(no subject)

23.

The boys went back to something that approached a normal life for the next few days. They went to school, David played baseball and at night they worked on his powers.

It seemed to the boys that David was able to use either of the powers that Mickey had given him.

“Sort of like you had them already,” the younger sibling began.

“And you flicked the ‘on’ switch,” David finished.

That was something else they were noticing.

They were sharing more thoughts than they had ever been aware of doing before.

There were times the two of them glanced at each other and had a conversation, and then realized that neither had said anything aloud.

It didn’t appear to happen when they were trying to do it. Neither could identify cards held by the other or anything like that. But when they needed to do something they worked like one mind.

If they hadn’t always been close this might have been upsetting, but it was like a continuation of being brothers.

Mickey set to giving his brother invulnerability and it worked well, with the exception of mobility. It seemed that David couldn’t move when he was using the invulnerable mode. His mass was so immense that he couldn’t move much more than his hands, and couldn’t reach above his head with them.

He also couldn’t use more than one ability at a time. So they worked at switching quickly from one to another. He became a powerful missile when he flew fast and then switched to invulnerable mode.

Now the Baxters didn’t have a shed in their back yard. Luckily, no one was at home to have to explain what happened.

Local TV ran a story that the building was hit by some falling space debris, but someone had stolen it before the family got home.

The McCauley boys were fine with that story, and did nothing to dispute it.

One thing was always in the back of Mickey’s mind. Just as he was sure he knew “where” in his mind the powers were, he also felt that there were more powers there that he had not accessed.

These might be important, but he didn’t know how to get to them. He hoped the Inheritors could help with this, if that was what they did.

The pair was watching a Tom Sellick western when their father got a phone call. When he put the phone down he walked over an turned off the TV.

“We need to go upstairs and pack some stuff for you guys,” he said.

For the first time this didn’t sound as much like a lark as it had before.

“How long are we going to be gone?” David asked.

“Pack enough for a couple of weeks,” his mother answered, “If you need more they will buy it for you.”

The boys walked up the stairs slower than they had thought they would at the presentation of this news. They had thought they would be bounding excitedly, but that wasn’t the case.

They were not happy about leaving their folks behind.

Mickey glanced back to see his mother being comforted by Dad. She was sobbing noiselessly, but he knew how serious it was by the way she was clutching a tissue in her hand.

The grip was so tight that her hand was whiter than the rest of her, and that is saying something.

His father nodded for Mickey to go on upstairs and let him take care of his mother.

A day ago he thought of this as nothing but a new adventure.

Now he wondered if he was going to be able to do this, and if he really wanted to do it.

But, he had shaken hands on it. His sense of honor came not just from his parents, but from Horatio Hornblower, King Arthur, Tom Joad and a hundred others. You did what you promised to do, and that was it.

He was going to be the hero he had always wanted to be.

Heroes don’t get to stay at home and play with the ones they love.

Maybe that’s what makes them heroes.

He was suddenly unsure of this career path.

(c) 2005 by C. Wayne Owens

Okay, I'll play

1. Reply with just your name and I will write something I like about you.
2. I will then tell what song/movie/icon reminds me of you.
3. If I were to apply an o'clock to you, I'll tell you what it would be.
4. I will try to name a single word that best describes you.
5. I'll tell you the most memorable moment I've had with you.
6. I will tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll then tell you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. Put this in your journal.

Okay, let's try this again

Since Angelfire doesn't allow direct linking of songs and I wanted some folks to hear "Pleasures of the Harbor," let do it this way:
go to:

http://www.angelfire.com/music3/hayjd110/GYarbrough.htm

Then click

Pleasures Of The Harbour

I just think this is a song that deserves to be at Renfest.

(no subject)

24.

The airport was one of those places where you are never sure about your surroundings. Who are all these people, and where are they going? Are they going anyplace, or are they here waiting for someone else? Who
is the bomber, who is the spy and who is the sky policeman who is going to be responsible for getting you where you are going alive.

If his heart were not so heavy Mickey would have been having a good time playing the airport “Who’s That?” game.

The most amazing thing about this particular trip was that Mom was along. She rarely left the house, and here she was at the airport.

She looked a bit like a rabbit in the midst of a lion’s den. Yet, there was a mother’s strength within her that made the boys certain that she could face down anybody there if it meant the safety of her
children.

Mickey had been wondering what it was Stonedragon meant about his mother being one of the Inheritors, and why she was the way she was. Could she have been a superpowerful heroine who lost her powers in battle?
And what was the “debt” that the Colonel spoke of owing his parents?

For that matter, what was the “other group” his father belonged to that was not an Inheritor but was “no less mythic or regarded” than they?

He had been unable to get any information from either parent in regard to this, and was perturbed that there was a group as mysterious as the “metahuman” folks he had just found out about.

Mickey and David were rapidly finding that the world was far more complex than they or the world in general had ever had a clue about.

If nobody knew about the Inheritors or the people of his father’s group, what else was there out there that were waiting to be discovered?

The phrase from antique maps he had perused during the “age of discovery” history classes kept bouncing around inside his head.

