Searching for Super

by Marion Jensen

  “Hahm mort.” Benny lay facedown on his bed, his head buried in his pillow. His words were muffled, but I knew what he’d said because he’d said it six times in the last five minutes.

  I’m bored.

  Thimon sat on our bedroom chair, flipping through screens on a tablet. I shoved the history report I’d just finished into my bag. It was the last of my homework. Three more days and school was out for the summer.

  “Why don’t you read some more manuals?” I asked my brother.

  Benny loved reading manuals. He’d started with the ones for the vehicles in the Bailey motor pool, hidden underground beneath Grandpa’s ranch. Then he’d moved to the ones for our weapons, our tools, and even our supersuits. He was barely passing his classes at school, but he devoured anything he could get his hands on when it came to our equipment.

  “Burk id drying do bind be—”

  “Benny,” I said. “I can’t understand you. Pull your face out of your pillow and use your big-boy words.”

  Benny rolled onto his back. “Dirk is trying to find me another manual on the Dirt Hog. I dropped the first one in the bathtub.”

  The Dirt Hog is a cross between a motorcycle and a snowmobile. It has two wide tires and is made to ride almost anywhere. It’s heavily armored. If it can’t climb over something, it will just break right through it.

  Benny sighed a happy sigh. “The Dirt Hog is the coolest thing since . . . well, think of something really cool. It’s cooler than that. But Dirk won’t have the manual until later this week.”

  “Play with your goats,” I said.

  “It’s wintertime in the game,” Benny said. “All the goats are hibernating.”

  “I don’t think goats hibernate.”

  “My goats do,” Benny said. “But luckily winter is only twelve hours long.”

  Thimon told us his dud power gave him the ability to go up the down escalator. Not by running fast, either—anybody could do that. The escalator itself would reverse direction as soon as Thimon stepped on it. Benny had been begging to see it ever since.

  Benny sat up. “I know, let’s go to the mall and check out Thimon’s thuperpower.”

  “Superpower,” I said. “Don’t make fun of Thimon’s name.”

  “I’m not,” Benny said. “Thometimes . . . I mean, sometimes it just slips out.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Thimon threw a pillow at Benny. “Although I doubt going to the mall is your dad’s idea of hunkering down.”

  “No one’s going to attack us at the mall,” Benny said. “Although I wish they would. Nothing ever happens anymore. There are no villains. There are no battles. And our supersuits won’t be here for another week or so. How are we supposed to be superheroes if nothing big and exciting ever happens?”

  For a second, we’d thought Uncle Buford’s disappearance was big and exciting, but now it was looking like maybe it wasn’t. It turned out Uncle Buford was a flight attendant, and Aunt Ellen admitted that he had probably just gone to work and forgotten his phone charger.

  “I can’t go to the mall.” Thimon continued to flip through screens on his tablet. “I’m working on some stuff for Uncle John.”

  This was the opening I’d been looking for.

  “Oh yeah?” I tried to sound casual. “What are you working on?”

  Benny moved to the edge of the bed. We both stared at Thimon, eyes eager.

  Thimon stared at us for a moment, and then set the tablet on my desk.

  “Look, guys,” he said. “I’d really like to tell you, but . . .”

  “We can totally keep a secret, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Benny said. “Well, unless I get tickled. But if somebody tickles me, I’ll just tell them a different secret. Like the time Rafter was at this fancy dinner, only he couldn’t find a restroom. He had to—”

  “Benny,” I said. “Now is not the time.”

  Thimon seemed to consider our request. “I’m sure you guys can usually keep a secret. But this is family. Families don’t keep secrets very well. If I tell you, then of course you’ll tell your parents. And your dad will tell his dad, and then everyone will know. Uncle John and I are working on something, but right now we can’t tell anyone. Even family. Does that make sense?”

  Benny looked disappointed, but nodded. I felt less certain.

  Frustration built up inside of me. All of this waiting and watching. The hunkering down. Three months ago, I’d gotten a taste of what it felt like to be super. I’d done something big and important. For one brief moment in time, I’d been almost super.

