“Well that’s an interesting choice of words for her!”
“Are you alright dear?” asked Betty.
“Uh sure,” said Lisa, “I’m just starting to wonder if maybe there’s a lot more that can be said right now.”
Betty’s expression picked up. “You know what, dear? You’re absolutely right. There is a great deal more that can be said. Come on inside. I think it’s time that we talked about a lot of things.”
Bonnie Boring stepped outside the crevice from the invisible Starship Infinity onto the Dark Side of the Moon. A second later, she metamorphosed into Ms. Infinity. She flew into the moon’s endless night, into the formless expanse of outer space. Her flight soon brought her within view of Earth, from that distance appearing as a large round blur.
It was becoming clear to her that Ms. Infinity was a much, much bigger responsibility than she had realized. By her very design, Ms. Infinity was to symbolize justice, the defense of the downtrodden, the last hope of the forlorn. But by her mother’s decree, she could not simply be a savior. Behind such a figure there could always be a tyrant.
Never Forget the Power You Have Inside You. She had said that numerous times now in public, and indeed once she had said it privately to Handsome Hal. But did she fully understand it herself? Could she really, truly understand the unique gifts of the people around her? Could she help them find them in themselves? She didn’t know how, but she knew that she would have to figure it out somehow.
That was big, but when she thought of it, there was much more on her than that. Now that she was out there, the expectations on her were huge. The world was now truly on her shoulders.
She thought of the day she begged for her mother’s blessing to become a superhero. This was much more than she had bargained for. It was a great deal of baggage, a great burden for any person to bear, even one so endowed with powers such as hers. As she hovered above her adopted world, she wondered if she had taken on too much.
But she also remembered the day of Comic Con, how she felt liberated, the experience of being more herself than ever before. And if she was honest, she was even more so now. She was feeling things she had never felt before. She was free now to use her gifts, gifts which had once been a source of great shame. Once a pariah. Now a hero. She saw purpose in her life that she had never had.
And so this was her. Indeed she was still Bonnie Boring, daughter of Betty Boring, best friend of Lisa Lin, cashier at The Big Box. But she was also Ms. Infinity, Earth’s Greatest Hero, her powers, and the responsibilities that came with them. Now at last she could now exercise her true potential.
That night Bonnie sat up in bed. There was another matter that she had not addressed.
Her mother had encouraged her to approach even the worst people with forgiveness. She said that the cruelest of all were the most tragic. On an abstract level, that was perhaps not so hard to accept. But it was very different if the matter was personal. That day both she and her mother had thought of a terrible man whom both had known all too well.
They would never speak of him. He belonged to a world and a past that was now very distant. But no matter how many light years away, no matter how many years had gone by, she could not forget.
There was nothing abstract about his cruelty. Once she had lived it every day. Those days, even from her infancy, were still with her. Never would she forget the daily threats, the unspeakable humiliations that she once faced at his hands, the many years she was pursued, living in hiding with her mother, the attempt on her life that she escaped only with her flight to Earth. And yet, as cruel as her life was those many years, her mother faced a far worse tragedy, the loss of her entire family, the whole world that she had once known.
He would never face consequences for any such crimes. His privileged position in the military assured that he was protected. And indeed these were but a few of the atrocities committed by General Strongman, a monster known throughout the planet known as Center, and the worlds under its dominion.
He was no longer a threat to her. He was billions of light years away. And she knew that she could very easily take him in a fair fight; that was the very reason why he hated her, the reason why she represented shame to him. But that made it even harder to forgive him. What kind of thoughts were these to think about her own father!
So were the words of her mother true? For all the tragedies suffered at his hands, was his own life also a tragedy?
She did not want to give him any latitude. Her anger was so deep, her hurt so profound, she just wanted to dismiss him as criminal vermin. But as much as it pained her to admit it, her mother was right, even about him.
After all, there was context to the general’s actions. He lived in an environment that worshipped power, and respected only the men who projected a shallow image of greatness. To be respected meant he needed to be fiercely competitive at the expense of everything else, including his own self-esteem. Inside, General Strongman did not feel great. The man behind the image was a fragile, empty, self-hating child. He lived and died to protect himself from the hell that was his own self image.
And that came at the cost of deaths and ruined lives too many to name. And he was a vicious bully to anyone in his path. But to him that was the only way. In his mind, all else was nonsense and lies. And so he drove away the only people who might have loved him, and was left only with his competition, his enemies. He was destined to live a life of fear and uncertainty.
As a new workday began, Lisa tried her best to encourage Bonnie’s best habits.
“So please Bonnie” said Lisa, “Stay focused today. Acknowledge each customer. Remember the greeting.”
“I know,” said Bonnie, “I promise this time.”
Hal Holstein walked by at that moment with Stacy. He saw Bonnie, and the two briefly exchanged glances.
“Well,” said Lisa, “I meant acknowledge the customer at the register, but that’s nice too…”
Just then, both women heard the news break on the TV’s in the electronics department. There was a hostage situation in Brooklyn, with some fifty people held in an abandoned building by a man with a machine gun. When Lisa turned, she saw that Bonnie was gone.
