Chapter 4: Apple Pie and Dog Tricks

Friday, July 10, 2009, 10:00PM

Tricia got out of the car noticing that she was feeling much better. She was more relaxed, no longer riding the adrenaline rush, and no longer panicked by the attack. Instead, she was excited at her success. For she had found Joey Harper, Omega Boy, the sidekick and secret behind the legendary Omega Man, and she had exclusive access to him. She watched the boy with some pride as he eagerly scoped out the restaurant, absent-mindlessly licking his lips in hunger.

As they got to the front door, she reached for it. Then she saw the sign in the entranceway. It read “Shirts and shoes required. No pets.”

“Oh, damn ... No dogs allowed,” she said, and turned to Joey. “We may have to find another...” she started to say, but she stopped, looking at the boy. The dog was gone. “Where’s Scrappy?”

He whispered, “I’m holding him.”

She looked. His hands were empty. “What?” she started, but then she noticed his left hand was curled up oddly, as if it could be holding something. His skin compressed strangely in his hand, and his shirt sleeve was pressed up against his arm. “Is he...” She reached out towards his left hand.

Something furry licked her hand. She yanked her hand back in surprise.

“Did you ... did you turn him ... invisible?” she whispered back.

Joey nodded, smiling sheepishly.

She chuckled, amazed. “Wow. Handy trick.” She held the door open for him, and they entered the restaurant. “Table for two, please,” she said to the hostess. Joey found some crayon packs at the front station and pocketed a couple, along with a handful of candy mints.

The hostess took them to a booth. Joey lingered a bit, looking at the dessert case, staring at the apple pie, but then caught up with Tricia. They sat down, and the hostess handed them some menus. “What can I get you to drink?”

“I’ll have an iced-tea and...” Tricia looked at Joey. He needs Vitamin C. “ ... an orange juice for the boy. And keep the orange juice coming.”

“We don’t give free refills on orange juice,” said the waitress a bit snidely.

Tricia lifted an eyebrow and gave her a look. “I know.”

The waitress shrugged and left.

Joey deposited the invisible dog on the seat next to him, and looked around nervously. Then he looked at his place mat, turned it over, grinned as he saw the blank side, and pulled out the crayons. He admired the sharp points for a moment, and started drawing.

Tricia watched him with some pride, but then realized both of his hands were on the table. “Shouldn’t you be holding your dog?”

“He’s okay.”

“But he might run away,” she said concerned. “How do you find an invisible dog if he runs away?” she whispered.

“He’s not going to run away. He likes being invisible, and he always stays put when he is.”

“Hmm ... How do you do that? How do you make him invisible?”

He shrugged. “Don’t know. I just make...” He gestured weirdly. “ ... colors go through him.” He continued drawing.

“Can you do that to anyone?”

He shook his head. “No. I can only do it to him.”

She frowned. “Why? Is it because he’s small?”

“No ... He’s the only one I can do anything with.” He looked around. “My powers don’t work on people.” He continued drawing.

“What about Omega Man?” He frowned as she asked this. “Your powers worked with him, right?”

He nodded.

“Was he your father?”

He looked sad, and nodded again. He didn’t look up.

“I’m sorry about him,” she said genuinely. “You must miss him.”

Joey shrugged, and looked at a small advertisement on the table. It had a picture of a slice of apple pie. He took it and looked at it.

She noticed the waitress coming with their drinks. Tricia cocked her head and looked at Joey. “Did you want some of that?” He nodded.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a five dollar bill. The waitress came over and put their drinks on the table. “Are you ready to order?”

“No, but how would you like to make a quick five dollar tip?”

The waitress blinked, confused.

“A slice of apple pie, cold, nothing else, in thirty seconds. Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight. Twenty-seven...”

The waitress looked for a moment like she was trying to make a decision over whether she had enough time to cop an attitude, and decided against it. She scurried off to the dessert display, grabbed a piece of apple pie, and brought it back before Tricia reached fifteen. “Thank you!” said Tricia, and she handed the bill to the waitress. “We’ll need some more time.” The waitress gave Tricia an odd look, stuffed the bill into her pocket, and left.

Joey watched the entire encounter with amazement. “Is that for...?”

“Go ahead,” she said as she pushed the pie to him. Joey immediately took it in both hands and started eating it messily. He broke off a piece of the crust and gave it to Scrappy.

Tricia opened the menu and looked at it. She wasn’t that hungry, but she felt she should eat something just to be sociable. “Do you see anything you like?” she asked, looking at the menu. She looked up, and caught him glancing at her breasts. She made no outer indication that she saw him as he looked away nervously.