  I wanted to finish the job. I wanted my real power back, and I wanted to beat October Jones. Nobody was doing anything except for Thimon and Uncle John.

  I made a decision.

  “What if we promise not to tell anybody. Even our parents?”

  Thimon shook his head. “No, I couldn’t ask you to do that. That wouldn’t be right.”

  “It wouldn’t be right for you to ask us,” I said. “But you’re not. I’m offering it. If you tell us, we won’t tell anybody, even our parents. Right, Benny?”

  Benny looked from Thimon to me. Benny could never hide his feelings. I saw the struggle playing out in his head. He gazed at me for what felt like a long while, then he said, “If you think it’s okay, then I won’t tell anybody.”

  Thimon looked from Benny to me. “Okay. As soon as it’s possible, we can tell the rest of the family. You won’t have to keep this secret for long. But for now, it is important that nobody else knows. Promise?”

  Benny and I both promised.

  Thimon got down from his chair and sat cross-legged on the carpet. He leaned against the wall, and Benny and I joined him on the floor to listen. Thimon’s face became serious. It felt like we were having a war council.

  “I didn’t tell you the truth about my power,” Thimon said. “I can’t actually do anything to or even around escalators.”

  “Aw, man,” Benny said. “I won’t lie. I’m disappointed.”

  “I used to be a Shrink,” Thimon continued.

  “We had one of those,” Benny said. “Great-uncle Pete over in Oak City. He could shrink to roughly the size of a chimichanga.”

  Thimon nodded. “I lost my real power, just like everybody else. But instead of getting a dud power . . . I got something better.”

  I caught my breath.

  Benny leaned forward, his face eager. “What did you get?”

  Thimon crossed his arms. “I was with some friends outside of town when we all got dud powers. I was delayed in getting back into town.”

  “That’s not a power,” Benny said. “That sounds like a story.”

  Thimon laughed and continued. “My family thought the Johnsons were behind it and when they got word the Johnsons were gathering at the fairgrounds, they decided to go battle them—try to get back their powers.”

  “But instead it was the Joneses who were there waiting for you, right?” I asked. “They tried the same thing here. They were trying to trap us.”

  Thimon nodded. “But like I said, I was delayed. By the time I got to the fairgrounds, it was clear what had happened. I watched as all of the superheroes—both Johnsons and Baileys—were captured by the Joneses, and loaded onto buses.”

  Thimon’s head was down. He pulled at strands of the carpet. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Finally, he cleared his throat. “I didn’t do anything to stop it.”

  “You couldn’t have done anything,” I said. “If you’d tried, you wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t be in a position to help them. It was the right choice.”

  Thimon looked at me like he wanted to believe me, but still wasn’t convinced. This is why he was fighting back, I realized. He was doing this because he felt like he had failed his family.

  “That’s a great story,” Benny finally said. “I really like the part where you finished it. Now can you tell us your real power?” I could see that Benny was about three seconds from reaching out and shaking Thimon by the
shoulders.

  Thimon leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I can temporarily grant someone else a superpower. I can make anybody super.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Partly because I didn’t understand what Thimon meant. Benny must have felt the same way. It seemed too good to be true.

  My brother recovered first. He leaned forward, knuckles on the carpet, until he was almost nose to nose with Thimon. “Do you mean to tell me that you can give me my real power? Speed? Right now, you could give me superspeed?”

  Benny’s excitement was contagious. Thimon grinned and nodded. “I have seven powers I can give you.”

  “That’s like making us a Thuper-thuper!” Benny said. “Sorry, I mean—”

  “Not quite,” Thimon said. “I can only give you one at a time.”

  “Thimon,” I said. “Could you give all of us power? The entire family? If we had a hundred Johnsons and Baileys with superpowers, we could—”

  “No,” Thimon interrupted. “It takes a lot of effort to give even one person a power. If I really concentrated, I think I could give two people powers, but that’s it. I can’t even give powers to myself because it takes so much concentration.”

