I should not be doing this, I think to myself as I walk down the busy sidewalk. What am I thinking? I have been retired for over four years now. Four years!
Four years of peace and quiet. Four years of not having to fight for my life. Four years of knowing exactly what the day will hold, with absolutely no surprises.
“Ugh, not again…” I grumble as a blinding flash of lightning splits the sky overhead followed by a deafening crack of thunder.
I take back my comment about the surprises.
I am already producing an umbrella as Cirrus zooms over the street riding a thundercloud. I quickly open it up just as the rain starts pouring down and the mass of pedestrians around me who left the house unprepared let out a collective groan as they all get drenched.
I see a young mother just ahead of me. Her baby had started crying at the roar of thunder, and now she’s trying to shield him from the onslaught of freezing rain that is Cirrus’s trademark. Lord forbid he choose a different weather phenomenon once in a while. He is never going to rank the top twenty if his potential fanbase keeps getting waterlogged.
Youngsters these days, trying to one up each other and be the flashiest super around. Amateurs, the whole lot of them. They do not understand that a gaudy show of power does not a celebrity make. Back in my day things were different. Using one’s power was a necessity, and the best supers’ work was beautiful in its simplicity. They got the job done without all these explosions and buildings being knocked over. They did not feel the need to flaunt their powers. Not like Aether, who plunked down an entire humpback whale in the middle of the supermarket parking lot.
It has been three weeks, and I still have not heard back from my insurance agency. The least they could do is give me a rental car while everything is being worked out! I paid for the Arcane Exhibition coverage! It should not matter that it was an ordinary whale instead of a supernatural one! The portal Aether opened up to bring it here sure as heck was supernatural! I should have known those petty crooks would do anything they could to find a loophole and swindle me out of my money.
I swear, if I would have ever gotten my way, things would have been different around here…
I approach the young woman and hold my umbrella over the both of us. She glances up from her wailing child to look at me.
“Oh! Thank you!” she says in an embarrassed sort of voice. “I-I heard Cirrus was downtown, so I thought I could get away with leaving my umbrella behind.”
“It is no problem. I always come prepared,” I say. “Here, I will walk you to the corner.”
I remain quiet as she works to calm her baby to no avail. A minute later, the rain stops as suddenly as if it had been flicked off by a switch once we turn the corner out of its range and are greeted by the bright orange sky as the sun prepares to set.
“Thank you again,” the flustered mother says to me over the sound of her baby’s crying.
“You are most welcome. Here,” I say, pulling my hand from my pocket and handing her a baby teether. “It sounds like he is teething. That should help.”
“Oh… Thank you…” she says confusedly as she takes it from me.
“Once again, it is no problem,” I tell her as I turn back towards the rainy street. “I always come prepared.”
The downpour has just about stopped by the time I reach the restaurant. I flex my hand and the umbrella fades from existence as I walk in the door.
“Hello!” The hostess greets me brightly. “Table for one?”
“I am meeting someone, thank you,” I say, nodding as I head past her. As I walk through the restaurant, I cannot help but wonder just how much this meal is going to set me back. I am surprised there is not a violinist playing in the corner.
I glance at every table I pass by, then I finally spot it: a rose pressed between the pages of a very worn looking copy of Animal Farm.
“Estelle?” I ask, approaching the woman who is looking out of the window at the drizzle. She turns to look up at me then smiles politely.
“Are you Joseph?” she asks.
“Indeed. Enchanted to make your acquaintance,” I say, holding out my hand which she takes loosely and shakes just once before withdrawing it. I notice her hand is a bit cold.
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” she says warmly. “Please, sit.” She motions to the single chair across from her, and I accept her invitation.
“You did not get caught in the rain, did you?” I ask.
“I’m sorry?”
“Your hands,” I say, nodding my head towards them. “They are cold.”
“Oh! No, I got here just before Cirrus did. I just have… a circulation problem.”
“Ah, my apologies,” I say, taking hold of the cloth napkin that my silverware had been lying on. As I unfold it and lay it in my lap, I take note of the quality and thickness and groan inwardly. This date is going to cost me a pretty penny.
I try not to clench my jaw as I think of how useful it would have been to have received the insurance money due me. I surreptitiously check my watch and make a mental note to myself, deciding that they have seven days from this exact moment to pay up.
