Family Fun in Michigan

So the Agents began to compose a letter to the President of the United States. Agent Q pulled out a piece of paper and began to write.

Dear Mr. President,

“What should I say?” he/she asked. “Should I say who we are? Should I tell him to inform the FBI?”
“Tell him that he is in danger, and he can check with Agents X and L to know that we are trustworthy,” suggested Agent M.
“Make sure you include where we’re from and when and where the men are trying to kill him,” advised Agent H.
So Agent Q wrote,

“How’s this?” he/she asked, holding it up for the rest of the Agents to see.
“Looks good to me,” declared Agent T.
“I like it,” agreed Agent J.
“You should go home and type it up,” suggested Agent P. “Then bring it next time we meet, so we can all sign it.”

“Sure,” agreed Agent Q, “But I still think we need to come up with a plan to stop the men before they try to kill the President. The FBI might not receive word on time, and the President might think that it’s a hoax. We won’t try anything too dangerous, and we might just save the President from being killed.”

“But how can we stop the men from shooting the President without putting ourselves in danger?” asked Agent T.
“You know, we don’t actually have to stop the men form shooting the President. Maybe we can just stop the bullet from hitting the President,” suggested Agent H.

“You’re right!” exclaimed Agent N. “We could just tackle the President right before the men shoot him!”
“That’s a great idea, except I’m not sure we’ll be able to,” contradicted Agent S. “The Secret Service will be guarding him and they’d never let us tackle him.”
“Maybe we could dive in the path of the bullet at the last second,” suggested Agent P.
“But we’d get hurt or maybe even killed!” objected Agent J.
“Better us than the President,” Agent S pointed out.
“Still, it might not be the best idea. Even if we succeed, we’d be exposed. You can’t easily hide a bullet wound,” argued Agent Q.
“I think that diving in the path of the bullet should be a last resort. In the meantime, let’s try to come up with a better plan to save the President,” advised Agent M.

“Maybe we could block the bullet with something else, like a shield, instead of blocking it with our bodies. It would be a lot less dangerous, and easier to hide,” suggested Agent T.
“That’s a great idea!” cried Agent H. “Only what would we block the bullet with?”
“We could make a shield out of wood,” suggested Agent J. “XXXXX XXXXXXXX could probably do it.”
“But how would we ask without revealing what we need it for?” asked Agent A. “We’d have to tell them about the Agent team and then we’d have to disband.”
“I know!” exclaimed Agent P. “We can make the shield out of cardboard. Then we could easily find materials without having to ask anyone.”
“But cardboard wouldn’t really stop a bullet!” objected Agent M.
“It might not stop the bullet, but maybe it will block the President so the men can’t see where to shoot him,” put in Agent T.
“And if the men can’t see the President, they won’t be able to shoot him accurately,” agreed Agent H.
“Yeah. We don’t have to stop the bullet, we just have to prevent it from hitting the President,” agreed Agent S.

“But wouldn’t it look really suspicious if we suddenly wave a bunch of cardboard shields in the air?” Agent H objected.
“Maybe we could disguise them as campaign posters,” suggested Agent N.
“Yeah! Then we could just wave them in the air right before the men shoot!” exclaimed Agent Q. “It’s perfect!”
“I can get the cardboard,” volunteered Agent T.
“But we don’t know exactly when the men are going to shoot. We’d have to wave the posters the whole time, and that would look suspicious,” Agent J pointed out.
“Plus we’d be blocking other people’s view,” added Agent H.
“We need to find out exactly when the men are going to attack the President,” determined Agent P.
“We’ll have to listen to more of their conversations,” agreed Agent A.
“Let’s go right now!” exclaimed Agent N. “We can go to their hideout and use the listening glasses, like we did last time!”
“Uh, guys, look at the time. We really don’t have time to go eavesdrop on the men,” countered Agent S.
“Good point.” agreed Agent M. “Next time remember to bring voice recorders, and the letter. We’ll sign it, and eavesdrop on the men!”

© 2013 Christina Smith. All rights reserved.

The next day the Agents met back at the hideout.
“I’ve been thinking about what the men were saying,” announced Agent Q, “and I’m wondering when and where they will carry out their plan. We know they plan to sneak into some sort of event which requires tickets, and avenge someone by committing a horrible crime with guns, presumably murder. But we don’t know who they will murder, or when, or where they will do it.”
“We need to record their conversations,” determined Agent T. “Then we can figured out who their target is and when and where they will carry out the crime.”

“I just got a great idea!” exclaimed Agent P. “What if we could hide a bug inside their base?”
“That’s a great idea!” agreed Agent H. “But I don’t think we have any bugs, or money to buy them.”

