Superkid

by Christina Barr

  “Forget it.” I pushed what was left of my food away and put my head on the table. I just wanted to go home and be with Mom.

  “I said I would get it done, Felix.”

  I didn’t care what he said. I didn’t care anymore about the tree house. I should have known better than to think that he’d want to spend time and make something with me. Things didn’t change between us at all.

  After lunch was over and we went back to my classroom, I was really nervous. Brock’s dad was really cool because he built a tree house. I didn’t have anything that could make my dad cool. He was pretty hopeless.

  He started going through his briefcase before it was his turn, and I saw him pull out all of these gross pictures of rotted teeth and tooth brushes. Some kid’s mom worked at a bakery and gave us cupcakes. He was gonna give everyone a toothbrush. It was so lame.

  “Now remember, Dad, don’t scare anyone.”

  He laughed. “I know what I’m doing. I see kids all the time.”

  I slapped my hands over my eyes and shook my head. He was gonna make me the laughingstock of the school.

  “Felix,” Ms. Hucklebee said. “It’s time to introduce your dad.”

  It was all up to me. I had to introduce him and make him epic some kind of way. It was really hard, but if anyone could do it, Superkid could.

  I got in front of the classroom and started speaking with my superhero voice. “Get ready to meet the Master of Dentistry. He fights the evils of the unknown and is the protector of something we all hold very dear. He is the one and only, Dentist Defender!”

  I threw my hands up in the air and people started clapping. I set it up real nice. No way could my dad ruin the cool introduction I had given him. He was gonna have the best presentation in class.

  He smiled and got up in front of the classroom. “I’m actually just Dr. Brown.”

  I got really kind of upset that he destroyed my introduction. What kind of cool name was that? It wasn’t any kind of name. Brown is a color. Why did I have to have such a plain name anyway?

  Then someone’s hand shot right up. “You’re a doctor? You save lives?”

  “Not quite,” he said. “I save teeth.”

  Everyone in the classroom felt like they had sunk down to the bottom of the bathtub. Kids didn’t care that much about teeth. They didn’t think he was cool. Then they were all really freaked out when he started showing them pictures of cavities. All the parents that were still there nodded their heads, and I knew that there would be a big candy limit and all the kids would blame me. Everyone who didn’t have big, scared eyes was glaring at me.

  After school, Dad was talking to a few parents. He didn’t see me get pushed by a couple of kids walking out of the classroom. When I hurt my head, everyone thought I was a big joke, but nobody hated me. Brock was especially mad, because his dad had a big conversation with my dad. I didn’t want to have a target on my back.

  Kiara’s dad never brought her back to school, so I was on my own with my dad who didn’t want to spend any time with me.

  It was really quiet on the way home. We didn’t say anything to each other, but then Dad started talking when he parked the car in the garage. “Did you have a nice day at school?”

  I shrugged my shoulders, even though the answer was a big, fat no.

  “Is something wrong?”

  My eyes started to get watery. I’m not sure why. I didn’t think I was really sad enough to cry. I was starting to get angry, and I didn’t want to talk to Dad. I crossed my arms and looked away.

  He spoke stern. “Felix…”

  I knew I had to answer him, or he’d get really upset. I didn’t mean to, but I started yelling. “Why couldn’t Mom come to Career Day?”

  “Your mom doesn’t have a job, Felix.”

  “Yes she does. She takes care of me and likes to play with me and spend time with me! You don’t do those things. You don’t wanna make a tree house, we never talk in the car, and you don’t like the games I play!”

  “Calm down.”

  “Mom’s job is way better than yours. I don’t care if you can buy me toys. She would build the tree house with me, but you never want to spend time with me. Not ever!”

  I opened the car door and made a run for it. I heard Dad calling out to me, but I didn’t stop. I knew he’d be mad, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to see him ever again.

  When I ran inside the house, Mom was waiting by the door with a big smile on her face. “How was school?”

