Expecting Longer Lives With Greater Risk, Reward

Waiting on campus for the Green 2 shuttle bus that will drop the students off near Fair City Mall in Fairfax, Holden gets caught up in teasing insults that ping-pong between her and the class cutup.

The group of eight students and two instructors disembarks in front of W.T. Woodson High School. At the crosswalk to the mall, there is a momentary scare when three students step into traffic while the light is green. Fortunately, there are no cars on the three-lane street, and the students scamper back onto the curb.

At Wendy's, Holden is first in line. Clutching her pink wallet, she follows the zigzag maze to the counter and waits for the cashier. The cashier looks at Holden, then past her, with a look of expectation that someone else must be doing the ordering.

"Hi. May I have a cheeseburger, please?" Holden says. "Small fries. And small drink."

"Okay," the cashier says. "$3.26."

Holden hands the cashier a $10 bill and two $5s. The cashier takes a $5 bill, returns the other bills without comment and tells Holden that the rest of her change is in the chute attached to the register.

Holden lifts her tray and heads for the condiments, then finds a table with friends. She puts the receipt for her meal into her purse.

"For banking," she says.

While Holden is eating, a white-haired woman stops at the table and tells instructor Megan Kime that a nearby church offers a crafts program for "Down syndrome kids."

"That's not me," Holden interjects. Kime listens politely as the woman speaks. After the woman leaves, Kime turns to Holden.

"You're a person with a disability," she says.

"I know," Holden says.

"You're a person first. Remember that."

After lunch, as the Green 2 bus rumbles past the Metro lot, signs of weariness are evident among instructors and students. Holden, her blond hair pressed against the bus window, watches the scenery go by as they head back to campus. Her lips move as she begins muttering something to herself. Suddenly, she looks up.

"Imagination," she says. She explains that she was daydreaming.

"The Three Musketeers wanted to see me," she says.