The day starts like any other day; you wake up, get ready, and go to work or school! But today, April 11, 2002, was a lot different. It was my first day of spring break. I was thinking of getting my first job, but I’m only thirteen years old! What job is going to take a thirteen-year-old? I thought of babysitting, but that didn’t go so well. My experience of babysitting a seven-year-old named Gracie didn’t go well. Gracie was more like a butthead to me. She was the worst child that I have ever babysat! But I got through it because her parents were always sweet to me.

Then came the night I was cleaning up her playroom, and her PARENTS CAME HOME EARLY THAT NIGHT. I was so afraid they would see the playroom! Then I realized Gracie was in the other room crying, telling her parents I was being mean to her. Still, I would never do that cause she’s only seven. They didn’t realize I was downstairs, and I heard everything. They thought I was so irresponsible and said I was never going to be allowed back there.” I don’t care about her; she’s a little….” Then I stopped myself because I heard them in the other room arguing. After all, they knew she was lying. Her parents said, “if you’re lying, we will ground for three weeks!” So, I decided to take the blame for her because Gracie’s parents paid good money. When I came out of the playroom, Gracie’s parents were shocked to see me.

They said, “did you hear what we were talking about,” I said, “Oh no, no, I was listening to my music while cleaning so you could have a family talk!” “Well,” the mom asked, “we have to ask you something very important.” “Ok,” I quickly replied. She asked if I was being mean to Gracie? Of course, I didn’t want her to get in trouble, so I said: “Yes, but she wasn’t listening to me, so I got mad and told her to sit down on the couch and watch TV” Then they told me I needed to leave! I replied as fast as I could, “GLADLY! I’ll show my way out the door.”

The next day, I went to the beach to think of what I had said to Mr. and Mrs. Miller. When I got there, I found a shiny bottle with a piece of paper in it at the water’s edge. It was a note and a map with one spot circled in the middle of nowhere.

When I got home, I looked it up on the internet. I called my best friend and asked if she wanted to help me. So, we both packed our bags for a four-day journey into the wild. We began our journey on Monday morning by heading north for ten miles. We camped out for the rest of the day because it almost took us all day to bike five miles, but it was worth it. After we ate dinner, we built a small fire and set up the tent for the night.

The next day, after traveling four and a half miles, I saw a tree with a door on it. “This is it; we’re here!” I told her that I could feel in the pit of my stomach that this was it! As I walked up to the door, my best friend was terrified, so she stayed behind me the entire time. I opened the door, and there stood a tall staircase. We were at the very top, but we walked down the stairs. There were books everywhere. When we got to the bottom, there stood Mr. and Mrs. Miller and the one and only, Gracie Evet Miller. They told me they wanted me to join their secret undercover mission to save lives. I immediately started asking questions: “why are all these books here?” “Why did you choose me?” Those are just two of the questions I asked. They tried to answer all my other questions. But they said they couldn’t right now because all they wanted to know was if I was in? I said I was ready, and I was in!!!!

—- Sincerely,

Yours truly Maybell