IT WAS A still morning. Not even the slightest breeze. The temperature was in the mid-fifties and rising with the climbing sun. Louie told Claudia to put on the workout clothes he'd purchased for her and he donned his new Nike pants and zippered top. They both wore baseball caps and Oakley sunglasses. They looked like Mr. and Mrs. American fitness. Before picking up Claudia at the airport he'd stopped on the outskirts of Baltimore at a Best Buy superstore and bought a Canon 10D digital camera and a 20 x 140 zoom lens. Louie looped the strap around his neck and brought his left arm up through the opening so that the camera lay snug against the left side of his back. They took the stairs rather than the elevator and exited the lobby onto Farragut Square. There was a Starbucks on K Street near the metro stop and they took their spot in the busy morning queue. Louie got a small black coffee and Claudia ordered some herbal decaffeinated tea.

With warm cups in hand they headed south for the short walk to the White House. It was October in DC, so there were nowhere near as many tourists as there would have been in the summer, though there were still a fair number. They came upon a group of Asians who were being led by a private tour guide. They were headed in the same direction as Louie and Claudia and took up most of the sidewalk. At the corner of 17th and I, they stopped to take photos of some building of interest across the street. Louie took the opportunity to find a way around them and kept moving. He did not want to be late. A block later they reached the northwest corner of Lafayette Square and passed the statue of Baron von Steuben. Steuben was a German officer who fought alongside George Washington during the Revolutionary War. The White House and the impressive neoclassical facade of the Treasury Building were now in full view. Louie checked his watch and slowed his pace.

"When I was a child my father used to bring us here for picnics on Sunday afternoons." Louie kept walking and looked around. "My father was very fond of this park."

Claudia was surprised by the disclosure. Louie rarely spoke of his father. "Why is that?"

"Lafayette…the famous Frenchman who fought with the Americans in their War of Independence. The park is named after him." Louie pointed to the southwest corner. "Over there is General Rochambeau, the French hero of the battle of New Orleans, and in the far corner is General Lafayette himself."

Claudia looked to the center of the park where there was a magnificent statue of a man on horseback. The horse was set atop a large block of granite, frozen in time, rearing back on its hind legs. The rider was holding on to the beast's reins with one hand and waving his hat in the air with the other. The base of the statue was encircled by four cannons. "Don't you mean that statue right there?"

Louie scoffed. "You would think so, but that is President Andrew Jackson. It infuriated my father to no end that in a park that was designed to honor those allies who stood by America's side at the fledgling country's most crucial hour, they erect in the center of that very park a statue of, not Lafayette himself, but instead an American president."

"If it bothered him so, why did he bring you here?"

"That is a good question." Louie did not answer right away. They walked hand in hand for a while. Finally, as they neared the south end of the park he said, "Maybe it was my mother who liked to come here. My sisters and I were little then. It was during my father's first posting at our embassy in Washington. TV was very big in America…even then. My mother did not like TV. My sisters and I did. There was no better way to master the American way of speaking English than watching TV."

Claudia nodded. Louie had told her this before. "So why the park?"

"Anything that got us outside and away from TV. Our Saturdays were filled with educational trips. We scoured every museum in town, every park, every statue and then on Sundays if the weather was nice we'd come here." That seemed to give Louie pause and then he added, "My father both loved and hated America. He was very fond of pointing out, though, that the American Dream would not have been possible if it hadn't been for French aid, French naval power, and men like Lafayette and Rochambeau."

"And if it wasn't for the American Revolution, we French would still be ruled by a monarch."

Louie laughed. "I said that same thing to him one day when I was in high school. He turned so red that I thought for a second he might hit me."

They reached the southern edge of the park. Pennsylvania Avenue was all that separated them from the White House. That and a heavy, black wrought-iron fence and gang of heavily armed men, only a few of whom were visible. Louie looked beyond the fence. Out in front of the West Wing, TV cameras were set up and people were milling about. Louie picked her out almost immediately. From this distance he couldn't tell it was her for certain, but he was pretty sure.

"Here." He handed Claudia his cup of coffee and grabbed the digital camera. The camera was high-end, with a lens that cost over a thousand dollars, but it was very user-friendly. Louie turned the selector switch to the automatic mode and removed the lens cap. He brought the camera up and pointed it at the White House. He took one shot and then another, just like hundreds, if not thousands of tourists do every day. He moved the camera over to the West Wing and snapped off a couple more. With his right hand he twisted the telephoto lens clockwise and zeroed in on the reporters and camera people. He found her with ease. She was talking on a cell phone and laughing. Louie snapped a photo and then looked at the viewscreen. It was her. He showed it to Claudia, who nodded.

"That's her. What do we do now?"

"We get a closer look. We watch her do the news, and then we see if she leaves to go anywhere."

Claudia looked to her right and then her left. At both ends of the street were guard booths. There was another one ahead and to the left where they were headed. "There are cameras everywhere as well as security people."

Louie glanced at the roof of the White House and spotted two Secret Service guys wearing blue coveralls. Probably snipers. "Don't worry, darling. We're not going to hang around long. We're going to act like tourists. Do a little sightseeing, maybe get some more coffee, check out a few parking garages."

"Parking garages?"

Louie took his coffee back and grabbed her hand. "Remember that credit report I had you run?"

"Yes."

"Did you learn anything from it?"

"She likes to shop."

"So do you." He couldn't see beyond her dark sunglasses, but he knew she was glaring at him.

"I don't spend anywhere near what she spends."

"That is true. But we'll see how you fare when we settle down."

"Are you done analyzing my shopping habits?"

"Yes. What else did you learn from the report?"

"She has no mortgage; she pays her credit card bills and her car lease in full every month."

"What kind of car?"

Claudia finally realized what he was getting at. "Oh…you are good."

"Thank you, darling." Louie grabbed her hand. "Let's go watch her do the news."