  Real powers. I remembered what it had felt like when I had my power—strength. I’d had it for only a few minutes, but the feeling was incredible. Everything in the world felt right. Like I was somebody important. Not Rafter Bailey the regular kid. Rafter Bailey the unstoppable.

  Benny leaned back, his eyes wide. He kept looking around the room like he’d just woken up in a ball pit filled with candy. I could see the wheels spinning in his head.

  “So what have you been working on with Uncle John?” I asked. “Have you been giving him powers?”

  Thimon shook his head. “He’s got a broken leg. It wouldn’t do much good to give him a power.”

  That made sense.

  Thimon’s voice took on a hard edge. “The Joneses are up to something. They spent years working in the dark. They came out, they attacked us, and then they went straight back into the dark again. They captured almost all of the superheroes, and now they want to finish the job. They probably think it’s going to be easy.”

  “It is going to be easy,” Benny said. “There are less than a hundred superheroes left. And we all have worthless powers.”

  “Right,” Thimon said. “But now we have two surprises for them. Two things they aren’t expecting.”

  “What’s that?” Benny’s voice was thick with awe.

  “My powers,” Thimon said, “and the two of you. Out of all the superheroes in the country, Split Rock was the only place that avoided the Joneses’ attack. And the only reason Split Rock survived was because of you two.”

  “And Juanita,” I said.

  Thimon nodded. “And Juanita. But we can’t tell her about any of this. At least not yet.”

  I felt a pang of guilt. Juanita was my friend. She was part of the team. But I’d also just made a promise to Thimon.

  I pushed that thought out of my head. Maybe I could convince Thimon to reconsider down the road.

  Now, Thimon sounded determined. “Uncle John and I are working on finding the Joneses. The plan was to find them, and then use my powers to fight them. But maybe we can use my powers now, with you two, to help track them down. We could help find out what the Joneses are up to. Once we’ve done that, we could stop them. We could beat them.”

  Thimon seemed so sure of what he was saying. He looked strong and confident, with his arms folded across his chest. It might have helped that he was older. Right then, I would have followed Thimon into a minefield. This wasn’t hunkering down. This wasn’t hiding.

  This was big. This was important.

  This was exactly what superheroes did.

  “I’ll help out,” I said. “However I can.”

  Benny hopped up to his feet. “That is so . . . awesome! Give us the powers. Right now, and we’ll go get the Joneses. We’ll have all of them by dinner.”

  “We don’t even know where the Joneses are,” I pointed out. “Besides, what would you do if you found them? We know there are a lot of Joneses, you can’t conk them all on the heads.”

  “You’re the one who always comes up with a good plan,” Benny said. “We’ll explode that bridge when we come to it.” Benny turned to Thimon. “Can you give me the power to sing bass? I’ve always wanted to sing bass.”

  Thimon burst out laughing. “Um, no. That’s not one of my seven powers, Benny. Sorry. But Rafter is right. It’s dangerous to give you powers right now. We don’t know how closely the Joneses are watching us. Before we strike, we have to find out as much as we can.”

  Suddenly, everything came into focus. For months there had been nothing to do, but now I had a mission. Something I could work on. My job was clear. It was like having a superhero checklist.

  • Find the Joneses.

  • Get a superpower.

  • Beat the villains.

  “Juanita,” I blurted out. “I know we can’t tell her about the powers, but she can help us find the Joneses. She’s so brilliant, she can find anything on the internet.”

  Thimon looked doubtful.

  “We can’t leave her out of it,” I said. “She’s our friend.”

  Thimon didn’t say anything for a long time. Benny had begun pacing the room, but now he stopped, and we both fell silent as we waited for a reply.

  Thimon finally held out a fist. “Okay, let’s do this. The four of us. We’re going to track the Joneses down, we’re going to confront them, and we’re going to beat them. Agreed?”

  I was grinning like an idiot. I put my own fist next to his, and Benny added his, too.

