fandomhigh | These United States [Wednesday, June 18, 2014]

"Since this is the closest this class is getting to the Fourth of July with me," Josh began, starting at his class from behind a pair of sunglasses, "it seems only fitting that we end up in the City of Brotherly Love-Unless-You're-Rooting-Against-Their-Teams, Philadelphia. Here, in Independence Hall just behind us, the Founding Fathers wrote a document on parchment in calligraphy that invited the King of England to bite us, if you please."

Thanks for that summary, Sam. Josh was going to steal it. "The more technical term for it is the Declaration of Independence and its held in the Archives back in Washington, DC, but here's where our nation started. Well, my nation, anyway. Your mileage may vary. We're gonna go have a look at Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, then we're gonna head over to Reading Terminal for some food. I think it's a crime to leave Philly without having a cheesesteak and a soft pretzel." He tugged at his collar. "And some water ice. It's hot as hell here today. Imagine how the Founders must have felt in boiled wool and no A/C. Poor bastards."

He grinned at all of them. "And Riley Poole, one of the other teachers, has been invited to join us if he didn't have better things to do. Philly's one of his favorite cities."

Not really, Josh.

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"Do tell," Josh said, grinning. "I love a good story."

"And this is a good one," Riley said, smiling proudly. "I don't think I ever told you what happened to me before I came here, did I?"

"Nope," Josh said. "It involves Independence Hall?"

"Among other things yeah," Riley said, scratching his cheek. "Me and a friend of mine, we, uh, actually stole the Declaration of Independence to keep some lowlife treasure hunters from stealing it. There's an invisible map on the back."

Yeah.

"YOU STOLE THE DECLARATION?"

Inside voice, Josh. Inside voice.

"I helped but...yes. It was for a good reason!" Riley said defensively. "And we gave it back along with the treasure that we found. Everything went back to be preserved for history. We didn't want some money grubbing thieves to get their hands on it."

"It wasn't being preserved enough in the vault at the National Achives?"

Less screechy, Josh. Please.

"Apparently not since we broke in and took it easily enough," Riley said, shrugging. "It was for a good cause. We didn't even go to jail. And we had help from an employee who actually worked at the Archives."

Well, Abigail had helped...eventually.

Josh reached up to massage away a sudden headache. "Okay. How did this work? Pretend I'm very, very stupid."

"We stole the Declaration while it was in the Preservation Room," Riley told him, shrugging. "There were some very bad men who were going to take it and not have any sort of regard for the document it is. They wanted the Templar treasure and we stole it so they didn't get it. They wanted it for their own personal greed and we found it and returned it to who it belonged. We gave it back to history and the Declaration was fine. We weren't even arrested!"

"Templar treasure?" Josh repeated. "That's a thing?"

"It's definitely a thing and we found it," Riley told him. "Returned it all to various museums and rightful owners so it could take its place in history."

"That sounds like a lot of stuff," Josh said. "So what did you need here in Independence Hall?"

"This is the place where I, Riley Poole, knew something that Ben Gates did not know," Riley said proudly. "The place where I stumped the unstumpable and saved the day!"

"Do tell," Josh said.

"One of the clues led us here but, according to the clock and my friend Ben, we were too late and we'd have to wait till the next day to figure the clue out," Riley shared, crossing his arms and still looking pleased. "That, of course, would put us behind and give the not so nice men with guns time to catch up. But, what Ben didn't know was that back when the map and clue was written, Daylight Savings Time hadn't actually been put into effect yet so we were totally on time."

"Nicely done!" Josh said. "Time zones are the devil. And Indiana. I'm gonna lump Daylight Savings in there too."

"I was pretty proud of myself," Riley said, breathing in and sighing. "And I promise, we kept the Declaration safe. My friend Ben actually said he would have saved the document over the girl who ended up being his girlfriend. And she agreed with that decision!"

These United States [Wednesday, June 18, 2014]

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