favorite television stars. She had to keep pinching herself to make sure it was not a dream.
At 7:45 A.M., Mara started getting goose bumps. She was daydreaming about Jason and Ryan when she was brought back to reality by a scream. Mara saw that an elderly woman had fallen in the parking lot, and was lying on the ground.
Mara looked around and saw that no one was moving to help the woman. She hesitated for only a few seconds. She had to make a tough decision. She could either help the woman or stay at the front of the line.
In her heart, Mara knew the right thing to do. She left the line and ran to where the woman had fallen. When she reached her, she saw that the woman was about eighty years old. The woman was in a lot of pain. She told Mara that her hip hurt a lot.
Mara yelled to the adults waiting in line, that she needed help, but no one budged. They did not want to lose their place in line. “Could someone at least call 911?” Mara yelled angrily.
As soon as Mara saw someone making the call, she turned her attention back to the injured woman. Mara took off her jacket, rolled it up and placed it under the woman’s head. She started talking to the woman to take her mind off her pain.
Mara was holding the woman’s hand, as she looked over toward the mall. She saw that the doors had opened and the line of the kids and their parents was entering the mall to see Jason and Ryan.
After talking with the woman, Mara found out that, her name was Mrs. Carter and that she was eighty-three years old. She lived in a small house with her two cats. She had two grown children, and five grandchildren, but they lived in New York and California. Mara was keeping the woman calm by talking to her about her cats and her grandchildren.
About forty-five minutes later, the ambulance finally arrived. Mrs. Carter asked Mara if she would stay with her until the ambulance took her to the hospital. Mara told her that she would stay as long as the woman wanted her to.
The siren of the ambulance had awakened Mara’s parents and they went into the mall to find their daughter.
When the ambulance finally left, Mara looked at her watch. It was past 9 o’clock. She figured that Jason and Ryan might still be signing autographs, so she headed toward the mall and went to the back of the line.
About ten minutes later, two security guards closed the line and told the rest of the kids waiting that if they would leave their names and addresses, a photo of Jason and Ryan would be mailed to them.
Mara wrote down the info, and then sadly walked back to the van. When she did not find her parents, she started back to the mall, to find them. She had walked half way back to the mall when she saw her parents coming out the door. Mara ran to them. Mara wanted to cry, but she fought back the tears.
“Were they as cute in person?” asked her mom. “What did you say to them?”
“I didn’t get to see them,” said Mara.
“But, you were the first person in line. What happened?” asked her dad. None of them noticed a news crew filming them off in the distance.
Mara explained about the elderly woman who had fallen in the parking lot and had broken her hip. “I had to choose between meeting Jason and Ryan and helping the lady,” said Mara. “I chose to help the woman. I stayed with her until the ambulance took her to the hospital. By that time, Jason and Ryan had left the mall.”
“Well, we are very proud of you,” said her mother. “You had a difficult decision to make and you made the right choice.”
Mara was getting a little angry by now. “There were several grownups in that line, but not one of them would leave the line to help that lady. I had to beg them to call 911 for an ambulance,” said Mara.
Then, Mara asked her mom, “Can we stop by the hospital to see how she is doing?” Her mom told her they could make a quick stop, but then they had to get back to the hotel and start packing. They had a 2 P.M. flight back to Baltimore.
Mara’s dad put his arm around her and said, “I’m sorry that you missed Jason and Ryan after waiting in line for four hours. Sometimes life isn’t fair, is it?” It became more that Mara could take. She started crying as her dad held her in his arms.
By that time, the news crew had gotten closer and had filmed everything that Mara and her parents had said.
When Mara saw the news team, she yelled, “Get that camera away from me.” and ran towards the van. Mara’s parents told the news team to back off and they followed Mara to their car.
When they got to the hospital, Mara asked a nurse in the emergency room if she could see Mrs. Carter. The nurse had taken care of Mrs. Carter, and knew how Mara had helped her. She took Mara and her parents to see the woman.
