FLAT LAUREN VISITS PHILADELPHIA

For Part One of this story see Location, Location, Location.

"Hi!" said Flat Lauren as she popped out of her envelope. "Phew, I'm so happy to be out of that thing." She gave the envelope a good kick. "It was hot and stuffy and I'm starving!"

"Oh," I said. Somehow I hadn't imagined that Flat Lauren would be able to ... talk. "Well, we have lots of great places to eat here. Welcome to Philadelphia, by the way." I took a peek inside the envelope. It did look hot and stuffy. But there was a pretty letter inside. "So, I see you've thought of some things you'd like to do."

Flat Lauren smiled at me sweetly. "Oh yes. And we can do all of them, right?"

"Sure." I glanced over the letter. "There's great places to shop here. Tons of choices for dinner. Oh, I love movies, too! And--hmm, that's interesting ... an amusement park ... an amusement park in the city...."

Was it my imagination or did Flat Lauren have a gleam in her eye?

"Well, let's get started." I tucked Flat Lauren in my purse and off we went to the bookstore up the street. But I soon heard Flat Lauren's stomach growling so I whisked her to the Italian Market, where the guys at DiBruno Brothers fed us samples of food. And more samples. And more samples. (For a flat girl she sure could eat a lot.)

Although it wasn't one of her requests I felt I had to show my goddaughter some of Philadelphia's famous sites, like Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

And then some not-so-famous ones, like the Singing Fountain, which we danced around for awhile; and the Lucky Fortune Cookie Factory, where we bought a freshly made bag of cookies as big as Flat Lauren.  We wandered into a nearby Asian supermarket and saw so many delicious things we decided to buy some for dinner.

 "Which kind of noodles do you like?" I asked.

"Mwhartl blrrs thlsh."

"What?" I looked inside my purse to find Flat Lauren with a mouth full of fortune cookies."Wow, you really like those."

Flat Lauren swallowed hard. "Oh, yes, they are simply delicious!"

"Good. Now I have another treat for you. Right around the corner is a lovely park with a carousel and a miniature golf course and a playground. It's sort of like an ..."

"An amusement park!" Flat Lauren leapt out of my purse and twirled along the grocery shelf. "Let's go!"

So off we went to play mini-golf amongst replicas of famous Philadelphia landmarks. Flat Lauren beat me easily."Don't feel bad," she consoled me as we strolled home. "Kids play lots more putt-putt than grown-ups."

That night we cooked a dinner so yummy we completely forgot to take pictures of it. Then, tired from walking all day, we curled up on the sofa and watched a movie.

The next day Flat Lauren had to go back home. We both felt very sad.

"Oh, there's so many other fun things to do here," I told her. "Promise me you'll come back to visit? And bring your brother and sister and mommy and daddy."

"Promise," Flat Lauren replied and hugged me tight.

Then I packed her into a priority mail box with a new bag of fortune cookies to share with her classmates. I wonder if there will be any left by the time she arrives at school?


Artwork by Lauren. Photos by Doreen. Extra help from Kevin.