and patted Vince. “Be a good boy, Vince. I’ll be right back.” He turned to Willy, “Keep an eye on him for me. He likes you.”
The Governor got up and walked around the corner of the building towards the restrooms without looking back.
“Where are the kids?” Jack looked over at the concession line where they had been standing in line. He couldn’t see them. He jumped up and ran towards the concession booth without waiting for an answer to his question.
“What?” Julie asked, her voice trailing off behind him.
Jack looked left and right. He didn’t see them. He pushed through the line, mumbling “excuse me.” They weren’t in line. Could the Governor have found them here, taken his kids? God help me, he thought. He stood in front of the concession stand where he had last seen them. “Lynn, Willy?” he yelled.
“Hey, Dad.” Willy rounded the corner of the building, his face covered with blue ice cream from his nose to his chin. Lynn rounded the corner next.
Relieved, Jack walked to them while he scanned the area behind them and then looked to his left and right. “Where did you go? I got worried.” Then he noticed the dog that Lynn was leading on a leash. “And who’s this?”
“Can we keep him?” Willy asked. “He’s a great dog.”
Lynn started to explain to Jack what happened. “This guy asked us to watch his dog while he went to the bathroom and he didn’t come back, so we went looking for him.”
Jack looked down at the dog and then at the kids. Vince looked up at him with his tongue hanging out. He reached down and patted Vince on the top of the head. Then he checked the collar for tags. There weren’t any there. “Willy knows what this guy looks like?”
“I do, Dad.”
“OK. Lynn, you and the dog…”
“His name’s Vince, Dad,” Willy interrupted.
“Lynn, walk Vince over and introduce him to your mom and see if the owner shows up. Willy and I will go check out the bathroom to see if he’s in there. Maybe there was a line.”
“Or maybe he had a big job to do, Dad.”
“Right, Willy. Get going, Lynn. Tell Mom we’ll be right back.” Jack watched Lynn and Vince as they made it over to Julie. Vince trotted easily next to Lynn without pulling on the leash.
Willy ran up and grabbed Vince around the neck. “He wasn’t there. Can we keep him, Mom?” Julie looked at Jack as he walked up to the group and shook his head.
“We’ll see, Willy,” Julie said.
Willy sat on the grass, his lower lip sticking out. “We’ll see means no.” Lynn sat next to Vince and stroked his back, listening to her mother and brother.
“No, it means we’ll see. You talked to the owner.”
“But it’s finders, keepers.”
“But you didn’t find him. The man asked you to watch him.”
“But then he left him with us. He said Vince likes kids. We told him we wanted a dog. He thought we’d be a good match so he left him with us.”
“But he said he was coming back.”
Jack interrupted the argument knowing there was no winning this one right now. “Ok, ok, let’s make a deal.” Julie and Willy quit talking. All eyes were on him. “We’ll hold onto Vince for now, keep a look out for his owner, and we’ll decide later what the next step is. Maybe we’ll run into the owner while we hang out here today.” Jack put his hand in the center of the circle. “Deal?” One by one, the others put their hands on top of his with Jack topping off the stack with his other hand. “Deal.”
Chapter 44
“How about we rest up and give me some time to digest what we’ve eaten before we eat anymore. We’ll do the loop on the trolley, learn some things, and come back to find a nice place in the grass where the trees aren’t in the way so we can see the action and go Ooh, Aaah, for the show.” He looked at the kids. “And we’ll find a place to buy some popcorn.”
“Do we have to, Dad?” Lynn asked.
Jack got up and put a hand out to help Julie up. “Yep, let’s go. I’d race you there, but I think I’d puke if I ran.”
The kids got up from the grass. Vince stood up wagging his tail. Julie let Jack pull her up and she didn’t pull her hand from his. Jack started walking back towards the Nicollet Island Inn holding Julie’s hand. The kids each took one of their parent’s free hands, Lynn held Vince’s leash, and they walked to the trolley.
The trolley, or bus made to look like an old-time trolley, waited for riders in front of the Nicollet Island Inn. Jack and Julie sat in one seat together and the kids sat in front of them with Vince in the aisle. The kids fought for the window seat before agreeing to take turns. Once they were settled into their seats, the driver of the trolley started off the tour explaining that they were going to do a loop of the Mississippi Mile. Along the way, she planned to point out some things and give highlights of the history and development along the river. When she reminded them they needed to remain seated during the tour, Jack gave the kids a little tap on the shoulder to reinforce the announcement.
The trolley left the parking lot of the Nicollet Island Inn, turned right, and bounced along the old brick streets in front of St. Anthony Main. The driver pointed out the entrance to the Historical Society’s door where walking tours of the area were offered, talked a little about the buildings, and continued on. Next, they drove by the old Pillsbury flourmill buildings with the bulging walls and the windows white from years of flour dust caked on them. Just a few minutes into the tour and the kids were getting antsy already.
The next landmark was the one the kids liked. The trolley was the only motorized vehicle allowed on the Stone Arch Bridge, which snaked its way across the river. The rest of the traffic on the bridge was people on bike or foot. Midway across the bridge, the driver stopped and told them about the building of the bridge by James J. Hill and the importance the river and the falls played in the development of Minneapolis along the Mississippi at this point. This was where the falls were. Outside of the trolley, people were lined up along the railing at the edge of the bridge, looking out at the falls and the lock and dam on the west side of the river to watch the boats and barges be lowered as they traveled past the falls and continued down the river. Jack and the kids had visited the bridge many times on bike rides and had stood at the railing trying to guess what was in the barges or where the boats were going.
At the far end of the bridge, the driver stopped and told them about the restoration of the area mill buildings into upscale condos and the creation of the Mill City Museum. She pointed out the millraces and tunnels below the end of the bridge. Jack looked up at the condos and noted the people on the balconies partying and waiting for the pyrotechnic displays to begin. He thought his view would be better in the grass; the price was right and the company was better. He gave Julie’s hand a squeeze.
“Dad, can you believe there are tunnels under here?”
Lynn tapped Jack’s arm to get his attention. He looked at her. “What, sweetie?”
“The driver said there were old tunnels under the ground here from when they used water power to do work at the mills that used to be here. It would be so cool to go down in them.”
“I don’t think that’s part of the tour today.”
“They used to give tours in boats, a long time ago. That’s what she said.”
“We’ll stick to the trolley.” Jack’s mind drifted as the trolley continued on its route up the hill past the new condo development. The driver talked about the restoration of the Milwaukee Depot and the development of the hotel and indoor ice-skating rink that was open year round.
Jack thought again about his family, being with them, holding Julie’s hand. He looked over at Julie and studied
