Capture The Flag

The three protagonists—who don’t yet know one another—are sharing a bench at the gala while they wait for their relatives. Anna, the daughter of a senator and an aspiring journalist, scribbles notes for a news story about the party but is disappointed she’s been unable to get an interview with “the man her dad hoped would be the next president,” Robert Snickerbottom (9). José, who sits reading a Harry Potter book on the bench, feels disappointed he hasn’t spent much time with his mom, whom he hasn’t seen in three weeks because she is one of the textile scientists helping restore the flag. Henry sulks about moving to Boston after his father and new stepmother return from their honeymoon. In Washington, he has been staying with Aunt Lucinda who, in Henry’s opinion, is far too interested in history.

In the flag chamber, a man hides as José’s mom comes to check on the flag. Once she leaves, he slowly unclamps and folds the giant flag. He puts the clamps in his pockets and carries the flag to the freight elevator, where he puts it into a black case and then wheels it out of the museum to a waiting van.

At the airport, Henry and Anna meet when Anna unplugs his video game in order to plug in her laptop. When he yells that he needs the electrical outlet, she recognizes him from the party and decides to interview him. As they bicker, José turns around to shush them so he can read undisturbed. All three are supposed to be on the same flight to Burlington, Vermont, which has been canceled due to a blizzard.

As they stare at the list of canceled flights, they encounter Senator Robert Snickerbottom. Anna tries to interview him, but he just gives the kids Tootsie Rolls that he keeps in the band of his cowboy hat. He walks away with his “shorter and scrawnier” brother Earl, to a cinnamon bun stand where the kids see him and his campaign workers laughing together.

A crowd gathers around the nearby TV as newscasters announce the theft of the flag. Anna thinks about her mother watching the news at home, knowing she’s touching her silver jaguar necklace “as she always [does] when she read[s] about an art theft” (25). José’s mom appears on screen, warning that the flag is fragile and imploring whoever took it to bring it back.

Henry suggests it would be “cool” if José’s mom was the flag thief, like one of the heists in his video games. José angrily defends her, and suddenly, Anna recognizes José’s mother’s earrings—silver jaguars. They discover that both their mothers are part of the Silver Jaguar Society. Anna’s famous relative is Paul Revere, and José’s is Frida Kahlo. As they talk, Henry realizes Aunt Lucinda has a silver jaguar bracelet, though he doesn’t think they have a famous relative.

Anna sees Snickerbottom and takes another shot at an interview. He says he has assigned his campaign committee to investigate the theft and “track down the enemies of America who stole it” (32). He says he doesn’t have any time for school newspapers. Shocked that Henry doesn’t know who the senator is, Anna plays a campaign ad where he mocks his opponent Betty Frumble while promoting himself as a hero who saved a boy and his dog from a well. Anna points out that Henry should at least know Betty Frumble because she’s Vermont’s governor, but he just shrugs.

Anna says Snickerbottom probably won’t win, but her dad wants him to because they “both want immigration reform and stuff like that” (34). However, Anna likes Frumble because she’s smart and eloquent and uses her baked goods to connect with people. Anna’s dad comes over and she introduces him to Henry but not José, who’s reading. When she apologizes, he says her dad probably wouldn’t have wanted to meet him anyway since he’s half Mexican and his grandparents came to the US as migrant workers. Stung, Anna tries to defend her dad, saying “he likes people like you. It’s, like, the bad ones that he doesn’t like” (37). José compares her father’s views to the Malfoys from Harry Potter who only wanted pureblood wizards at Hogwarts, and the thought disturbs her.

Anna, Henry, and José go to the Pickersgill Diner for lunch. Anna realizes whoever stole the flag might be in the airport and suggests they should investigate since they’re related to Society members. Henry and José argue that they’re just kids and it’s not their job. Anna points out that Henry’s video games and José’s books let them escape into fictional adventures, but they are afraid to take on a real one. A TV plays the news that investigators believe the storm has kept whoever stole the flag close by, and a man behind the counter with a snake tattoo on his arm runs out of the restaurant.

As the kids leave, a big gray poodle knocks Anna’s leftovers out of her hands and eats half the sandwich. They meet Sinan, who introduces the dog as Hammurabi and apologizes. Anna calls Hammurabi “full of beans,” prompting Sinan to take out a notepad and sketch the idiom. The kids browse through other idioms Sinan has drawn, which he says are sometimes confusing to him because his parents are Pakistani and Turkish, and English is not his first language. Sinan’s parents are musicians in the group Sounds for a Small Planet, and he invites the kids to go listen to a concert they’re going to play in the concourse.

As they near the concourse and the cinnamon bun stand, Anna tries again to interview Snickerbottom. He calls the theft of the flag a crime against America and vows to bring it back to Washington, prompting Anna to ask if he thinks the flag is already out of town. Flustered, Snickerbottom says he has to go. Anna presses him on polls that show him behind in 49 states, but he insists he’s optimistic, saying “It ain’t over till the fat cat sings,” which prompts Sinan to draw this in his notebook (54). Henry praises the drawing and Anna says Henry would be a good big brother.

Sinan introduces the kids to his parents. Vermont will be their last stop since some of the tour members' visas are expiring. Anna offers to try to get her dad to help extend them, but Sinan’s mom says they’ve already talked to Snickerbottom. An orchestra member tells Sinan’s mom that the orchestra will have to play without speakers since the senator says it would be impossible to get them out of the baggage area. As they play, Anna resolves to find the flag.