London Art Chase (2 page)

“Deal!” the girls said in unison before racing each other up to Maddie's room.

TWO

L
ulu bounced up and down on her toes as everyone took their luggage down from the overhead bins and slowly filtered out of the airplane. Maddie knew exactly how Lulu felt. All she wanted was to stand someplace where she had space to stretch her arms and legs. Between the flight from Nashville to Washington, D.C., and this flight from D.C. to London, they had watched four movies, eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner—plus three snacks—and she'd taken two naps. Maddie had read as much of her book as her eyes could bear, had drawn every last thing she could think of in her sketchpad, and even still, she'd run out of things to do almost twenty minutes ago.

Finally,
finally
, the aisle cleared, and Dad led the way out of the airplane. Lulu exploded out of the air bridge into the first empty space she could find and started to twirl and leap. Sometimes Maddie wished she could be six again and get away with things like Lulu did. No one was irritated with her little sister's twirling, not even the businessman she accidentally knocked into. But honestly, even when Maddie was six, she couldn't have ignored the way everyone was watching. Lulu didn't seem to even notice. Maddie stretched her
arms and legs, laughing as Dad joined Lulu and helped her twirl. Miss Julia snapped picture after picture.

“Are you making another collage?” Maddie asked, peeking over Miss Julia's shoulder.

“Look at this app,” she said, with her familiar burst of enthusiasm about anything new and creative. “I can make Lulu look like she's in a graphic novel, or a black- and-white sketch.” She flicked through options. “Which one should we use?”

“I say go with the watercolor-looking one. It's the one that actually looks like Lulu is in motion.”

Miss Julia clicked again a few times, finalizing the picture. “Nice choice.”

Mom put one arm around Maddie and the other around Mia, pulling them both close. “Are my beautiful girls ready to see London?”

Maddie could tell Mia was wound tight with just as much excitement as she was.

“Yes!” they chimed together.

As they made their way through the airport, the Glimmer family might as well have been a parade. Lulu led the way.

“Come on, guys, this way!” she kept shouting, even though Dad was the one actually reading the signs and making sure they were headed for baggage claim.

Dad didn't always come on tour with Mom. The girls came along most of the time, but Dad had to split his time between touring and arranging and producing
music. Mom joked that Dad always found time to tour to exceptional places, like Hawaii for instance, but when she played in Nebraska or Kansas, Dad's other work called. London must fall into the very-fun category, though, because Dad had cleared his schedule. Maddie liked it best when Dad came on tour, first of all because he always made everything more fun. But also because she liked watching him play piano for Mom at concerts. Maddie especially liked the way Mom's eyes lit up when she glanced over at Dad onstage.

“Baggage carousel number five!” Dad announced. “We'll take all the pink and purple suitcases, thank you very much.”

The girls laughed as Dad collected their pile of suitcases, which were—like he said—all pink and purple. His was the exception, gray with orange stripes. When the belt started slowing down, he'd found all of the suitcases but one.

“Where's my suitcase?” Lulu wailed. “The one with all my toys?”

“I'm sure it's here,” Miss Julia said, hurrying around the other side of the carousel.

Everyone looked, but Lulu's pink-striped case was nowhere to be seen.

“My suitcase is gone!” Lulu cried, tears filling her eyes. “My suitcase!”

Maddie wrapped her arms around her sister, hugging her tight. “It's okay, Lulu. We'll find it.”

Lulu's wails only grew louder. “My suitcase, my suitcase, my suitcase!!”

“Listen, Lulu,” Maddie said. “You can share my toys. I'll give you half of what's in my case for the whole trip, okay?”

At this, Lulu's wails quieted, and she looked up at Maddie with watery eyes. “But what if we don't find my toys . . . ever?”

“We'll find your suitcase. I'm sure we will,” Maddie said.

Mia came over and joined the hug. “Maybe there's a lost and found.”

“Now there's an excellent idea,” Miss Julia said, herding the girls toward an official-looking door. “Let's check in the office.”

Dad stayed with the luggage cart. Mom went with the girls to talk to the airline officer.

“What happened?” he asked, looking from Lulu's tear-streaked face to the rest of the group.

“We're missing a suitcase,” Miss Julia said.

“A pink one with stripes!” Lulu said, her voice rising into an almost-wail all over again.

Maddie rubbed Lulu's back in circles, the way that always helped calm her down.

“Hmm . . .” the man said, furrowing his brow. Maddie could see he really didn't want to disappoint Lulu. “Let me check in the back.”

The minute he returned, eyebrows furrowed deep, Maddie knew. The suitcase wasn't there. If only it had been her toy case, or even her clothes . . . anything other than Lulu's toys.

“Why don't you write your hotel's name on this form,” he said to Mom. “I'll research where the bag might be, and deliver it myself as soon as we locate it. Where did you have your layover?”

“Washington D.C.,” Mom said, writing quickly and passing the paper back to the man.

“You know what?” Maddie said to Lulu, pulling her sister out of the office before she could start wailing again. “Let's get Felicity. You can have her for the whole trip, okay?”

Dad unstacked suitcases so Maddie could pull out her favorite American Girl doll.

Lulu cradled Felicity in her arms. “Really? For the whole trip?”

“Yes, absolutely,” Maddie said.

Mia gave Maddie a
nice-thinking
nod. Lulu loved Felicity in particular, because of her long red hair, and also since in all of Felicity's stories she rode horses, something Lulu was hoping she'd get to do very, very soon.

“And they'll find my suitcase sometime?” Lulu asked Mom, tears welling up again.

“You know what, I think we should pray that the suitcase finds its way to us with no trouble at all,” Mom said.

“But should we really pray about a suitcase?” Mia asked. “I mean, is a suitcase important enough to pray about? No offense, Lulu,” she added quickly.

