The only problem was I didn’t know that someone seemed to be walking down the stairs right in the spot where I was trying to move. I stomped on a shiny shoe, just like George Washington. And I slammed into the person’s leg because I was trying to move so fast. And that person started to wobble and wobble.
And that person was Rep Thomas.
Before I knew what was happening, Rep Thomas had fallen on his backside. And I had fallen over too. I heard Rep Thomas say, “Oof!” and I said, “Whoa!!” And then I could feel that I was sliding. I felt my backside go bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump down those six steps. Then BOOM. Rep Thomas and I landed in a kind of a pile at the bottom of the stairs, right in front of the heavy bronze doors.
I turned my head and looked up. Beside the staircase was a sculpture of the head of George Washington. I felt like he was staring right at me. I felt like he was telling me that what I had done was way, way worse than stepping on someone’s foot.
I looked back at the staircase. The whole rest of the line had stopped. I looked at Ms. Campbell. She looked pretty shocked. My next thought was that I had hurt Rep Thomas. I think my heart almost stopped beating. I looked at him to see if he was okay. He was kind of sitting up. “Oh my,” he said.
All of a sudden I could see that some tall men in uniforms were standing around us. “Are you all right, sir?” they said to Rep Thomas.
“Oh, I’m just fine,” said Rep Thomas. “What about Keena Ford?” He and the tall men in uniforms were looking at me.
“I’m—I’m . . .” I started to say. Then I just started to cry again for a second time in one field trip. One of the tall men held out a hand to me. I just knew that he was going to take me right off to jail. I started crying harder.
“Don’t be afraid,” the uniform man said. “We just need to sit you down and make sure you are okay.” Then I realized Mr. Lemon was beside me. “Are you hurt, Miss Ford?” he asked. I was crying so many tears that I started making a gulping sound, and I couldn’t even answer, but I shook my head no. “Maybe we should sit down for a minute,” he said. “I will go with you if you want.” I nodded. Mr. Lemon told Ms. Campbell that we would meet them in the office building cafeteria later. She said okay. Mr. Lemon, the uniform men, Rep Thomas, and I walked away from the rest of the class.
Even though Mr. Lemon was with me, I felt very scared. And I felt very, very ashamed. I could not look at Rep Thomas. I could not believe that I had knocked over the representative. He probably thought I was the worst kid in the whole United States of America.
I followed the man in the uniform very quietly. He opened a door to a room with a long table and some chairs. Everyone sat down. The man in the uniform was talking to someone on a walkie-talkie. Then he pulled out a notepad and started writing some stuff with a pen.
My face was frowning in a very heavy way, like there was a weight pulling my bottom lip. I finally looked over at Rep Thomas. “I’m sorry,” I said, and I started crying again. “I wanted to be the caboose,” I said. “And I did not listen to Ms. Campbell. She said to be very careful, and I did not listen. And now I will have to go to jail,” I said. There were lots of tears coming down my face, and I started gulping some more.
Rep Thomas looked surprised when I said that. “Keena, you do not have to go to jail,” he said.
“I thought if you hurt a representative, then you had to go in front of a judge and he puts you in jail,” I told him.
“But I’m not hurt,” pointed out Rep Thomas. “And you didn’t do it on purpose. But maybe you should just keep your place in line next time.” Rep Thomas was smiling when he said that.
I looked at Mr. Lemon. He was NOT smiling. “Keena, why did you want to be the caboose so badly?” he asked.
I told him that the caboose was the best car on the train and that Tiffany always got to be the caboose. Then I said that I felt a little bit mad that everyone else got to be friends with Rep Thomas. And I told him that I had been afraid that he did not remember my name.
“Of course I remember your name, Keena Ford,” said Rep Thomas. “And you can be sure that I will never, ever forget it. Did you know we had a president with the last name Ford?”
“A president of the United States?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Rep Thomas.
“Oh. That is very interesting,” I said. I tried to not sound disappointed. I wanted to be the very first President Ford.
