The morning sky was still overcast, but bright when the sun came out between the clouds. I had to squint as I looked through the windshield. A pair of mirrored sunglasses were hanging by their cord from the rearview mirror. Josh put them on over his shiny head and fired up the ignition. The engine gave a big four-liter growl, and out we backed, the antenna automatically starting to rise.
The radio came on, and to my surprise it was a woman talking about the place of Jesus in today's world. Josh looked at me, obviously feeling that my unasked question needed an answer.
'Christian channel,' he said, not at all defensively.
'A couple of guys got me into listening. It's been a help. I've even started going to a few meetings with them.'
I said, 'That's good, Josh,' and wondered if his bible studies had got as far as Judas yet.
We headed north, back along the route by which the taxi had brought us. Josh chatted about how long it had been since he'd been to the White House, and what he missed about working there. The thing he didn't miss, he said as we gradually crawled our way to D.C.' was the traffic. He hated it. As if we didn't know by now.
Sarah saw a filling station coming up and reminded Josh to stop for a one-shot camera. Twenty-five minutes after leaving the house, we were back on the Jefferson Davis Highway approaching the Pentagon. Instead of passing it, however, we took a right onto a bridge that took us across the Potomac. Josh became the tourist guide.
'Left, that's the Jefferson Memorial, and farther over is the Lincoln Memorial. Sarah, you've gotta get Nick to take you to the Reflecting Pool at sunset; it's real romantic, just like the movies.'
We had plenty of time to admire the view, as the traffic was backed up from halfway over the bridge. Eventually we started heading north on 14th Street, bisecting the vast stretch of grass that is the National Mall, running from the Capitol building all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial by the Potomac.
Once over the Mall we made a few turns. Josh said, 'Here we are, where all the dirty deeds are done!' We drove past the target, leaving it to our left.
'We have to go around because of the one-way system. But that's cool, you get to see it from all sides.'
Once we'd done a circuit counterclockwise, we landed up on 17th Street.
The front of the White House faced north, sandwiched between two gardens, Lafayette Park, which was part of the pedestrian area in the front, now that Pennsylvania Ave was closed to traffic, and, at the rear, backing onto the National Mall, the Ellipse, a large area of green that looked as if it had become a giant car park for government permit holders.
The White House was flanked to the west by the old Executive Office and to the east by the Treasury Department. Each of the two buildings had an access road between it and the White House, but both were closed to traffic. West Executive Avenue was closed off to pedestrians as well, but East Executive Avenue wasn't, to allow the public entry through the east wing of the White House.
We turned left and slowed down. Rows of cars were parked on the grass of the Ellipse, and in amongst them was a line of about a dozen yellow school buses.
Josh indicated again. The road had originally bent around, away from the White House, but had since been blocked off to create yet another car park. We passed the gates to West Executive Avenue and stopped on the corner of State Place. Josh opened the window and put his hand out.
'Yo!'
He got a nod from a man dressed in a gray single-breasted suit and what looked like a reddish tie. He'd been standing by the gates and started to amble toward us.
'Davy Boy! Long time!'
'Yo, Josh, good to see you!'
Sarah and I looked at each other as they exchanged greetings. She had the same concern as I did: Was this guy going to stay with us?
'How goes it, Davy, get a place for me?'
Davy continued toward the wagon. I could see his tie now lots of small Dalmatians on a red background.
'Hey, you know what, just park in the West Exec duty pool.'
As we got out of the vehicle Josh clapped Davy enthusiastically across the shoulders.
'Come here, let me introduce you to my friends from the U.K. This is Sarah.' They shook hands.
'And this is Nick.' We pressed the flesh.
'Hey. Good to see you. Welcome.' Davy was in his mid-thirties, and very open and friendly. He was also tall, fit, good-looking and had all his own teeth white and perfect. If he hadn't been in the Secret Service, a great career would have beckoned as the Diet Coke man.
Davy had everything arranged.
'I'll take you guys to the gate house, get you an ID pass each and take you in. As you know, it's kinda busy today, but we'll do what we can for you.'
Sarah and I gushed our thanks as we started to walk off with him. Josh cut in from behind us, 'See you folks in a few.' I heard his door close and the wagon start to move.
Davy did all the small talk.
'Take long to get here?'
I looked at my watch. It was ten sixteen.
'No, not really, just over an hour.'
'That's good. Was he complaining about the traffic?'
'He did nothing but moan.'
Davy Boy liked that one. It seemed that nothing had changed with his old work mate
Josh's black Dodge passed us on the way to the gates that would let him into West Executive Avenue. We were going there as well, but via the security gatehouse. Josh stopped at the big, black iron gates, which opened automatically for him. The gatehouse was to the left, with a turnstile and airport-style metal detector. From a distance it had looked as if it was made of white PVC and glass, like a conservatory. As we got nearer, I could see that it wasn't; the white paint covered steel, and the glass was so thick I could only just make out movement inside.
As the gates closed behind him, I could see Josh parking in line, nose in to the pavement, about fifty meters up on the left-hand side.
There was a big round of applause to my right and the roar of excited children's voices coming from a huge marquee that had been erected in the rear White House gardens. Davy grinned.
'There are about two hundred of them in there. Been practicing all morning.' He screwed up his face as the applause continued.
'At least they think they're good.'
I could see more clearly into the gatehouse now that we'd gone through the fence, turned right and were standing by the metal detector. Just beyond that was the turnstile. Two bodies were inside the gatehouse. The door opened and one of them came out. An electric buzz came from the turnstile as Josh came through to join us. The guard was white and in his forties. His Secret Service uniform was a very sharply pressed white shirt, a black tie, black trousers with a yellow stripe and black patent-leather belt kit, holding a semiautomatic pistol and spare mags. He couldn't wait to have a go at Josh.
'Things must be getting desperate around here if they're bringing you back!'
Josh laughed; he'd obviously had this for years from this guy, because he gave him the finger as he replied.
'I've been sent to get rid of all the dead wood, so you'd better watch out, lard-ass.'
Everybody contributed to the banter as the fat one slapped his stomach.
Sarah and I were the gooseberries in this, so we just kept our mouths shut and concentrated on looking awestruck at standing so close to the official residence of the most powerful man on earth.
I could see that Lard-ass and a younger black guy who was still inside the gatehouse were also responsible for manning a bank of TV monitors and radios. Davy got hold of a clipboard and went through the signing-in procedure.
'Nick, surname please?'
'Stone.' Being with Josh, there was no option but to reply truthfully.
