THE GRAND TOUR OF OKLAHOMA
Chapter Eleven "'Bout time you left," Suri said. "Look," Rose said to him. "We appreciate the invitation but we're not religious and neither of us wants to go to a bible study." "Yes, but you have to meet Mary," Suri said. "No, we don't have to meet Mary," the Doctor said. "You heard Rose. Neither of us is religious and we don't want to sit for two hours listening to people drone on about the Bible. If that's your thing, go for it." "But it's movie night tonight." "I thought you said it's a bible study thing," Rose said. "It is but once a month they have a movie night and you watch a movie and eat pizza or hamburgers and have fun. It's movie night tonight so will you come?" Rose looked at the Doctor. "Your call," he said to her. "These films, are they Christian films?" Rose asked Suri. "No, they show regular movies," Suri said. "D'ya mind if I do something here first before we get dragged to this church?" Rose said. "Go ahead," Suri said. Rose glanced at the Doctor and the two of them headed towards the chairs while Suri followed behind them. When they got to the reflecting pool, she suddenly stopped and the Doctor and Suri stopped with her. "What is it?" the Doctor said. "Can we put things on the chairs?" Rose said. "These are meant for certain people and I don't wanna leave them on the fence. Um…" She looked around and spied the park ranger near the other end of the pool. She got his attention and she and the two men walked over to him. "Yes, Ma'am?" the ranger said. "Yeah, I wanna leave these things for certain people. Can I put them on the chairs and not the fence?" "Yes, that's allowed," the ranger said. "Thank you," Rose said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I don't mean to snub the others but I was touched by Baylee and Rebecca and wanted to give them both something." "Most people do the same thing when they hear their stories, you're not alone." "Thank you, that's all I wanted to know." "You don't have any other questions? I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have." "Well…" Rose said, "the pool of water here, was that where the other buildings were at?" "Yes, they were in this location and up there where the Survivor Tree is at was a parking lot," the ranger said, turning and pointing behind him. "Survivor Tree?" Rose said. "Yes, Ma'am, that tree is the only one to survive the blast so it's symbolic of Oklahoma City. The other trees around it were planted afterwards and they're all focused on that elm tree to symbolize the people the came to help the city from the moment of the bombing on. If you go up and look, you can see the blast damage on the trunk." "And that's blast damage on the front of the building there?" Rose said, pointing to the Journal Record building that faced the Murrah Building. "Yes, Ma'am, they left it like that to show what happened to the building when the bomb went off." The Doctor could hear Suri sighing angrily as he stood behind him. He normally liked meeting new people but Suri was rude, abrasive, blunt and drunk and he was extremely pushy. Rose was trying to learn all she could about the bombing and he was trying to force her to go to church and watch a film. Rose, to her credit, didn't see him getting upset or was ignoring him while she asked about the different things contained within the memorial. "Now if you want to, you can dip your hands in the reflecting pool and leave handprints on the walls of the Gates of Time, if you notice there are some calcium deposits on the lower part of the walls, that's from the thousands of handprints left over the years," the ranger was saying to Rose. "I think I'll do that as well. Um…but which chairs belong to Rebecca and Baylee?" Rose was asking. "Rebecca's chair is the first chair in the far row here," the ranger said, pointing to the five chairs on the far right. "Baylee's is near the other side, I believe about the fourth or fifth chair from the left. The children's chairs are half the size of the adults so just look for those." "Thank you," Rose said. "Do you need anything else? Brochure?" he said, pulling some out of his trouser pocket. "No thanks, I got one when I was inside the museum. Oh…this outside part it stays open all the time?" "Yes, Ma'am." "And the chairs light up after dark?" "The bases do, they're solar powered and they'll turn on when the sun goes down." "Thanks, my friend and I want to see the lighted chairs." "It's beautiful, Ma'am, definitely worth coming back for." Rose thanked the ranger and he touched his ranger hat and smiled at her before moving on. Rose turned to the Doctor. "Did you hear him?" she asked as they headed towards the chairs. "Yeah, we'll come back and see the chairs after it gets dark," the Doctor said. "After you go to First Church," Suri said. He held up his hands when the Doctor looked over his shoulder and glared at him. "Just saying," Suri said. "Go ahead with what you're doing." When they reached the end of the reflecting pool, Rose handed the stuffed dog and angel to the Doctor. He watched while she put her hands in the shallow pool and then walked over to the Gates of Time. She pressed her hands to the wall for five seconds and when she took her hands away, she could see her handprints. She wiped the excess water on her blue jean shorts. When she got back to the Doctor, she took her things and watched while the Doctor followed her example and put his handprints next to hers. When he was finished, they walked over to the chain and stepped over it. Rose walked to Rebecca's chair. Her name was etched on the base. The Doctor took the stuffed dog and watched while she knelt down beside the chair and put the angel on the seat. "Hi, Rebecca," she said to the chair. "Just wanted to say thanks for saving lives even though you lost your own doing it. I wanted to give you this angel and I hope you like it." She stared at the chair for a moment and then looked up at the Doctor. "I know you might think this is daft, me talking to a chair like this," she said to him. "I just thought I'd say something in the hopes her soul will hear me." The Doctor smiled fondly at that. He came over and knelt down beside her. "Rebecca," he said to the chair. "My friend thinks this is daft but to hell with what my friend thinks. I also want to say thanks for what you did and I hope you're at rest. You deserve it. People like you give me hope for the human race. Rest in peace." Rose smiled at that and he patted her back before they got up. Suri followed them while they walked halfway down to the middle of the chairs. Then the Doctor watched while Rose went up one row. She was about to go up one more when she had a thought. "No wait, Americans don't count the bottom floor as the ground floor and then the first floor after that. That first row represents the first floor so this second row would be the second floor then," she muttered before she stayed on the second row. The Doctor followed her and they checked the child sized chairs before they found Baylee. "Miss Baylee Almon," the Doctor said as he read the base. "They used Miss here as well." He handed her the stuffed dog. She put it on the tiny seat and knelt down beside the chair. The Doctor did the same and Rose put her hand on the seat while she tried not to get emotional at the thought of what the chair represented. The Doctor, seeing her trying not to cry, put his hand on her back. "Hey, Baylee," Rose said. "I brought you a little gift. I hope you enjoy it. I hope you're at rest and up in Heaven watching over your mum and dad and loved ones." She took her hand away from the chair. The Doctor kept his hand on Rose's back while he put his other hand on the chair. "Good day, Miss Baylee Almon," he said while Rose smiled at that. "You're a courageous little girl and I know that you were and are something more than just a symbol of this tragedy. You are a beautiful little girl and I'm glad that you're still touching people's lives. I hope that people will see what happened to you and be inspired to work for world peace and make the Earth a better, lovlier, more tolerant place for everyone. Rest in peace, poppet. I know your mum and dad are proud of you." The Doctor looked at Rose and looked back at Suri who was still waiting. He shook with silent laughter when Rose rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Let's get it over with," Rose muttered as she stood with the Doctor.
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