“God wants to hear about all the things that matter to us,” Dad said. “You're right, Mia, we shouldn't treat him like a genie in the sky who grants all our wishes. But praying is just as much for us as it is for God. When we pray, we are reminded that we can trust him with everything, no matter how big or small.”

“I'll pray!” Lulu piped up.

“Perfect,” Mom said.

Everyone closed their eyes, and Lulu said, “God, I know you're really good at finding stuff, so could you please look for my pink-striped suitcase? When you find it, we'll be at . . . Wait, Mommy, where is our hotel?”

Maddie cracked her eyes open in time to catch Mom's mouth twitch, the faintest hint of a smile. “The Grand at Trafalgar Square.”

“Right, what Mommy just said. We'll be staying there. And thank you for taking care of us, and for Mommy and Daddy and Miss Julia and Maddie and Mia and for Felicity too. Amen.”

Maddie made a special effort not to look at Mia when she opened her eyes, because she knew they'd both burst out laughing and Lulu wouldn't understand. She bit the corner of her mouth and counted silently until the feeling passed.

“I think it's time to show Felicity her first bit of London,” Mom said. “Are we ready?”

“Yes!” the girls all said.

“After you, ladies!” Dad said, gesturing toward the door.

Maddie, Mia, and Lulu linked arms and together led the way out to the streets of London.

THREE

T
he cab ride to the hotel took almost an hour, but Maddie didn't mind. Everywhere she looked something was completely new and surprising, from the way the driver's wheel was on the wrong side of the car, to the way the cab looked like a giant black beetle, to the way Mom, Dad, and Miss Julia rode in a seat that faced backward toward the girls. They careened through the streets of London. Careening was exactly the right word. Maddie felt more like she was on a roller coaster than in a car as they curved through roundabout after roundabout.

Outside her window, the city flew past, a city that looked like it couldn't exist in this century. Everything was made of stone and marble and iron, and still, every once in a while she'd see something from absolutely right now, like a Starbucks or a person sitting at a bus stop tapping away at a cell phone's glowing screen. The buildings were enormous, decorated with pillars and fancy carved window frames and sometimes even a carved gargoyle or odd face. Every building was topped a different way, with brick chimneys or round domes or spiked towers. The lampposts looked like they belonged in Narnia.

Every twenty seconds or so, Lulu would point out the window and say, “Ooh, look at that!” until no one even knew what she was pointing out at all. No one tried to figure it out, either, because they were busy trying to soak in the sights themselves. Even Mom and Dad oohed and aahed like kids. After a few minutes, Miss Julia stopped looking up every architectural feature on her phone and instead began snapping pictures again.

Mom asked the cabbie to pull up to the curb at Trafalgar Square so they could walk past the statues of lions and the fountain. “Can you circle the square a few times for us, and then pick us up?”

The cabbie agreed, and everyone climbed out of the car.

“It's like traveling in a time machine,” Mia said, and then, “Wait, Lulu!”

But Lulu was already sprinting for the closest lion. She'd climbed halfway up by the time the rest of the group caught up with her. Lulu tucked Felicity under her arm and climbed the rest of the way.

“Look at me!” Lulu shouted, balancing herself on the lion's huge bronze back.

“Lulu, you absolutely must stay with us,” Mom said. “No running off, no matter what, do you hear me?”

“But, Mommy! I'm riding a lion!”

Mom nudged Maddie and Mia toward the lion. “Might as well go up there and join her so Miss Julia can take some pictures.”

Mia helped Maddie up and they sat three in a row, with Felicity in front, all of the girls smiling for the camera. Across the stone square, water shot up into the air and splashed over the sides of the fountain. People crisscrossed from one street to another, some taking photos like the Glimmer family, and others clearly on their way to their offices or important meetings.

“Should we go settle into our hotel?” Mom asked. “The people who brought us in for the concert had a connection to the hotel, and arranged for us to have a very special room.”

“I hear there's even a grand piano in our room!” Dad said.

“Does that mean we have to practice while we're here?” Lulu asked, her face falling.

“It means you
get
to practice,” Dad said, helping her down off the lion.

“Maddie! A grand piano!” Mia said, eyes dancing. “Race you for first dibs!”

“No one is running off ahead of anyone else,” Dad reminded, catching Mia before she could take three steps. “Look, the cabbie is rounding the corner now. Let's go catch him.”

“Race you once we're there,” Mia whispered in Maddie's ear.

“You're on,” Maddie whispered back.

The doorman wore a top hat and a jacket with long tails. He greeted them with a bow and opened the
doors. A bellboy loaded their suitcases onto a cart and led them to the front desk.

“Whoa,” Lulu said, looking around the lobby with its giant pillars and marble statues. “This is the most lovely hotel I have ever seen!”

Everyone turned to look at Lulu, whose loud, clear voice echoed through the lobby like a bell.

“Why, thank you, miss,” the bellboy said, just as loudly, giving Maddie a swift wink.

After Mom and Dad had gathered keys, they piled into the elevator and went up to their rooms. When the bellboy opened the door, Maddie could hardly believe her eyes. With all of the traveling they had done she had been in a lot of hotels in her life, but these rooms were the most amazing she had ever seen.

“Welcome to the Musician's Penthouse,” the bellboy said, presenting the room with a flourish.

“Whoa!” Lulu said.

The room had two levels, plenty of bedrooms for everyone—even Miss Julia—and a spiral staircase right in the middle of the first floor. And sure enough, a grand piano sat in the middle of the living room.

Mia flew over to it—the way Maddie knew she would—and lined up her fingers to play. Soon, Pachelbel's Canon filled the room. Maddie crossed to look out the huge windows. She could see Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, and even the river crisscrossed by a few bridges.