“No worries,” Estelle says. “I must admit… I’m a bit nervous. I don’t normally do things like this.”
“Nor do I,” I tell her. “But Wanda simply would not take no for an answer. She insisted I give dating a try.”
“Yeah, she can be a little pushy,” Estelle says with a small chuckle before taking a sip of water. “What made you decide to give dating a go? Surely someone as charming as you would have been snatched up ages ago.”
“Honestly? Boredom,” I reply. “I was rather work oriented when I was younger, I never seemed to have the time for personal relationships. I am retired now, however, and I do not know what to do with myself.”
“Oh, I’m retired, too. What sort of work did you do?”
“Management of company assets,” I reply lightly. “And you?”
“Civil servant,” she states with a wave of her hand. “I worked for the city. Do you mind me asking what that accent is?”
“Welsh,” I respond.
“It’s very unusual,” she says thoughtfully. “I don’t think I’ve heard but maybe one other person with the same accent.”
“I am a rarity, I will admit,” I say with a smile. “Ah, the waiter is coming. Which do you prefer? Red wine, or white?”
The date went well. At least, in my mind. But I assume Estelle must have felt the same way, as we are currently walking through Trinity Park after our fourth date. An especially extravagant date, if I do say so myself, as I am still riding off the influx of money I managed to acquire after a short but meaningful conversation with the personnel of the local branch of my insurance company.
“Don’t you just love fall?” Estelle gushes, staring up at the trees above our heads.
“The colors are nice, but I do not appreciate the cold. I left Wales specifically to get away from the cold–“
My words cut off as I curse under my breath.
“This is the third time this year!” I growl as we stand and watch a wormhole open above the SCU campus in the distance and aliens pour out of it like ants from an anthill.
“C’mon!” Estelle breathes, taking hold of my hand in her cold one as the sirens start blaring.
“You know, when Sandler got elected, he said he would put a stop to these invasions!” I huff as we hurry towards the nearest entrance to the underground safe zone. “I am getting too old for this nonsense!”
“Shut up and run!” Estelle exclaims, pulling me along as she breaks into a speed walk. The other-worlders are spreading out into their same tired old formation, readying their weapons to once again attempt to raze the city.
“When will they give it up?” I ask, looking back over my shoulder at them. “They are not going to win–“
We both slow our pace as a second wormhole opens just a few dozen yards ahead of us, directly above the safe zone entrance.
“Huh. Well that is new,” I comment. Estelle, for her part, takes her turn at cursing, though not under her breath.
“There’s another stairwell a block over,” she says quickly. “Let’s go.”
As we start towards it, there’s a flash of color above us, followed by a sonic boom.
“Ah, the cavalry has arrived at last,” I mutter. “Fine work boys, you actually managed to get here within a half-hour this time.”
“Would you rather face the invasion on your own?” Estelle snips at me.
“I might as well, what fat lot of good they will do.”
“What more do you want from them, Joseph?! They’re trying their hardest!”
“Back in the day–“
“Back in the day we had five times less the amount of supers we have now! Of course they had to work harder back then, Joe!”
“All I am saying is they should be a bit more organized. Coordinate their efforts a bit, at least. Maybe get beepers.”
“You always do this, Joseph!”
“No I do not always do this!”
“You never have a good word to say about the heroes!”
“I hate to break up your old-married-couple squabble,” a voice says, and we both turn to look at a youngster with his fists on his hips in a flashy red and silver suit. He’s puffing his chest out in a failing attempt to look like a hero of yore. “But you old-timers need to get to the shelter.”
There’s an explosion several yards behind him followed by flaming dirt clods raining down over us.
“Soon,” he adds without batting an eye. As a huge oak tree falls and crashes to the ground, he turns and flies away from us back towards the fray.
“The disrespect!” I exclaim. “See, Estelle?! That is the kind of thing I am talking about! What is your excuse for that?”
A crack of lightning, a flash of thunder, and it instantly starts pouring rain as Cirrus zooms overhead.
“Are you kidding me?!” I shout angrily, shaking my fist after him.
“You know what, Joseph? How about you sleep in a different shelter tonight? This one’s mine.”
“Estelle…” I call as she turns to leave. “Estelle, wait.” I start following her.
“No! I’m sick of it, Joseph!” She calls over her shoulder as she powerwalks away from me. “Maybe we just aren’t compatible after all.“
Another roar of thunder is followed by an ear-splitting whirring noise and I turn my head to look. An alien’s pod seems to have been hit in the engine, sending it careening out of control.
