I was at a lavish private party on an enormous cruise ship that was owned by a local multi-millionaire and his wife. Thousands of guests in evening attire danced, drank, and ate across the length of the boat. I was running around with superhuman speed and high jumps, covering every inch with seemingly no purpose but to have fun. But something didn't feel right, like I was running from something. The boat rocked a little bit, and then I knew what it was: bombs were going off in the hull. I quickly jumped overboard and clung to floating debris, just in time to watch the entire boat sink slowly into the depths. I was rescued an unknown amount of time later, the only survivor.

Suddenly, I was in a tall, brick-lined university building. Instinctively, I knew I was there as a spy to find out who sabotaged the ship. Avoiding security, I quickly made my way up and down treacherous spiral staircases, looking for the right floor. There was one area that appeared sealed off compared to the rest. I waited for someone to come out the secured door, and I quietly slipped in behind without them knowing.

The room appeared to be mostly empty, with a few couches lying around and a desk off to the side. A man in glasses stood against the wall. Immediately, he activated a stealth shield and turned invisible except for his glasses. I followed them around and karate kicked wherever I thought he was. After landing a number of blows, I was convinced he was out for the count. Just then, my family (parents and sister) came in as the rest of the spy team. Together, we got rid of the unconscious (and still invisible) man, and began searching the place for files. There was one extra room attached that had a fancy computer terminal.

There was a knock at the door, and we all jumped into place. We decided we were going to act like a vacationing family that had walked into the wrong room. Suddenly, the room looked like the living room of a hotel, with thick white carpeting, beautiful furnishings including a plush couch, tasteful bookcases, and several flower vases, and a kitchen sectioned off by a countertop. We opened the door, and it was a maid. We told her we were busy and she could come back later, and she left. Relieved, we decided to slip into disguise before we got truly discovered. We put on our Sunday clothes, and I picked up my special copy of the Bible that held computerized inserts with advanced spy technology.

A blond man walked in, clearly shocked to see us there. After a few moments of hesitation from both sides, my mom finally explained to him who we really were. He assured us that, although he was university staff, his mission was the same as ours: to find the saboteurs. However, since the university wanted to conduct their own investigation, he would have to keep us hidden. Every time from then on that the door opened, we would stand ready either to fight or to play our roles. Buy it was always him, so we spent our time either enjoying the room (including cooking breakfast) or reading files. On one of his visits, we watched a computer simulation of the saboteurs. He was able to hook up his mini-screen "bar" display to the large computer screen and watch it separately. The program played like a CGI movie, with suspenseful music each time a bomb was placed. It even simulated them almost getting caught, but escaping just in time as if they were the heroes.

After what seemed like several hours, we finally decided to leave for church for real. I picked up my special Bible and made sure the inserts were still in it, but I never got to use them. As we walked outside with the helpful man and his kids, we noticed the snow was thick on the ground. We began singing "Happy New Year" to the tune of "Happy Birthday," and the "camera" pulled back to reveal us all gathered around like Christmas carolers. It looked so Hallmark-perfect that I punched the snow in joy. Then I woke up.

posted by Larry at 9:04 AM