Lisa ducked into a corner and took out her cellphone. After quietly sending a text, she began to make her way back to customer service. But Maria noticed the absence of her friend.
“Have you seen Bonnie?”
The news was now reporting the appearance of Ms. Infinity. Hal’s eyes were glued to one of the TV’s. “Oh my god, Hal!” said Stacy, “You can’t get enough of her!”
Lisa tried her best to ignore the spectacle. She turned to Maria and laughed.
“Uh yeah. I tried to warn her about eating all those hot dogs from the vendor. She ate like ten of them with jalapeno peppers on top. She may be a while.”
“Do you want me to check on her?”
“Oh no!” insisted Lisa, “Do NOT go in there! I warn you! In fact, you may want to barricade the ladies room for a while, for the good of the public.”
“Okay Lisa. Both of you girls eat like kids. I don’t know where you pack it away.”
Lisa soon noticed that Hal and his little sister had been joined at the TV’s by Teddy. “Yo, Lis!” called Teddy.
“Uh hi,” said Lisa.
“By the way, Hal,” said Teddy, “You did hear that she’s an alien. If you get your way, that’ll make you like Captain Kirk.”
“Uh yeah, Teddy,” said Hal, “Whatever. I think I can worry about crossing that bridge if I ever get to it, which I’m sure will be never.”
Lisa glanced at a TV. Ms. Infinity was in and out of the scene very quickly. She had all hostages rescued within a few seconds. Curiously the man’s gun fell apart on him before he could react, as if torn apart by an invisible force. A minute or two later, Jenna Storm signed off, containing a repressed look of anger. Though the news didn’t show it, her cameraman and all the rest had suddenly found themselves with electrical failure the very moment they tr
ied to capture Ms. Infinity flying away.
A moment later Bonnie came out of the ladies’ room. She was about to head to her register when she overheard a conversation between Hal and Teddy.
“I’m sorry, man,” said Hal, “You’re going to have to live with this. Yes. Stacy comes with me everywhere. That’s how it is now, and it’s going to be that way for a while.”
“Yo Hal!” said Teddy, “You think you can unload her sometimes? Good luck scoring honeys with your little sister around.”
“I know it’s hard, but this isn’t college anymore. She needs me. When I was a kid, my parents were there for me. My dad took me everywhere. Now…well at least while things are the way they are, I’m afraid they just aren’t there for her. I’ll be damned if I let her go without the support I had.”
“So now you’re a twenty-two year old baby daddy?”
“No Teddy. I’m her brother like always. It’s just that sometimes that means responsibility. You know what? It’s not so bad. It can be wonderful sometimes. I just took her to swimming yesterday, and she finally got her ‘Silver Swimmer Certificate.’ I don’t know if you can understand what that moment meant to her, and to me too.”
“Hey man, you’re freaking me out! What are you, like a chick now?”
At that comment, Hal stood up straight, and began to speak more loudly and forcefully. “Hey, do you think you can stop that talk around my sister? You may not see it, but that’s really bad for her.”
Teddy reacted in shock. “Oh, now I gotta watch what I say around your sister.”
“She’s a seven-year-old girl, so yeah. What you say matters. There was this mother at swimming, yelling at her son because Stacy was better at swimming than him, and she got upset. She thought it wasn’t okay for a girl to be better at something than a boy. No way was I going to let that stand. My sister doesn’t have to apologize to anyone for being great at swimming. She’s a ‘Silver Swimmer!’ She has every right to be proud of that!”
“I…don’t get it, but alright man. I mean if that’s what makes you happy…”
“Yes Teddy. I’m resolved to this, and you know what? I’m satisfied with this too. She’s my baby sister. Do you understand that she means the whole world to me?”
Bonnie was amazed at what she was hearing. She was almost moved to tears, though she couldn’t exactly understand why. As she started to move toward her register, she saw Hal again. Their eyes met once more, but now they held it for a few seconds.
As she looked in Hal’s eyes, Bonnie felt vulnerable, such as she had not felt in years. This boy seemed like he could affect her in ways he might not even understand himself. It was as if there was something in him that she had always longed for, yet she had never quite known was missing. For a moment, she felt frozen in time, alone with Hal in a permanent, shared moment. But suddenly, she was shaken out of her reverie when Ricardo called her name.
Lisa watched the scene unfold. It was time for Ricardo to deliver Bonnie the bad news about her failed secret shopper exam. She wondered if she should tell Bonnie the other news, that Ricardo had just finished finalizing the paperwork with Hal, and that he would begin as The Big Box’s newest cashier the next day.
Lisa had her own business to attend to. She sent Betty one more text: “Back now.” She then received one in return: “Well done! First rear guard mission complete. Guerilla Public Servant out!”
“Mrs. B. sure is interesting,” said Lisa to herself, “Maybe she’ll tell me more about that Eve of Empowerment. It does sound beautiful.”
“Bonnie,” said Betty, “I’m not letting this go. This secret shopper exam was your first real test and you dropped the ball. You can’t tell me that it’s that hard.”
“So wait, Mom,” said Bonnie, “How did you know about this now? Do you actually transform yourself into the fly on the wall? You see, that would actually be cool. Creepy, but cool.”
