m accepted...”
“Really, Ashley, do you have any doubt after they give you a class that costs five thousand three hundred dollars?”
Ashley chewed her salad thoughtfully. “Gosh. I hope you’re right...”
“Okay, go on. If you’re accepted...” Tanya coaxed.
“If I’m accepted, I can start training at gymnastics level eight.”
“Wow! You mean you’ve finished level seven?”
“Finished, took the gold medal in my state, and was practically a coach back in Rapid City. But there’s no way I can touch the elite levels without either being rich... or joining Lyceum. I’m not rich, so I’m joining Lyceum!”
“You mean I’m eating lunch with a champion athlete? I want your autograph when we get back to the office!”
Ashley smiled. “You’re embarrassing me!”
Tanya laughed. “You’re so lucky, Ashley. Most people who take a fancy to Lyceum get the booklet about membership, like I did once, and immediately
realize they’re way over their heads, you know, totally out of their league. But listening to you talk, I get the feeling that you could handle anything that came up. I bet you’ll do great in the French class. Did you know that only about half the students finish these intensive language classes?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. The teachers are strict, I hear, and push you up to conversational speed as fast as possible. The goof-offs can’t take the pressure. But if you’ve trained all the way up to elite level gymnastics, it’ll be a breeze for you.
Starting on the international scene at your age, you could know four or five languages by the time you’re eighteen, and have travel experience in that many or more countries!”
Ashley was speechless at the possibility, and an unchewed bit of salad languished in her mouth. But it did seem possible, if a one month class could give her some kind of fluency in a language of which she couldn’t yet speak a single word.
“I have to be back in the office by 12:30. And I do want that autograph!”
Tanya said, bringing Ashley out of her train of thought. They both started eating faster to finish their lunches.
As they headed out of the Promenade of Nations, Ashley spotted two more shops she wanted to look in, and added them to her mental list of three others she had already targeted. They arrived at Tanya’s office at exactly 12:30. The young secretary handed Ashley her personal journal, opened to a blank page.
Ashley thought for a moment, and then wrote.
June 14th
Dear Tanya,
You were the first friend I had in New York City. Thank you. If I make it into Lyceum, you’ll have a friend there. If I get to go to the Olympics, you’ll have a friend there too. Even if I get to travel to lots of far away countries, I’ll always remember you.
Ashley
Marie
Riddle
Champion Gymnast
South Dakota, USA
Ashley handed the journal back to Tanya.
“Thanks,” Tanya said with a warm smile. “I have a hunch you and I could be good friends. I hope I get to see you again.”
“Me
too!”
“Well... I have to start work, and you have a class in a few minutes. Have fun learning French!”
“I’ll do my best! Thank you for being my friend.”
Tanya put on her headset, and the other receptionist prepared to go to lunch. A call came in and Tanya began speaking to someone on the line.
Ashley realized that she might be able to see Tanya once or twice more, but they probably wouldn’t be able to spend much time together. With a fleeting twinge of sadness, Ashley waved and headed back to the Lyceum office.