  I didn’t stop for Mom. I ran right to my room and slammed the door as hard as I could. I couldn’t stop crying and I didn’t like being that mad, but I couldn’t help it. I just wanted to be alone.

  Chapter 11

  Mom tried to talk to me, but I didn’t want to talk to anybody all day. I only left my room to pee and to eat dinner, but that was only because Dad made me eat. I wasn’t even really that hungry. It was just another thing on the long list of things that he did to bug me.

  I never thought I’d be so happy to go to school. I didn’t want him to take me, but at least I’d be gone for several hours. Of course all the kids probably hated me, but it was better than being home with him.

  Mom didn’t wake me up for school in the morning though. When I woke up, it was a little past ten o’clock, which I thought it was weird. Mom never missed waking me up for school, not even when she was sick. I would remember if I didn’t have school. I wasn’t sick. I didn’t understand.

  Then Dad came into my room while I was still under my covers. I still wasn’t ready to talk to him, so I leaned back into my bed and looked away.

  “Don’t be that way, Felix.” He sat next to me on my bed and started to shake me a little bit. “Don’t go back to sleep. We’ve got an important task to do.”

  He didn’t know the first thing about what was really important. “I should be at school,” I said.

  “You’re not going to school today.”

  “Why?” I asked surprised.

  “Because I’m going to take you to the pool today so I can teach you how to swim.”

  I turned around to look at Dad, very excited. “Really?”

  “Yes, Sir.” He smiled and poked me in my stomach. “I wouldn’t lie about something like this. Swimming is a very big deal.” He wasn’t dressed in his work or business clothes. He had on some shorts and a T-shirt, like he was really ready to go swimming. It must have been true.

  I hadn’t really gone swimming before. Mom might have taken me in the water, but she never let me go without those lame little toys that made you float. I would have swum before if my dad wouldn’t have stopped me from jumping into that lake. “I know how to swim,” I said.

  Dad smiled like he was trying to hide a laugh. “Why don’t you wait and see what I have to show you?”

  I knew he didn’t believe me, but it didn’t matter. He was wrong, just like he was wrong about me being a real and true superhero. I would prove him wrong about swimming and then maybe he would see that I wasn’t some dumb, little kid who didn’t know anything. I was gonna show him just how smart and special I really was. “Fine.”

  Mom made me my favorite breakfast. She made a pancake face with strawberry eyes and a bacon smile. I didn’t know why Mom was trying real hard to be nice to me. I knew I wasn’t being so nice to her, but I wasn’t really mad at Mom. It was Dad that didn’t want to spend time with me. She didn’t have to make it up to me.

  “Did you ask Dad to take me swimming?”

  “No.” She sat down at the table next to me and kissed my cheek. “It was completely your father’s idea.”

  It was nice what Dad was trying to do. I didn’t think he would do something like that for me. If he was willing to spend time with me, I was gonna put the whole tree house thing behind me and really give him a chance.

  Mom was still in her housecoat, so I knew she wasn’t planning on going. I figured she would think it was a lot of fun. “Don’t you wanna go too, Mom?”

  “I think y
ou need to spend a day with your father. We can all go swimming another day.”

  I frowned. It would have been nice for all of us to go. I was also kind of nervous about really spending the day with my dad. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say. I felt bad about the things I said and if it made my dad feel sad. I didn’t know how to say sorry to him.

  Then Dad walked by and rubbed his hand in my hair. “We’ll be leaving soon, Felix.”

  I frowned and tried to fix my hair. I hated when people did that. “I’ll be ready soon.”

  I finished my yummy breakfast and brushed my teeth. I made sure to brush it really good, just like Dad would want. He liked being a dentist, and Mom told me that he was a good one. I was gonna at least listen to him about my teeth.

  After I finished brushing my teeth, we left. Instead of boring music or the silence, Dad played some music that I liked. I started bobbing my head a little bit and then I started singing along quietly. I saw Dad looking in his mirror to check on me. I realized that he was trying to make up with me. I felt silly with him watching me. He set me up to make himself feel better. I stopped as soon as I noticed he was watching me. It wasn’t that long of a ride to the pool anyway.

