Outlook Detective Agency
Spy Tech was the line of low-tech detective toys in early 90s. My favorites growing up included the Long Range Microphone, Walkie Talkies, Plastic Rock with Secret Compartment and the Camera Hidden Inside a Good N' Plenty Box. Andrew and I founded a detective agency called Outlook and enlisted the help of all the neighborhood kids. Why Outlook? Because the two "o"s could be made into cool cartoon eyes. Using spray-painted wine cases as suitcases for our spy gear, Burke VA didn't provide us with too many triple homicides. We did, however, conduct a full-scale surveillance operation when the stereotypical annoying kid was moving out. Outlook was more about being our neighborhood club (parents went into an uproar when Andrew and I fired a kid from the agency). We all had official positions, but some of the younger kids were given crappy positions like the President of Transportation.
"All right guys, we want to go to the playground. President of Transportation?"
"Bikes."
Then there was our friend Brandt, who moved in around 7th grade and went through the grueling selection meeting with our current members.
"Brandt, why should you be in Outlook?"
"Well, I'm really tall, so I can see over fences and stuff. And my Dad has a lot of power tools."
"Welcome to the team!"
More than anything, Outlook was about our secret forest bases. Base 11 was a common meeting place until we explored deeper into the woods and established Base 13 (what happened to 12, I have no idea). Base 13 was marked by a cinder block, a tire, and a fallen tree to sit on. I still know every single path and shortcut in those woods. No one ever got injured - well, Andrew got poison ivy a few times (I'm apparently immune to it) and fell out of a tree once. As we grew older, we continued exploring deeper into the woods and found things like an enormous hollowed tree that fell across a river and became a shaky bridge. A friend made a makeshift zip wire that was ridiculously unsafe but a lot of fun. This is what my dream of building a treehouse is based upon - a love of exploring the forest and creating daily adventures. About two years ago, Andrew and I climbed up an astronomically tall tree near our house. At a height towering above rooftops, we saw a view of our neighborhood that managed to match my excitement of exploration as a kid.
Monday, April 26 at 8:35 PM
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