Excerpts from Amanda Younger

“Hey, we’ve got company,” said Ken Carter, as the police car pulled into their driveway. “Quick, any of you kids been up to anything you haven’t told me about that the police would be on your trail?”

“Oh Daddy, you know better than that,” said Robbie. “The police are our friends remember? You read me about that in my book.”

The others laughed at the little boy’s seriousness and Brenda tossed the basketball into a nearby box.

“Well hello there,” said Sgt. Bill O’Rourke. “Amanda, I’ve got some good news for you. We’ve found your family.”

“You found Amanda’s parents?” asked Brenda.

“No not her parents, but somebody just as good. We found her uncle, Uncle Teddy Younger.

“Well this is certainly a fake,” thought Amanda. “Since I remembered the code name Amanda and chose Younger this isn’t really a relative. Wonder what this guy is up to.” She glanced over at Steve and was pretty sure by the expression on his face that this hadn’t been lost on him.

“Are you sure he’s really Amanda’s uncle?” asked Steve.

“Oh yes,” answered Bill. “He had all kinds of idenfification. He even had some pictures of Amanda when she was a little younger Younger.” He laughed at the joke he had made about Amanda’s last name.

“I don’t remember him at all,” said Amanda. “What if I don’t like him? What if I don’t want to go with him?”

Bill put his arm around her shoulder. “Everything is going to be just fine,” he promised her. “We’ll work slow. Where you took those blows on the head, you may not feel too comfortable going off with him and if you don’t, well, we’ll work slowly. I’m sure that’s what Mrs. Terri will say too. You can go for a short visit, then come back here, then go for a longer visit and come back and

keep that up till you’re living there.”

“Living there and visiting here,” Ken Carter told her. “We aren’t going to just forget about you. You’re part of our family now.”

Amanda smiled and leaned against Bill. “I’ll do just fine,” she thought to herself. “This is going to go just fine. The thing I’ve got going for me is that everyone thinks of me as a kid and they have no idea I’m twenty-six, no idea at all.”

“You and your uncle had just moved into the area,” continued Bill. “That’s why nobody recognized either of you and you’re going to be going to the same school, so you kids will see each other every day, how does that sound?”

“That’s great,” said Sarah and Brenda toge4ther. They looked at each other and laughed. “How’s that for team work?” asked Sarah.

“I’d say it was pretty good and it’s good too that Amanda will still be going to school with us,” said Steve.

“Yeah, it’s pretty good, Manda,” echoed Robbie.

“When will I have to go?” asked Amanda.

“Mrs. Terri will be out to see you with your Uncle tomorrow,” answered Bill. “Maybe seeing him will trigger off something in your memory and you’ll remember him, then I’m sure you’ll feel more comfortable about going with him.”

“Will I go tomorrow?” asked Amanda.

“No, not unless you remember him and want to,” answered Bill. “I promise we’re not going to rush you into this. We’ve checked him out and everything is ok, but we’re going to do this at a pace you’re comfortable with. Ok?”

“Yeah, I guess ok,” answered Amanda. “Boy this is some kind of crooked,” she thought to herself. “But this guy has got to be some kind of high up crook to be pulling this off. I wish I could remember the rest of my code name to get hold of the chief and find out what he wants me to do. I’ll do ok, I can look after myself, but I’d sure feel better if I knew Operation Themis was looking after me too.”

Steve handed Amanda a note later. She took a quick look and grinned. “So he figured out the code on his own,” she thought. “Good job. I know a number of adult agents who haven’t been able to figure it out this quickly and certainly not without some help. After I get my life back on track, I’ll have to talk to the chief about him. Maybe we can use him, give him some early training. Looks to me like he might be a real asset to Operation Themis someday.”

When she got a chance, Amanda read the note carefully. “UQOGVKPI UETGYA OGGV NCVGT” She sat down at her computer and sent Steve an email. “Thanks for the directions, homework will go much easier. I agree with your directions.”

