Chapter Two- The Perfect Spy Family

Now we get to pleasure to really get to know the Parker Family, which is the dictionary definition of family dysfunction

"Zoë Anne Parker where were you?" Jeff Parker boomed as his daughter approached him. A large group of teenagers stood watching her walk up to him. Zoë turned around and gave them a small wave, and they darted into the dorm building. Zoë stood in front of him.

"Why weren't you at the award ceremony with all the other students? Where were you?"

Zoë said nothing.

"Zoë!" her father yelled again, and this time her mom had to come over.

"Jeff please, calm down." Zoë's mom said. Zoë was still mad at her.  She was supposed to have stopped her from coming here, but she didn't. After a private talk, Zoë's parents returned to Zoë, this time her mom trying her hand at the interrogation.

"Now Zoë, where were you during the ceremony?"

Zoë thought for a moment and gave in. She knew her parents would keep her here for hours until they got an answer. "Ms. Kolinsky's office."

"Who's office?" Jeff asked. Zoë's mother shot him a look.

"Ms. Kolinsky," Zoë mumbled, "the new discipline director."

Christina Parker's face fell. Zoë's father shook his head and approached his daughter.

"And what did you do to get sent to the discipline director's office?"

"Nothing."

"Zoë…"

"I broke a podium, okay! But it wasn't my fault!"

“They sent you to the discipline director's office for two hours because you broke a podium?" Christina said.

"It wasn't just that!" Tammy announced. She finally decided to join the family fight after spending most of the time drawing in the dirt and watching the show. "Remember all those letters you guys got? Like all during the year about what bad stuff she had been doing? It was probably more than a podium!"

"Shut up Tammy!" Zoë hollered. They were making a scene in the middle of the parking lot. And what about these letters? Did they send letters about everything she did? If so, Zoë thought, she was definitely screwed.

"Tammy hush. Zoë it's okay if you don't want to talk about it, but it does seem odd that they sent to the discipline office over a podium." Christina said. 

"Well they did, the school hates me."

"I'm sure they don't hate you." Her mom said, not believing her own words.

"Well all year you and your gang have given them nothing but grief, so what do you expect?" Her father snorted.

"I don't have a gang! I never did anything!" Zoë said. “Besides if I did have a gang I would do much more interesting things than break a stupid podium.”

            "According to the school, all year you have been always up to something. Zoë you’re grounded." Jeff Parker announced.

            “Well that’s original.” Zoë grumbled, she got grounded all the time.

"…for the entire summer."

"Ha!" Tammy cheered.

"Shut up!" Zoë said, "Dad that’s not fair!"

"I'm sorry, but my decision is final, you’re grounded."

"My mind’s made up Zoë, you need to learn some discipline before next year. That's when the real training begins."

"Dad! But!"

"I'm done Zoë." Her father said as he got into the car where Uncle Aaron was waiting. Tammy followed, sticking her tongue out at Zoë as she passed.

"You’re being totally unfair!" Zoë called out. "I don't even want to be here! You can't force me to be something I'm not! I’ll…I’ll-!"

"Zoë...” Her mother said. "Please it will be alright."

"No it won't! And why do you care? You could have stopped him! You could have stopped all of this!"

"It's been a rough day for him. Not just that you missed the ceremony."

"It couldn't have been that bad." Zoë said defiantly, not willing to let her anger go.

"Want me to prove it?"

"I’d like to see you try."

"His parents came."

Zoë didn't think about that. She noticed to there were five heads talking in the car instead of the three that she saw outside. It's not that her grandparents were mean or anything. Dave and Violet Parker were once great spies themselves and raised the perfect spy family. Two extraordinary sons and then came Ansley, who was the best of the best, who died to save the organization. Zoë imagined having to repeat that success. It was tough for her to live up to success of Ansley, Jeff had to live up to the success of his parents, and so far with Zoë, he was failing miserably.

"Oh," Zoë murmured.

"And get this," Christina said again just trying to make her feel worse.

"What?"

"This is the first time they heard your spy number." Her mom said as she began to walk to car.

"What does that have to do with-" Zoë began but stopped, realizing what her mom meant.

