The Beginning of Mission Control

Rosa’s Spy Notebook

Part One

The Beginning of Mission Control

Welcome back my dear adoring fans.

Now I know it has been a while since my last note to you, but I have been VERY busy!

As you may already know my family recently moved into a bigger nest because of my baby sister

Brenda. Apparently, babies require an AWFUL lot of room for somebody that doesn't do much besides eat, sleep, cry, and make stinky diapers.

That is not what I want to tell you about though that note would be over already. I needed to tell you I have a problem. A very serious problem. I think it might involve INTERNATIONAL ESPIONAGE!

For those of you who might not know what espionage is, it’s another word for spying. Anyway, I happen to know someone that might be a spy.

MY UNCLE JEREMY!!!!!!

Now before you go telling everybody you must understand that this is a TOP SECRET investigation.

That means you cannot tell ANYBODY!! Especially not Uncle Jeremy! Because that would ruin EVERYTHING!

You see no one in my family seems to know exactly what Uncle Jeremy does for a living.

I've asked SEVERAL times! And do you know what everybody says? “Oh, he has meetings” or “He travels for work” or “he does paperwork”

Well, I don't know about you but that sounds VERY suspicious to me.

Teachers teach kids.

Doctors help sick people.

Bakers bake treats.

But Uncle Jeremy? Apparently, he has meetings! What kind of meetings? NOBODY KNOWS! And that my adoring fans is when I realized something very important.

Uncle Jeremy might be a SECRET AGENT!!!!

Of course I couldn't just ask him. What if he is a spy? He certainly wouldn't tell me! That's why they are called SECRET AGENTS!!

That's when I decided I needed to investigate. First, I turned my bedroom into what I call “MISSION CONTROL!” I gathered my binoculars, several colored markers, a brand new notebook and a legal pad so that things stay legal.

On the front of my notebook I carefully wrote

TOP SECRET

OPERATION UNCLE JEREMY

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY!!

THAT MEANS ME NOT YOU!!

I also appointed my unicorn as my assistant. He doesn't say very much but that's probably a good thing. Secret agents aren't supposed to talk much. Then I opened my notebook and wrote down everything I knew about my suspect.

TOP SECRET SUSPECT FILE

NAME: Uncle Jeremy

OCCUPATION: Unknown

HOME ADDRESS: Unknown

Wait a minute. I didn't know where Uncle Jeremy lived either! Come to think of it, I’d never been to his nest! He always comes to visit our nest especially now that the baby is here. But I have no idea where he goes when he leaves! Well, that was certainly suspicious!

I quickly added:

HOME ADDRESS: POSSIBLY CLASSIFIED

This investigation was already becoming very interesting.

The first thing I noticed was sometimes Uncle Jeremy leaves the room to answer his phone. One afternoon he was visiting our nest and when his phone rang, he looked at it, stood up, and went OUTSIDE! Now why would someone need to go outside to answer a call? Unless he was talking about something SECRET!!

Naturally I had to write it down.

EVIDENCE: THE MYSTERIOUS PHONE CALL

OBSERVATION: Uncle Jeremy went outside to answer his phone.

CONCLUSION: He didn't want anyone to hear what he was talking about.

POSSIBLE EXPLANATION:

CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!!!!!

I underlined classified 3 times! This was very important evidence.

A few days later I noticed something even more suspicious. Uncle Jeremy was wearing sunglasses!

Now I have watched enough spy movies with my brother to know that secret agents wear sunglasses.

Sometimes they wear fake mustaches too. I haven't seen Uncle Jeremy wearing a fake mustache YET!

That doesn't mean he doesn't have one. To my notebook

EVIDENCE: The sunglasses

OBSERVATION: Uncle Jeremy wears dark sunglasses

CONCLUSION: Classic Spy Disguise

POSSIBLE EXPLANATION: He doesn't want enemy agents to recognize him.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: Check for fake mustaches

By this point I was becoming VERY concerned. That is when something happened that nearly made me spill my juice! Uncle Jeremy was asking if anyone had any extra batteries!! BATTERIES!!! Well...

What do spies need batteries for? SECRET GADGETS!!

Tiny cameras

Listening devices

Special radios hidden inside of wristwatches

I hurried upstairs to mission control!!!

EVIDENCE: The Batteries

OBSERVATION: Uncle Jeremy requested batteries!

