Episode Sixteen

Saving The Cities of Gold

At about 7:00 p.m. in Washington, D.C., Ben landed his airplane right outside the White House. He and the rest of the group ran up the steps and into the building. They saw secretary of state Condolezza Rice talking on the phone immediately when they got into the building. "Excuse me," Lionel said, "we hate to interrupt you, but this an emergency! Lives are in danger! We must see the President!"

Seeing the anxiety in their faces, Condolezza put her ear over the receiver and said, "He's in his office."

"Thank you," said Lionel. "We're on our way." The travelers hurried into President Bush's office.

"Mr. President," Matthew said when they got there, "we need your help. We're travelers in search of six more cities of gold--we found the first one--a French guy wants to kill the inhabitants and be rich!"

President Bush frowned. "Could you please explain more slowly what is going on? You're talking hastily."

"Sorry," Matthew said. "You see, sir, Ben, Stephanie, and I were assigned to write essays on the seven cities of gold and tour them first. We found one of the cities of gold in the Andes. This is Stephanie's sister Elizabeth, and this is Gertrude. They just want to help us, because there is an evil man from France, Philippe DeCoup, who wants to rob the cities of gold and be rich, and he's threatened to kill the inhabitants who try to stop him. We need your help. You need to send some people over to arrest him--the National Guard, the Marines, anybody! But we must act quickly. He says he and his colleagues will be wearing clown masks when they go and steal."

Bush jumped up. "You are absolutely right, there is no time to waste," he said. "Let me know where the rest of the cities of gold are located, and we'll be on our way, in case we can't find him in the Andes."

Alexis sighed. "We are not sure ourselves," she said. President Bush sighed. "But that area is known as El Dorado," she went on. "They'll probably start there."

"I'll call the Marines and National Guard and we'll be on our way immediately," President Bush declared. "Thank you for notifying me."

"We'll go, too," Elizabeth said.

"Yes," Gertrude agreed. "We want to save the people."

"Ben and I wear powerful bracelets that might be of some use," Stephanie added.

President Bush smiled broadly. "It's people like you who care and want to get involved that should be more of," he said. "Let's go!" He led the group into Air Force One and ordered the pilot to take off. From the plane he ordered that the Marines and National Guard be sent out. "Roger that," was the response.

Elizabeth looked worried. "Do you think we'll get there on time?"

Stephanie put her arm around her and held her close. "Sure we will, sis," she said. "We've gotten through a lot on this trip already." She was feeling brave.

Elizabeth looked toward Matthew and Gertrude, who were holding hands. "Although I am happy for Gertrude, I am a little jealous," she admitted.

Stephanie smiled. "I know, Matthew's a really sweet guy," she said, "but somebody's out there waiting for you. Whoever it is, he's worth the wait, and so are you." She and Elizabeth hugged.

Then they heard a dreadful noise. "Is the engine having trouble?" Stephanie asked Ben. "I'd really hate for the plane to crash. We'd die before we got a chance to save anybody!"

Ben shook his head. "Alexis and Lionel fell asleep," he said. "That's them snoring."

President Bush looked toward Alexis and Lionel. "They're drooling, too! I hope they don't get my seats wet," he joked. Everybody laughed.

Throughout the journey the travelers looked at the ground to see where they were and how close they were to the Andes. They saw wide open oceans with jumping dolphins, which delighted them, and green grass everywhere. They also saw Louisiana, Missississippi, and other states affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which made them feel sad and pray for the people there. They flew over Mexico and went further south. When the cities of gold came into view, Ben notified President Bush. "Floor it!" Bush commanded the pilot.

Air Force One landed on the ground, and immediately Lionel saw a chopper...and he saw men with clown masks surrounding the buildings! "Let's go!" he shouted.

"These men are armed," President Bush said. "We need guns to deal with them. Don't worry, the Marines and National Guard will be here any minute to assist us."

