(no subject)

[seymoure]

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