i spy

How best to talk about this.

My dad has lived overseas for years. My brother and his family do, too. My dad is in Oxford and my brother and his family are in Prague. I know what my brother does -- he is Chair of the Liberal Studies Department at the University of New York in Prague: http://www.unyp.cz/. I know what his wife does, too -- she runs a company called Vero Partners: http://www.veropartners.com/. For years, I have not known what my dad does. Once, my uncle Zombie (yes, that really is what everyone calls him) posited the theory that my dad is a spy. As outlandish as it might have sounded, it actually made a whole lot of sense at the time. It explained everything, like why, when I google earthed his address, the satellite picture was perfectly clear except for the spot where he lives, which looked as though it had been erased; why, when I asked him what he did, he answered using words that made sense, until later, when, well, they just didn't; why, when he wrote me a note on the back of some official, royal looking letterhead, I could find no mention of the institution's name on the Internet; why, every time he comes to the states, he always stops off in DC....

Then, a couple of days ago, I got an email from him, and he inserted his official signature: William D. Barnard, Chair, Democrats Abroad U.K.: http://www.democratsabroad.org/

Well. I guess he's not a spy. I guess.