{"id":16082,"date":"2017-09-08T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=16082"},"modified":"2023-08-06T18:20:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-06T22:20:30","slug":"bobbys-absolutely-amazing-adventures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=16082","title":{"rendered":"Bobby’s Absolutely Amazing Adventures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bobby\u2019s Absolutely Amazing Adventures in the Capital Cities<\/em> to be released in 2018.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Bobby Wiring is ten years old. He\u2019s a fifth-grader at Lewis & Clark Elementary. And, he lives in a capital city! Imagine the excitement at Lewis & Clark when teacher Mr Wilson announces the new Social Studies project \u2014 here\u2019s a peek into Chapter One\u2026.<\/p>\n

Bobby slurched his feet twice over the spongy black raincatcher mat at the school entrance and headed down the hall to Room 14. He turned in at the third flag-blue door on the right where the sign said:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bobby dropped his backpack beside his desk and started to pull out books, homework, and his green-glow gel pen. Erasable. Mr Wilson was already at the board, intent on writing some mysterious announcement with a red marker. He wrote a few words and shielded them with his writing pad. Then he lowered the pull-down United States map a few more inches, to cover the words. The students in the front row were hunched forward, heads wobbling like bobble-head dolls as they tried to follow Mr Wilson\u2019s big brown hand scribbling up and down, up and down, the markings hidden behind the pad. Even with eyes squinting, they could not decipher the secret message. Bobby could see a few letters at the right side of the board, a spot the map didn\u2019t totally cover.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What did that mean? It was just like Mr Wilson to do something this way, to catch their attention from the first minute of class. He was the coolest teacher of Bobby\u2019s life. He was big, he was strong, and he was smart. Before he was a teacher, he was a Marine, and he expected strict order in the classroom. Except, he was funny too. He could do the greatest accents you ever heard. When they studied another country in geography, Mr Wilson would slip into accent. Spanish, French, Russian, Italian, Chinese, and even the clicking noises of the little people in Africa\u2019s Kalahari Desert. Mr Wilson had walked on all seven continents, a goal Bobby had set for himself. He knew he would do it, too. After all, he\u2019d already been to both American continents. Two down, five to go!<\/p>\n

Mr Wilson finished writing just as Mrs Green pushed Quang-Bao Mark\u2019s wheelchair into his designated space in front of Bobby. She gave Bobby a knuckle-scrunch on the head and waved at the class before she scooted back out the door. Quang-Bao Mark Green was Bobby\u2019s next-door neighbor and best buddy since before either of them could remember. He had never been able to walk, but he\u2019d attended Lewis & Clark since Kindergarten. His wheelchairs got bigger as he grew, and the latest model had a nifty flip over desk top. All of his school supplies and books were in special side pouches. \u201cThe saddle bags on my horse,\u201d he called them. His Uncle Levi had designed another attachment he wasn\u2019t allowed to bring to school \u2013 Electronic Elmer \u2013 with music player, video games and even a GPS for global position satellite tracking. There was also a telescope mount for backyard stargazing. Quang-Bao Mark and Bobby were nuts about the stars.<\/p>\n

Bobby pushed Quang-Bao Mark to Mr Chau\u2019s grocery on Saturdays for treats \u2013 \u201cMr Chau\u2019s for chow\u201d they said. And Bobby pushed him to their baseball games, bats and gloves stashed in the Sports side pouch \u2013 the Dugout they called it \u2014 with drinks in the mini-cooler on the other side of the wheelchair. Quang-Bao Mark was the team statistician and record keeper; Bobby played first. \u201cStop trouble before it begins,\u201d his Grandma Lucinda always said. He figured a good first-base player had a chance to do just that.<\/p>\n

The 8:30 bell rang and everyone sat up straight, all eyes up front, waiting for Mr Wilson to speak.<\/p>\n

\u201cBonjour class,\u201d he began.<\/p>\n

\u201cFRENCH!\u201d they called back to him. That was their morning game, to guess the language he spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuenos dias!\u201d he offered, and they quickly shouted \u201cSPANISH!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMangand\u00e1ng um\u00e1ga!\u201d Mr. Wilson came back. There was a moment of silence, then Lita DePano spoke up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s Tagalog Mr Wilson. That\u2019s the first words I hear every morning when my Mom wants me to get out of bed!\u201d Lita\u2019s remark brought a laugh from the class and a smile from Mr Wilson.<\/p>\n

\u201cCorrect Lita,\u201d he said, slipping into an accent. \u201cThat\u2019s a \u2018Good Morning\u2019 in Tagalog, a language of the Philippines. You are fortunate to have a mother teaching you to be fluent in two languages. Can you say \u2018Please\u2019 in Pilipino?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPakisuy\u00f2 is \u2018Please,\u2019\u201d Lita answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow about \u2018I am sleepy\u2019?\u201d queried Mr Wilson.<\/p>\n

\u201cInaant\u00f2k ako,\u201d said Lita.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there you have it,\u201d Mr Wilson grinned. \u201cPakisuy\u00f2, Inaant\u00f2k ako! Please, I am sleepy! Let me sleep another samp\u00fb minutes!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes!\u201d Lita laughed, \u201cten more minutes of sleep!\u201d Everybody was laughing now, in an unusually good mood for a rainy November Monday. Mr Wilson stepped back towards the board and attention once again focused on the secret message behind the map.<\/p>\n

What was it?<\/p>\n

\u201cClass, we are beginning a new tradition here at Lewis & Clark,\u201d Mr Wilson told them. He pointed to the big hand-lettered sign that always hung over his desk.<\/p>\n

See The Possibilities!<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are about to have an opportunity to see a LOT of possibilities,\u201d he continued. \u201cYour principal, Mrs. Nielsen, has asked all of the 4th and 5th teachers to announce the Greatest Social Studies Project ever. For the first time, Lewis & Clark will participate in the National competition. Here it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

He gave the map a tug, and it rolled up into its holder, revealing, at last, the message.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9\u00a0Linda Lou Burton 2017.\u00a0Your World \u2013 Know It! Show It! Grow It!<\/em>™<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bobby\u2019s Absolutely Amazing Adventures in the Capital Cities to be released in 2018. Bobby Wiring is ten years old. He\u2019s a fifth-grader at Lewis & Clark Elementary. And, he lives in a capital city! Imagine the excitement at Lewis & Clark when teacher Mr Wilson announces the new Social Studies project \u2014 here\u2019s a peek […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[3352,3353,3354,3355,3356,3357],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16082"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26343,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16082\/revisions\/26343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}