“What is this room we are in?” I asked Rep Thomas. “Is this like time-out for kids who are bad on the tour?”
Rep Thomas laughed. “It’s kind of like time-out,” he said. “This is a room where the Speaker of the House tells the representatives to go when they are talking too much.”
I looked at the man in the uniform. He had finished writing on his notepad and put it back in his pocket. “Well, sir, I have finished my report,” he told Rep Thomas. “Would like for me to escort you to your office?”
“No, thank you. I will walk with Keena and Mr. Lemon.”
We all stood up to leave the kind of time-out room. I was very careful to stay far away from Rep Thomas. We walked all the way back to the office building. I didn’t look around at any of the stuff in the Capitol or underground. I just made sure that I did not bump into anyone.
By the time we got back to the office cafeteria, the class was already eating lunch. When they saw me, they all got very quiet except for Addy. Addy said, “I told you she did not go to jail!” and she was looking at Tiffany when she said it. Ms. Campbell handed my lunch tray to me and told me to take a seat. There was only one empty seat at the table. And guess where it was?
It was right next to TIFFANY HARRIS.
“I am not hungry,” I said to Ms. Campbell.
Ms. Campbell looked at me. She looked at me like maybe she was a little bit tired. She also looked like she really, really wanted me to sit down. So I did.
Tiffany raised her hand.
“Yes, Tiffany?” Ms. Campbell said.
“May I please move?” she asked. “I am afraid Keena is going to push me out of my chair, since she knocked over Representative Thomas.”
When Tiffany said that, I felt VERY mad. Tiffany knew that I did not mean to knock over Rep Thomas.
“Tiffany, don’t be silly,” said Ms. Campbell.
“Why are you being so mean to Keena?” said Linny. “She did not do anything to you.”
“I’m not being mean,” Tiffany said.
“Yes you are,” Royann told her. “You laughed at Keena’s hair, and that was not nice.”
“Thank you, Delegate Jones,” I said. I knew Royann would be a good delegate if she could stand up to a meanie like Tiffany.
“Her hair had string in it. It looked funny,” Tiffany said.
Then Linny started to say that she thought Tiffany looked like something. I think she was going to say a bad name. But when she said, “I think YOU look like . . .” I said, “Shhh.” I did not want Linny to get in trouble.
Just then Ms. Campbell said it was time to go. She started calling people to line up. When she called me, she said, “Keena, I would like for you to walk with me. Also, you will sit beside me on the bus.”
When we got on the bus, I sat in the second seat beside Ms. Campbell. I knew I had to say sorry for three very bad things I had done. 1. I had lied to Ms. Campbell about why I had to wear my scarf. 2. I had not followed directions when she told the class to be careful. 3. I made Rep Thomas fall down. I did not know where to start, so I was quiet for a long time.
Ms. Campbell started talking first. She said, “Keena, I know that you did not mean to hurt Representative Thomas. But I told you to be very careful on the stairs, and you did not follow directions. I will have to talk to your parents and to the principal about what happened. And I think you will have to write an apology to Representative Thomas, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I said. Then I told Ms. Campbell that I was sorry that I did not behave. And I stayed very, very quiet for the rest of the bus ride.
>
When we got back to school, it was time to go home. Dad was there to pick me up. Ms. Campbell had to talk to him about what happened at the Capitol. Dad did not look too happy. When we got in the car, I told him the same apology I told Ms. Campbell. Then I told him about the election and the yarn braid and the scarf.
We got to the middle school to pick up Brian.
Brian got in the car. Then he said, “What happened to you, Yarn Head?”
“Keena had a little scissors trouble,” Dad told him.
“Wow,” Brian said. Then he said, “How was your field trip?”
I looked at Dad. He was not making any kind of face at all. He was just looking ahead, and his mouth was in a straight line.
“It was okay,” I said.
I asked Dad to turn on the radio before Brian could ask me any more questions. The guy on the radio was talking about Congress! I actually knew what they were talking about on I Know That’s Radio! I tried to pay attention. They were saying some stuff about taxes. I didn’t know what they were talking about. I was just listening for the radio guy to say “Congress” again. Then I would say “I know that’s right!”
