Superhero for a Day

I wrote this for my son when he was little. He wanted to be a superhero in the worst way, but sometimes the rewards were not worth the struggle.

It was a bright, sunny morning. The kind of day that was just meant for playing and Al knew exactly what he wanted to do. He rolled out of bed, got dressed and looked around in his closet until at last he found what he was looking for, his superhero cape! This wasn’t just any superhero cape; it was a special one, made just for Al by his mommy. It was a beautiful color of red, with a yellow diamond on the back and in the middle of that diamond was the letter “A” in a bright blue color, Al’s favorite. He slipped his cape over his head and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Mom was already in the kitchen, “What can I get my favorite superhero to eat this morning?” Al laughed. Mom always knew the right thing to say. “I want a great big breakfast Mommy. I’m really hungry today!”  So mom made Al a breakfast of cereal, toast and orange juice and Al ate every last drop.

After he was done, Aloysius went upstairs to practice his jumping. He climbed up on his bed and jumped up and down, higher and higher, until Mom said, “Al, stop that jumping! You know you are not allowed to jump on the bed!” “Aww, but mom, a superhero needs to know how to jump.” “Practice doing something else, before you get hurt.”

Al stopped jumping and thought and thought. “Hmm,” he said to himself, “Mom said to stop jumping but she didn’t say I couldn’t fly.” He pulled his chair out from his desk and climbed on top. Aloysius spread his arms out and jumped as far as he could, right into the wall! His crying brought mom running upstairs. “Aloysius, I thought I said no more jumping,” she said as she dried his tears and gave him a hug. “But, I wasn’t jumping mommy, I was practicing flying.” Mommy laughed, smoothed out his hair and said, “No more flying or jumping then.”

Al decided that all superheroes needed to know how to run fast, so he went downstairs and ran around and around the dining room table until mom, who wasn’t getting any work done said, “Alright, wild one, outside you go!”

Al ran outside as fast as he could and right to his swing set. He sat on the swing and practiced flying until he almost touched the trees. He went down his slide and climbed his monkey bars until he was plum tired out from practicing so much. “I’m ready to be a real superhero now!” he said and set off to find someone to rescue.

He looked all over the place, but no one needed his help. His dog was sleeping lazily in the sun. Dad was working on the car. Mom was busy in the kitchen. Al sat down on the steps feeling very upset and that’s when he heard it, a soft cry coming from next door.

Al ran around the fence to see who needed his help. It was Sarah and his little friend was crying. “What’s wrong Sarah?” asked Al. “My dolly is stuck up in the tree and can’t get down.” Aloysius’ eyes lit up. “I can save her!” he said and he was up the tree as fast as he could go. The brave superhero rescued the little dolly and climbed down as fast as he went up. “Here you go Sarah!” “Thank you,” she said and planted a little kiss right on the cheek of a very surprised friend.

Al ran off back to his house. Into the kitchen he went and looked as his mom who had watched the whole thing from the kitchen window. Aloysius could not understand why she was laughing. “BLYCK!” he said as he wiped the kiss off of his cheek, “If that is what a superhero gets, I don’t want it!” and he went upstairs to try on his cowboy hat instead.