“For the last time Bonnie, I have my ways. This should concern you. It’s your job and it comes with requirements. Remember that or you could lose it. I hope this served as a cheap lesson.”
“Believe me. I heard it all from Ricardo. So I did pretty great today anyway. I saved many innocent people. And I successfully dodged the press. I also got back to work before I was missed, even by Lisa! All this I did by myself, thank you very much!”
“Did you now?” said Betty.
That night as Bonnie began to settle into bed, she spoke to her mother drowsily. “You know, Ms. Infinity hasn’t been so bad. Do you think I could get a little recognition?”
Betty smiled at Bonnie. “You got it dear. I am always proud of my super daughter.”
“I saved Washington from a nuclear attack. That’s not bad, right?”
“Not bad?” said Betty, laughing warmly before turning to the window in a rhetorical gesture. “My dear? Is that all you have to say? I’m terrified again to think of how you risked your life, and I know that I have often been your harshest critic. But honey, I hope you realize I’m very proud of you. My dear girl, you are dedicating yourself to the greater good. What more can I ask? And did you not know? Gunn has been brought down. That reporter has a big story on him. They’re saying….”
Betty stopped, suddenly realizing that it had been a suspiciously long time since she had been interrupted. She turned and looked at her daughter, and sure enough she was asleep. She kissed her on the forehead and whispered.
“Bless you my dear Bonnie. You always will be the love of my life. I believe you have many, many super adventures ahead. Sweet dreams, my love.”
Bland Beauty-The Story of Ms. Infinity’s Origin On Her Native World
The story of Earth’s Greatest Hero begins in the farthest reaches of space. Ms. Infinity was born on a planet billions of light years away, far beyond the knowledge of Earth. This world was known, in the manner of its communication, as Center, because its inhabitants were falsely taught to believe that their world was the center of the universe. Another name the planet was known by translated to Beacon of Freedom, for the country that had taken over the entire planet. These names, like all other components of Centerian communication, cannot be read, heard, or spoken by humans. Centerians communicate through mechanisms that are beyond human understanding, involving the use of many dimensions.
Bonnie Boring’s name was derived from her Centerian name, which translated to Bland Beauty, while her mother’s translated to Bland Homemaker. Humans, especially those raised in liberal societies, might assume that these names were intended as slights, yet the opposite is true; these appellations were compliments. In a world where women had few rights, and were regarded nearly as property, “blandness” had connotations of safety, suggestive of the quiet obedience that was expected of a woman. Indeed many females had names with far more contemptuous meanings denoting their status as inferior beings. Some translated to Snag, Beast, Dimwit, or such emotes as Disappointment or Misery.
Bland Beauty would never remember a time when her world was anything but a brutal and repressive dictatorship. However her mother had grown up in a different time. While Center had been a colonial empire for many generations, nonetheless the world Bland Homemaker knew still afforded many freedoms, though even then women had few rights.
She came from the land from whence Beacon of Freedom originated, and where the Capital City of Progress stood, The North Coast of the Great Continent. This was the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan region of Center, and indeed of her entire empire. She grew up in a wealthy and privileged family who assured that she had an extensive and varied education. In her youth she learned to treasure her culture’s many achievements in the arts and sciences. She also learned a complex and layered morality. One very important lesson, which she would carry throughout her life, was the need to respect all others, especially those with less power and privilege than herself.
But as she grew, her life began to take a turn for the worse. Like many females of that culture, she married at her earliest pangs of womanhood. But whi
le her marriage to General Strongman was considered an opportunity for her family, it represented disaster to a girl who felt profoundly discordant inside with the future that was imposed on her. Daily she lived the lie, painstakingly performing for the public’s expectations, and painfully giving herself in private encounters. And the judgement was ever on her inadequacy as a wife, for she failed to produce a male heir. She miscarried no less than three times, only to deliver a daughter when she finally carried a baby to full term. But despite the pressures from outside, she did immediately feel love and attachment for her child, and no personal regret.
Yet she was also young. Raised as she was on many ideals of progress and reform, she had faith in a strong leader when he claimed to be working for the greater good. And she listened as he said what she wished to hear, regret for their society’s many injustices, the gulf between rich and poor, and the problems of many of the fringes. And so there were quiet discussions where promises were made to her, and little did she doubt the words told to her in secret. She knew not when she was being used.
For though she hid it, it had come to be known by some prying, ambitious minds that her abilities were great compared to other Centerians. And so she was convinced by her husband to help the military in a mission that she believed was for the good of her people.
The military was threatening war with a planet in their solar system’s outskirts. There were false rumors that they planned to attack the Quarters of the Chaste Priestesses in the Religious Capital. Bland Homemaker was convinced to raid their world. She burned their capital city to the ground, destroyed all of their crops, and devastated their natural resources, forcing the leaders to surrender. They would be exiled to a small moon, and given a name that translated to “Slave.”
The price of Bland Homemaker’s lesson was great. That victory gave the military a powerful validation at a time when the civilian leadership was seen as weak. Immediately Center experienced a military junta and a swift slide into dictatorship. The promises that were made to Bland Homemaker by General Strongman were forgotten.
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