Wow, yeah--from your descriptions, she sounds like she might've been an exceptionally competent spy.

Heh. She did once convince some med students that she was—she needed anesthesia for some minor surgery, so as she was going under, she murmured to herself, "The ostriches must not get to Africa . . . I mustn't tell them . . . The ostriches must not get to Africa . . ." Which caused the students to have a very worried discussion about patient confidentiality and accidentally overheard information, so that when my grandmother woke up from the anesthesia, about the first thing she heard was the doctor who had been overseeing the procedure exclaming, "What have you been doing to my interns?"

(I approve of the icon, by the way.)