“Then how will we record their conversations?” asked Agent N. “I don’t think we have a voice recorder at all.”
“Does anyone have a voice recorder they could bring in?” inquired Agent M.
“I do!” exclaimed Agent T.
“I think I do,” contributed Agent Q.
“Bring those to our next meeting,” Agent M told them, “but for now I think we’ll have to do without them.”

“Plus, everything that the robot has overheard has been recorded,” added Agent A.

Just then, Agent S leaped to his/her feet. “Look! There they are.” He/she pointed to the screen which was showing the feed from Agent R’s camera.
Sure enough, the Man and his comrade were walking down the trail, and the Agents could hear them through the microphone.

“Are you kidding? He probably had some secret tracking device or something that led the FBI right to us—unless you think they were tracking the XXXXXX,” the Man was saying.
“But wouldn’t it be easier to kill an FBI Agent or something?” his comrade asked. “I mean really, killing the President? They hung people after Abe Lincoln’s assassination, you know.”
“Shhh! You can’t go around saying that!” the Man told him.
After that, they were too far away to be picked up by Agent R’s voice recorder.

Back at the hideout, the Agents were very excited.
“Oh my gosh! They’re planning to kill the President!” exclaimed Agent T. “This is terrible! What are we going to do?”
“We need to go to the police,” declared Agent J. “This is way too serious. We can’t just stand there and watch them plan crime of the century and not tell anyone.”
“We shouldn’t go to the police,” countered Agent P. “We need to go to the FBI, or even the President himself. But who will believe us?”

“We do have the video recordings,” Agent A reminded everyone.
“Still, they might think that the video recordings are a hoax, and how will we explain how we recorded them in the first place? They’d never believe anything about the FBI, and the FBI would deny it to keep us a secret. They can’t let word get out that a bunch of XXXXXX prevented the President from being kidnapped.”
“The FBI might believe us,” suggested Agent N.
“But how will we inform them?” asked Agent H, “I don’t think they’re getting XXXXXXXXX’s emails. Otherwise they would have sent a reply by now.”

“I think we need to have a back up plan in case no one believes us, and the FBI doesn’t respond. I agree with XXXXXXXXX, we can’t just watch the crime of the century unfold. We need to do something about it, even if no one else does,” declared Agent Q.
“Are you kidding?” asked Agent M. “You plan to have us stop some men from killing the President? Have you considered the possibility that they’ll kill us if they find out?”
“But I think XXXXXXXXX is right. We can’t just watch it happen. And we’d be careful, and not try anything too dangerous,” argued Agent S.

“Aren’t you guys forgetting something?” asked Agent H. “We don’t even know when and where this is going to happen. If the President is in Washington D.C., we can’t easily go there to try to help him.”
“I think it will probably be nearby,” suggested Agent Q. “Otherwise, why would the men have a hideout here? Their hideout would be closer to Washington D.C. Though I suppose they might have plans to travel there that we just haven’t —–”

“Oh my gosh! I just remembered!” Agent S interrupted. “The President is coming to give a speech this weekend in XXXXXXXX at the XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX!”
“Really? Then maybe that’s where the Man is going to kill the President!” exclaimed Agent A.
“Actually, I’m hoping that we can prevent the Man from killing the President,” corrected Agent Q. “But I think that it just might be the place where he’s going to try to kill him.”
“But what can we do about it?” sighed Agent J. “I don’t want us to be in danger like we were before. The men will kill us if we try to stop them.”

“Can’t we just tell the FBI?” asked Agent P. “Then they could stop the men and we wouldn’t have to.”
“That would be great, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to contact them. The FBI haven’t been responding to XXXXXXXXX’s emails and how else can we get word to them?” Agent T pointed out.
“We could send an anonymous note to the police. Then they would inform the FBI,” suggested Agent N.
“But would they believe us? We’d have to send some sort of proof. Even then, they might think it’s a hoax,” determined Agent H.
“What we need to do is get word to Agent X or Agent L. They would believe us. But if they won’t respond to email, how can we contact them?” wondered Agent M.
“We could call them,” proposed Agent P, “but we don’t have their phone number.”

“We could call the President and ask him to tell them,” suggested Agent A.
“But you can’t just call and talk to the President. I don’t know if the President answers phone calls at all,” Agent J pointed out.
“Maybe we could send a letter!” exclaimed Agent P. “Doesn’t the President get a lot of letters?”
“We’d have to hurry,” advised Agent H. “Even if we send the letter now, I’m not sure if the President will get it in time. Besides, he might think it’s a hoax anyway.”
“Well, I think it’s worth a try,” declared Agent T. “Let’s get started right now.”

© 2013 Christina Smith. All rights reserved.

