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Yaakov paced around the empty room, his mind rushing with thoughts that came and went too fast for him to grasp. It was bad enough when the movers canceled last minute, his furniture and boxes already in their van. Finding the construction crew still camping out in the basement was the straw that broke the camel's back---or so he'd thought until he found something that completely overshadowed the previous events.

He moved aside a trash can that was full of construction debris and the construction crew's lunch leftovers when he saw it. It was a flash of gray and as swift as the wind, but there was no mistaking it.EEK!.....

He was disgusted to see the creature in his home, but he was truly shocked when he heard it speak.

As disgusted as he was, there was still quite a bit curious. As a child, he had loved the book "The Five Children and It," and in his current situation he could certainly use a wish or two. Maybe this was a Psammead? But as the creature neared, his hopes were dashed. It was clearly not a mythical creature. It was simply a pest. But before he could attempt to catch it, he heard a suspicious crashing sound coming from right outside.

He took another glance at the creature. It spoke again. "Hello, Yanky!" it squeaked. He did not have time to process this. He walked outside, where the crashing sound continued.

Outside, he saw a stranger using his son's old drum set. Though the stranger had clearly stolen Pinny's drum set out of the moving van, Yaakov tried not to judge. His mother had taught him, "Judge everyone favorably and treat people with respect and kindness. Even the French barbarians who sing songs about plucking the feathers off songbirds and eat snails. You never know the whole truth about a person."

For a second, he just stood there, remembering the last time he'd seen his eldest son. "I'm not trying to hurt you!" Pinny had insisted, "I just need some time and space to figure out my life!"

"But how?!" Yaakov had exclaimed. "By going away to college in the jungle of Outside-of-Boro-Park?! Bad enough that you've always been different and put us through so much as a child and as a young teenager. But going away to college? No son of mine would do such a thing!" he had shouted, regretting his words instantly (but too proud to take them back).

Pinny had simply shrugged and said, "I guess I'm not your son". The hurt showed in his eyes, but he calmly packed his suitcase and left the house.

Now, Yaakov looked at the stranger. He had long, curly peyos, and he was wearing a black face mask that matched his coat. His eyeglasses were tinted, but they were not sunglasses; Yaakov guessed that they were probably photochromic. There was something familiar about the way he played, and that made Yaakov too afraid to approach him. He would have to wait for his wife, Dina, who handled all the scary things.

"Hi Yaakov, what's going on?"
Yaakov turned and saw his wife, who had spent a pleasant morning shopping for home décor, oblivious to the confusing events of the morning. Yaakov opened and closed his mouth, unsure where to begin.

He looked around not knowing where to start. He then sputtered and pointed to the drum set. His wife looked at him confused. There was no one there.

Suddenly feeling the need to change the subject, Yaakov shouted, "There's a mouse in the house!"

"Ah, so you've met," said Dina. "That's our new Mousebot. It sends messages and helps entertain the cat.

"But we don't have a cat!" Yaakov pointed out.

"Surprise!" said Dina. "The quintuplets have been wanting one for some time, and last year, you said you were open to the idea. I didn't think it would work in our old apartment, but now that we've moved, it's different. I built a jungle gym for her already so she can safely go outside."

"But I thought the triplets didn't want a cat," Yaakov said. "They wanted a dog."

"They wanted a dog, but they didn't specifically not want a cat." Dina said. "In fact, Chanie and Chavie are really excited about the idea, and so is Chaim, though he's pretending not to be."

"And are the quintuplets still excited?

"Getzel, Gadi and Gedaliah are. Goldy is also, but Gitty says she wants a pet of her own, not a family pet."

"What about the twins?" Yaakov asked.

"Shira and Shoshana both said that they are going to try not to get too attached because they are leaving for seminary in a few months."

"And what about Leah'le, Tzivi, Yehudis, Ruvi and Ari?"

"Leah'le doesn't get a vote because she's a baby and can't talk yet. Tzivi and Ruvi don't get a vote because they're married and don't live here, and if they mind, we can make sure the cat isn't there when they visit. Yehudis was concerned that the cat might eat the chickens, but we'll make sure it won't. And Ari was the one who suggested adopting a cat from the shelter today so it could move into the house with us."

Neither Yaakov nor Dina mentioned Pinny. There was an awkward silence, after which Dina decided to apologize. "I guess if you're going through the whole list, you're probably upset that you didn't get a vote. And that was wrong. I thought you'd like the surprise, but I shouldn't have made this decision without you."

"It's not that," Yaakov reassured her. "I would actually be thrilled on any other day. I'll admit now that I've been stalling. There's something I need to tell you, and it's not going to be easy. I mean that literally. It's not something that I actually understand."

