Public Service

A mighty warrior saved us at the last minute. That sounds cliche, but it's true. My father was about to lose his job. My mother was crying about how she was going to pay the mortgage. We live on cash checks, spend a bit on Saturdays eating at a butcher shop, and then have to eat rice and beans or eggs and toast for the last two days before the next check is made.

However, we are not happy. We regularly watch TV in the evening as a family. Sometimes my dad and I play video games together, and my mom plays all the other exercises. But without my father's work as a disciplinary official, the debt would have been high. I know about debt. My whole generation is facing your mountain. A mighty warrior will save us from all of that.

Dark and mysterious, long and broad and inked broom on his forehead. His forehead is yellow and black and it reminds me of a hawk. We see hawks when we go fishing at Dam Number 3 early in the summer. He is like them, all eyes and silent. It's really bad. At the dam, we protect our eyes from the rising sun just to watch the hawks fly past in pursuit of insects. Superhero is the same.

Oh, it really can't fly, but it dives from one top of a building to another with its huge cape. Criminals can't run away from him or they have fast cars because his car is fast. It’s bulletproof again, I think.

Most of the bad guys are people I know at school. Many of them graduate a year or two before me. A mighty warrior can catch them doing the dumb things most of us do and regret. All right, though. I mean, unless he catches up with them, the prison where my dad works will be empty, and I'm really looking forward to getting a job there when I turn twenty-one. My father says they can always buy prisoners in other states, but it is not the best solution.

The prison was built while I was still in elementary school. I remember my dad getting a job and coming home with his first big salary. We went out for dinner to celebrate. They drank champagne and tickled my nose with foam. They had invited our neighbors, Adelaide and Martin Stevens, to attend. I think Dad wanted to show off. Martin is a contractor and his factory builds a prison. Since then, my parents have been trying to keep up: a new car, flowers in the front yard, a small fishing boat - nothing unusual - enough to show that we can live that way of life, too.

The Stevens had never had children, so when my mother and father felt inferior they sent me to borrow something. A game I understand because I play it with kids at school: who has seen the latest action film first, who has the best sneakers, a kid with an older brother who will ride them happily.

The father said that Jaden's older brother, Micah, had been captured by a superhero for speeding. He had probably been drinking beer or two, and the marijuana might have been hidden in a car somewhere, at least that was what Dad had guessed. I can imagine it. Micah was always in trouble, as anyone can tell you now. Obviously, he would not stay in prison after being arrested! If you were photographed by a hero, you were doing something wrong.

Well, not everyone has that idea. My girlfriend, Mary, has hippie parents. They call them that. Socialists. Mary's mother works for the city as a lawyer. His father is a psychologist and does volunteer work for prison staff. They both talk a lot about Superhero being a guard who thinks he is above the law. Dad says that’s BS, and the hero does what he has to do. The police had no problem, and some of the guys he worked with were police officers, so they knew. Mary says she thinks it hurts, which I don't get. How sad to close the wicked and make the city safer? Sometimes I think my dad is right about his parents, but I would never say that. I try to be respectful as my mother taught me.

However, I think I no longer need to be very respectful. A powerful hero grabs Mary's mother alone at night when she returns from the Mall. Obviously, you have a problem with shoplifting. Mary denies it, but then she would; is his mother. It looks like her mother's clothes were so much better than they could have bought for themselves. My father agrees. I'm not saying that to Mary, of course. I try to support him, but he is very angry about this.

My father says that Society is setting up a second branch for the settlement of women, as these criminals grow older. The building will bring 147 new jobs to the city, and with tax money, they will be able to build a stadium.

How could Mary not think that a mighty warrior could save us?