Right towards Estelle.
“ESTELLE!”
I run faster than I have in years, reaching her just a split second before the pod does. I summon a metal wall between us and it, placing both hands on it to brace against the impact. The pod rams into it and the wall starts to shudder. I struggle to hold it in place, now pressing my shoulder into it to try and keep it from falling. Next thing I know, Estelle is by my side, bracing the wall with me.
“You’re a super?!” She cries out.
“Now is not the time, Estelle…” I groan as the wall starts to tilt towards us. I look up at it fearfully. Estelle won’t be able to move fast enough to keep from getting crushed, and I am not about to leave her here and save myself. I look back to her and see her eyes growing wide.
“Estelle,” I say quickly. “Estelle, I lo–“
“Engender!” She shouts. “You’re Engender!”
“… W-What?” I stammer dumbly. Her face is infuriated and she lets out a mighty war cry, heaving one last shove against the wall. A column of ice rises from the ground and holds the wall in place. I stare up at it in shock.
“What…?” I breathe.
“YOU!” Estelle bellows, rounding on me. “YOU ROBBED MY SISTER’S STATIONARY SHOP!”
“Ice…?” I mutter, looking at her. “Ice… stelle? You are Icestelle?”
“YEAH! I AM!” she thunders.
“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” I yell. “YOU JUST FUSED YOUR REAL NAME WITH THE WORD ICE?!”
“Don’t change the subject!” she growls. “What do you have to say for yourself?!”
“Me?! What about you?!” I cry out. “You gave me frostbite on my–… You gave me frostbite!”
“Serves you right!” she yells. “My sister had to close down! Did you know that?! The insurance company refused to cover what you did!”
“Wait… Which insurance company?” I ask suddenly.
“It was… Uh…” She’s quiet for a moment as she thinks. A humpback whale appears in the air several hundred yards away, plummets to the ground, and telling by the unearthly screams of agony, it seems like it must have crushed at least a dozen of the invaders. “Exemplar,” Estelle states finally, ignoring the whale and the chaos it has wrought. I grin at her.
“I have had dealings with them before,” I say with a smirk. “What say you we get to the shelter and discuss how to get your sister’s money back?”
A loud boom, and we’re suddenly standing on either side of a small crater the exact same size and shape of the youngster from before.
“Serves him right,” I state. Estelle calmly kneels down and checks his pulse.
“Few broken bones maybe,” she says, standing up again and looking down at his oddly positioned body. “But he’s alive.”
“He will be fine,” I say with a dismissive wave of my hand. “So? Do we have a deal?”
She studies me for a moment, then her eyes flick past me.
“Help me send these interlopers back to the hole they crawled out of, and yes.”
“After you,” I say, bowing and gesturing towards the carnage. As Estelle turns and begins walking, I take one last look at the youngster. “Punk.”
We slipped away while the supers and the authorities began cleaning up the mayhem from this latest invasion. Estelle treated me to an ice cream cone, a small celebration of our victory. As we sit and eat, the tv in the background blares at an annoying volume as the newscaster gives credit to two unknown elderly civilians who stepped up and turned the tide in record time.
“So, you’re a villain,” she says.
“And you are a heroine,” I reply.
“Maybe not. Your plan with the insurance agency isn’t exactly legal, is it?”
“Not in the slightest,” I say, and she takes a deep breath.
“You know what?” she asks. “I think I’m a little too old for labels. What about you?”
“I could not care less about labels,” I reply. “Except for two.” I reach in my pocket and produce a small box. I open it up and slide it across the table. “Husband, and wife.”
“That’s awful. Bad pun,” she says, then glances down at the ring.
“You must forgive me for not getting down on one knee,” I say. “I am not as sprightly as I once was.”
“Sure, why not? I’ve already got a laundry list of other things to forgive you for.”
“I am still angry about that frostbite,” I say.
“Good. That’s what I had hoped for when I did it.” She looks up at me. “I’ll marry you, but first I wanna know. Did you buy this, or steal it?” She asks, pointing down at the ring.
“I made it!” I say in an offended tone. “I always come prepared.”
Writing prompt (from reedsy.com): You’re on a blind date — with your sworn enemy.
M. A. Whatley 