  Thimon smiled. “The Baileys are going on the hunt.”

  4

  IF I THROW UP, IT’S GOING TO BE A PUDDING RAINBOW

  “The cafeteria workers are making a mockery of pizza day.” Juanita poked at the lump of dough, red paste, and white globs on her plate. She held up a red, squishy mass with her fork. “Benny, what does this look like to you, a pepperoni or a stepped-on tomato?”

  “Unfortunately, I’m not a pepperoni expert,” Benny said. “But if you need to know anything about goat’s milk, I’m your man.”

  Juanita dropped her fork and pushed her tray away. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but today, your food looks better than mine.”

  Benny held out a baggie filled with jicama slices. “Do you want some? I’ve got plenty.”

  Juanita shook her head and laughed. “No. I said it looks better, not good enough to eat.”

  Juanita glanced over my shoulder, smiled at someone, and waved. I turned around and saw Amit, a new kid at school, standing with his tray and looking for a place to sit.

  I motioned for him to come sit with us. He smiled, waved nervously, and then went and sat by himself.

  “Amit doesn’t have any friends yet,” Juanita said. “I’ve been trying to be nice, but I don’t have any classes with him.”

  I frowned. Our table had space for ten students, but there were only the three of us. “I don’t get it,” I said. “Do people think we’re geeks? Is this the geek table?”

  Benny answered with his mouth full. “People may think this is the geek table, but you and I know full well what table it really is.”

  The superhero table.

  I shrugged. I guess if people wanted to think we were geeks, there wasn’t anything I could do about it. If they knew who we really were, they’d be swarming all over us, asking for autographs, maybe wanting us to take them flying or something.

  Even though the Joneses knew who we were, secret identities were still good and necessary.

  I finished my mashed potatoes and chard, put away my plastic container, and cleared my throat. “Juanita, Benny and I have something we want to discuss with you.”

  Benny nodded with enthusiasm, licking his spoon.

  “I can’t tell you everything, but there is something in the works. Something big.”

 
; Juanita’s eyebrows lifted. “Really? What’s going on?”

  I leaned forward and Juanita did the same. “Benny and I are headed to the library after school. We’ve got to find out anything we can about the Joneses. Last time you were able—” I stopped. “Is something wrong?”

  Juanita’s face had fallen.

  “Don’t you remember what day it is?”

  “Is it your birthday?” Benny said. “I can sing to you, but not in bass.”

  “No, it’s not my birthday.” Juanita sounded hurt. “It’s Wednesday—the senior citizen center? Monroe is coming and I need your help.”

  I liked volunteering with Juanita. She had once said if you can’t do something big and important, then you can at least do something. I liked that, but now with Thimon’s powers, we could do something big and important. Suddenly volunteering seemed like something citizens should do. Not superheroes.

  “Oh . . . yeah,” I said. “That’s right. Benny and I were planning on it, but . . .”

  I had to think fast.

  “Look, Juanita,” Benny said. “What Rafter and I are working on . . . no offense, but it’s way cooler than hanging out with the old people.”

  I jumped in before Benny could say anything else.

  “We totally forgot that today was the day we’re going to the senior center,” I said. “But Benny and I are excited to go.”

  “We are?” Benny asked.

  “What if we go there right after school?” I asked. “We can grab something to eat, and then spend some time at the library. Would that work?”

  Juanita still didn’t look thrilled, but she agreed. “We won’t need to get something to eat. They always have pudding and snacks at the Terrace.”

  I nodded to Benny. Once we found where the Joneses were hiding, we could convince Juanita to go back to superhero work. To the big stuff.

  I added another item to my superhero checklist:

  • Hang out at a senior citizen center.

  “I’m going to throw up. I’m not even kidding. I’m going to throw up all over the table.”

  I gave Benny a stern look. “I told you not to eat so much pudding. How many did you have, six?”

  “At least a dozen.” Benny moaned. “I had chocolate, vanilla, and banana. If I throw up, it’s going to be a pudding rainbow.”