Chapter 77

“No moon?”

I mimicked Katie’s finger-on-nose gesture for “You got it.”

We had gone back to the hotel after DVD shopping and retired to our respective rooms for a quick snooze and a shower, then met in the deserted lobby at 1:45, each of us carrying a cup of the reprehensible in-room coffee. Susan’s husband had been very smiley and friendly, but he spoke no English, so he popped a surprisingly hip lounge CD in the player and drove us through the night in silence.

“If you get the chance,” I had told Josh during the ride, “you should still go to the Wall during the day. Here, where I think we’re going, there’s a gondola that you can ride up to the top, you can run around, take pictures, all that, then there’s this toboggan that you ride to the bottom. It’s awesome! There’s no safety rails or anything, just you on this little metal sled flying down this rickety metal track at the Great Wall of China. Honestly, some days I love this job.”