The Jeweled Box

Chapter 3- CIA Agent

Chapter 3

            As Evaree stormed out of the house, I couldn’t believe my ears. Nella, obviously upset and probably embarrassed, appeared extremely interested in her unfinished noodles and Calvin, well, I’m not sure what he was doing.

             “She’ll be back,” Calvin shrugged.

            “Really?!” exclaimed Nella, “Arika was ignorant and rude to her and she was completely humiliated!”

            “She left her purse.”

            Calvin and I exchanged a look and cracked a smile. As I rolled the last noodle of deliciousness around on my plate, a mischievous idea popped into my head. “Quick! Let’s lock all the doors and not let her come back in!” I exclaimed, immediately standing up.  I had a sudden flashback of me locking my mom out of the house playfully as a young toddler. My smirk faded slightly.

Nella just shot me a glare and I sat down with disappointment, but Calvin stood up, giving me a sly grin, and asked, “May I close the doors? They are letting in that awful wind,”

            Nella tried to glare at him, but failed. “Fine,” she muttered and she picked up all the dishes and plates, bringing them to the kitchen to be cleaned.

            While Calvin and Nella were gone, the large, purple, bejeweled, sparkly designer purse left on the chair was practically calling my name. I giggled evilly and stood up to search it. Instead of going around the table and risk getting caught, I dove under the table, pulled the purse down and rummaged through it for her wallet. To be honest, I was not planning on “stealing” anything; I just wanted to see if she was really in the government. When I found her plain, black, fat wallet, I skimmed through her endless stack of coupons, receipts, and even her money.  I think I saw a 500 dollar bill. Finding nothing interesting, I decided to look through her large stack of cards. Finding nothing but discount cards, memberships, and a surprisingly high amount of credit and debit cards, I finally looked at the most obvious place– outside the wallet. It was stunning to find that I had not even thought of looking on the outside of the wallet, so I mentally slapped my forehead. I saw a transparent pocket that revealed an identification card with CIA written in bold letters. I stared at the picture of Evaree in her early twenties. She was dressed like an old grandma. No offense to any old grandmas. She was probably behind the fashion, as she is today, I thought.

            In my moment of secret-ness, Calvin and Nella had been arguing. As soon as I heard their voices I threw Evaree’s wallet back in her purse and quietly put the purse on the chair again, and made myself as small as possible under the table. And this is what I do best. Eavesdropping. I thought deviously.

            “She’s too young to go,” stated Calvin.

            “But if,” Nella’s voice quivered and hesitated,” What if we’re doing the wrong thing by keeping her here?”

            “How is keeping her in this beautiful countryside and teaching her all the lessons life can give a bad thing?”

            “She deserves to grow up with her own flesh and blood. She deserves to experience new environments such as schools.”

            “She doesn’t need to go to school. For God’s sake, she’s homeschooled! Sometimes I think she’s too smart for her own good.”

            I grinned. You tell her, Calvin!

            “But she seems isolated here! She doesn’t have any friends her age and at schools in the city she would have lots of friends her age there! Or at least some!”

            I pursed my lips. Nella might win this one.

            “I grew up around animals and I came out alright,” Calvin stated, grinning.

            Nella rolled her eyes. “I know, but what about Fred and Scarlet? They still have a hard time keeping to their budget. I know it might be hard to let her go, but she still needs to experience city life.”

            There was slight silence, and except for a faint sniffling, I could hear nothing.  I peeked slightly out from under the table, only to dive back under. I spent what seemed like an eon under that table. I am now officially scarred for life. I thought, grimacing. If there’s one thing a girl doesn’t need to know about her foster parents, it’s kissing.