Disclaimer: See part 1
Author's Note: Story's wrapping up maybe two or three more parts to go. This one's short again but the next one's in the works and will be much longer.
S is for Spy: Hearing Things
They said we'd made 'quantum leaps' in the past few weeks.
Men and women had been coming in for the week of camp to observe us. Mostly they all looked like Sir. They wore suit and sunglasses and almost never smiled. Sir said to pretend they weren't there just keep doing the games like usual. It was like the times my dad would get out the video camera for special occasion and tell me not to make faces at it.
Sometimes the people wrote things down or talked to Sir but they never said anything to me. Except one woman, but that was because I started it.
We'd just left the shooting lanes when I saw her standing near the door to the weapons locker. She wasn't wearing any sunglasses and she looked like she was going to be sick. I asked if she was feeling okay and she wouldn't say anything she just looked sicker. Everyone else was leaving for lunch and I saw Sir coming from the observation room so I ran into the locker to put my gun away.
Sir stopped outside to talk to the woman. I didn't want to leave. I'd be in trouble for not being in line with the others and Sir would think I wasn't obedient.
So I stayed just inside the door. Sir and the woman were talking. I focused on my breathing like Sir taught me before a hide and seek game. If you breathe too loudly you give yourself away. Sir said you could learn a lot of things just by looking and listening.
I listened.
"How do you do it?" The woman asked. Her voice was shaky.
"It's not so hard once you see what they're capable of." Sir said back.
"They're only children Devlin." She said.
"Don't think of what they are now. Think what the will be one day."
"And what's that?" She didn't sound sick any more. She sounded angry.
I saw Sir shrug his shoulders. "Weapons."
Sir and the woman left. They'd been talking about us I realized. I looked at the rows of guns behind me. Each of was shiny and new, in perfect condition with its own "cereal number". But twenty- four were missing. They were down the hall in the cafeteria. And one was standing right here in my shoes.
Author's Note: Story's wrapping up maybe two or three more parts to go. This one's short again but the next one's in the works and will be much longer.
S is for Spy: Hearing Things
They said we'd made 'quantum leaps' in the past few weeks.
Men and women had been coming in for the week of camp to observe us. Mostly they all looked like Sir. They wore suit and sunglasses and almost never smiled. Sir said to pretend they weren't there just keep doing the games like usual. It was like the times my dad would get out the video camera for special occasion and tell me not to make faces at it.
Sometimes the people wrote things down or talked to Sir but they never said anything to me. Except one woman, but that was because I started it.
We'd just left the shooting lanes when I saw her standing near the door to the weapons locker. She wasn't wearing any sunglasses and she looked like she was going to be sick. I asked if she was feeling okay and she wouldn't say anything she just looked sicker. Everyone else was leaving for lunch and I saw Sir coming from the observation room so I ran into the locker to put my gun away.
Sir stopped outside to talk to the woman. I didn't want to leave. I'd be in trouble for not being in line with the others and Sir would think I wasn't obedient.
So I stayed just inside the door. Sir and the woman were talking. I focused on my breathing like Sir taught me before a hide and seek game. If you breathe too loudly you give yourself away. Sir said you could learn a lot of things just by looking and listening.
I listened.
"How do you do it?" The woman asked. Her voice was shaky.
"It's not so hard once you see what they're capable of." Sir said back.
"They're only children Devlin." She said.
"Don't think of what they are now. Think what the will be one day."
"And what's that?" She didn't sound sick any more. She sounded angry.
I saw Sir shrug his shoulders. "Weapons."
Sir and the woman left. They'd been talking about us I realized. I looked at the rows of guns behind me. Each of was shiny and new, in perfect condition with its own "cereal number". But twenty- four were missing. They were down the hall in the cafeteria. And one was standing right here in my shoes.