The Lincoln Project
Page 13
“What do you reckon we should do with them, Taddie?” he asked his son.
David closed his eyes for a moment and said a silent prayer. He couldn’t believe his fate was in the hands of Tad Lincoln, of all people. Luke, Isabel, and Julia were silently pleading with Tad with their eyes.
“I say we court-martial ’em, Papa,” Tad said. “We should charge ’em with treason and sentence ’em to be shot at sunrise. Then we should bury ’em in the rose garden at the White House, like I did with my army doll, Jack.”
Luke gulped.
“Hmm,” said the president, stroking his beard. “That judgment deserves serious consideration, son. But I must say, it has been my experience that young ’uns who have no vices have very few virtues. In my boyhood days, I did many a foolish thing. I’m glad I was given a chance to redeem myself. Malice toward none, and charity for all. That’s what I say. When this miserable war is concluded, should the Union emerge victorious, I will do the same for the Confederacy.”
“Does this mean—” said Isabel.
“I am prepared to offer the four of you a full and binding presidential pardon,” Lincoln said.
Whew! The Flashback Four breathed a collective sigh of relief.
“I will inform the sheriff of my decision on our way out,” said Lincoln, “and then you will be free to go.”
“Thank you! Thank you!” the kids said over and over again, just to make sure the president understood their gratitude.
“I do the very best I know how, the very best I can,” Lincoln said as he got up and took Tad by the hand, “and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.”
The sheriff came over to escort the president and his son from the jail. Just before he was out of earshot, Julia ran to the bars and shouted after him.
“Oh, Mr. President!” she yelled. “Don’t go to Ford’s Theatre!”
Lincoln just shook his head and walked away.
CHAPTER 21
THE SHOT
AFTER LINCOLN AND HIS SON LEFT, THE SHERIFF took his sweet time getting back to the cell where the kids were being held. He was on the street outside the jail, trying to make chitchat with the president.
“I wish he’d hurry up and get back here,” Isabel said. “We need to be at the square by three o’clock. Anybody know what time it is?”
There was no way to check the time. There were no clocks on the wall, and no windows that would allow them to see the sun in the sky. But if Edward Everett had begun his speech at noon, and Lincoln had started his speech around two o’clock, it had to be getting close to three.
Finally, the sheriff returned. He took a set of keys off his belt.
“If I had my druthers, you bad eggs would rot here for a good long time,” he said as he opened the padlock. “But by orders of the president of the United States himself, you are pardoned for your crimes. So I reckon you’re free to go.”
“Thanks!” David said as he pushed open the cell door. “Hey, can you tell us what time it is?”
“You mean now?” asked the sheriff.
David really wanted to reply, “Of course I mean now, you dope! What other time could I possibly mean?”
What David actually said was, “Yes, sir, now.”
The kids watched impatiently as the sheriff reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a large round watch that was connected to a chain. He didn’t own a regular watch. Nobody did. It would be five years until a Swiss watch maker would invent the modern wristwatch. If you don’t believe me, look it up.
Slowly, the sheriff opened the metal cover of his pocket watch.
“Um, we’re kind of in a hurry,” Julia said, rolling her eyes.
“Hold your horses, missy,” said the sheriff. “I’m sure that wherever it is you need to go can wait a few minutes. Now let me see here. The big hand is on the eleven and the little hand is on the—”
“It’s five minutes to three!” Luke shouted, looking over the sheriff’s shoulder.
“We only have five minutes!” yelled Isabel.
“Let’s go!” shouted Luke.
They sprinted out of the jail, almost knocking down a little girl who was playing hopscotch on the sidewalk. It took a moment to get his bearings, but quickly Luke figured out which direction led back to Baltimore Street, and the square in the center of town.
The street was still crowded with people, but now most of them were walking away from the cemetery and toward the Gettysburg railroad station, which was a block north of the square. For many people, it would be a long ride home.
It was 2:57 when the Flashback Four got to Zerfing Alley, just a block from the square. It looked like they were going to make it with time leftover. That’s when two boys ran in front of them, blocking their path.
