Stealing Liberty by Jennifer Froelich

Author:Jennifer Froelich [Froelich, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Clean Reads
Published: 2017-06-25T04:00:00+00:00

We all risk it. A brief meeting in the west laundry room while our filthy uniforms tumble together in the one working washing machine. It’s a legitimate excuse to be here. All evening, kids have been taking advantage of the lifted curfew to fill the other laundry room, hoping to get the stink out of their clothes. I lean against a broken machine, wrapped up in a stolen blanket. My hair is coming back in, a prickle that does little more than darken my bald scalp. When Oliver comes in, he puts his arm around me and kisses the top of my head.

“Hello, beautiful,” he murmurs.

I raise my eyes and smile. Xoey is smiling too, leaning against the machine across from me. She’s wearing a new hat (pink-and-green striped with a pink pom-pom on top). Paisley agreed to help her make more, but only if Xoey took the first one. Reed sits on the machine next to her, unusually meek without hair. My eyes sweep the room, finding Sam, Adam, and Paisley too.

“Five more of us and we’d make a dozen eggs.” Oliver raps his knuckles against his bald head and everyone laughs. I hear steps on the stairs, and everyone quiets down while Adam steps outside to tell a new shell these washing machines are broken.

“Except the one I’m using already,” he says. “But you’re welcome to wait.”

The kid wanders off like they always do. When his footsteps recede, Reed turns to Sam.

“What did you learn about the auction? Who bought the Liberty Bell?”

“Shinzo Nakashima,” Sam says. “He’s on the board of directors at Mizuho Bank in Japan.”

I think about the maps I’ve studied in the Hidden Library, trying to picture Japan. It’s an island nation on the other side of the Pacific, if I remember right. We’ve been taught plenty about ecosystems in our core classes, but never much geography.

“What’s he want it for?”

“He told the Japanese media the Bell will be a central piece in the lobby décor at the new Mizuho tower in Tokyo. It’s under construction. Supposed to be finished next summer.”

“Lobby décor? Our Liberty Bell? Is he serious?”

Sam shrugs.

Oliver fidgets, as usual. “Did they already fly it overseas?”

“No. They aren’t going to,” Sam says. “I tracked down the bill of sale and shipping instructions. It will be shipped by freight train to the Western Sand in late April or early May. From there, it will travel by sea to Japan.”

“Weird,” Adam says. “I wonder why not by air?”

“Nakashima has a reputation for not trusting air freight ever since an Islamic State surface-to-air missile took out a plane bound for Tokyo two years ago,” Sam says. “Plus, he’s in no hurry. It will still get there way before he needs it.”

Oliver turns to Xoey. “Did you find the quote engraved on the Bell?”

“Yes.” She scrolls on her tablet. “But what’s written on the Bell…well, it’s not the whole verse, or even the whole sentence. The whole thing says: ‘And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.

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