“A meeting?” I inquired.
“Oh, it’s a scout meeting.”
“Ah, I see. Well, I really enjoyed this conversation. I was kind of hoping we could do it again soon.”
Angie smiled. “Well, why don’t you come with me and my son to the meeting? I never really get involved because the men are very strict against the participation of women. So I will have time to talk.”
“I would love to.” I may have said that with too much exuberance. Angie seemed delighted to hear that in my voice. She gave me her address and asked that I arrive about a half hour before she was to leave.
Despite my better judgment, I was walking on air, just a little bit. I had not expected Angie to be a sharp tack, but no one in my geek circle could keep up with me when it came to fiction, let alone historical fiction.
I was dressed well, but not too well and I had arrived at her house precisely when she requested. The Agency had insisted I get to know her neighborhood intimately. It was filled with mostly non-affluent people. This was the perfect breeding ground for the sleeper sell we were after. I stuck out like a sore thumb despite wearing my less nice clothes and skipping my afternoon shower. I had never had to struggle and the lack of tension lines on my face showed it. It seemed like the children were the hardest hit. While I was graduating two grades ahead of my age, children here were held back constantly. Many things were broken with this education system. Lack of teachers was one.
I pulled into Angie’s driveway. I cut the engine and waved to her son. Her son, Jakob looked at me strangely. I asked, “Hey there, is your mom around?”
He said, “Yeah.”
He didn’t move to summon her. I prompted, “could you let her know Jimmy is here?”
“Sure.” He turned his head toward the green front door. “MOM! JIMMY IS HERE!”
Seconds later, Angie’s head poked out of the door smiling. “Jimmy! I’m almost ready. Would you like to come in?”
“I’d love to.”
Jakob raced into the house ahead of me. He grabbed his scout uniform off of the flannel pattern brown couch and slipped it on over his black ninja t-shirt. The file said he was ten years old and one of the more popular students in his class.
Angie stepped into the living room. I had been scoping the house. I noticed the lack of television as well as the super powered computer. The house was cluttered, but not full of garbage, like the report said.
“Jimmy,” Angie said. “This is my son Jakob.”
“We met.”
“My van is out back, shall we?”
“Certainly.”
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