Chapter 1: Cable Car Crook
By Steve Brezenoff
I stared out of the bus window. We were on the bus ride home. The Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco were miles behind us already, and most of the people on the bus were asleep. Samantha Archer, sitting in the aisle seat next to me, was snoring.
I couldn’t sleep, though. I should have been exhausted after that weekend, but I was still excited. Who wouldn’t be? I’d been looking forward to the sixth-grade trip to San Francisco for weeks.
I always like field trips, but I had a special reason to be excited about this one. My mom’s family used to live in San Francisco, way back before I was born, when my mom was a little girl. So I had been extra excited to see the place where she had lived.
It started when we drove into San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge on Friday morning. It was warm on the bus, but the air coming in through the open windows cooled us off as we crossed the bay.
“What a gorgeous day,” my friend Cat said. She was sitting next to Edward—better known as Egg—and behind me and Sam. (And I’m Gum. My real name is James, but my friends call me Gum.)
The bus pulled up to the hotel. Mr. Spade, our sixth-grade teacher, called for everyone to gather around. There were about twenty of us kids, plus some grown-ups who were chaperones.
“Okay, guys,” Mr. Spade said. “We’re going to leave our luggage here at the hotel and then hop on the cable car for a quick tour of the city.”
“Sounds like fun,” Sam’s grandmother said.
Sam lives with her grandparents, and her grandmother decided to come along on this trip as one of the chaperones. That was fine with me. Mrs. Archer is one of the coolest ladies I know.
The hotel’s bellhops took our bags into the hotel on shiny golden carts. We followed Mr. Spade and Sam’s grandmother as they led us toward the nearest place to catch a cable car. Mr. Spade handed out three-day passes to each of us. Those would let us ride the cable car system the whole weekend.
The cable car was crowded. Some of us got seats, but most of us had to stand.
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Adapted from The Crook Who Crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, by Steve Brezenoff, ©️ by Capstone. Reprinted with permission.
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Questions
How do the narrator and Mrs. Archer feel about the trip to San Francisco?
They both feel the same way because Mrs. Archer is the narrator.
The narrator feels excited about the trip, but Mrs. Archer is bored
The narrator feels bored by the trip and Mrs. Archer feels nervous.
The narrator feels excited about the trip and Mrs. Archer thinks the cable car tour will be fun.