DC By the Book

Excerpt: At the thought of that big, columned building, my brain shut down. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I’d never seen it except on the news and in movies. It seemed like a jump too far, ridiculous, like we were all campaigning for the chance to teleport to Jupiter. But the White House wasn’t a fantasy to the senator. It was the reason he got out of bed every morning. And if I could help put him there I would.

Excerpt: I shook my head. “You’re taking me to the National Mall?” “This is Lafayette Square, “ Andy corrected. He pointed over my head, grinning. “The Mall’s over there. Don’t worry, I’ll take you there next time.” As we passed a statue of somebody who looked like George Washington but, given the name of the park, was probably the Marquis de Lafayette, Andy grabbed my hand and pulled me off the path. “I like the lawns better,” he said. And I nodded as if that were a perfectly normal sentiment, as if it were completely normal to take a nighttime stroll outside the White House with somebody who lived there.