Mrs. Carter had been given some medicine for her pain and was getting ready for surgery. When Mara walked into the room, Mrs. Carter’s eyes lit up and she said, “There’s my guardian angel. Bless you my child, for helping me and staying with me.”
After Mara’s parents introduced themselves, Mrs. Carter told them, “You have a sweet and caring daughter. Treasure her always.”
The news crew had snuck a hidden camera into the hospital and had filmed the entire meeting between Mara and Mrs. Carter.
After Mara and her parents said goodbye to Mrs. Carter, Mara and Mrs. Carter hugged. When Mara and her parents left, the news team interviewed Mrs. Carter and got the rest of the story.
The news story was the feature story on the 6 o’clock news that evening. The newscast was replayed several more times over the next day or two. Mara and her parents never saw it, because they flew back to Maryland that afternoon. However, many people did see it, including two certain people, who decided to pay Mara a visit in Baltimore.
Two days later, Mara was beginning to feel a little bit better, but she was still quite sad. When the doorbell rang, Mara answered the door. She could not believe her eyes. There, not two feet away from her, were her favorite celebrities, Jason and Ryan Davis.
Mara just stood there and could not say anything. Mara’s mom had to move her aside so that she could invite Jason and Ryan into the house.
When Mara finally regained her ability to speak, she asked them, “What are you doing here?”
“Well,” said Ryan, We saw a news story about how you waited for over four hours just to get our autographs.
That has to make you our biggest fan.”
“Then,” Jason added, “When you gave up your chance to see us, to help that elderly lady in the parking lot, we almost cried. You did what Ryan or I would have done, which makes us your biggest fans.”
“Yeah,” said Ryan. “You are number one in our book.”
Mara was ecstatic to have Jason and Ryan in her house. She showed them her bedroom, with wall-to-wall pictures of them. After talking to them for a while, Mara asked, “Could I still get your autographs?”
Ryan pulled out an 8x10-color photo of himself and Jason and wrote, “To Mara Louis, our #1 fan; Love, Ryan”. Then Jason added “Love Jason” to the photo.
Then, Jason looked at Ryan and asked him, “Should we tell her about our surprise?”
“Mara” said Ryan, “We would like to invite you and your parents to California to spend one whole day with us, and you even get to have a walk-on role on our show. The studio will pick up all expenses. Is that okay with you?”
Mara started jumping up and down and then, she grabbed Jason and gave him a great big hug. When she realized what she had done, she let him go and said “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Then, she quickly looked at her parents and asked, “Can we go? Please?” Her parents started laughing and said that it sounded like fun.
After all of the arrangements had been made, it was time for Ryan and Jason to leave. Mara asked them if her mom could take a picture of her standing between the twins. The twins agreed and after Mara’s mom took the photo, Ryan suggested that she take one more photo, and he winked at Jason.
Mara’s mom told them to smile at the count of three. As she said “three”, Ryan and Jason each kissed Mara on her cheeks, which made Mara blush.
After Jason and Ryan left, and for the rest of the afternoon, Mara was floating on clouds. Later the next day, her mom had the pictures developed and she had the two photos of Mara standing with Jason, and Ryan, enlarged to 11x14’s and had them framed. Mara hung both of them in her bedroom.
The following Monday, Mara and her parents were picked up by limousine and taken to the airport. They flew to Los Angeles, first class all the way. When they landed in LA, another limousine picked them up and took to one of the fanciest hotels in Beverly Hills.
That afternoon, Mara swam in the fancy hotel pool and that evening after dinner, Mara and her parents were taken by limo on a tour of Beverly Hills and Hollywood. The limo made many stops, so that Mara could take pictures with her digital camera.
When they returned to the hotel, they went to bed, as they had to be up early for their big day. Mara was too excited to sleep, but she finally dozed off, and dreamt of Ryan and Jason.
They were all awake at 5 o’clock the next morning, and at 6 o’clock, a limo pulled up in front of the hotel to take them to the television studio. Ryan and Jason got out of the limo and held the doors open while Mara and her parents got in.
When they arrived at the studio, Mara and her parents ate breakfast with Ryan,