had decided without a doubt
that Mr. Greene was an enemy agent.
Why else would he put up a fence
higher than any kid could climb?
Why were strange cars always coming and going?
And what in the world was every light
doing on in his house
at 2:38 in the morning?
No doubt coordinating vast squadrons of submarines
to suddenly surface somewhere,
and just like that -
the Russians would have taken over!
And that is why
the Secret Society of Spies
took it upon themselves
to dig a tunnel to Mr. Greene's garage
and ruin everything.

The digging had just started
when they had to stop and decide
whether or not to let Eddy Engels in;
and even though Eddy couldn't run fast,
or hit a ball,
and even though he'd probably tell
their secrets to everyone
(including his big sister),
it was decided to let him into
the Secret Society of Spies,
because Eddy could get another shovel,
and that way they could dig twice as fast.

And so Eddy was initiated
into the Secret Society of Spies
by parachuting from the Big Tree,
jumping Mrs. Hobson's fence -
while she was at home,
promising to stay away from girls
(especially Mary Ann Walker),
and sneaking cookies from his mother
(all of which was more than any
of the other members had ever done).

Finally Eddy got to swear
to the Secret Society's Secret Oath:

"I promise never to tell no one
nothin' about the Secret Society of Spies.
To never give out the secret password -
when we have one,
and to never let no one in on
the Secret Society's secret code,
as soon as Kevin Cline makes one up."

And after Eddy signed his name
in red ink pen blood,
he became an official member
of the Secret Society of Spies,
which meant he got to dig first.

Billy decided he'd be the first one through the tunnel,
popping up in Mr. Greene's garage
right smack in the middle of all the Russian spies.
And even though he was mortally wounded,
Billy would manage to kill them all,
just like they did in the movies.
No one would ask
when Billy cam limping into school,
one arm in a sling
and half his head in a bandage -
they would have heard it on the news.
Mrs. Addison wouldn't even ask Billy for his homework,
and Mary Ann Walker
would beg to be seated next to Billy,
but he wouldn't let her.

Kevin Cline had just decided
he couldn't dig through a tree root
when Eddy started jumping around like crazy,
but all the while trying to act like
he wasn't pointing at Billy's father,
who wanted to know
just what they heck they thought they were doing
by digging a hole in the backyard?
Billy tried to lie about buried treasure,
and everyone else suddenly had to go home,
leaving Billy to fill in the hole
and sit in his room for the rest of the night
by himself.
But Billy was certain Mr. Greene
had figured out what was going on
and now was madly packing away all the transmitters.
And nobody would ever know to thank Billy
when the submarines never surfaced down at the creek.