I have Dreams of Being a Secret Agent

I don't often get to feel very devious. I'm horrid at sneaking about secretly. I get so excited I grin and giggle like an idiot, no matter how hard I try not to. I always grin stupidly when I'm excited. That or cry pathetic tears of joy.

However, yesterday I got to be devious and I did a swell job of it, in my opinion.

Whenever we come to Grandma's, Grandma has a list of projects for Mom to work on. One of them this time was putting a railing on the basement stairs. I was in the guest room reading when Grandma called me, saying Mom had called her to tell me to check my phone. I found a missed call from Mom. She wanted me to see her on the basement stairs.

When I arrived, Mom showed me a bloody knuckle. Her hand had slipped with one of the tools and some wood had cut and bruised her knuckle, and she needed me to get something to put on it without Grandma knowing. Immediately, I wondered how I would manage being subtle enough, especially  when I didn't have a clue where Grandma kept her first aid supplies.

I ran upstairs and got a washcloth in the linen closet in the hall, and then went on the hunt in the bathroom. My efforts turned up a single band-aid and some antibiotic ointment. Now how to get it past Grandma?

Then I had a stroke of genius.

Hurrying back into the room I'm sharing with Mom, I grabbed one of the Ranger's Apprentice books I'd brought. They run kind of big, perfect for my needs. I flipped to a middle page, set my supplies inside, and stuck the book up close to my nose to pretend I was reading and to hide my smile.

Yeah. Honestly. I felt so awesome.

Looking back, I was probably just a little obviously on a mission and not at all interested in my book, because I walked all the way back through the house to the basement stairs instead of settling on the couch to "read". Whatever. Grandma's back was turned anyway.

Mom wasn't impressed with my ingenuity, though I don't really blame her the way her knuckle was looking. Still, I felt like I'd just accomplished something huge.

Give me a break. I'm a homeschooler. My best act of rebellion is taking off my shoes in church. For someone who's awful at covert-style adventures, this was a huge feat. Not much slips past Grandma and, like I said, I'm not subtle.

I haven't had that much fun since Youth Conference when we had a secret meeting on the hotel stairs between the guys' and girls' floors to deliver a piece of pizza. Now that was awesome.

I guess this is just adventure practice. One day I'll do something that truly is huge and fantastic and a work of genius, and it'll be because I practiced by sneaking bandaids past Grandma and escaping hungry teenage boys looking to steal the pizza.