And Bush was right. Soon more helicopters and airplanes landed and American soldiers and the National Guard leapt out of the aircrafts. With our travelers they ran and besieged Philippe DeCoup and his fearsome colleagues, hiding and waiting to give a surprise attack. One teenage soldier with light-brown hair and green eyes smiled at Elizabeth. "You're pretty," he said.

"Thank you," she said, blushing.

"I'm Caleb Franklin," he said.

"I'm Elizabeth Raymond," she said. "Nice to meet you."

"Mutual," Caleb said.

Just then Bush ordered that it was time to attack. The group leapt out and took the French invaders by surprise. The French invaders shot at them, but not before the Americans shot at them first. Some French invaders were wounded, others killed. By the end no one was standing except for Philippe DeCoup. He noticed that Ben and Stephanie had recovered their bracelets and demanded, "How did you brats get those bracelets back?"

"That's none of your business," Stephanie said. "Leave this territory immediately, or you will be killed!"

"Somehow I don't see that I'm the one who will be killed," Philippe said, picking Ben and Stephanie up by their necks and starting to choke the life out of them. Suddenly Ben noticed how close they were to one of the buildings. "Stephanie," he said, gagging.

Stephanie looked, too, and she knew what Ben had in mind. They aimed the bracelets at the building, opening the bracelets halfway, and the door of the building started to crumble. Then it crumbled more and more. Philippe noticed it, too. He let Stephanie and Ben go, and they instantly ran away. Philippe tried to run, too, but it was too late. One of the pieces of gold fell and hit him on the head. He was knocked to the ground. Matthew grabbed a gun from one of the American soldiers and shot Philippe just to make sure he was dead.

The travelers embraced Ben and Stephanie, thankful that they were all right. But Ben and Matthew felt guilty for having killed somebody. Naturally, their lady loves, Stephanie and Gertrude, assured them that they were not cold-blooded. "You had to do it," they told them. "Philippe would have killed us."

The inhabitants of the cities of gold in the Andes were so thankful to the travelers and to Bush, the National Guard for saving their lives. They carried Ben and Stephanie on their shoulders and gave a big celebration. And when the adventurers traveled around the world and found the other six cities of gold, they were celebrated there, too.

With the mission to see the seven cities of gold completed, the travelers returned to Washington, D.C., got into Ben's plane, and flew back to Los Angeles to say goodbye to Lionel and Alexis. Some tears were shed as they said goodbye, but they knew they would all see each other again and that now Ben, Stephanie, and Matthew would have wonderful papers to write.

"I guess I'll take Gertrude to LAX now," Matthew said, "so she can catch her plane and get ready for college in Paris. It'll be hard to say goodbye, though."

"Paris?" Gertrude asked. "I changed my mind. I'm going to UCLA so I can be closer to you."
Matthew smiled broadly, and they kissed.


HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR TRAVELERS SINCE THEIR JOURNEY...

Lionel and Alexis had five children, and they named them Ben, Stephanie, Matthew, Elizabeth, and Gertrude.

Matthew studied marine biology at UCLA, and Gertrude studied medicine there. Matthew became a marine biologist, and Gertrude a pediatrician. They got married immediately after graduation.

Ben went into the aviation business, working with his dad. Stephanie received an A+ on her paper on the cities of gold and got a scholarship to Stanford University, thanks to her perfect 4.0 grade point average. She received her credential to be a kindergarten teacher, and two years later Ben let her know when a teaching position opened up in Los Angeles. She moved back to Los Angeles to be closer to him, and soon after Ben and Stephanie got married.

Caleb and Elizabeth kept an on-going long distance relationship alive (Caleb lived in the Windy City, also known as Chicago), until Elizabeth moved back east to go to college so she could be closer to him. He had to go off into war one last time after Elizabeth graduated with a bachelor in nursing (she became an R.N. soon after) but returned home safe and sound in three years. Then Elizabeth and Caleb were married.