Mama earned really good
money with the agency, but we didn't live on her salary. While in
college, Mama earned a living like all the rest of the students. She got
student loans, grants, scholarships, and worked part-time during the
summer.
I was only 11 years old
when I overheard my mother talking on the telephone, and when she got
off, I asked her a question about what I heard her say on the phone.
I was on punishment for two weeks just because I spoke about “classified
information” without being spoken to!
Mama never told my little
sister about her job and she wasn't supposed to tell me, but as you
probably have figured out, I was smart for my age and I asked a lot of
questions.
Lee Ellen, my little
sister, was a normal, happy child who didn’t have a care in the world.
I always felt superior to her because I was the oldest and I knew Mama’s
secrets.
When Lee Ellen was around
16 years old, we started having problems with her and boys. Every other
month, she would be in love with a new boy from school. I never
felt guilty about separating her and her boyfriends during high school,
but now, she was a young woman, and her new boyfriend, James, appeared
to be extremely serious about the relationship. It never occurred
to me to talk with my mother about my intentions.
By then, Mama was working
as an associated professor at the college part-time. She was
always on the computer and had a worried look on her face most of the
time. I didn't want to bother her with details, so I decided to
handle my sister’s relationship on my own.
I later found out that Mama
was working on newer encryptions to protect government agency
“classified” websites – It seems that the agency had set up a computer
in the jail cell of one of the best computer hackers in the world, and
Mama and her team would protect a site, and his job was to hack the
site. Mama was losing. He could and did hack through every
firewall and encryption program that Mama and her team implemented.
Finally, they arranged for
the ‘Back Door Hacker’ as he was called, to be released from prison on a
work program for the agency. His job was to create and implement
protection for the agency “classified” intranet.
This famous hacker later
became my husband. He still calls my mother and says,
jokingly, “Close the back door.” To this day, I don't understand
their inside joke.
I am getting ahead of
myself.............