Zo' saw the two silhouettes of the people from behind the tinted windows. Zo' knew who they must be, her grandparents, or to people like Ms. Kolinsky Ansley's Parents.  Zo' knew that her parents were definitely upset about her not being at the award ceremony, but were her grandparents just as disappointed?  Not just about her misadventures at school, but about Ansley. Zo' wondered if hearing Ansley's old number during the presentation brought back old memories. They never talked about Ansley much, only when they had to, and even then they kept their conversation short and quiet. They always said they were proud of her and that they loved her and that was it. Zo' wondered why they just couldn't say that they missed her.

“Alright everybody get in the car.” Jeff said as the family began piling in the SUV for another perilous 18-hour car ride.

“But Jeff can’t we just stay for a little bit. The ride down was awful and I am not getting back in the overcrowded death trap on wheels for another second. We just got here. ” Uncle Aaron said. Jeff grumbled and got in the car. Zo''s dad and his brother always fought, she knew that Jeff would not object to leaving Aaron behind in Florida.

“Come on Aaron it wasn’t that bad.” Christina said. Uncle Aaron laughed.

“Chris you’re a sweetheart but let’s be honest here, it really was that bad.”

            It really was that bad. Once everyone got in the car and her father pulled out of the parking lot and out of campus. The whole car ride was in silence. Zoë looked behind her and watched the marshy swamps that surrounded the TSU get smaller and smaller. She had always wanted to sneak out and explore the swamps around school, since going there was forbidden to students. Zoë was upset that she never had gotten the chance to do it. Zoë found it strange that she was going to miss the TSU, the place that she had loathed all year. But even now it seemed better than what was awaiting her back home.

Annapolis Maryland hadn't changed since Zoë last had seen it during Christmas break. Same old houses, same old trees, the same old winding streets. The Eastport area of Annapolis was where the Parker family had always lived. It was the perfect spot for a spy family, a small town where it was easy for them to seem like normal people, and the IUOS base in Washington DC was only an hour away so it was easy to get to work. Zoë's childhood home on 606 Burnside Street was her father's childhood home as well as her grandfather's. When Jeff got married his parents gave the house to him and began renting a condo in the area. Zoë's father said he loved the house and would never want to leave. Zoë liked Annapolis too, she just didn’t want to spend the whole summer there trapped in her room.

“Ah yes finally! Freedom!” Uncle Aaron said as she leaped out of the car the second it pulled up to the curb and sprawled out on the front lawn. Jeff got out as well and began unloading boxes, looking at his brother and rolling his eyes.

“Get up Aaron and help us unpack.”

“Yes sir, Mr. Bladder-of-Steel Parker never letting us stop all trip. There were seniors in that car. Think of our parents! Think of the children!”

“Just help us unpack.”

Everyone pitched in to help carry Zoë's stuff into the house. Even Tammy, who said she shouldn't have had to because she wasn't the one who was bad all year in school, pitched in. Uncle Aaron helped Zoë carry in the bigger boxes as they did he tried to make her feel better about the TSU.

"I’m sorry our family has no sense of humor. I think your dad's being a little too tough on you. I mean it’s only your first year. First year means nothing, trust me."

"I’m glad someone agrees with me, like what did he expect from me?"

"Probably for you to get perfect grades and for you to win all the awards like he did," Uncle Aaron said laughing as he lifted the large box up the front steps." You should have seen his face when they called your name and number with the other first year kids and you weren't there! Priceless!"

Zoë's face fell. She didn't want to think about that. Uncle Aaron noticed.  "It's okay Zoë. There will always be other award ceremonies. And so what if you didn't do well this year? I practically flunked out of TSU my first year."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I didn't adjust well to boarding school yet, you know? While your barrel of fun father spent his first year studying his brains off I was out lighting things on fire and stuff like that. There was no time for homework.”

"It's not that." Zoë confessed, "I just don't think TSU is right for me. I suck as an agent."

"Everybody sucks their first year trust me. You just haven't found what type of spy work you're good at yet. It will come to you."

As she began to carry the box up to her room she thought to herself, 'Of course Ansley was perfect. Her first day of camp she was perfect. She didn't have to find her type of spy work. She was good at them all!' At the top of the steps Zoë opened the door to her room and saw that everything had changed. Instead of her old small bed near her window there was a frumpy looking queen sized one with a flowery bedspread. Her original rainbow striped throw rugs were switched with old dusty brown ones, the walls that were once teal blue and covered with posters were now white and filled with family photos. Zoë screamed and her mom rushed up the stairs.

