Free The Secret Letters by Abby Bardi Page A

bathrooms?”
    â€œBrand new. No one uses them.”
    â€œThis place has a nice vibe.” I wasn’t sure I’d ever used the word “vibe” before.
    â€œI’m glad you think so. Now tell all your friends.”
    My friends couldn’t afford to eat there, and that was part of the problem, but I didn’t say this. Instead, I told her things would pick up, though I was sure they wouldn’t.
    ***
    About a week later, I came downstairs from my apartment and noticed the Chelsea Grill’s handwritten chalk sign was not outside their front door. I pressed my face against their front window. No one was in there. Panic rushed through me—it hadn’t occurred to me they would close down suddenly, and so far my plan was still only in the fantasy stage. I had no idea how to go about getting permission to open a casino. I figured you needed a gaming license or something, but I had no idea. I decided to talk to Milo about it, since he always knew a bunch of random stuff. I showed up at the Hare a little early and sat down next to him at the bar.
    â€œSo I have this friend—” I started out.
    â€œOh?” Milo looked at me with interest, like he genuinely wanted to know all about my friend. His total lack of suspicion might make some people think he was a chump, but I appreciated it.
    â€œMy friend just found out her father is a—a Native American.” I still wasn’t sure this was the term we used.
    â€œReally? Why didn’t she know that before?”
    â€œWell, she didn’t know who her father was, exactly. But then she found out, and the guy is an Indian.”
    â€œWow, how interesting!” Milo sounded excited for my friend. “That must really change the way she feels about herself.”
    â€œYeah? How?” Then I laughed—it was the “how” thing again, but Milo took no notice.
    â€œI don’t know.” He looked thoughtful. “I guess we all have a sense of who we are, so it must be strange to find out you aren’t who you think you are.”
    â€œOh, yeah. Yeah, I’m sure she finds it strange.”
    â€œBut liberating, right?”
    â€œUm, right.” I had no idea what he was talking about. “So she wants to open a casino.”
    â€œA casino?” He laughed, like there was something funny about this. “Really? Where?”
    â€œI guess around here somewhere. And she needs to know how to go about it. Like, does she need a license or whatever.”
    â€œI don’t know if they grant them to individuals.”
    â€œNo?” I tried to sound casual, like I didn’t care if my friend opened a casino or not.
    â€œYou’d think the tribe would have to do it.”
    â€œMaybe she could do it for them.”
    â€œWhat tribe does her father belong to?”
    â€œShe doesn’t know.”
    â€œWell, maybe she needs to find out. That would probably be a good first step.”
    â€œHow?”
    He pondered this for a moment. “Maybe she could go down to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and ask them what she needs to do.”
    â€œI guess she could. Where is it?”
    â€œI don’t know, somewhere in DC. I think it’s part of the Department of the Interior.” He was still smiling at me in wide-eyed innocence, obviously with no idea who we were talking about. “I’m sure she could find it online.”
    â€œOkay, thanks. I’ll tell her.”
    â€œThanks for sharing this with me, Julie. It’s really interesting. It must be amazing to suddenly discover something like that about yourself.”
    â€œIt must be,” I said.
    â€œAnd to have gone all those years not knowing, thinking you were someoneelse—it’s pretty weird for her, I’ll bet.”
    â€œI’m sure she finds it weird.”
    â€œYour friend is lucky.”
    â€œI’ll tell her,” I said.
    ***
    I had walked around DC before, but had never been