  Dad liked to go swimming on really hot days, but it was only kind of warm. I didn’t care if there was snow outside. It really didn’t matter because the pool was inside this really nice building.

  When we went inside, we went to a desk and started talking to a lady. He signed some papers and gave her some money. Then there was some boring stuff that happened for a while.

  I started looking around. I didn’t know what kind of place I was in. No kids were around, only a bunch of grownups. It didn’t seem like a job place.

  After a few minutes, I tugged on Dad’s pants. “Where are we?”

  “It’s a club.”

  “A club?” Clubs were places where kids went to have fun. I kind of had a superhero club with Kiara. I couldn’t imagine what kind of club my dad must have been in. It had to be boring. “What kind of clubs are grownups apart of?”

  “Lots of clubs are for adults. This one means I have a place where I can play sports, work out, eat, and swim. I can bring you and your mother here too.”

  That sounded like an okay club. On our way to the pool, I saw a restaurant, a gym, and a tennis court. It was really cool. I didn’t know grownups had all that fun stuff to do or that they’d want to do all of that stuff.

  We went in a locker room to get changed. We changed into our swim trunks and grabbed some towels. Dad was standing in front of a mirror. He wasn’t looking at it, but I saw his reflection. Not only was he tall, but he also was really strong with muscles. He liked to go running really early, and he liked to exercise. I knew I was strong, but my reflection was way smaller than his. He sure was different than me. Sometimes when I stood next to Dad, I didn’t want to be that small. I didn’t want to grow up, but sometimes I wondered what I would be like if I was big.

  I started flexing my arms, but his muscles were still bigger than mine without him even trying. I started trying real hard, but I had no luck.

  “What are you looking at, Kiddo?” Dad asked with a smile on his face.

  I shrugged. I didn’t really wanna say. It seemed silly anyway.

  “Come on, Champ.” Dad grabbed me and started carrying me out of the locker room and to the pool. I was surprised, and I laughed because it was so fun. When I was younger, Dad would lift me up, and I’d stretch my arms out and it felt like I was flying. I knew I wasn’t flying anymore, but it was still fun.

  He sat me down when we got to the pool. Nobody else was there. I guess all the other kids would be in school, but it was weird. “We’re completely alone?”

  “It looks like it, Felix.”

  Grownup clubs sure were weird. Going in the water was amazing. I even liked to play around in the bathtub or in the rain, but it wasn’t as fun as being able to swim in a big pool. I never really got to swim before, but I always thought pools were fun.

  “I’m gonna jump in!” I tried to make a run for it, but Dad grabbed me.

  “Hold on! We don’t run in here. You could slip and break your head on this tile.”

  I frowned. I remembered when I hurt my head on the tetherball pole. I couldn’t take any chances without my cape and my special shoes. “I’ll be careful.”

  Dad pointed to the other side of the pool. “If you jump in, you have to jump from the deep end. You could hurt yourself in this shallow water.”

  It all looked the same to me. The only difference was that one side said three feet and the other said it was six feet. “Okay.”

  We walked together to the deep end of the pool, and I kept looking at my reflection. I didn’t look like Tarzan, so I started messing up my hair until it stood up and looked wild and crazy.

  Dad started laughing. “What are you doing?”

  Silly Dad! He didn’t know anything. I would have to teach him how to swim. “If you want to swim like Tarzan, you have to be like Tarzan.”

  He started laughing some more, and I didn’t like it. I knew what I was talking about. I saw it on TV. “Let me jump in first,” he said.

  “Okay.” I crossed my arms and waited by the edge of the pool. I figured I’d have to save my dad from drowning. Maybe after I saved him, I could tell him about my super powers and how special I was. Then he would believe in me more.

  Then he sat down on the edge and stuck his legs in. “Whoo! That’s cold!”