"What did you guys do to my room?!" Zoë demanded, her mother sighed.

"We were going to tell you after the ceremony but when you weren't there we got all panicked and forgot."

"Well what happened to it?"

"Grandpa is sick. His doctors want him taken care of. He and Grandma can't stay in their condo anymore. They had to move here."

"Well why did they have to take my room? Why not the guest room, huh? What's the point of a guest room if we don't use it when guests come?"

"Their bed and furniture wouldn't all fit. Your room is the biggest. Your new room is the guest room."

"But it's so small compared to my old room, my stuff won't fit!" Zoë complained.

"It's the same size as Tammy's room. I think you'll be fine."

"Sure that's what you think," Zoë picked up the boxes and stomped over to her new room. Her mother followed. "This must just some kind of punishment, I never did anything that bad, and if I did it wasn't my fault! I don't know what those letters told you but I never did anything wrong!"

"Zoë, I understand your frustrated with TSU, I understand."

"No you don't! You got to go to normal school!"

"You still have some of your teal blue paint left! We could paint it any color you want!" Her mother said changing the subject, obviously trying to bribe her.  Zoë saw the old cans of paint sitting near the door of her new room and set the boxes down.

"Tell everyone to just put my stuff outside. It will be easier to paint with everything packed up."

"You're going to start painting now? You just got home!" Her mom said.

"Well I'm grounded for the whole summer. I’m going to need something to do."

The next two weeks of summer were torture. Uncle Aaron had to leave for another mission. Annapolis was steaming hot and the Parker family house was even more crowded with the addition of Zoë's grandparents. Grandpa mostly kept to himself watching TV in Zoë's old room, but Grandma was constantly moving about the house looking for things to do. Grandma used to be an active athletic agent so being cramped up in the house was awful for her. At her old condominium complex she knew a few other active older women she could jog with but she did not know anyone in Zoë's neighborhood anymore since all the people from her day moved out. This made her especially grumpy and she was getting on everyone's nerves, making Zoë somewhat thankful she was still stuck in her room trying to keep busy. She painted the pale yellow guest room walls to her bright teal blue and put all her band posters back up. It took her a while to get all her stuff unpacked and put back in her room, at first she wasn't going to even bother unpacking because she would just have to repack in August for next year due to her forced return to TSU, but since she was grounded with nothing else to do she unpacked for the sake of unpacking.

By the second week of summer vacation Zoë had had it. She had done everything she could possibly do around the house and she was ready to go insane. Zoë was tempted to give Luke a call telling them that they had to rescue her or she would die of boredom. Even though Luke said they would save her in a heartbeat Zoë did not want to take such drastic measures. So instead she called up her local friend Bridgette and asked if she could go swimming in her pool since Bridgette only lived a few houses down. Zoë asked her mom if she could leave the house just for a few hours since her dad was at work and so she doesn't go insane, but her mother wouldn't budge.

"I'm sorry honey, but I can't go back on your father's word." her mom said loudly, then whispered. "Especially with Grandma Parker around, she would never let me live it down."

"Come on! Bridgette only lives a few houses down away! She'll never know!"

Zoë's mother leaned down so she didn't have to whisper, "Zoë she is a bored older woman who was a former international agent with nothing to do. She will notice."

Zoë sighed and gave her grandmother, who was watching soaps in the nearby family room, a dirty look.

"Why don't you come out and help me at the marina? You will have plenty of people to talk to. Plus it technically won't be against your punishment because you'll be at work with me. What do you say?" Her mom suggested. Since she didn't teach during the summer, she got a hostess job at the Mears Marina by the bay, but helping mom wait tables and make small talk with impatient customers didn't sound that appealing to Zoë. Why didn't she ask Grandma, since she was so bored? Maybe if Grandma got a part time job like that Zoë would be able to escape her punishment.  It didn't matter though. Zoë decided then and there that she was going to go to Bridgette's pool one way or another. She tried to be good and ask, now all that was left was for her to sneak out. They did send her to spy school after all.

