Secret Agent Man
Written by Saffron Bailey
Dear Diary,
I guess this is the last time I'll be talking to you until next year. That'll be the next millennium. Cool, huh? I don't think I'm taking you to Grampa's for vacation, so you get to stay here. Grampa said he's gonna take me someplace very important, someplace he couldn't take me to before because I was too little. But I'm not little anymore, he says, I'm almost a man now. I don't know where he's talking about. Maybe an R-rated movie. Mom won't take me to those.
Gotta go. It's dinner time.
Zack
Dear Diary,
So I guess I am going to talk to you before it's Y2K.
Mom said Allie could play with my computer when I'm gone, even though I told her she couldn't. So she's gonna be in my room and that means she's gonna be going through my stuff. Allie is so nosy. I want to get a lock for my door, but Mom said no. Anyway, if Allie is gonna be in my room and playing with my things, I don't want you there alone. Allie will read you.
Zack
Dear Diary,
I've been in Baltimore for a day. Grampa said that tomorrow we're going to go someplace important. I hope it's not too early. I have my own TV in my room here and it has cable and I stayed up really late last night to watch wrestling. Mom never lets me watch it at home when it's on TV. She says that I'm gonna get stupid ideas and hurt my brother. Sam's okay, but I think Allie needs to be pile drived. Or is it pile drove?
The Christmas tree here is really cool. It's got little balls with all of our names on them and baby pictures. Of course, Allie's still a baby, so her picture looks just like her. Mine doesn't. I'm gonna be 13 soon, and that's a whole ten years older than the picture on the tree. The picture of Dad is cool. He looks a lot like my picture. I think Grampa misses him a lot. I guess Dad doesn't get to call him either.
Zack
Dear Diary,
I hate my mom and I never want to go back home!
I want to stay here with Grampa. He took me to a cemetery today. Mom lied to me!!!!!!
She said that Dad was away on a secret mission to save the world and that he couldn't call home. Dad wasn't on any mission. He was dead. Grampa said he was killed being a cop. He was very upset that Mom never said anything about him, and since I'm almost a man now, I understand what being dead is, so it is okay to tell me. I'm gonna tell Allie when I go home. She knows what dead is, too. The dog next door died last year. But I'm not going home. Ever. How could Mom do that to me? I can't believe she used to tell me to write letters to Dad. I hate her. I wish she was dead instead of Dad. Dad wouldn'tve lied to me.
Zack
Dear Diary,
Mom and Grampa got into a fight on the phone tonight. I didn't want to talk to her and then she and Grampa started yelling at each other. She didn't want me to know about Dad. Grampa told her it wasn't right for me and Allie to think that Dad was off chasing aliens. Mom told him that it was her business and we were her kids and a lot of other nasty things. She was yelling so loud I could hear her through the phone. She said that she was going to come down to Baltimore tomorrow and pick me up. Grampa told her not to.
Zack
Dear Diary,
Today Grampa and I went to the police station. Grampa showed me a sign that said that Dad was an honorable police officer who had died in the line of duty. It's on the staircase, with a lot of other signs for other cops. We went to go see where Dad used to work. A huge black man was Dad's boss. He has an Italian name, which is kinda funny. I got to sit in Dad's chair at his desk. A couple of detectives who used to work with Dad said hello to me and said I looked just like a little Beau Felton. I'm not so little anymore, but they were trying to be nice. We went to visit a lady who used to be Dad's partner. I remember her a little, mostly because of her red hair. She used to come over to eat dinner at our house and play with me and Allie. Her name is Kay.
Grampa and I went out to dinner tonight and I got to smash crabs with a hammer right on the table. That part was cool, but I didn't like having to wear a bib like a baby.
Zack
Dear Diary,
I'm back home. Mom was waiting for me and Grampa when we got home yesterday and she grabbed me and pushed me into the car. I didn't even get to go into the house to get my stuff. She did it herself. She and Grampa got into another argument, a really loud and nasty one, and then she drove off. We were doing way over the speed limit. Mom told me not to tell Allie about Dad, but I am going to.
Mom also said that we are going to move again and that I shouldn't tell anyone. But I'm gonna call Grampa as soon as we move. He said that next time I come visit, he's gonna show me all of Dad's stuff from when Dad was my age. I'm not gonna let Mom screw that up, like she screws up everything else.
Zack