My Classified Life

Chapter Five: How To Pick A Pocket

The loud beep beep of my alarm clock sounded at 5 in the morning. I slammed it until the small clock shut up and I slowly climbed out of bed. I opened my door and made the long trek down to the kitchen where the light was on. It blinded my eyes as I entered the large kitchen and saw the tall man with his back to me sipping his morning coffee.

“Hey.” He didn't seem the least bit startled when he heard my voice for the first time in almost a year.

“How was the trip to China?” I asked him. Why did I even bother asking? I thought, of course it's classified.

He turned to face me. I saw his clean shaved face with his short brown hair like mine. His green eyes looked at me as he said “Fine. You've sure grown haven't you, Emily?” He put his large empty coffee mug down and began to fill a Styrofoam cup with more of the black liquid. I smiled at him. He'd remembered my name.

“Yes, I have.” I paused to see if he would say something more. He didn't.

“Listen, Dad.” the name seemed foreign to me and it must have been to him because he turned to give me his full attention. “My birthday was a couple months ago and I don't recall you giving me a present. Well, I'll just cut to the chase, can Christina and I come to work with you today? I haven't been to The Pentagon in ages.”

“I have to leave soon.” he was making excuses.

“I can be ready in five and so can Christina.”

“Which girl is that?”

“Our neighbor.” I said sharply.

“I don't know if you are allowed to come.”

“We both know we are, dad.” I crossed my arms in a defiant manor.

“Why do you want to go so badly?” he challenged me.

“You stay out of my business and I'll stay out of yours.”

He seemed shocked at the bitterness of my statement.

“I'm your father, your business is my business.”

“I haven't even seen you in eleven months, daddy. You don't know my business and we both know that so stop pretending you give a crap about what a kid like me is up to and just say you'll take us. “

His face showed no shock of the internal blow I'd just landed. His features showed the same foreign look that was associated with his family. I was right and he knew it. I stood firm in my position in the kitchen with my arms folded and hip slightly cocked. I raised my eyebrows as if to say “Well?”

“Be ready in fifteen minutes.” and then he turned around to pour the rest of his morning coffee and eat his blueberry bagel that popped out of the toaster.

I quietly retreated to my room and texted Christina who was waiting in her house, ready to go. I slipped on jeans and an Aeropostale shirt and twisted my messy hair into a bun. I was five minutes early when I came downstairs and grabbed a Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal bar and bottle of apple juice. Christina walked into the kitchen through the garage door as we waited for my father to show himself. He walked down from upstairs and said nothing to us on his way to the garage. We followed him to his Silver Dodge Charger and both got in the backseat.

Christina leaned over and whispered in my ear “This is going to be one awkward car ride.”

I leaned back into the chair. “Ditto.”

The ride seemed ages long and I almost leaped out of the Charger when we pulled into my dad's designated parking spot. He wordlessly gestured for us to follow him into where he checked in and was scanned for security reasons. Apparently, the guys at the check in aren't used to visitors. I felt like I was going through airport security times by 100.Christina and I received visitors passes for the day and they confiscated our cell phones. Dad left the check in once we were done and walked quickly to his office on the north side of the building. His office area was very well kept up and looked as if it was build no more than a year ago. He unlocked the door to his office and stepped inside. His desk was almost empty except for the thick layer of dust on it. He had no chairs inside so Christina and I sat on the ground near the door. He dusted off is desk and started his computer. I waited for him to log on before I would get rid of him.