For Zoë the only way she could sneak out was through Tammy's bedroom window. Her front window led to one of the pillars that held up the roof over their front porch, making it easy for Zoë to slide down the pole and walk to Bridgette's. The only problem was that Tammy was a lot like Grandma Parker, she liked to get her nose in other people's business, and Tammy loved to get Zoë in trouble. Zoë left dinner early that night and went up to Tammy's room. She had worn her bathing suit underneath her clothes and stashed her pool bag in Tammy's room when she wasn't looking. The window was wide open because the air conditioner was broken and Zoë slipped outside onto the porch roof. From the roof she could see her whole street. Burnside Street was close to the bay and was always very quiet, it looked peaceful. Just as Zoë began walking across the roof she heard someone yell. "Dad! Come out, look! Zoë’s on the roof!"

Looking down Zoë saw Tammy standing in the middle of the sidewalk pointing up her. Near Tammy's feet was a box of sidewalk chalk and a small doodle of a cat. As she heard her father walk out the front door underneath her to see what his other daughter was talking about Zoë scrambled toward the open window. She tossed her bag in and jumped through, hitting the window sill hard on her thighs as she tried to wiggle her legs back inside.

"Zoë AnneParker! What are you doing?" Her father called out. Zoë's feet fell back inside but it was too late.

If Zoë thought her punishment for her behavior at school was bad, her punishment for her attempt at a prison escape was even worse. She lost all her phone and internet privileges, so all her friends would think that she'd had dropped off the face of the Earth for a few weeks. But even worse than that was Grandma's reaction. Grandma, who used to be sweet and made her and Tammy her special peanut butter cookies, went on a half hour rant about how she never had to deal with problems like sneaking out when she raised her kids.

"Jeffrey I thought you'd do so much better. I would never have imagined your children being the type to climb out windows and hang out with hoodlums! Aaron's kids, maybe, but your kids? Jeff honey, what happened?"

Zoë thought her dad was taking his lecture from his mom very well. He normally didn't take anything from anyone. He just nodded and agreed as she continued to rant on about how disappointed she was.

"And you know what I think?" Grandma said.  Zoë saw her mom roll her eyes, she had been hearing this sort of thing a lot lately, about her cooking about her cleaning about the way she organized the pantry, everything.

"What mom?"  Jeff said wearily.

"I think you need to show Zoë what it truly means to be an agent. I think you should take Zoë to work with you to show her the life of agent. Maybe that will get her excited and teach some responsibility." Grandma said excitedly.

"What?" Zoë exclaimed.

"I think that is a great idea mom!" Zoë's father said.

"I thought you would, that was what and your father and I did with you kids. That's why we think all our kids did so well. First you then, then Aaron then-"

There was a painful pause that spread through the room. The silence was so thick it could have consumed everyone in the kitchen. Christina looked down and pretended to refold the dish towels. Jeff’s face looked pained. Zoë sat at the kitchen counter awkwardly until grandma finally spoke up.

"Well, it's getting late, and I better go check on your father," Grandma said quietly as she walked toward the back staircase. "Good night everyone."

By the time she was gone Zoë's father turned to her and said, "Zoë you better get in bed, you're going to have to get up really early to be ready for work."

Zoë was astonished, "wait…you actually agree with her?"

"I don't really have a choice. Plus I do hear where she is coming from, going to work with my parents when I was young really got me excited for my spy work, maybe it will do the same. Plus it would mean a lot to your grandparents."

"Fine." She did not feel she had much room to argue. As people would say in those parenting books, you have to pick your battles.

"Now get to bed." Jeff said and Zoë followed Grandma up the stairs.

As she laid in bed, Zoë thought about what happened in the kitchen, how her grandmother was too upset to say her own daughter's name. Her grandparents seemed so strong, on the outside no one would ever think that they could not speak Ansley’s name. They were living a lie, they seemed as if they were proud and it didn't bother them that their daughter was gone. But fourteen years later they still can't speak of her name. Zoë thought about the family pictures in her grandparent's room, were there any pictures of Ansley on their walls or was that too painful for them as well? If they could barely say her name, could they bear to look at her picture? They can say "our kids" or "the kids", but never individual names. To an outsider, the Parkers were the perfect spy family, but from the inside they were falling apart.