“Oh no, not them again!” Julia said when she spotted the boys.
“Well, hello again, ladies!” the taller of the boys said. “I reckon we can’t stop bumpin’ into each other, can we? It must be fate.”
“Perhaps you ladies would like to—”
“Can’t talk!” Isabel shouted, shoving the boys aside. “Go boil your shirts!”
The Flashback Four ran up the street, leaving the boys staring at them, dumbfounded.
It was 2:59 when Luke, David, Isabel, and Julia arrived, breathlessly, at the square.
“Where are we supposed to go?” David asked.
“All Miss Z told us was to be in the middle of the square at three o’clock sharp,” Luke replied.
In the middle of the square was a flagpole, with the American flag whipping in the breeze above. Without saying a word, the kids surrounded the pole, taking positions north, south, east, and west. Luke took Isabel’s hand, Isabel took David’s, David took Julia’s, and Julia took Luke’s.
Clang . . . clang . . . clang . . .
All the church bells in town began ringing to announce the new hour.
“This is it,” Luke said, closing his eyes.
“She better come through,” said David.
On the twenty-third floor of the John Hancock Tower in Boston, Miss Z and Mrs. Vader looked at the clock on the wall.
“It’s three o’clock,” Mrs. Vader said with a sigh.
“I guess it’s time to reel them in,” said Miss Z.
She was worried. She had wanted to “reel them in” a half hour earlier, when Isabel stopped responding to texts. She felt that something may have gone wrong. Maybe the kids were in trouble. But she wanted to give them every opportunity to complete their mission and get to the square by the prearranged time.
Miss Z typed a series of commands on her computer keyboard and hit the Enter key.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
The screen on the Board lit up. Five bands of brilliant color appeared, separate at first and then coming together as one hot, white light.
“Here they come!” said Miss Z. “Right on schedule!”
The band of light jumped off the Board with a crackle as it stretched a few feet away from the surface. Then the humming sound kicked in. The floor was vibrating. It felt like the whole building was coming apart.
“It’s happening!” said Julia, squinting and shielding her face. “We’re going back!”
“I feel it!” David said. “I feel myself making the transformation!”
They were flickering on and off now. They didn’t dare look at one another. They just held hands tightly for support.
In Boston, the Board was flashing like a strobe, illuminating bits and pieces of David, Luke, Isabel, and Julia. They were partly in the twenty-first century and partly in the nineteenth. The Board was struggling to fuse them into one.
On the square, a few people noticed that something unusual was going on around the flagpole. Some men came running over, but they were stopped in their tracks by the explosion of light and smoke that filled the air.
“What’s happen—” was the last thing any of the Flashback Four said in 1863.
And then they vanished.
There was a burst of inte
nse, white light in Miss Z’s office. She and Mrs. Vader shielded their eyes. And then the light was gone.
The Flashback Four were back.
“We made it!” Luke shouted.
They hugged one another, crying tears of joy. David got down on his knees and kissed the floor.
“Welcome back!” said Mrs. Vader. “Are you kids okay?”
“I think so,” Isabel said, speaking for the group.
“So what happened?” Miss Z asked. “I was getting worried about you. Why did you stop responding to my texts? Where’s the TTT? Where’s the camera? Did you get the shot? I’m anxious to see it!”
Luke, Julia, David, and Isabel looked at one another for a few seconds, each one waiting for somebody else to do the talking. Finally, Luke stepped forward.
“The shot . . . ,” he said, trying to find the right words. “Yeah, funny thing about the shot. It’s kind of a long story. . . .”
I know what you’re thinking, reader. You’re wondering what is going to happen next. Will Miss Z be furious with them? Will the kids be punished for returning without the camera or the TTT? Will she give them another chance? Will she fire them and hire a new Flashback Four? Or will she give up her dream to create a new museum of great moments in history?
As they say, time will tell. You’ll just have to wait until the next adventure of the Flashback Four.
FACTS & FICTIONS
Everything in this book is true, except for the stuff I made up. It’s only fair to tell you which is which.
