A visit to the inner city...

"So where are you going?" Jerry Ross asked as he steered his SUV off the freeway. "I've never heard of this place before."

Bria was in the passenger seat, checking her notepad. "It's called Plymouth House. It's some kind of urban social center, I guess. It's got fitness training, a theater, an alternative school, an emergency shelter..."

"Like a homeless shelter?"

"I don't think so. They said they offered adult education, immigrant services, a youth drop-in center." Bria glanced out the window at a block of dilapidated houses. "This is kind of a rough neighborhood!" she observed.

"It's pretty much the only ghetto in the state," Jerry agreed. "Are you sure we're in the right place?"

"I think that's the place right there!" she pointed through the windshield at a stout concrete building with a half-dozen black men loitering outside.

"Bria, this doesn't look safe!" Jerry declared, looking warily at the locals. "We better get out of here."

"No way, I promised that I would visit!" the teen beauty queen protested. "If I leave now, I'll look like a racist! Besides, just because they're black doesn't make them criminals." She had decided to omit the services provided at Plymouth House for ex-convicts from the description she provided to her step-father; it would only make him worry, she figured.

"Well, then I better stay with you," Jerry muttered, trying to avoid eye contact with the pedestrians waving at the blonde and chatting excitedly to each other.

"You have your business convention downtown," Bria reminded him, smiling and waving out the window. "What time do you want me there?"

"Don't you want me to come pick you up?"

"You'll be drinking with your friends, I'll just take the gown with me." She gestured at the garment bag in the backseat. "I'll take a taxi, or get one of these guys to give me a ride." She laughed at his horrified expression. "Just kidding, Jerry! Lighten up!" The teen exited the vehicle, grabbed her garment bag containing her formal gown and crossed the street to Plymouth House.

"Hi, guys, my name's Bria Jeurgen," she said to the black men by way of introduction, confidently addressing her subjects. "I'm Miss Teen Minnesota, any idea where I'm supposed to be going?"