  Tarzan never complained about how cold the water was. He wasn’t even gonna do the yell and the jump. He was already messing up big time. “Don’t hurt yourself!”

  “I know what I’m doing, Felix.”

  I couldn’t watch. I covered my eyes and stepped back. I would jump in and save him, but I didn’t want to watch him embarrass himself.

  Then I heard a splash and uncovered my eyes. I bent my knees and prepared to save him, but he was fine. Dad was in the water, and he wasn’t drowning. “How are you doing that?”

  “The water is your friend, Felix. You’ll float without having to try.”

  I didn’t float when I was taking a bath. Something fishy was going on, but I would do things the right way. “I don’t need to float. I can swim.”

  He smiled. “Then show me.”

  I started getting ready. I messed up my hair some more, and then I started bouncing a little bit to prepare for my jump. Then I cleared my throat so I could have the best yell ever. I was gonna do Tarzan’s yell better than what Tarzan ever could. I took in the biggest breath I possibly could, yelled out as loud as I could, and jumped in the pool.

  I didn’t think about it, but I curled myself into a little ball and made a big splash. I probably got Dad really wet. I thought it was pretty funny.

  Then I started sinking and sinking, and I wasn’t coming back up. I opened my eyes and it burned, and it was dark and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have a lot of air because I spent it all on my Tarzan yell. I called out for help, but all the water started coming into my mouth. I saw my dad’s body in the water, but I couldn’t reach him.

  I was scared. I had never been so scared before in my whole entire life, and I wasn’t supposed to be scared. Dad didn’t know how to swim. If I couldn’t save us, then who would save the world?

  I tried to move my arms and my legs like Tarzan did, but nothing was working. I was stuck in the water, and I couldn’t breathe. I wasn’t gonna make it!

  I closed my eyes and wished for someone to save me. Maybe my guardian angel could come and rescue me or Kiara would come up with a good plan. Maybe Mom would come save me. She always helped me when I needed it. I needed someone. I didn’t want to die.

  Then something grabbed me. I was scared, but it pulled me to the surface and I could breathe again.

  I held onto whatever it was as tight as I could and coughed out the water in my mouth. I didn’t mean to, but I started crying. I really couldn’t swim. TV lied to me, and it almost killed me!


  “It’s okay, Felix. I’m right here.”

  I realized that it was my dad who had saved me. I was tired, but I held on even tighter and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Daddy!”

  “I got you. I got you.”

  I don’t know how he did it, but he got me back to the edge of the pool and sat me down. I knew I was safe, but I was still scared and I was shaking. I didn’t want to cry in front of Dad, but I didn’t know how not to. I had almost died.

  Dad got out of the pool and sat next to me. He wrapped his arm around me and held me into his chest. “It’s okay.” He kissed my forehead, and I started to feel safe again. “I would never let anything bad happen to you.”

  I didn’t feel like getting in the water very soon. Dad was right. I was wrong. I didn’t know how to swim and he did. I didn’t want to jump in, just in case he wouldn’t be able to catch me. I was starting to get a little chilly, but Dad rubbed on my arms to keep me warm.

  After a while, I stopped crying, and we were just sitting by the water and looking at our reflections. My whole world had changed, and I wasn’t who I thought I was. I didn’t have all the answers I thought I did. My dad was better than I thought. He did want to spend time with me, and he did just save my life.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you yesterday.”

  “It’s okay.” He kissed me on my forehead. “I don’t usually build things like that. I didn’t mean that I didn’t want to spend time with you.”

  I was glad. Spending time with Dad was actually pretty nice. It made me feel good that he wanted me around.

  But then I looked up at Dad and he started to look sad. “You have to forgive me when you feel that I’m doing something that is wronging you, Felix. You see, I never had a father so I don’t know how to be one.”

  I didn’t understand. Everybody is supposed to have a mommy and a daddy. That’s what my grandma told me. She said it was the only way kids could come from heaven. I never met my dad’s daddy, but he must have had one. I didn’t get it.