My superhero name is Power Punch -- yeah I know you have read about me in the newspapers - heard how I save the world almost all the time on the radio - and maybe even saw a picture on the tv about my amazing victories.
I was so excited to meet another 2nd grade superhero - I mean really as great as it is to be one it is a little hard to be one at 7 since you cannot tell anyone !!!!!! So there we were, at recess, in the playground and along came Rick and said " Hey..can you keep a secret?" he looked around, making sure we were alone. "Umm sure" I replied, I looked around too - nope no one was listening to us. "I am a superhero" Rick said. "What? Come on now a superhero?" I said - what was this guy doing? I mean I know sometimes the Bad Guys try to find out who I am and send in people to find out my real name when I am not Power Punch but this was a first. Was he a superhero - could we partner up ? Maybe there were others and we could start our own Avengers of the Elementary Schools.
"Yeah I have superpowers" Rick replied, he sure was smooth. Maybe I should tell you a little about Rick. He is the tallest boy in my class - and maybe I would get in trouble with my mom, yes even superheroes get in trouble with their Moms, but she is not here so here goes. Rick is the tallest and chunkiest kid in my class. He sure likes his snack, which is often bigger than the lunch my mom sends all together.
I wasn't going to fall for his "secret" right away so looked up into his brown eyes, which were covered by a strand of his really long hair, that always seemed to be covering at least one eye and which he was often blowing in kind of an annoying way out of his eyes. I looked up and said "So Rick - what powers do you have?". Rick, in his black sweatshirt with a Spiderman logo, and his jeans that he was always pulling up looked at me and said "I can turn into a lion...or a tiger". I blinked, twice, a lion? or a tiger? whoooa that was some cool power. "So , umm, how often do you use your powers?" I asked. Ok I was already picturing us - in the middle of Manhattan, near the Empire State Building, bad guys everywhere, surrounding Rick and me (as Power Punch) when all of a sudden BOOM he turns into a giant lion, they are stunned and as they stared, frozen by a ROAAARRRRRR so loud windows broke on cars, BAM, POW Power Punched out and locked up.
We both heard the whistle Miss Delmonico, our recess teacher, blew it letting us know that we had to go back to class. How can I stand going back to class and learning how to borrow or carry numbers in math, read a book, or whatever we were going to do quietly in my seat when Rick was going to be two chairs away from me at our table?! Our table, with Ginny and her annoying "umm you know what?" questions, Jackson and his never stopping tapping pencil that our teacher Miss Lee would eventually take away from him for annoying everyone tap, tap tapping on the table, Eduardo who was my good friend and who had 2 sisters that were twins and who liked to make him be the baby when they played house, and Nicky who had just moved here from California well actually Mexico but through California. I liked all of them, along with all the other kids in my class, well maybe not all the kids - I was not that much about liking Diana -- my arch nemesis. Diana who sat at the table across from me and was probably almost as tall as Rick. Diana who liked to follow me and ask me a thousand million questions about everything - that girl was trouble. I may have liked all of the kids, except for Diana, but I was dying -- just dying to talk to Rick and that was not going to happen during school time. He was on my bus but we could not talk there either - that place is a zoo, the loudness, the shaking, the music, the occasional well maybe more than occasional yelling and pulling over by the bus driver to remind us to "sit down, sit down, and stop screaming".
Suddenly it came to me .. we could FaceTime.. I mean we could if I could convince my Mom, yes even superheroes have to check with their moms on use of technology on a school night, and if he had an Apple device. The bus ride was forever ... I had to sit next to Chew Hair Charles - we call him that because he sometimes chews on his own hair...eww!!! On my way to getting off I passed Rick a note with my email address and had written FaceTime later? He took it and smiled "yeah sure - but gotta ask my Mom as she doesn't like a lot of devices during a school night", he said. Boy, Moms sure all are similar about devices and school nights.
That night I barely could sit still enough to finish my homework, then dinner. I was just about to ask my Mom if I could FaceTime when suddenly from upstairs I heard the beep - the beep that only I could hear - the beep that meant that I needed to be Power Punch because there was an emergency. Now you may be wondering, how does he get out past his parents and his older brother, to be Power Punch - well here is my BIG secret. I can project a hologram of myself while I leave to do my things - this hologram looks like me, can answer questions and usually I leave him on the toilet with a book where my Mom usually will not be likely to interrupt. I ran upstairs - clicked by thumb against the closet door in the little groove -- presto the closet opened to reveal my secret lair. I changed, clicked on the hologram "Mom going to the bathroom" and off I was.
Turns out that the problem was a bad guy was trying to break into a house -- I knew this house, how could this be ???? This was Rick's house. His older sister was trying to keep the door closed - why wasn't he turning into a lion or a tiger? I flew down and with a BAM, POW and few more punches I knocked the guy out just as the police were pulling up to the house. "Thanks Power Punch you always seem to get here before we do, " Officer Jones said. He was one of my favorites, when he came to school to teach us Stranger Danger he always let us turn on the lights in his car and the sirens. Suddenly Rick came to door, crying and scared "Ttthhhanks Power Punch you are a real hero," that's when I knew he was not one too. I was a little sad because I was looking forward to having a buddy to share this with but guess he was just a little kid.
Just as I flying back home suddenly behind me I saw a flash of blue - but there was no one there. I got back in my room just as my brother was getting back to his and heard from my Mom "You boys stop reading in the bathroom and come downstairs now". My brother high fived me and walked ahead of me - we played Minecraft, boy Mom sure was generous tonight with the electronics, until bedtime.
The next morning I went to get the paper - getting it every morning is one of my chores, yes even superheroes have chores, and the headline read "OTown Superheroes Save the Day!!!! Blue Lightning and Power Punch save homes from danger in one night". Blue Lightning - flash of blue - suddenly my older brother smiled, "that's right little man that is why I spend so much time 'reading in the bathroom' too". This was going to be great!!!!!!!
Awesome! W2G, guys and Mommy!
ReplyDelete