Superhero Surprise - 1. Superhero Surprise

“I am Repel!” He stood with his elbows stuck out, akimbo, small fists planted on his hips. Repel liked that word, akimbo. His teacher had read it in a book that week. “All the bad things bounce off of me and stick to the bad guy!”

“Resmell is more like it,” his older brother said. “Go take a bath.”

“But… this is my super hero outfit,” Barrett said.

“That’s the neighbor’s dog towel, and it stinks. I swear, Barrett, if it has fleas and you got them in here….” Gideon yanked the towel off. “I’ll tell Mom.”

“Ow!” The rough cloth scraping over his head pulled on his ears. “You’re mean!” He sniffled and ran out of Gideon’s room, heading for the bathroom because if he didn’t take a bath, Gideon would tattle.

He was a meanie. All Barrett wanted to do was be a superhero, like the boy in the book Ms. Oliver read. Everyone in his class loved the book and played superheroes during recess. He even saved his big brother and their parents—two of them—then the whole family went out for ice cream.

Two scoops. In a bumpy cone with a pointy bottom and chocolate and sprinkles.

Barrett sighed. He would never get to save his big brother or get ice cream in a cone like that. He turned the water on, the turned it to the line on the handle that Gideon put there so he wouldn’t make it too hot and burn himself like a stupid baby.

He wasn’t a stupid baby.

Gideon pounded on the door. “And take off those underwear and pajamas and get clean ones. And this time put the underwear on first, you dork!” He kept grumbling to himself as he walked away, or maybe it was one of his friends on his phone. He never got off it anymore.

Maybe Barrett didn’t want to save his brother anyway. “Meanie.” He stuck his tongue out at the door.

Ms. Oliver had read another book. This one was about a chef. He made yummy things out of ordinary food, and everyone loved it all. Even the stinky fish with its head and eyes still attached. And carrots. No one really liked carrots. How could they? They were orange.

Orange was a bad color. It was too loud. Barrett didn’t want it in his stomach making it rumble and grumble. Carrots, and yucky orange melon, and peppers and pumpkin, and those nasty candy things. And the orange drink that wasn’t the fruit stuff, that was bad. It tricked you into thinking it was the orange drink which was the one orange drink that wasn’t too loud, mostly because it was sour.

Barrett studied the bowl. He’d dumped in the cereal and milk, because they went together. But then he wanted to add eggs, but they weren’t fluffy like he was used to, and the white parts seemed like they would be really crunchy. His eggs weren’t usually crunchy. But his cereal was, so maybe it was okay.

Soon school would be over, and Barrett would have to make lots of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. He had to know what to do. So he had to practice and make things like the cook in the book.

That rhymed! He smiled. “Cook, book. Cook, book.” He stirred the bowl. “It’s missing something.” He started to rummage through the cupboards.

“What are you looking for, Barrett?” his mom asked. “It’s not time for dinner yet.”

“I’m making you dinner!” He was excited to show her, and she must have been excited to see because she ran into the kitchen, sliding to a stop beside him. She hit the counter hard. Ouch.

“Baby, you’re not using the stove, are you?”

“No. I wanted to, but the turny parts are gone.”

“The knobs. Good.” She let out a big breath in a whoosh, like he did when he pretended to fly.

“Does it smell good? Do you like it?” Barrett shoved the bowl closer under her nose.

“Um, what is it?”

“Breakfast surprise.”

She made a face that morphed into a sort of smile, asking slowly, “What’s the surprise?” Her eyes were really wide, so he thought he did it. He grinned, happy it worked.

“Pickles!”

“Gideon, wake up.”

His brother groaned and rolled over.

Barrett shuffled his feet, glancing at the door. “Gideon! Wake. Up.” He yanked on the covers, pulling them off, then shook his brother hard.

“Damn it, Barrett, I’m sleeping. Go watch cartoons until later—” Gideon sat up, taking a deep breath. “Did you find the stove knobs?”

“The knobs are still in the freezer. The smoke is coming in my window, not from the kitchen.”

“Shit, someone’s place is on fire. Go get shoes on.” Gideon hopped out of bed, throwing clothes on his skinny form.

“Already on.” Barrett lifted one foot.

“Coat. Backpack for school. Grab your stuffy too.”

“Okay, okay, don’t be so bossy.” Barrett went back to his room and grabbed all his stuff. Should he make his bed? His mom normally made him make his bed, but Gideon didn’t care if he did it before or after school. And there was smoke.

The fireman in the book said get down low and get out. Barrett squatted down and tried to walk without standing up. He wobbled and fell forward, smacking into the door. “Ow!”

“What are you doing?”

“The book Ms. Oliver read about fire safety said to get low and get out. I’m low.”

“That’s if there’s smoke in here. It stinks, but the smoke is somewhere else. Stand up, let’s go.” Gideon grabbed his hand, his backpack already on his shoulder.

They knocked on doors on their floor, making people yell and be mad until his brother said fire. It must have been a magic word because no one yelled after that. Barrett danced from foot to foot. “We gotta go.”

“You have to pee? You can’t go right now, damn it. We have to go outside.” Gideon made a face.

“I said we gotta go. The book said wait outside in a safe place. This isn’t outside. We’re not safe. We gotta go wait for Mom.” Barrett started to pull Gideon toward the stairs. “Mom will make it safe.” That’s what it said. Wait for your grown up. He could do that.

“Stop, wait. Barrett, quit pulling so hard.” Barrett didn’t stop until his brother was following him, happy Gideon was finally listening. They got outside, and it was cold. Barrett was glad he brought his coat, but his legs got cold when Gideon made him sit on the sidewalk.

“My butt is freezing,” he whined. “I wanna stand up.”

“Don’t you dare,” Gideon said. “You stay there where you’re safe.” He was on his phone.

“Are you cold, young man?”

A stranger, a fireman came up beside them. He held out a silver thingy. Barrett just stared at him.

“He won’t answer you because you’re a stranger. Sorry.” Gideon held out a hand. “I can give it to him.”

“I will too!” Barrett jumped up. “He’s a fireman. I was just looking at his hat and stuff. They’re not like the ones in the book, but I think they’re cool.” He took the silver packet. “What’s this?” It crinkled when he squeezed it.

“A blanket. Just open it up. It’s thin, but it’ll help warm you up.”

Barrett shook the rectangle, not really believing the fireman, but he didn’t want to call him a liar either. “This is a blanket?”

“Just put it over your shoulders. You’ll get warmer, I promise.”

“Oh,” he said on a long breath. “Oh, wow. Wow. Look, Gideon! It’s like a cape. This is so much better than the dog towel.” He clutched it around his neck. His brother couldn’t take it away, but… oh… “I wish I could keep it,” he said. He looked at the fireman from the corner of his eye, rubbing the silver stuff.

“You can keep it,” he promised. “It’s the least we can do. You and your brother got your whole floor out. Building this size, I can’t believe the fire alarms weren’t working.”

Gideon snorted. “Believe it. Not like we’re living the high life in some condos or anything. I didn’t even smell the smoke; Barrett did and woke me up.”

The fireman smiled and put his hand on Barrett’s arm. “Well now, it sounds like we have a real hero here. You saved your brother and everyone else.”

“I did?” Barrett couldn’t believe it. He saved them? And he even had a cape! “But I didn’t have to fight any bad guys.”

“Fire can be a pretty big bad guy. It takes everything away from some people, and you can’t talk to it or ask it to stop. You just have to get out or really bad things could happen. You helped people get out before the fire could hurt them. Good job, buddy.”

Barrett wiggled with joy, unable to stay still.

He was a hero!