Read Online The Left Behinds and the iPhone That Saved George Washington by David Potter - Free Book Online

does know Daniel and Elizabeth’s father, and he lets us stay. The inn has everything we need: food for us, a warm stable for Juniper, and a single room with two beds—one for me, one for Daniel and Elizabeth. The only problem is the “necessary.”
    The bathroom, in other words. It’s behind the inn. Ye olde outhouse.
    Put it this way: the fact that it’s freezing cold is not the worst thing about this particular “necessary.” Not by a long shot.
    At least Bev isn’t around. She’d go into major snit mode and nobody would get any sleep.

TWENTY-ONE
    I T ’ S AROUND TWO IN the afternoon when we enter Philadelphia. I can tell right away we’re in a city, because the place is, like, super stinky.
    Horses. They got to do what they got to do, which unfortunately is all over the street. Which happens to be sort of covered with snow. So what the horses do is all too clear to see, let alone smell.
    To call this a city is a stretch. There are houses, small buildings, and more roads than just the one we came in on. There are other carriages besides ours, and there are plenty of people—all bundled up—going in and out of places. We are on Market Street; there are stores and shops all over, so to market everyone goes. It’s two days after Christmas now, remember. People are busy, got to get their stuff, just like in our day. No one pays us anymind, though. We chug halfway up Market before we think to ask anyone where to go.
    Daniel calls out to the first passerby we come across. He’s a man, a merchant perhaps, and maybe a Quaker. He’s wearing one of those hats—black, wide-brimmed, upright.
    “Good sir,” says Daniel. “We are seeking a certain personage, a resident of Philadelphia. Our business is most important.”
    The man stops, regards us closely, approaches our shay. “Perhaps I can help. Who is this personage you speak of?”
    “Dr. Franklin,” says Daniel.
    “Dr. Franklin?” he says. “Benjamin Franklin?”
    “The very one, sir,” says Daniel. “Would you be kind enough to direct us to his place of residence?”
    “I certainly could, if he were here—everyone knows the residence of Philadelphia’s most celebrated personage, as you put it. But I believe the esteemed Dr. Franklin has left. He should be back soon enough, young man. Six months to a year, I reckon.”
    “Six months to a year?”
    “He has accepted an assignment, from what the gazettes say. To be the representative to the king of France.”
    “The king of France?”
    “Yes, indeed. You see what happens, young man, when you go about and start a rebellion and declare independence? Then you are required to send an emissary to the king of France. Franklin was chosen. I believe he left last month. Good day to you!”

TWENTY-TWO
    W E DON ’ T HAVE LONG to be astounded. The man walks off, but we get ourselves a bit of attention. Two, three, four, five other folks have paused in their comings and goings to listen to our conversation. Most then go about their business; one does not.
    She’s an older lady, and she’s lost most of her teeth. She has some kind of frayed bonnet on her head, and she walks with a bit of a stoop. She also keeps shifting her eyes to the left, then to the right, then to the left again, as if she has a secret, or something to hide.
    “It’s not what I’ve been hearing,” she says, eyes left, eyes right. “Not what I’ve been hearing at all.”
    She’s standing next to the shay. As if she knows something.
    “Is that so?” I say.
    “That is so,” she says.
    “What are you hearing?”
    “I’m hearing something quite different,” she says. “Something quite different indeed. But I’ve encountered some difficulties as of late. A small consideration …”
    I don’t have my wallet with me, but in my pants’ pocket I have a five and three ones I’d brought to the reenactment in case I wanted to buy something, like a souvenir knickknack or a can of Coke.
    I first show the five and the ones to