She hit send and then checked to see if she had any email. “That

ought to work ok,” she thought to herself. “Simple message about homework.”

“There, that ought to do it,” said Amanda to herself, later that night. She looked at her bed. The way that she had folded that extra blanket, she felt sure that anyone looking into her room would be sure that someone was in the bed.

Amanda tiptoed down the hall to the empty room at the end and slipped out the window and into the sprawling tree outside. Just as Steve had done a few minutes earlier. “I’ll just pull the window down except for about half an inch, so that it will look as if it is shut,” she thought. She pulled the window down and suddenly it slipped, closing completely.

“Oh no!” thought Amanda, as she tried to open the window and found that she couldn’t. “Now I’ve got us in a fine mess. What will Dad Ken and Mom Kate think about this if we can’t get back in and they find us out here? Especially both of us because Steve is out here too.” Her twenty-six year old mind thought about this. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” she thought.

Quickly she climbed down the tree and hurried to meet Steve as arranged.

“Ok, what do you think this is all about?” asked Steve, once they were both well hidden in the meeting place. “Younger is just a name you made up, so something’s pretty rotten here. This guy using the name Younger has to be a fake and you could be in serious danger.”

“Yes I know,” answered Amanda. “And I’m going to need you to be ready to help me if I need it. This guy must know something about me but I don’t know what. I just wish my brain would let me remember the rest of my code name and some other things so that I could get in touch with the chief. This guy may be from the one they call the boss, he may even be the boss himself.”

“Now who’s the boss?” asked Steve. “You told me about the chief, the head of Operation Themis, is this another name for the same fellow?”

“No, this is the exact opposite,” answered Amanda. “He is our country’s greatest enemy.”

“Do you think maybe you should tell Dad Ken or Sgt. O’Rourke that he’s got to be a fake?” asked Steve. “I mean, you’re just a kid and you could get hurt in this mess.”

“But that’s just it,” answered Amanda. “You’re forgetting, I’m not just a kid. I may look like a kid now but I’m still twenty-six years old and I’ve had all kinds of special training as a government spy. The question is, does this Uncle Teddy Younger know that? He obviously knows something but I don’t know what or how much.”

“Could he possibly be someone from Operation Themis, sent to rescue you or whatever it ought to be called?” asked Steve.

“No, I don’t think so,” answered Amanda. “They wouldn’t be looking for me as an eleven year old. They’d expect me to contact them with my code name and all I can remember is Amanda I’ve got to figure out a way to contact them and convince them who I am. I really may need your help. I might not be able to explain but just ask you to do some things for me without asking any questions. Can you do that?”

Steve hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “As long as I remember that you’re really an adult and a well trained government agent, yes I can,” he told her. “I’ll be ready and willing to do anything you say.”

“Thank you,” said Amanda. “I may need you to do just that.”

　

　

　

Excerpts from Amanda Younger

“You’ve done a good job getting me all restocked, Mary,” said the professor. “I can always count on you to take care of whatever I need.”

“Yes you can Mr. Professor, you certainly can,” answered the chief. “Unless it’s on a Friday night of course. I know you wouldn’t ask me to miss my beano night.”

“Oh now Mary, you mean you wouldn’t miss one night of beano to help me out if I really needed it?” asked the professor.

“Well, maybe, yes, of course I would,” answered the chief. “If you really, really needed it.”

“You’re a good girl, Mary,” said the professor, patting her on the shoulder, as one would pat a pet dog. “A very good old girl.”

“Now Mr. Professor, I’m not old enough to be called an old girl, not quite yet,” said the chief. “Aren’t we both about the same age.?”

The professor laughed. “Yes, I guess we probably are, Mary, I guess we probably are. I tell you what, I’ll agree that you’re still young if you’ll agree that I’m still young.”

“That sounds like a good idea Mr. Professor,” answered the chief. “That’ll make us a pair of liars won’t it?”