His folks hustled them towards the gate as their flight was loading.

For the first time he found out where they were going, by reading the board above the loading door at his gate.

“Where is Sao Paolo?” he asked his father.

“Brazil,” Benjy said as he stood waiting from his boys to enter the walkway to the plane.

Both boys were stunned. They thought they would be going to a bigger city perhaps, or at most to England.

“Isn’t that near the Amazon?” David gasped.

“Well, its on the same continent, but no where near where the city is,” his father smiled.

“We’re about to load the general passengers, if you want to pre-load the boys, it is time to do that,” the lady behind the counter said.

“The Colonel will be waiting for your plane, so don’t worry.” Benjy said as he hugged the boys.

Mickey’s mother was awash in emotions. She was proud, thrilled, afraid and angry that her boys were being taken, for however short a time, from her.

As she was holding Mickey close to her heart she whispered to him, “There is real magic waiting for you my brave knight.”

She kissed him on the forehead and he felt as emotionally raw as he had ever known.

He turned and walked side by side with his sibling down the walkway.

That phrase from the maps kept bouncing around in his head.

David turned to him and asked, “There be monsters here?”

“Yeah, well,” Mickey said as the attendant led them to seats in the empty plane.

(c) 2005 by C. Wayne Owens

(no subject)

25.

It was amazing how quickly after the plane took off that the boys found themselves with nothing to do.

There was a movie, but they didn’t have headphones. They had some food, but it was as tasty as notebook paper soaked in lima bean gravy.

They both had brought a stack of comics and soon they were submerged in that world. By the time they were through the first stack, both of them were sleepy and took a nap.

When they awoke the flight was coming down into the airport.

How long did it take? Neither of them had any idea. It seemed forever, but they were never good judges of time.

As they exited the plane their eyes fell on a man holding a sign that said “McCauley brothers.” The guy holding it could have been a vice principal in any elementary school in the world. Balding, with glasses and an overly large mouth with teeth to match, he was about 5 foot and a couple of inches tall.

The man was wearing a suit that would have fit into a 1940’s movie better than anything current.

When the boys presented themselves to him he looked annoyed rather than relieved.

“Well, at last,” He looked around and waved at another, younger man, “Follow this man and he will take you to your plane. I have to wait for the last one.”

“Where’s Colonel Stonedragon . . . “ David started.

“He’s already at the plantation, “ the man said, while looking around for another sign he had set down, “He will meet us there.”

The younger man, with blond hair and a sad attempt at a pale mustache, gathered the boys up.

“What about our bags?” Mickey asked.

“All taken care of,” Blond man smiled, “Being loaded into the Leer as we speak.”

After three or four steps the boys were joined by a girl about 16 years old. She had short red hair and freckles, and walked with the slightest limp.

“This is Carvine Dandoval, she is going with us, along with the boy who has yet to arrive.” He turned to the girl and said, “These are Mickey & David McCauley from America.”

She gave them a nasty look and then they walked in silence.

They left the terminal and walked out on the tarmac, and in the midst of the giant airliners was a small private jet. With no ceremony the four of them entered it and took seats in a comfortable cabin which could have been part of a home’s living room area.

The boys saw that Carvine was listening to some music on headphones, and the Blond Man was working on a computer terminal.

They found a deck of cards on one of the tables and the two of them played a rather headed game of slap jack. They even enjoyed that it seemed to disturb both of the other occupants of the jet from time to time.

Finally in came the Vice Principal with another boy. The boy was about Mickey’s age with a shock of red hair sprouting straight up from his head for about 5 inches. It looked a bit like a buzz cut on steroids.

The boy was dressed in a blazer and short pants. He also had that look some guys get who are working on a plan to make trouble at the first opportunity. Mickey liked him already.

The stodgy man got the boy in his seat and walked to the front of the cabin.

“My name is Francis Throop, and I will be in charge until we reach the plantation. That, thank God, will only be for an hour or so more. Then you will fall under jurisdiction of others.”

He took a seat facing them and, while buckling his seat belt, continued. “You may have expectations of what is coming, but let me explain some things that are not going to be happening.

He looked sternly at his charges and said, “We are not going to Hogwart’s and you will not be meeting with the X-Men. The only Professor X you will be meeting you have already met.” He pointed at the Blond
Man, “That is Xavier Position and he will do your orientation. And what you will spend the next month doing is finding out if you will survive in a world that only wants you to have the powers you if you are working for them.”

He reached out and took a piece of plastic with a chord, pushed a button on it and said, “Now!” The plane began to move and Mr. Throop closed his eyes and pretended he was alone.

The boys returned to their seats and strapped themselves in.

The girl continued to listen to music.

The boy was fiddling with something in is coat pocket, with an air that said there would be trouble coming from there soon.

Mr. Position was back on his computer.

The boys looked at each other with a single thought.

“Superhero school!” They smiled at each other about the time the sound of whoopee cushion disturbed Position, annoyed the girl and did nothing to bring Throop back into the same space as the rest of them.

When the boys laughed, it had nothing to do with the sound.

(c) 2005 by C. Wayne Owens