Playing Possum
************* I came downstairs and the boys were eating their breakfast. Amanda was running around the kitchen rambling about getting us on the earlier train. It was too early. I hadn't even had my coffee yet.
She pulled me into the den to talk to me. She knelt down in front of me. She looked at me and was very serious.
"Mother, I'm a spy."
"Of course"
"Mother, there's a nuclear bomb in Washington, And its gonna go off unless we find a man names Kreschenko."
"We? Meaning you and the other spies that you work with?"
"Yes, Mother, that's right. Now listen. I would go with you to Vermont."
I said this with her. "Except I have vital information to find the bomb that the other spies need in order to find the bomb."
"That's right Mother. It only comes out under hypnosis."
"Amanda, you did this as a child. You would tell absurd stories when you wanted something."
"Once it was a bicycle, so the dragons wouldn't chase you."
"This isn't like the dragons." She looked a bit defeated that I wasn't believing her.
"If you really have a viable reason for me and the boys to leave at the crack of dawn….then all you have to do is tell me, but darling, don't lie."
"Mother, please."
"That's all you have to say"
"Thank you."
"All right! Spies, bombs, now its hypnosis!" I went upstairs and got myself dressed even though I still wasn't completely sure of her story. Why would she even tell me something like that? A spy? Is my daughter a spy? That's just not possible…right?"