It's all about the gadgets

Ethan and Ryan have decided that being spies is the coolest adventure in the world. Ryan has a spy for longer than Ethan. He has a real spy id card that he got in the mail from a mysterious place called Spy Headquarters. It has his name, spy number (12345), and picture. Ethan really wants one to come in the mail for him. I told him that I thought one would come one day soon.

Being a spy involves having a briefcase, a magnifying glass, a fake mustache, and a pen and paper. It has optional componants like fingerprint ink and fingerprint dust. In Ryan's case it involves following people if they are "auspicious" (acting suspiciously) and making booby traps to catch bad guy spies who sneak into his room. For Ethan it involves many calls in code on a cell phone and writing secret notes that change in meaning depending on who is reading them. They both use clever disguises which they assemble from the dress-up box. Today a very short repair guy walked through the house assuring me that his bright blue hard hard and purple shawl proved that he was "nothing to be concerned about." In fact, he was just "checking on things to make sure nothing was, um, broken."

They've been tracking where the grown-ups go by using the magnifying glass to find footprints on the floors, and today they guessed who drank the water by comparing fingerprints they lifted off a glass with the ones everyone put on a piece of paper. I have no idea what's in store for tomorrow, but I do know that even though Ryan really really wants an Aston-Martin with a revolving license plate and a steel bar that comes out of the center of the each tire to knock other spy cars off the road buying one is not on tomorrow's agenda.