*ry april, my school's eighth-grade class travels to washington, d.c., for their class trip. it's a long ride from new jersey1, but it's always exciting to get to visit places so important in our history. one year back in the mid- eighties, history really came alive for my students. that was the year rob*e brown was on a mission.one by one, in the early morning darkness, my eighth-graders and i boarded the bus. when rob*e brown got on, he was holding a four-inch pot with a white hyacinth. the delicate flowers were in full bloom. there was a small american flag stuck in the soil. *ryone asked rob*e what the flower was for. all he'd say was that he was on a mission.
rob*e became the talk of the bus. what mission was he on? some of the girls in the back of the bus started spreading rumors2. the hyacinth was really a present for nancy reagan, with whom rob*e was secretly in love.
he'd give it to her when we toured the white house. or maybe it was a present for our tour guide, the pretty young woman in the front seat.
after a long ride, our bus finally arrived in washington we stopped at the white house, got off the bus and went on the tour. the girls watched rob*e closely. but when we got back on the bus, rob*e was still carrying the flower.
we drove down pennsylvania avenue to the capitol rob*e carried the hyacinth with him on the capitol tour. no one let rob*e get out of sight. what was his mission?
around noon, we went to lunch. rob*e put the hyacinth down-just long enough to eat a burger and fries.
next, we drove past the washington monument and around the tidal basin, where the famous cherry trees were in bloom. *ryone watched rob*e like a hawk3 at arlington national cemetery4. he walked past jfk's grave, then down the stairs to bobby kennedy's grave. at the pool there, he put the plant down, cupped his hands, and scooped5 some water into the pot. rob*e left arlington just the way he had entered it-plant in hand.
finally, the bus drove back to washington and let *ryone off at the lincoln memorial. a sense of urgency filled rob*e's steps. *ryone followed as he headed down to the wall of the vietnam war memorial. he scanned the many names, then put the hyacinth down under one particular name.
rob*e turned to find his classmates watching with fascination6. "so, what's the story?" one finally asked.
"my mother's sister is named katie," rob*e began slowly. she fell in love with chip. chip would always send katie white hyacinths for easter. he'd get the bulbs from holland and grow them himself in his garden. when they bloomed, he'd dig them up, put them in a pot, and give them to her.
"in 1965, chip was drafted," rob*e went on. "the next year, he went to vietnam. he n*r came back. twenty years later, aunt katie still talks about chip. this flower is from her to him. she asked me to leave it here."
we all walked back and boarded the bus. nobody kidded rob*e about the flowers any*. for a long time, *n the girls in the back were strangely silent.
many years have passed since then, and all those eighth-graders are now *s. they've probably all forgotten that the washington monument is 555 feet tall and that abraham lincoln was assassinated7 at ford's theater. but i'm sure they all remember a soldier named chip, a white hyacinth and rob*e's mission.
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