Telling Tales | Teen Ink

Telling Tales

November 27, 2012
By kenzie_treub DIAMOND, Orlando, Florida
kenzie_treub DIAMOND, Orlando, Florida
60 articles 0 photos 11 comments

There is a legend in my family regarding my grandfather that my Dad and I have concocted over the past few years. Basically, we have come up with this story by paying attention to various clues about my Papa's past and we believe that we have solved the mystery. You see, my grandfather supposedly worked for AT&T International, but there is a lot of evidence to suggest otherwise; specifically that he worked for the CIA. My father and I believe that there is viable evidence that supports this idea. First of all, we found a picture of my grandfather sitting in a trailer out in the middle of the desert, surrounded by stacks of money. Granted, he worked in Saudi Arabia at the time, and Papa explains the picture by saying that his company had to pay for services from the Saudi government with cash, that checks simply weren't appropriate or acceptable as payment back then, but I believe it is a bit unorthodox to be sitting in a room out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by stacks of money. Secondly, Papa worked in the Middle-East for a large portion of his career; however I am pretty sure that AT&T had no business in Iran and Saudi Arabia in the 1970's or the 1980s. Furthermore, over the course of his career, my grandfather lived on many nuclear missile bases and military compounds, yet he had retired from the Army before my mom was even born. I seriously doubt that an AT&T executive would be housed on a nuclear base. Keep in mind, that from the time my mom was just three years old, she and my grandmother traveled and lived with him every where he went. Now, if he was really in the CIA, why on earth would my mother be accompanying him? Well, I suppose a military base is a safe place; however, a nuclear missile base seems quite unsafe to me. I do not believe that AT&T was busy selling phones in Saudi Arabia at this time. Additionally, one other piece of information to note is that when my mom was very young, she lived on Kwajalein, an island in the Pacific. Every day, my grandfather would take a helicopter to work where my mom says you could see test missiles being fired from there. That is quite the telephone company that he was flying to, to go to work everyday. Maybe they were testing the destructibility of telephones. I'm sorry, but that couldn't be more far-fetched. The realistic possibilities: A) he was a terrorist B) he worked for the CIA, or C) he was part of a top-secret nuclear organization. Considering that my grandfather once served in the Army, I am going to guess its either B or C. Personally, my father believes that Papa worked for the CIA; this interesting legend now circulates within my family. Whenever pressed on the issue, Papa just smiles and denies everything, so I guess we may never know the truth.


The author's comments:
This was a journal for my English class about the conspiracy surrounding my grandfather.

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This article has 1 comment.


on Dec. 3 2012 at 9:43 pm
Allicat001 SILVER, Waukesha, Wisconsin
6 articles 0 photos 170 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Love is not someone you can live with, love is someone you can't live without."

"Always stand up for what's right even if that means you're standing alone."

I thought this was pretty good you had good facts and used appropriate deductive reasoning in your paper.  However one thing that I couldn't help but notice was the presence of personal pronouns in the paper, which is something you often times want to avoid when trying to write a persuasive essay.  Otherwise, this was really good, great job and keep writing :)