The next morning, I felt groggy, even though I went to bed as soon as I got home. I brushed my teeth, got dressed, and then went to the kitchen to eat breakfast and feed Frate. Papa was sitting at the table, and smoking a cigarette. He also looked tired. "Papa", I asked, wondering whether he was really my Papa or a liar "Why are you smoking?" Papa looked down and crushed it with his hands before tossing it in the trash can. "Didn't that hurt a lot?" I never understood how people could put out flames with their fingers in movies. It always looked like it would hurt. Maybe it does hurt, if only a little, and they don't say anything.
"Not really" Papa says softly. "Not that much." Papa moved to the sink to wash his hands while I asked about breakfast. Usually, Papa has already made breakfast and is waiting to have me eat with him. "I haven't thought about breakfast. I don't know how we are going to aff- I mean, get breakfast this late?"
"You could cook for me, like you always do."
"Yeah... I do need to talk to my boss as soon as I can."
"Did you get fired?"
Papa's eyes widened. "Why do you think... Hauun" he said, sighing. "You figured it out because of my sad appearance and me wondering out loud whether we could afford breakfast."
I heard you yesterday, so I thought that they would fire you for yelling and saying that you would quit. I didn't want to lie, so instead I said "What's your job?"
Papa looked surprised at that, but then he quickly said "My job was... my job is... getting people to join our company."
Is that what a real life spy does? "What does your company do?"
"Information."
"What kind of information?"
"Information about other countries."
That's sounds like something a spy would do. Are those countries allied, or not? Wait a moment, the war has ended, so would a spy still be active? Shouldn't he have lost his job by now? And even if he weren't a spy, he still wouldn't have a job because the war is over. So... Was that weird guy wrong after all? I guess so. But then, why didn't Papa correct him? He did get mad at him, so was that it instead? ... I really don't know what's going on.
I was about to ask Papa, but I noticed that he was already cooking breakfast. I... shouldn't disturb him. Papa's busy enough. I fed Frate as Papa was cooking, and by the time I washed my hands, I saw a plate of steaming hot eggs and bacon. That's my favorite breakfast, other than pancakes and ice cream, or waffles and ice cream, but I only get those on my birthday.
I looked up at Papa and he said "I don't want you to be cranky and tired because of breakfast. I want you to be happy, and to see you be happy as often as I can."
Papa, am I moving away? Is Cynthia going to "adopt" me? What does adoption mean? I wanted to ask Papa that, but I know that he would be suspicious. Papa is very good at noticing things, even when he's playing around with me. But if he won't tell me what his job is, then why would he tell me if someone's going to take me away, or if he's a spy? If he won't tell me... Then maybe he really is a spy?
"Emma, you haven't eaten your breakfast."
I still felt groggy, so I drank some water, but now my tummy feels bad. "I feel sick, Papa."
"It's probably just due to the recent news."
"Why did you quit your job?" I wanted to know if maybe it had something to do with Papa being a spy. Papa was called an enemy spy, so maybe they were black mailing him? But what could they be blackmailing him with?
"Because they wanted me to give up something important, and I just couldn't do that."
"What was that important thing?" Was it top secret information? Treasure? Did he mention it in the conversation yesterday? Because I forgot some of it. "Was it expensive?"
"No, it's not expensive at all."
"So it's not a diamond, or secret plans for a war plane?"
"What sort of detective would have those things?" Papa petted my head, and encouraged me to eat my breakfast before he paced around the house. By the time I finished, Papa came to ask me what he was going to do. "I don't know. Maybe it involved Frate, or the mail or something." Papa teaches me a lot of cool tricks, like how you know someone in interested in something. If you mention certain words, and read people's reactions to them, then it tells you a little bit of what's going on. Though maybe one of my uncles taught me that trick. Maybe I should ask them about Papa.
Anyway, Papa changed his face when he heard "mail", so it probably had something to do with the letter from two days ago. As I left, Papa was on the phone. I think that he was calling his boss. Probably to talk about his job, and Cynthia, and something big like a diamond. Why else would he quit over it?
Oh no, I mentioned that he quit when he said fired! Papa will figure out that I overheard his conversation! If I were my uncles, they would go through everything really well. They're good at tricking people, and are even proud of it. Though they don't want me to tell Papa about any of it.
If they are really Papa's brothers, then they should know Papa. And even if they don't, then they still care about him because they watch over me. I think that I'll ask them. Even if I have to travel alone to do it.