“Um...” He paused, and looked at the menu. He pointed at a picture of a chicken dinner. It was the first picture in the menu. She nodded, and closed the menu.

Tricia folded her hands together. “Where are you from?”

Joey looked nervous. “Bethlehem ... Pennsylvania.” He picked up his orange juice and started drinking it.

“Is your mother there?”

He shook his head. “She died when I was little.” He paused. “I don’t remember her.”

“You have any other family? Brothers, or sisters?”

He shook his head again. “No.”

“Grandparents? Aunts or uncles? Cousins?” He shook his head to all of them.

“Why don’t you want to go to Child Services? Won’t they help you find a new home?”

He shook his head. “I can’t go to them.”

“Why not?”

“‘Cause I have powers.”

Tricia frowned. “Why is that a problem?”

He sighed. “Well, it’s okay for most kids, cause they don’t have powers. And what happens is, one of us will be picked up, and they put him in a home, and then some time later they bring him back to us, but he’s all in clean clothes and has got a haircut, and some money, and he tells us all about how good it is, and tries to get the rest of us to go to Child Services.”

Tricia nodded. “Well, it sounds like they’re doing a good job, and they care about you all.”

Joey nodded. “Yeah, they do. But that’s only for the regular kids. But if one of us who has powers goes, they don’t come back.” He looked sad. “We don’t know what happens to them, but we think it’s something bad.”

“Oh.” Tricia nodded. She thought for a moment. “You said your powers don’t work on people anymore?”

“No. Just Scrappy now. I can’t get ... I try sometimes, but they don’t...” He gestured. “ ... stick.”

“Stick? What do you mean?”

“Umm ... I don’t know ... I ... It’s like...” He fumbled around, trying to think of how to express himself. “I can like, get a power into someone, but it doesn’t want to be in there. So it doesn’t stick.”

“And if it doesn’t stick, then it doesn’t work?”

He nodded. “Yeah. For a long time, I couldn’t get the powers to stick to anyone, but then I found Scrappy, and they work for him. They can stick to him.”

“Why do you suppose they work for him, but not anyone else?”

He shrugged. “I dunno.”

“What all can you do?”

He shrugged again. “I ... I don’t know ... I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Well, you made Scrappy pretty strong back in the alley.”

“I didn’t make him strong,” he said.

She frowned.

“Well, a little, but just so he could rip the guy’s shoe off. But if I just made him strong, that wouldn’t have helped him much. That guy was still strong enough to hurt him. I had to make him take the...” He gestured, like he was holding something empty in his hands and waving them around. “What do you call it when something is moving?”

“What do you mean?”

“When something is moving, and it keeps moving the same way? Like when you throw something?”

She thought. “Momentum?”

“Yeah ... that’s it. He needed to take the...” He gestured, smacking his fist into his hand. “ ... mo ... momentum...” He smiled at being able to pronounce the word, and then gestured wildly, moving his hands in several directions. “ ... and turn it, and push it around.”

“Oh...” she said, impressed. “So when that man kicked him, all that momentum got transferred back into the man, but in other directions?”

Joey nodded. “Yeah. Like that. And created some more.”

“Why did you ask Scrappy to get the shoe?”

Joey grinned. “He likes shoes.” He reached down and scooped up the invisible dog. She could see pride in his face, like he had been wanting to talk to someone for a long time. “Also, I made him sticky.”

“Sticky? Like making the powers stick to him?”

“No, um ... So he would stay on the ground.” He grinned, and the dog reappeared in his hand. The dog let out a little yelp, kicked, and sneezed. “He doesn’t like becoming visible again,” he said, petting the dog. Then he turned the dog around, and placed his paws up against the back of the booth. “Now ... Stay!” he commanded, and he let go of the dog.

The dog clung to the padded back of the booth like a spider. He hung there on the vertical surface, whined, looked around a bit nervous and confused, and then squatted down against the back. Tricia giggled at the sight.

Joey grinned, enjoying the fact that he made Tricia laugh. “He doesn’t like this. He doesn’t know what to do. I put him on a ceiling once, and he got so scared he just peed.” He picked the dog up off the booth back, and the dog vanished in his hands.

“Where did you get him from?”

“His mother died. She was a stray, and she had puppies. I found her home, and got to see the puppies.” He smiled, remembering the dogs. “But then one day I found her on the street. She had been hit, and I went back to the puppies, but...” He looked very sad. “Scrappy was the only one who was still alive. So I took him.” He scratched the dog’s head.