"I thought I saw Pinny now."
There was silence for a few seconds, as Dina tried to comprehend what was just said.
"Pinny?" she asked. "But that's impossible!"
"He was playing the drums."

Dina shook her head. "What drums?" she asked. "How could he have brought a drum set here?"
Yaakov pointed at the drums. "I don't know how he took it off the moving van," he admitted. "But I'm sure it was him. Though he did disappear immediately, so I understand how you might think it was a hallucination."


Meanwhile, in the attic of the house next door, Pinny took off his watch. The invisibility settings clearly required adjustment.

"Are all units ready for stage 2?"
Pinny heard the message from his handler, and he took a deep breath. This mission was dangerous. He had almost let his emotions get the better of him. When he saw his old drum set, he just had to play. Luckily he had gotten away before his father could catch a glimpse of him.
"Unit xw393 ready."
"Squadron 3234jdic ready."
"Well then, what are you waiting for? Proceed."
The "construction workers" in the basement started splitting into teams, ready to begin their mission.

Outside the house, Yaakov and Dina were trying to figure out what to do. They were pretty sure that the moving company was not allowed to cancel mid-job, but what could they do about it?
"Wait a minute," said Dina. "Why don't we just take the stuff back and drive it in our pickup truck? They have no right to stop us from taking our own belongings. It will take a few trips, but we can move all the stuff today!"
"What pickup truck?" Yaakov asked.

"Surprise! And happy birthday!" Dina exclaimed.

"Well anyway," Yaakov said. "I still think we should try to find a different moving company. I don't want to drive all the way to Stanley, North Dakota and back so many times. Unless we sell our furniture and buy new furniture there. What do you think?"

"I don't know," said Dina. "There are some things I would like to keep. But perhaps if we go back to Boro Park now, we can go through everything and see what we really need."
Yaakov agreed. They went back, but what they saw there really shocked them: None of their belongings were there.
Suddenly, Dini's cell phone rang. She picked it up and answered. It was Ruvi, who was staying with his wife, Malky, at the guest house. "Hey, Ma? You're back in Boro Park, right? Did the moving company change their minds again? But that can't be. They're just a moving company, right? Who unpacked everything in the new house?"

The radio crackled...A construction hat lay hidden by a bush and a pair of dark eyes peered through the light in the window. I think they noticed something. Onto stage 2....

They retreated to the basement. "They were never not going to notice," KBZ3N21 admitted. "This time we didn't just run the risk of being noticed. We decided to go in knowing that we would be noticed. It was the right choice."

"What!?" the team all asked.

"Yes, you heard me. It's not like anyone will know what really happened here. Now, to begin stage 2... It's simple, really. All we need is some oatmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, cinnamon, oil, and raisins."

"What?!" they repeated.

"Yes, it's quite simple. For this practice mission, we need to prove that if the family living in this house were enemy spies, but we needed to communicate with someone on the inside who is on our side, we would be able to do so."

"And how are cookies going to help?" the newest member asked.

"First of all," KBZ3N21 replied, "we will enlist one of the neighbors to bring these cookies to the family, who just moved in. There is no faking the scent of fresh home-baked cookies; that is why we need to bake them ourselves. However, they are oatmeal raisin cookies. This means that they will not actually be eaten; at most, someone will take a bite out of the one on top, mistaking it for a different type. If this were a real case, our man on the inside would know that inside one of the cookies, there is a sheet of rice paper with information written on it in ink that, unlike oatmeal raisin cookies, is perfectly edible, which allows him to destroy it instantly."

"Still sounds kind of weird..."

"It is. But Pinchas Friedman drafted this plan with me, and as you know, Squadron 3234jdic's mission, like us, just entered stage 2, but theirs is a real one, and a dangerous one at that. So out of respect for him, we should appreciate that we get to bake cookies and write on rice paper, and we should complete this mission exactly the way it was planned. When you have more experience in this organization, you'll appreciate these practice missions a lot more."

Pinny overheard the construction workers and chuckled. How easy it is to tell people that you're hiring them for a secret government operation! Everyone loves the idea of being a spy. They had no idea what this operation was truly about.

However, Pinchas reflected, though mixing teams with construction workers was humorous, it was also important. The real Squadron 3234jdic trainees would benefit from mixing with the guys who'd been told that the government wanted them for this one mission. They would just have to keep quiet about the Resistance, the moon, and the apple orchards. And, in a sense, the story the real construction workers had been given wasn't completely false, though it wasn't true in the sense that they thought it was.

Back in Boro Park, Yaakov and Dina simply shrugged and moved on. They didn't have time to worry about the furniture. They needed to pick their children up from school on time for the scheduled private jet flight.