The tests are handed back to us. Everyone has the the same thought on their mind: Did I pass? I sit in the back of the room and have to deal with the pain of watching the gloomy or joyous faces of those who receive their score. I finally get mine and can’t bring myself to turn it over.

My name is Danny Rand, and I started college at sixteen years old and have done twelve years of college in seven years. I am now twenty-three and just finished my final exam. The exam is to see if I get into the Central Intelligence Agency.

* * *

“Boys, it’s your lucky day. I have been told to give each of you these two Polaroid Cameras. They are the best anyone can get,” said equipment manager Mr. Danvers. Francis was way more excited than I was for these mainly because I had no clue what was so special about them.

It is 1947, three weeks after I finished schooling to join the CIA. I am based in New York with my partner, Francis Vandenheuvel. We both can’t wait for our first assignment not in an office.

Danvers left and Francis, like a little boy with a new toy, started telling me all about the camera. “Look at this. It prints pictures right after you take one.”

“No way.”

“Just watch,” he said with confidence.

He took a picture of me and a little white card came out the side of the camera.

“Look, there is nothing on it. It’s a hoax,” I said.

“Just wait.”

Sure enough, in a little bit I could see the picture of me. “That’s amazing! This will make our job so much easier.”

We were being driven to our plane but we weren’t heading to the airport.

“Where are we going,” I asked Hank, our driver?

“We are going to the Hudson. We have a new plane for you guys. It’s called the Spruce Goose.”

At the Hudson River, we see a plane floating on the water. “Is that our plane,” Francis asked Hank?

“It sure is. It’s the first flying boat.”

We board the Spruce Goose and are on our way to a top secret Air Force base.

My first assignment with Francis was to document Charles Yeager’s attempt to break the sound barrier in his plane, Glamorous Glennis.

“Is this important to you and aviation,” I asked Yeager?

“This is the most important event in aviation since the Wright brothers invented the first airplane.”

Yeager got into his airplane and took off. He flew toward the south and turned around when he had gone far enough. As he was flying over head he hit 758 mph, the speed of sound. All we heard was BOOM!!!

Our first assignment was exciting, but we wanted more.

* * *

I was back in New York and had a week off after my assignment. Francis went to Boston for a vacation while I went to Brooklyn.

It is the fifteenth of April and the Brooklyn Dodgers have a special game tonight. I am going so I can witness history. A man named Jackie Robinson is having his debut for the Dodgers. He will be the first African American to play in the MLB.

I have a great seat right behind home plate. Jackie is up to bat for his first time.  I am excited for him and this huge leap in society, but I seem to be the minority. Many fans are booing and yelling. I can’t believe the hatred so many have for one man.

“There’s no room for a negro in a white league,” says the guy next to me.

“Knock it off. What do you gain from insulting him,” I said.

“Who are you, telling me what to do?”

He shoves me into the people next to me who fall over as I land on top of them. I jump to my feet and shove the guy back. He goes for a punch but someone holds him back and breaks up the fight. “I showed him,”I thought to myself.

After the game I find Jackie in the dugout. I ask him “why don’t you retaliate against these people?”

“If I did I would be no better than them.”

“Man that’s tough to do. Keep up the great playing, and I’m glad to see your positive outlook on treating others.”

“Thanks. And remember a life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives” (Contributor).

I think to myself as I walk away “hopefully I can act as Jackie did toward others too.”

* * *

I had four more days left in my time off, so I went to California to go to the beach. I had a Ferrari, which just started being produced this year, waiting for me when I got off my plane.

On my way to the beach I accidentally cut someone off. The man got mad at me swearing and using unkind gestures toward me. My first instinct was to yell back at him, but I remembered Jackie Robinson and how he handled harsh treatment. I did not retaliate but instead drove on.

I got to the beach and decided to walk and people watch. I saw a man and a lady throwing a metal disk like a toy. I approached the man saying, “hi my name is Danny Rand.”

“Hi. I’m Walter Morrison. Can I help you?”

“Well, I was walking and saw your disk and wanted to know about it.”

“It’s nothing really. Just something I made in my spare time.”

“I think it’s pretty cool. How does it work.”

“Oh, it’s easy. You just grip it by the lip of the disc and flick your wrist toward your target.”

“That’s quit the invention. I bet you could earn a lot of money selling them. As a matter of fact, I want to purchase it for twenty-five cents.”

“Sounds like a deal. Enjoy your new toy.”

Little did I know that in fifteen years the frisbee would be one of the most common toys in America.

* * *

My next assignment with Francis is in Roswell, New Mexico. We arrive at Mr. Brazel’s farm, the location where a UFO incident happened. We did not want the public to know about the incident until we knew exactly what happened.

“Good morning, Mr. Brazel,” I said, as I shook his hand. “I am Danny Rand with the CIA and this is my partner Francis Vandenheuvel. We are here to investigate the UFO incident.”

“Well sure, let me tell you all I know. The other day there was a big storm. After the storm I went out and looked around my property to make sure everything survived the storm.””Brazel saidthat as they rode along, he began to notice unusual pieces of what seemed to be metal debris scattered over a large area” (Roswell).

“Would you mind showing us,Mr. Brazel?”

“Sure thing. Follow me over here.”

We went out to the field, and he showed us the crash spot. Francis is the expert on anything metal, so he began to investigate while I documented the scene.

“I don’t know what this is. I’ve never seen anything like it. These metal beams are small yet they are indestructible,” Francis said.

I was look at a pile of metal seventy yards away when I spotted something moving.

“Francis come quickly.”

“What is it?”

“There are two bodies in this pile of metal.”

“What should we do?”

“I’ll call in our supervisor and a team. These bodies are not human.”

The rest of the agents arrived and took the bodies to a lab to determine what they were. We had to cover this up so the public does not know. We can’t have information leaked.

We headed over to the local police station that had a piece of the wreckage. We went in and Francis talked to the sheriff to distract him. I walk away and found the metal wreckage. I replaced it with a weather ballon got out.

Francis, realizing I had finished, left too. We then got word out to the media that the UFO incident was only a fallen weather balloon.

* * *

We got back to our headquarters and found an envelope on each of our desks.

“What are these,” I asked?

“I don’t know. Let’s find out,” said Francis.

“The papers inside are new identities. We are wanted by a criminal organization.

“We have to get out of here quick.”

“Not so fast,” says a man in a black suit. “You’re coming with me.”

Works Cited

“Jackie Robinson.”Baseball Hall of Fame. www.baseballhall.org.n.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

“Roswell UFO Museum.”Roswell UFO Museum.www.roswellufomuseum.com.  n.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

Bibliography

Bonanos, Christopher. Instant: The Story of Polaroid. New York: Princeton Architectural Press,                2012. Print.

Contributor, Elizabeth Howell Space.com. “Chuck Yeager: First Person to Break the Sound                      Barrier.”Space.com. n.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

Weiner, Tim. Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. London: Penguin, 2011. Print.