None of the Agents said a word as they crept around the grove of trees. It was relatively empty except for a stump and some low bushes. The Agents carefully peeked into the bushes and examined the stump and the trees in the grove, but there was no sign of the men.

Suddenly Agent T froze. He/she put his/her finger to his/her lips. All the Agents stopped what they were doing to determine what was going on. Then there was a sound; the faint sound of someone talking. Agent J gestured to the other Agents to follow him/her and led everyone out of the clearing where it was safe to talk.

“Did you hear that?” asked Agent T. “I could hear someone talking, and it was probably the men.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” replied Agent H, somewhat annoyed. “Where were you standing?”
“Right near the stump,” Agent T replied.
“Then maybe that’s where the entrance to their base is!” exclaimed Agent P.

Just then Agents M, S, and Q came walking down the trail.
“Did you find anything?” asked Agent M excitedly.
“We didn’t find any entrance to their base, but we could hear them talking,” replied Agent A. “We think their base might be near the stump.”
“Can you show us?” asked Agent Q.
“Sure,” replied Agent N. “Let’s go!” He/she turned to walk back into the clearing.

So the group of followed Agent N back to the clearing. There all the Agents gathered around the stump and waited quietly. Sure enough, they could hear the faint murmur of voices, too quiet to understand. Then Agent H signaled the other Agents and they exited the grove.

“I just got a great idea!” exclaimed Agent S, once they were out of the grove. “We should use the listening glass technique to listen to what they’re saying.”
“The listening glass technique? What’s that?” asked Agent P.
“It’s when you put a glass against a wall or other surface so you can hear what the people on the other side are saying.” replied Agent S.
“That’s a great idea!” exclaimed Agent M. “Does anyone want to run down to the hideout to get one?”
“I will,” volunteered Agent S.
“And I’ll go with XXXXXXXXX,” added Agent H. “We’ll grab a few of them so we can use more than one at a time.

So the two Agents set off down the trail and soon returned with three listening glasses. Then the Agents reentered the grove of trees.
Once the Agents were gathered around the stump, Agents H, S, and M took the listening glasses and placed them against the stump. Then they crouched down and placed their ears against the glasses. Sure enough, they could hear the men talking.

“But then what? How will we get away?” asked the Man’s comrade.
“I’m not sure,” replied the Man. “The FBI will have guards at every exit and immediately begin a search of the area. I’m thinking we might want to stash the guns and find disguises.”
“Couldn’t we hide on the roof of the building?” asked the Man’s comrade.
“No, but maybe we can go up to the roof and then climb down the fire escape. That’s a great idea!” exclaimed the Man.
“So, will we walk or will there be a car to drive us away?” inquired the Man’s comrade.
“I’m thinking we’ll use skateboards,” the Man replied. “Then we can ride to the train station and take the train out of town and far, far away. Then we’ll begin a long tour of Canada, with just the two of us, of course.”
“I’m always astounded by your genius plans,” the man’s comrade replied. “And now I’m off to practice my skateboarding.”

Agents S, H, and M looked up from their glasses and signaled for everyone to leave the clearing. Once they were outside the clearing Agent M didn’t stop. “Keep moving!” he/she exclaimed. “The men will be coming any moment!”
The Agents finally stopped once they reached their hideout. Here, Agents M, S, and H told the other Agents what they’d heard.

“Those men are definitely up to something,” worried Agent J. “Something really big. I think we should call the police.”
“And tell them what? We don’t have any real proof that they’re doing anything wrong,” countered Agent H. “Besides, what about the FBI?”
“I still haven’t heard from them,” Agent M sighed. “We might want to try a different method of reaching them.”
“Plus, would anyone really believe us?” asked Agent A. “Like you said, we don’t have any proof.”
“We should have recorded their conversation,” sighed Agent Q.
“In the future we’ll have to record all of their conversations,” agreed Agent M.
Just then Agent P gasped. “Wow, it’s getting late. I really have to get going.”
“Yeah, me too,” agreed Agent T.
“I make a motion that we adjourn the meeting until tomorrow,” declared Agent J.
“I second that motion!” exclaimed Agent N.
“This meeting is now adjourned,” announced Agent M. “We’ll meet back here tomorrow at XX:XX.”

© 2013 Christina Smith. All rights reserved.

We wrote and recorded another letterboxing song: “Let’s Go Box!”
It is about 70 seconds long. You can hear all of us (Mysterina, Mysteryas, TrailMark, and MichKathy) on vocals. Enjoy!

Click here to listen to “Let’s Go Box!”

Here are the lyrics:

MichKathy’s Bingo card (with help from Mysterina):

TrailMark’s Bingo card (with help from Mysteryas):