The US Capital Commotion (5 page)

“My name is Arthur Lambchop,” said Arthur, as the applause died down. “I’m Stanley’s little brother.”

The microphone was way too tall for him, and he had to stand on his tiptoes to make himself heard. “It’s not always easy having a brother like Stanley. People pay more attention to him. That’s just the way it is. Plus, he gets to do stuff that my mom and dad wouldn’t let me do in a million years.”

Stanley saw his parents exchange worried looks.

“But,” Arthur continued slowly, “I remember when we went with my dad to Africa, and Stanley got really upset because he felt alone. He was sad because there were no flat people like him. And all I could think was that nobody makes me feel less alone than my brother. He’s like … he’s like the glue that you didn’t even know was there between people, bonding all of us together. When you’re a kid, a lot of people ask you who your hero is. And I … I can’t think of anybody as honest, flexible, and strong as my brother.”

Stanley felt a lump in his flat throat like a golf ball.

“You’re my hero, Stanley.”

At the end of the awards ceremony, Stanley joined all the special guests onstage for the grand finale. Arthur paced before the line of performers like a general. Stanley was on the end.

“This is it!” Arthur said. “Ready?”

A murmur of excitement went down the line. Yang, the Flying Chinese Wonder, leaned forward and winked at Stanley. Stanley noticed that, beside him, Carmen del Junco and Oda Nobu were holding hands.

“Commence countdown!” Arthur hollered. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two … one!”

Yin flipped high into the air and landed on her brother Yang’s shoulders. Yang bent his knees, and the pair launched straight upward like a rocket. Yang landed on Oda Nobu’s shoulders, so they were now three people tall. At that moment, Carmen del Junco grabbed Stanley’s hands and spun him around. His feet left the ground, and she let go. Stanley arced around the theater like a boomerang, until he saw Yang’s face come into view, and they grabbed each other’s hands.

Stanley held his body out to the side and waved his legs gently atop the flagpole formed by his friends.

The crowd leaped to their feet.

“That’s my boy!” cried his father.

“Bravo!” yelled the president of the United States.

“Be careful!” cried Stanley’s mother.

High over his friends from all over the world, Stanley waved his body proudly.

“Now me!” called Arthur.

That spring, Arthur and Stanley were playing in their room at home when their mother burst in. “Look!” she cried, waving an enormous envelope.

“What is it?” asked Stanley.

“Open it!” said his mother.

The envelope was made of thick, creamy paper, and Stanley slipped his finger under the flap and slit it open.

He pulled out a grand square of paper and read:

In the corner of the invitation was a note jotted in blue pen. Stanley peeked inside the envelope and spotted something else inside. He pulled out a piece of card that was shaped just like a very small version of himself.

“What’s that?” said Arthur.

“RSVP via Flat Stanley,” Stanley read.

“You’re starting a trend,” Arthur said. He sounded impressed.

Stanley smiled to himself and walked over to his bulletin board. He looked for a free spot among all of the things tacked up there. His eyes passed over a newspaper headline from when he saved Mount Rushmore, pinned next to a postcard from Calamity Jane. There was a snapshot of him and Amisi in front of Egyptian pyramids and a picture of Oda Nobu in a karate class in Japan. Underneath one corner of an Australian boomerang, there was a picture he took at the Beijing Zoo of a ferocious-looking panda bear. There was a newspaper headline from his plunge over Niagara Falls next to a flat fish head skull from Africa. He’d had a lot of adventures, and he hoped to have many more. Near the center of the board, with its red, white, and blue ribbon hanging from a pushpin, was his National Medal of Achievement.

Stanley tacked the wedding invitation right next to the bronze medal. He read again the note jotted in the corner:

Stanley
,

Thank you for bringing us together
.

JEFF BROWN
created the beloved character of Flat Stanley as a bedtime story for his sons. He has written other outrageous books about the Lambchop family, including
FLAT STANLEY, STANLEY AND THE MAGIC LAMP, INVISIBLE STANLEY, STANLEY’S CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE, STANLEY IN SPACE,
and
STANLEY, FLAT AGAIN!
You can learn more about Jeff Brown and Flat Stanley at www.flatstanleybooks.com.

JOSH GREENHUT
once mailed Flat Stanley, in costume, to a Halloween party 300 miles away. He is now married to the woman who was host of the party, and they live in Toronto with their two children.

MACKY PAMINTUAN
is an accomplished illustrator. He lives in the Philippines with his wife, Aymone, their baby girl, Alison, and their pet Westie, Winter.

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www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors and artists.

Washington, DC, the District of Columbia,
was named after the great discoverer
Christopher Columbus.

The official flag of Washington, DC,
has three red stars and two red stripes on
a white background, which is based on the
shield from George Washington’s
family coat of arms.

Although DC residents pay taxes to the
federal government, they do not have a
voting representative in Congress. That’s
why, if you drive through DC, you may see
license plates that say “No Taxation without
Representation!”

The National Air and Space Museum in
Washington, DC, is the most popular museum
in the world! More than 9 million people visit
every year.

Abraham Lincoln was 6 feet, 4 inches tall,
but the statue of him inside the Lincoln
Memorial stands at nearly 19 feet.

The official motto of DC is Justitia Omnibus,
which is Latin for “justice to all.”

The White House was originally called the
“Executive Mansion” or the “President’s
Palace.” A Baltimore reporter once called
it the “white house” in a newspaper article
and the name caught on. Theodore Roosevelt
made this the official name in 1901.

President Theodore Roosevelt kept animals
in the White House for his family. They had
dogs, cats, snakes, and raccoons, and a
macaw named Eli Yale, and even a pony who
once rode in the elevator!

The National Press Club, located in DC,
is the only building in the US to have
its own ZIP code!

Read the stories that started it all!

Do you know how Stanley Lambchop got to be the Flat One? Have you been following him since the very beginning? If not, here are the stories you’ll want to read!

And we hope you’ll enjoy Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures!

#1 The Mount Rushmore Calamity

#2 The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery

#3 The Japanese Ninja Surprise

#4 The Intrepid Canadian Expedition

#5 The Amazing Mexican Secret

#6 The African Safari Discovery

#7 The Flying Chinese Wonders

#8 The Australian Boomerang Bonanza

#9 The US Capital Commotion

In his worldwide adventures, Flat Stanley: