The old house was scary and dark and dirty looking. The yard had not been mowed in a long time and the grass was too high. And
there was an old, rusted out car in the backyard. "This place looks like it should be on Fear Street," Jamal said.
"No kidding. It looks pretty deserted to me. Are you sure someone's living
there?" Ben asked.
"Sure I'm sure," Lily said. "And I know what their names are, too. It's a man and a woman named Roger and Rhonda Ruler."
"Roger Ruler? That sounds made up, Lily," Jamal said.
"Well, of course it is, silly. They're spies. You don't expect spies to use their real names do you?" Lily asked him.
"I guess not," Jamal said.
The kids were hiding in some bushes across the street from the house where the Rulers were staying. It was hot and not much fun, but Lily said it was the best vantage point for
watching the house.
"What's a vantage and why is it pointed?" Beth asked her.
"Keep your voice down, Beth," Ben said.
"That's a good question, Beth. A vantage point means the best place
to see something. We want to watch the front door and note the Rulers comings and goings. So we pick a good vantage point. Understand?" Lily said. As Beth nodded, a car pulled up and turned into the driveway of the
house across the street. The kids made themselves very small and stayed as still as possible.
"Shhhhh. Everyone be very quiet. And don't anybody move," Ben said. The four kids watched as a man and a woman
got out of the car.
The man was tall and dark-haired, with a mustache. The woman was small and had blond hair. Lily pulled out her notebook and wrote a description of the two people. For the woman, she wrote
"petite."
After they walked into the house and closed the door, Beth asked, "What does that mean?" and she pointed to the word "petite."
"Small. It's a French word," Lily
said. "And good spies need to speak a lot of different languages. I'm going to take French and Spanish some day!"
The kids kept watch on the house until it was time to go home for dinner. Afterwards, the
group met back over at the haunted house. They noticed that the curtains at the windows were still closed.
"How can we see what they're doing if they keep the windows closed?" Jamal asked. Lily thought for
a minute.
"I don't know," she admitted. "I'll have to check one of my spy books tonight and see what else we can do." She looked down at her watch.
"Uh-oh. It's nearly 7:30. I need to go
home. See you guys tomorrow?"
"Sure," Ben said. "We'll meet you at 10:00 at my Uncle Will's store."
