DC By the Book

Excerpt: Loud voices from back in the alley caught the attention of Benjamin Parks as he walked his slow, end-of-the-day-and-I'm-really-tired walk between the Green Line Metro station near Howard U. and his home on Elm Street, NW just past 5th.

Excerpt: At the Mansion on J Street in Northwest Washington, DC, five row buildings had long ago been fused together into one somewhat opulent, somewhat funky historical preservation site, party spot, and bed and breakfast-cum-conference center. Seventy or more rooms were played through the facility at odd angles, with step-up and step-down passages on all five floors. Probably twenty-five of the rooms were made up as guest rooms with various themes based on historical figures. Ben Parks had over-nighted in the Sojourner Truth bedroom.

Excerpt: At the crack of the bat, the smallish rookie shortstop from Venezuela, Zoillo Versalles was off to his right. Diving horizontally, he simultaneously hit the ground as his outstretched glove made contact with the seeing-eye grounder that had momentarily been a surefire hit to bring in the tying run.

Excerpt: Thirty-eight students appeared that first Saturday morning in June at Frederick Douglass Hall on the campus of Howard University. Douglass Hall sat between 6th Street and the Quadragle (Quad), which was the central grassy park where Howard's traditions like graduation and the annual Greek celebrations, sith Stepping on Homecoming weekend, all happened.

Excerpt: On the first day up to the High School near the Eckington Yards the next year, Davita and Ben boarded the trolley on Rhode Island Avenue together and then met after school to ride back home together. On the ride home, Davita leaned over and whispered, "You're coming home with me."

Excerpt: Rico, Tony, and AR had already started the assembly line process at the family car wash ... it really wasn't a car wash in the commercial sense ... it was the large driveway in front of Ben's parents' house on 19th Street in the Carter Baron section of Northwest Washington. The red brick, two-story house, with finished attic and basements, sat amidst a large, well-manicured lawn. The driveway ran up into a garage, but there was room outside on the driveway for three rows of two cars abreast off the street.

Excerpt: Ben crossed the street from his S Street office and reached the intersection of Connecticut and R, going south toward the Circle. Across the intersection he noticed three young men in their twenties eyeing him. He didn't stare, but kept them in sight with his peripheral vision.

Excerpt: On a total spur of the moment thing, Ben had joined her on the dance floor, and at some point Old School blended the Temps down and went right into Chuck Brown's "It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing" (the funky go-go remake of the classic Duke Ellington tune). Old school to new school funk ... Ben and the major didn't miss a beat on the dance floor. The two of them swung across the floor as if they'd been dancing together for years. Their was the locally grown DC version of swing dancing known as hand dancing.

Excerpt: Ben found himself in Rock Creek Park. He parked in Lot 6, which was a short distance on Beach Drive from the right-turn at the base of the steep hill running down from the Carter Baron Theater and Tennis Center ... a gaggle of club riders whizzed by, mostly drafting on the leaders. One competitive rider was obviously trying to move up in the peloton.