First, the true stuff. The facts about Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address are true. I visited Gettysburg and also got a lot of information from excellent books such as The Gettysburg Gospel by Gabor Boritt, Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address by Orton H. Carmichael, and Gettysburg Remembers President Lincoln: Eyewitness Accounts of November 1863 by Linda Giberson Black.
It’s also true that there are no existing images of Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address. But if you go to YouTube and search for “Gettysburg Address,” you’ll find many versions of other people reading the speech.
Now, the stuff I made up. Needless to say, Miss Z and the Flashback Four do not exist, and neither does the Board. Too bad, huh?
Abraham Lincoln’s son Tad was ten years old in 1863, but he was not at Gettysburg. In fact, he was sick at home in Washington, and the president almost didn’t make the trip himself because of Tad’s illness. Two of Tad’s brothers had already died, and Mrs. Lincoln begged the president to stay home. But he was determined to give the speech, and thankfully, he did.
Tad might very well have been in Gettysburg if he hadn’t taken sick. He would frequently accompany his father to inspect the troops or go on trips. The two went to Richmond, Virginia, together and toured the Confederate capital just a few days after the Union army took over the city.
Tad was a fascinating boy. He didn’t read or write and did not attend school until after his father died. Today, he would almost certainly be diagnosed with one learning disability or another. He was known for being impulsive and unrestrained, but also cheerful and mischievous. Tad would hold yard sales on the White House lawn, where he would sell his father’s suits and his mother’s dresses. He also made money for himself by charging visitors a nickel to meet the president. He loved all things military. One time he constructed a fort on the White House roof. On another occasion, he opened fire on the president’s cabinet with a toy cannon. I just had to put him in the story.
Ten days after Tad turned twelve, his father was assassinated. Tad himself died just six years later, probably from tuberculosis.
John Wilkes Booth was also not at Gettysburg. I just couldn’t resist sticking him in there for the sake of the story.
BACK AD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Courtesy of Dan Gutman
DAN GUTMAN is the New York Times bestselling author of the Genius Files series. He is also the author of the Baseball Card Adventure series, which has sold more than 1.5 million copies around the world, and the My Weird School series, which has sold more than 9 million copies.
Thanks to his many fans who voted in their classrooms, Dan has received nineteen state book awards and ninety-two state book award nominations. He lives in New York City with his wife, Nina. You can visit him online at www.dangutman.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
BOOKS BY DAN GUTMAN
The Get Rich Quick Club
Johnny Hangtime
Casey Back at Bat
Baseball Card Adventures
Honus & Me
Jackie & Me
Babe & Me
Shoeless Joe & Me
Mickey & Me
Abner & Me
Satch & Me
Jim & Me
Ray & Me
Roberto & Me
Ted & Me
Willie & Me
The Genius Files
Mission Unstoppable
Never Say Genius
You Only Die Twice
From Texas with Love
License to Thrill
And don’t miss any of the books in the
My Weird School, My Weird School Daze,
My Weirder School, and My Weirdest School series!
CREDITS
Cover art © 2016 by Scott Brundage
Cover design by Erin Fitzsimmons
COPYRIGHT
The author would like to acknowledge the following for use of photographs: NASA, here; © Paul Vathis/AP/Corbis, here; Library of Congress, here, here; Nina Wallace, here; the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, here.
FLASHBACK FOUR #1: THE LINCOLN PROJECT. Copyright © 2016 by Dan Gutman. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gutman, Dan.
The Lincoln project / Dan Gutman. — First edition.
pages cm. — (Flashback Four ; #1)
Summary: “Miss Z, a mysterious billionaire and a collector of rare photographs, is sending her four recruits back in time on a mission to capture, for the first time, one of the most important moments in American history—Abraham Lincoln giving his famous Gettysburg address”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-237441-7 (hardback)
EPub Edition © February 2016 ISBN 9780062374431
[1. Time travel—Fiction. 2. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865 Gettysburg address—Fiction. 3. Photography—Fiction. 4. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.G9846Gj 2016 2015015557
[Fic]—dc23 CIP
AC
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16 17 18 19 20 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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