CONCLUSION: SPY GADGETS NEED BATTERIES!

POSSIBLE EQUIPMENT: Secret camera, listening device, miniature radio.

IMPORTANT: Find out what SIZE batteries!

I thought about searching his briefcase. But I decided that would be too dangerous. What if it had a secret alarm? Or a fingerprint scanner? Or something that EXPLODED????? I certainly wasn't going to risk that!

Now Uncle Jeremy has been visiting our new nest quite a bit lately. Everyone says it’s because he wants to see the new baby. But I'm not so sure. After all babies aren't that interesting. They can’t even have a conversation with you. One afternoon Uncle Jeremy came over and talked to Mommy and Daddy for a while about boring things and then all of a sudden announced he had to leave.

“I'd better get going” he said. Going where? He didn't say! Naturally I hurried to my bedroom grabbed my binoculars and watched Uncle Jeremy walk away. He went East, or maybe West. I'm still working on directions. But that's not important.

What is important is that he flew away without telling anyone WHERE he was going!

EVIDENCE: Suspicious Departure

OBSERVATION: Subject departed family nest around 4:17pm.

DIRECTION OF FLIGHT: Unknown! Must study compass.

DESTINATION: Also Unknown

POSSIBLE EXPLANATION: Secret meet up

Now my adoring fans this next part is where things became REALLY serious.

One day during a normal family chat, Uncle Jeremy mentioned he needed his passport!

Can you imagine?

His Passport!!!

Do you know what people need a passport for? Traveling to other countries. And do you know who travels to other countries?

INTERNATIONAL SPIES!!!!

Obviously, other people travel too but that's not the point!

I immediately made another entry.

EVIDENCE: The Passport

OBSERVATION: Uncle Jeremy mentioned his passport.

CONCLUSION: International missions

POSSIBLE DESTINATION: England, France, Russia, or somewhere nobody has heard of!

ADDITIONAL CONCERNS: Uncle Jeremy might speak secret languages.

I wonder if he knew how to say, “The eagle has landed”

That's something spies say. I think. I decided to ask him Someday. VERY CASUALLY!

I didn't want him to become suspicious.

By now I had collected enough evidence to make my first official report. I sat at my desk sharpened my pencil and wrote very carefully on my legal pad.

TOP SECRET SUSPECT FILE

NAME: Uncle Jeremy

OCCUPATION: UNKNOWN

HOME ADDRESS: Possibly Classified

SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITIES:

• Mysterious phone calls

• Unexplained traveling

• carrying a briefcase

• wearing sunglasses

• Asking for Batteries

• Owning a Passport

• Attending Meetings Nobody Understands

Then I did some very important calculations. I'm very good at calculations Especially when they are Important!

PROBABILITY UNCLE JEREMY IS A SPY: 98.7%!

I showed my Sister Julia, For some reason she wasn't impressed. “Rosa.” she said, “just because you don't know what Uncle Jeremy does doesn't mean he’s a spy!”

WELL!!

I couldn't believe she could say something like that!!

“Julia,” I said “That is EXACTLY what a spy would WANT you to think”

She rolled her eyes.

Honestly, sometimes I wonder about my sister. I made another note.

Julia does not understand the seriousness of this investigation! I considered putting her on my suspect list. But she’s my sister. So, I decided to give her another chance. FOR NOW!!!!

Unfortunately my investigation suffered a serious setback.

Uncle Jeremy announced that he had a budget meeting the following day.

A BUDGET meeting?

Well, that didn't sound very interesting. In fact, it sounded rather boring. I don't remember James Bond ever attending a budget meeting. Do You? So, I had to change my calculations.

UPDATED SUSPECT REPORT

NEW INFORMATION: Uncle Jeremy attends budget meetings

REVISED SPY PROBABILITY:96.4%

I was very disappointed. I sat at my desk for a long time, thinking. And then I thought what if “BUDGET MEETING” was a code?

What if Uncle Jeremy was meeting with other spies? Maybe they were discussing money for secret equipment? Or a secret underground headquarters? Or a ROCKET!!

Why would they need a rocket, I don't know but anything is possible.

I grabbed my red marker and wrote

POSSIBLE COVER STORY FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS REQUIRED!

I felt much better after that. Sometimes being an investigator is VERY stressful