(no subject)

15.

It struck Mickey, perhaps for the first time in his young life, that he did not have any idea what his father did for a living.

He knew his Dad went off to work five days a week, came home around 6 every night and didn’t talk about what he did at all.

He also realized that searching for this truth wouldn’t stop the coming storm. But it was more fun to think about than to look into his father’s less than joyful visage as the boys neared the front porch.

His father was not a big man, considering the comparisons he could make with other Dads he knew. In fact he might be considered rather slight.

He wore glasses, but that never made the kids think he was bookish. It only made them aware of how much trouble they were in when he took them off to speak to you. Something like when Moms called you by all three names. At that moment you knew there was some heck to pay and you were the customer.

Mickey’s Dad showed no evidence of having his glasses anywhere near him. He left them in the house!

Some one was going to die!

It turned out that his father was just worried about the boys and their mother. He had only gotten her rather sketchy retelling of the afternoons events, and that left him deep in the dark.

The three of them sat at the kitchen table and talked quietly.

Actually, Mickey talked (with David throwing in an occasional “No, really, Dad”) and the rest of the world was in disbelieving silence.

At the end of the tale Benjy (Mickey’s father hated that name, but it was his and somethings you gotta live with) stood and wiped the lens of his spectacles as he walked into the living room.

“Son, you know there is never a time that I don’t want to believe you,” he began in that tone that said we were about to be asked, “Now, what really happened?” “You must admit,” he continued, “This is not
something that is easily. . . digestible.”

At that second David flew into the living room and hovered just above his father’s head. The glasses fell to the floor. If it had been a movie they would have fallen in slow motion.

“We understood that you might need some convincing,” Mickey said as he entered the room.

David was circling his father and laughing in a way that, under more normal circumstances, might make one question is sanity. Here and now it seemed more than called for, and right.

Dad looked at the younger of his two sons and got a bemused but sincere smile in return.

“We’re going to have to think about this, and talk about this,” Benjy said disconnectedly, “Think and talk. A lot. I’d better call for Pizza.”

With a joy that can only come from pre-teen children the boys sang, “PIZZA!”

Benjy stopped and looked up at David and said, “And, son . . .”

David did a loop the loop end over end flip and said, “Yes Dad?”

“Please come down, you make me very nervous.”

The flight had already started to lessen, David could feel it, so he gave no argument. He was sad that this was the only time he was going to do this, but he did have the ability to have bullets bounce off
your chest to look forward to, so he wasn’t totally misbegotten.

When the Pizza guy got there he had no idea of the spectacular tip he had missed.

(c) 2005 by C. Wayne Owens

(no subject)

16.

It says something about the state of humanity that before the evening was half over, even the things that had become so important in Mickey’s life had given way to laughing over pizza with his father and
brother.

The three of them sat, with half-full mouths laughing at the absurdity of making Mrs. Dingle down the street fly after her cat Buzzy. The image was truly a brilliant idea that would seem just plain strange to anyone else.

After a while, Benjy stopped the silliness.

He did this by removing his glasses, wiping his eyes and haltingly removing the smile from his face.

“We have to decide what to do about this,” he said.

The boys were a little stunned. Dad was going to ask their opinion?

Where was their real father?

He saw the glance the boys exchanged.

“Hey,” he said, “If you can fly and give people superpowers, you have got to be involved with the decisions.”

The discussion began in earnest at this point.

“What could this guy Vane do to us, anyway?” David asked.

Dad let the boys know that Vane was a well known multimillionaire with a reputation for ruthlessness that was fairly unrivalled. He could get him fired from his job, he could get the bank to foreclose on their
house and car.

Mickey had not realized up until this moment just how serious this guy getting involved could be. It had been so much fun up till now, and this guy was going to screw it all up.

“We have to meet with him,” Dad said.

Mickey’s heart fell though his shoes.

He had always respected his father, while not elevating him to hero, the boy had felt he was an honorable man who would never give in to evil.

“That will help us figure out how to stick it to the son of a bitch,” Benjy went on.

Mickey was so elevated by his renewed respect for his paternal parent that he didn’t need to be able to fly.

When his father held out his hand, Mickey took it, shook it and was sure his smile wrapped all the way around his head.

Then the door bell rang.

“Oooh!” Benjy said, “The Chinese food!”

“CHINESE!” the boys cheered.

While their father was out of the room getting the deleivery, the boys didn’t need to say anything.

They smiled and finished the pizza.

Mom came into the room and said, “Do I smell Lo Mein?”

“MOM!” the boys yelped and ran to hug her.

Mickey wondered how things could be so weird and then suddenly feel so safe and normal
again.

(c) 2005 by C. Wayne Owens