“He was very lucky you found him,” she said genuinely.

Joey looked proud. “Well, I had to help him. And he’s my friend now.”

The waitress came back. “Are you ready to order?”

“Yes.” said Tricia. “Two number one’s, a garden salad with no cheese and low-fat Italian dressing, and a hamburger, medium, no toppings. And some water.”

The waitress took their order and left. Tricia looked back at Joey, and caught him staring at her breasts again. He looked away quickly. She smiled, and folded her hands together.

“Joey, I’m a reporter, and I’d like to do a story on you. I...”

“No,” he said immediately.

“Joey, I don’t think you have to worry about people thinking of you as a joke anymore. People thought Omega Boy was a joke, because they didn’t know how important you really are. And once people know more about you, they’ll be sympathetic. They’ll even apologize to you for the jokes.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want anyone to know about me.”

“I can protect you. I can keep your identity safe. I can find a good home for you, and we can write a book about your life. I know when people find out, they’ll want to buy your book. You can make a lot of money.”

He shook his head adamantly. “No. I don’t want ... I don’t want anyone to know about me, or what I can do. I ... I just want ... I just want a normal life.”

Tricia nodded. This is going to be more difficult than I had hoped. Don’t push him too hard now. Gain his trust. “Okay...” she said. “But, even if I am not writing a story about you, you are still my source.” He frowned in confusion. “That means I can get information from you if you ever do want me to write a story about you, or if I write about something else you know about. And ... as a reporter, I have a duty to protect my sources. So I have to protect you.”

Joey cocked his head a little bit. “What do you mean?”

“That means ... I have to do what I can for you. If you need a place to sleep, food, new clothes, I have to help you. And even if I weren’t a reporter and you weren’t my source...” She grinned. “ ... I would still have to help you because ... you saved me back there.” She turned on a slight sultry smile. “That was very brave of you.” Joey blushed.

She continued, “And also, I made a promise to Gus. He made me promise to get you off the streets, and I intend to keep that promise. So ... If you want, would you like to spend the night at my place tonight? We would love to have you over.”

Joey blinked. “We? Who else is there? Your...” He checked her hand. “ ... boyfriend?”

She shook her head. “My roommate. Annie. She’s ... pretty weird, but a lot of fun. You’d like her. And she’ll like you.”

He looked scared. “Does ... does she know ... about me?”

Tricia nodded. “She helped me find you, but she’s the only one who knows. She hasn’t told anyone. I trust her.”

Joey nodded, satisfied. “Can Scrappy come?”

Tricia smiled. That’s against our lease agreement. “Sure. Scrappy can come,” she decided. I hope Annie is okay with that.

Joey smiled, and petted Scrappy. “Okay,” he agreed. He drank some more orange juice. “And you are gonna try and find a place for me to live?”

“Yeah. And as long as we haven’t found a home for you, you’re welcome to stay with us.”

Joey looked shy, and turned back to his drawing. Tricia watched him.

“Do you mind if I ask you about your father?”

He shrugged.

“Why did he become Omega Man? Whose idea was it?”

Joey sighed. “That was his idea. He always wanted to be a superhero. He said he wanted that ever since he was a kid. And when he found out what I could do, he said we had to go help people. Cause that’s what heroes have to do. And he made our costumes, and he would watch TV for anything that needed a hero, and when he found something, we would put on the costumes and I would have to give him powers so we could get to the place. He had a ... that thing that shows you where you are?”

“A GPS receiver?”

“Is that the thing with a map?”

“Yes.”

Joey nodded. “He had one of those, and we would follow it.”

“I bet it’s fun flying,” Tricia offered with a smile.

Joey shook his head. “Sometimes, like when we were going slow, then it was fun. But when we were traveling across the country, he would go really fast, and...”

He hesitated, and Tricia thought she saw a moment of fear in his eyes. But he hid it immediately. “We would hit things. Birds, bugs ... and when we got up high, the wind was very strong, and very cold, and it hurt, and he had to wrap me up. I could make him so he wasn’t bothered by the wind, but not me.”

Tricia nodded. “Oh ... Sounds scary.”

He shrugged.

“But once you got to the trouble spot, what happened then?”

He sighed. “Well, we had it worked out where I would give him this vision power.”

“Like x-ray vision?”

He frowned. “No. I don’t know how to do that. We called it ‘Far Sight’. I would make a light hole between his eyes and somewhere else, and give him control over where the hole was.”

“A light hole? What is that?”

“Um...” He gestured. “It felt like a short tunnel between two places that are far apart.”

“Like a wormhole? Like in science fiction?”