The Q Files

I-Spy Sunbonnet Sue!
(Episode Four)
 

I had just gotten confirmation about the acceptance of my column, when someone rapped on my dorm room door. Startled, I hit the ‘shut down’ key on my computer, and called to the visitor that I would be there in a second. I quickly stashed the little notebook in a binder and shoved it onto the shelf, then went to see who it was, via the peephole.

It was Dot.

I opened the door the barest crack. “What are you doing here?” I said, keeping my voice low. “Why didn’t you email me-You’re going to get us both caught!”

Dot, looking flustered, was trying to catch her breath. “I’m sorry, but it seems our old way of communicating is going to be a problem. They’re starting to monitor the computers in the common areas because some hooligan is harassing the female students through their emails.”

Thinking quickly, I opened the door and raised my voice enough so my dorm neighbors would hear. “I’m sorry, but you have the wrong dorm. I can help you find the building you want though. Would you like to follow me?”

I smiled politely and locked my door, escorting her down the hallway. “The main office isn’t far.”

Lucky for me Dot was a quick study. She smiled back just as politely, and remained silent as she followed me outside. Still keeping up my ‘good samaritan’ act as we passed others on the campus, I lowered my voice when there was a lull of people.

“You can’t use the common room for now, and maybe not even a few months after that guy is caught, just in case there’s a slew of copycats on campus.”

Dot nodded and kept walking with me.
“Where are we going, anyway?” she asked as I moved towards one particular building.

“The Main Office. We can ask for the name of one of your classmates, so coming to my dorm will be considered a mistake.”

Her brows furrowed. “One of my classmates? Don’t you mean one of yours?”

I shook my head. “Nope- that way, you not only have the wrong room, you have the wrong college campus. We all know how addlepated ‘older’ ladies are.” I winked with a grin.

Dot nodded, relieved. “Not a problem. I’ll even pick one of the younger students and say I’m her aunt, trying to visit- that way they won’t get my real name either.”

I chuckled. “Did I ever tell you I like spunky old ladies? I hope to be one one day.”

She bestowed me with a smirk. “I’ll let you know when I meet one.”

We slowed as we came closer to the Main Office. “You obviously can’t come here on a regular basis, and I can’t get to you all the time either. Are they monitoring the dorm room computers?”

Dot looked at me anxiously. “They aren’t checking all the rooms- at least not my room yet, but I know they’ve checked the dorms of the ones they thought might be involved in that mess. I’ve been hiding away anything concerning us by the way, just in case they decide to have a ‘surprise’ inspection while I’m over here.”

 
I nodded. “Good. Let’s keep it that way. But how the heck are we going to get in touch with each other- smoke
signals?”
 

She looked at me incredulously. “Beth, that’s brilliant!”
 

I gave her a bewildered look.“What? Smoke Signals? Sorry, but I don’t see how that will help.”
 

Dot grinned. “Not smoke signals per se, but codes! Smoke
signals were a series of dots and dashes like Morse code- we just need to code messages to each other! We can still email, and no one would be the wiser! All we need is a code!”

We both agreed that concocting the code would be her job, since she was better at encrypting than I, and we would do the initial information transfer at the fabric store. However, instead of just hiding it this time, she would slip it into a fabric purchase, and I’d pick it up from the store, claiming it was for a commissioned project.

Her plan was perfect! I was so glad to have her on my side!

We arrived at the Office, and being the good samaritan I was, stayed until Dot ‘realized’ she was at the wrong college. Then I went back to my dorm with a much lighter heart, leaving her to work out the details (and ‘directions’) with the secretary.

I felt so good, I decided to contact the next name on my raid list. I went back to my room and looked up the name, then went for a walk, my brand new swatch of Americana fabric tucked in my back pocket.

Darcy Fitzgerald was a very perky, energetic speaker, and at first was very alarmed by my information- when I got a word in. I tried to keep the call as short as possible, which was difficult because she had so much to say! In fact, she told me what she was going to do with her ‘doomed fabric’ as she called it, before the raid came.

She was going to make them into flowers.

Darcy was an avid lover of gardening, and a dabbler in origami. If she had taken a breath, I might have told her how brilliant she was. But time was running out, and all I could do was agree with her idea before having to hang up the phone. I’d bought another fat quarter at the fabric store (to disguise my voice for the next time, of course) before taking a leisurely walk back to the campus.

Sometimes I forgot just how pretty the campus grounds were. Flowerbeds adorned the manicured lawns next to the buildings in a way that reminded me of a quilt. I chuckled to myself- how could they not design the landscape that way?

It was a quilting university after all! Even the colors of the late-blooming flowers were coordinated to blend just right. I wondered how they managed to make the points of each bed look so sharp. Maybe the gardener was a graduate as well.

It was really pretty- but a little too perfect for my taste.
I opened the door to the dormitory and looked around with refreshed eyes. Not a thing out of place, all the colors matched, and you really couldn’t tell just how old the furniture was- it looked almost pristine. Now that I thought about it, not too many people relaxed in the main room. I was beginning to see why. It was beautiful, but not very homey feeling. With a little shiver, I made my way up the stairs. I was glad to get back to the solace of my comfy dorm room!

SunBonnet Sue had a day off it seemed, so I put my energy into studying. I had a big exam coming up for Fabrics class, and I had to get back to the library to gather more notes for deciphering the Code.
Little did I know someone had been watching me as I studied in the library later that day. Someone very interested in my recent activities. And very interested in the way I was covering my tracks...
 

Beth Brubaker, our inside reporter at the training headquarters for the Quilt Police prefers not to release information about where she lives or her family. If she has one.... She is currently working undercover and we appreciate the regular reports she sends, via secret code. If you’d like to contact her, please send your email to beth@cottonspice.com. We will forward your email to her secret location.