Recap: Jordie and Zevi have to leave the plane, since they recognize the known terrorist. Jordie tells the flight attendant that his friend is having a recurrence of Covid. Zevi keeps coughing. They get permission to leave the plane. Then they are told that they will be flying to England instead.

We walked in long circles. It was exhausting going back and forth on various people movers, hiding behind crowds.

My heart was thumping. Someone was following us.

A huge crowd of people had just arrived at the gate near where we were standing.

“This is our chance.” Jordie was moving quickly toward the ground transportation exit.

“We’ll head out now. Come on. We need to be over there.” He pointed at Exit Four. A few minutes later, an airport limousine pulled up.

The driver lowered his window and whispered the code.

We opened the back door and slid inside.

“You wait at the side entrance to Buckingham Palace. Someone will be there.

The drive through London’s traffic was stop-and-go with lots of honking.

“Hatzlachah!” the driver said, letting us out at Buckingham Palace.

“That’s part of the code,” Jordie whispered in my ear.

I looked up at the grand building. “Whoa! I can’t believe I’m really here.”

We stood by the side entrance. We saw the guards marching in front.

“What do we do now?”

“Wait,” Jordie said.

A few minutes later, a man walked over to us. He whispered the code. “Not safe. You have to come on the tour. It’s the only way. When you’re inside, I’ll point you towards a good hiding spot in the palace.”

I wondered what he meant by a tour. He motioned us to follow him. He entered the front gate and there was a large group of people standing there waiting.

The man was the tour guide. “Welcome to Buckingham Palace,” he said. “We will now enter the grand entrance.” We were met by a lot of red-carpeted stairs. There were sparkling, elegant chandeliers on the ceiling and ornate railings on the sides. There were candelabras on the walls and sculpture and statues on display. The high ceilings and echoey hallway felt very palatial. I just prayed we could lose whoever the person was who was trailing us.

“Now, this is the Green Drawing Room.” The room had ornate gold designs on the walls and old-fashioned paintings. There was a couch with light green fabric and legs that looked very old and expensive. People roamed around the room, studying everything. The tour guide added, “This room was the Duchess of Buckingham’s salon.” It felt like an art museum.

“Next is the White Drawing Room, where the Queen would host receptions.” There were elegant white curtains and white furniture. “There’s a chandelier that dates back to the 1800s,” he said.

“Next is the ballroom. Take a look at this large room where knighthoods and state banquets took place.” I just wanted to find a safe place to hide.

“Ladies and gentlemen, there are 775 rooms in the palace, 19 state rooms…”

People were whistling in astonishment. “…and 52 royal and guest bedrooms.”

Jordie walked over to one of the old paintings and pretended to be studying it. I stepped over and he whispered in my ear. “I got a message that we should back away slowly and head upstairs. There are so many bedrooms. We should pick one to hide in.”

While everyone was studying the two thrones on the stage, we backed away slowly and headed towards the stairs. Somehow the tour guide followed. He spoke to the guard by the stairs. “Please come in the other room a minute. I need to ask you something important.”

When the guard was distracted, we zoomed up the carpeted stairs and headed for a royal bedroom to hide in.

Jordie picked a back small bedroom with a deep closet. “Let’s go in the closet and wait. “There’s an overhead light so we can read, and we’ll leave the door a bit ajar for air.”

It seemed like we would never get to Israel. I couldn’t wait to get there to give away this envelope that was now stored under my shirt and felt like it was glued to my skin, and I couldn’t wait to done with all this running and hiding.

“Let’s read your Nana’s book,” Jordie whispered.

Sitting there in a foreign country in a bedroom inside a palace, we began reading.

To be continued


Susie Garber is the author of an historical fiction novel, Flight of the Doves (Menucha Publishing, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha Publishers, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha Publishing, 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha Publishers, 2020), Denver Dreams (a novel, Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha Publishers, 2013), The Road Less Traveled (Feldheim, 2015), fiction serials and features in Binah Magazine and Binyan Magazine, “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021-2022), and Alaskan Gold ( 2023-2024).