Then I heard the radio guy say something else about Congress. He said, “Visitors to the Capitol got a bit of a scare today when a member of the House of Representatives toppled down a flight of stairs! It seems that Palmer Thomas of Maryland was tripped by an elementary school student on a tour. Luckily no one was hurt.”
“Oh my gosh!” Brian said. “Keena, did you see that happen?”
I was very quiet. Brian was quiet too. Then he said, “Uh-oh.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Nuh-uh,” Brian said in almost a whisper.
“It was an accident,” I said.
“What HAPPENED?” Brian kind of shouted a little bit. He was not whispering now.
“Welllllllll,” I said. “Well, I got very mad because I wanted to be at the end of the line.” And right when I heard myself say that to Brian, I knew it sounded really, really dumb.
“Are you kidding?” Brian said. “Was there a pot of gold at the end of the line?”
“No,” I said.
“Wait till MOM hears about this,” Brian said.
“I’m sure your mother will understand that Keena has learned from her mistake,” Dad said. “What did you learn, Keena?”
“I learned to stay in line where I am supposed to,” I said. “And I learned that Tiffany Harris and I will never, ever get along.” I told Brian about how mean Tiffany had been to me.
“But Tiffany didn’t MAKE you run up the stairs,” Brian pointed out.
“I know,” I said.
“Poor Tiffany,” Dad said.
“HUH?!” I said. “What do you mean?”
“She must be a very unhappy person,” Dad told me. “No one who is very happy would have to spend so much time making other people feel bad.”
I thought about that for one minute.
“So am I supposed to let her be mean to me?” I asked Dad.
“No,” he said. “But I’ll bet she stops bothering you if you ignore her. Does she say mean things to Linny too?”
“No,” I said. “Because Linny doesn’t care what Tiffany says.”
“See?” Dad said.
I thought about my list of rhyming words for Student Council. I decided that whenever Tiffany was mean to me, I would imagine that I had a poster that said, “You are being IGNORED by Keena FORD.” I would have to tell Eric about that one.
8 P.M.
I am in my room at Dad’s house. During dinner, I told Dad and Brian all of the cool things Jean had told us about on the tour. I told them about going underground and the statue room and the painting on the ceiling. I decided that maybe someday I could go back in the Capitol after all. I would just stay far away from that staircase.
After dinner I wrote my apology letter to Rep Thomas. I used Brian’s thesaurus so I could make my letter sound very smart. I wrote: Beloved Rep Thomas,
I am very exceedingly remorseful for colliding with you on the stairs and hurling you to the earth. I yearn for you to pardon me for my blunder. I offer assurance that I will demonstrate more prudence in the subsequent era.
Adoringly,
Keena Ford
I read my letter to Dad and Brian. Brian said, “That sounds really weird, Keena.” And Dad said, “The thesaurus is more of a tool to remind you of words you already know. So you should probably just use your own words.” Then he said I had a good vocabulary and that Rep Thomas would appreciate whatever I had to say, even if it didn’t sound fancy. So I rewrote my letter like this:Dear Rep Thomas,
I am sorry that I knocked you down the stairs. I hope you can forgive me. I promise that I will never ever be unsafe again for the rest of my entire life. And I will never tell anyone that you have fake hair like a tiny carpet.
Love,
Keena Ford
I read my new letter to Dad. He made a little choking sound when I got to the part about the fake hair, but then he said that my new letter sounded much more natural.
Next I am going to write a letter to Ms. Campbell, but before I do that, I am going to add George Washington to the cover of my journal with the clouds, rainbows, and angels. Maybe his picture will remind me of the sculpture of his head. And that will remind me of falling down the stairs in the Capitol. And maybe that will remind me to follow directions whenever I look at my journal.
I will probably have to look at my journal a lot.
Keena Ford and the Field Trip Mix-up Page 3
