Trouble

The morning of July 13th, we boarded the bus to go sightseeing, but Mr. Vivian had an announcement to make. Because of what happened the night before, I was now the constant companion for Sandra, Talula, Judy and Sha. Where they would go, I would go too. If anyone wanted to do something, we all did it. The majority ruled. This meant that I would go shopping with the girls. No matter whether I wanted to or not. I had a "brown belt" in karate, and I carried a pen knife in my pocket. I was to be their bodyguard. So, off we went on our bus. We saw the place where the Good Samaritan was. We went to Jericho and then to Bethlehem. Nazar got us deals at an Arab shop. Bethlehem was an awe-inspiring place. We went to the Dead Sea. If you think you have experienced hot, you haven't until you go to the Dead Sea. There was a shop that sold ice treats there. The machine broke, as it got overworked. The temperature was 127 in the shade, and it was estimated it was around 135 in the sun. I got sunburned in the bus with tinted windows. We didn't go in the water, but I touched it, and it was hot. We also saw the caves from a distance, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. There were explosions nearby. We didn't know if someone was shooting at us, but the Israelis took it in stride. We headed back to Jerusalem for dinner. As we sat down to eat in the hotel restaurant, a man came to our table and sat down. He identified himself as someone who worked at the US consulate, which was near our hotel. He was the political attache, which was another way of saying that he worked for an Agency. The Company. So, he told us that he had understood that we had befriended 3 Arab guys who ran a souvenir shop near the hotel. We didn't know how he knew this, but he did. He said that we were not to associate with these boys. He said that Henry Kissinger was in Jerusalem to try and broker a peace, as war was eminent. The Yom Kippur war did occur in October of that year. We told the man that the boys had become our friends. He told us that the boys were not friends of the United States. They would be terrorists now. I asked the guy wouldn't the boys be suspicious if we suddenly cut off contact with them? The man said that was probably true, so we were to continue being friends with them and find out everything we could about them; who their friends were; what their feelings were; etc. Then, the man would come back each night at our hotel dinner for us to tell him what we found out about the boys. I asked him what if we didn't do this, and he said they would revoke our passports and send us home. He wasn't playing. This was serious. All I could think about was what would I tell my parents, who had paid for this trip for me? How could I explain it to them? So, we agreed. Then the man said that if we mentioned this to anyone, they would deny it. We were now working for an intelligence arm of the United States. We were scared, but we had no choice. The hotel staff were friends with the three Arab boys. Apparently, one of them told the three boys about our meeting with the man. That night, I was in my room and talking on the phone with Sandra in her room, and we heard a click on the phone. The hotel switchboard was listening to our conversation about the visit by the official. We realized that the boys had found out. We were now in trouble.