“I guess it will Mary,” said the professor. “Yes I guess it really will. By the way, Mary, if this new formula works, how would you like to look the way you looked ten years ago? Or maybe you’d like to look like your favorite movie or tv star. How about it Mary? If this works like I hope it will, I can make your face over to look just the way you want it to look, and without any surgery or pain, just like molding a lump of clay. How about it, Mary, want to look like Miss America?”

“No thanks, Mr. Professor,” said the chief after pretending to think it over for a minute. “None of my friends would recognize me if I did that. I think I’d rather just keep the face I’ve got, I’m used to it.”

“Ok Mary,” chuckled the professor. “But if you ever change your mind the offer will always stand.”

“Yes sir, Mr. Professor, thank you sir,” answered the chief.

The professor laughed silently to himself.

“He so loves talking to the woman he regards as being simple minded,” thought the chief. “If he ever knew, if he ever finds out who I really am. It’s like my mother used to say, the best place to hide is right in plain sight.” She worked around the room, finding out information to pass along to agents of Operation Themis as she worked and the professor didn’t suspect a thing, but just went back to work on the experiments upon which he had been working before Amanda, or perhaps I should say Patricia Mason, had made her unexpected appearance.

Amanda and Steve played a game of Horse Basketball on the playground. “This is a good way to get a chance to talk,” said Steve. “We can see all around us and know if someone is coming near us and be careful not to be overheard. Did you bring the note in code to see if I can figure it out?”

“I sure did,” answered Amanda, handing it to him. “You can see if you can read it while I beat you at spelling horse.”

Steve grinned. “Fat chance,” he told her. “I’m going to solve this right away.

“Jk Uvgxg, K jqrg aqw ecp tgcf vjku,” read Steve. “Ummm I should be able to solve this.” He read the note over and over and then knelt down and scribbled with his finger in a nearby patch of dirt.

Amanda grinned as she watched. “Not as easy as you thought?” she teased. “You’d better hurry, I’m already on R.”

Steve wrinkled his brow thoughtfully. “Every time I think I’ve got it, I find that I haven’t,” he told her.

“You want a clue?” asked Amanda, shooting another basket.

“I guess I’m going to have to give in and say yes,” answered Steve.

“What are you two doing?” asked Sarah as she and her friend Dorrie came over to join Steve and Amanda.

“I’m teaching Amanda to play Horse Basketball,” answered Steve, He wiped out what he had been writing and wrote in the basketball score instead.

“Looks like she could teach you a thing or too,” teased Dorrie, as she looked over his shoulder at the figures.

“She’s good alright,” answered Steve. “It’s just that she’s never played basketball before and so she needs to learn the rules.”

“Mrs. Stevens is motioning that it’s time to go in so we’d better get going,” said Sarah. “Maybe we can play Horse at home later.”

“It would be fun to do it with our spelling words,” said Steve, “It might help us to learn them.”

“Yeah, you need all the help you can get when it comes to spelling,” teased Sarah. The others all laughed. They knew that although Steve was smart, he tended to spell words the way they sounded and of course words aren’t always spelled the way one would think they would be from the way they sound.

“What’s this?” asked Dorrie, picking up a paper from the ground.

“Oh, that’s mine,” answered Steve. “It must have fallen out of my pocket.”

“I couldn’t help seeing the writing when I picked it up,” said Dorrie. “Is that some foreign language?”

“No, no it’s not,” answered Steve. “Sarah here told you I’m a terrible speller.” He quickly tucked the note deep in his pocket.

“Maybe you can come over later and practice basketball with us, Dorrie,” said Sarah. “And Brenda, Amanda and I can show you our new school clothes.”

“That sounds neat,” said Dorrie. “I’m sure my mother will say yes.” The three girls linked arms as they headed towards the school and Steve dribbled the basketball as they walked along.

“It is nice to have friends,” thought Amanda. “I never could when I was a kid before. If Agent 13 and I ever get married and have kids, I’m going to let my kids be kids and have friends no matter how smart they are, it’s important.”