The Madrona Heroes Register: Underneath It All

Chapter 23 - The Books on Reserve

Jay had hoped that with the kids out of school, he’d be able to sleep in more often during the summer. And even though he didn’t have to get up early to shuttle them off to school, he still found himself getting up earlier than he’d hoped.

Jay normally tried to muster the early morning energy to get properly cleaned up and dressed before he would wander down to his study. But today wasn’t one of those days. Jay sat in the shorts and t-shirt in which he’d slept staring at his drafting table wondering what to draw in his groggy state.

Jay’s eyes wandered to the windows in his office. From his vantage point he could see across the street to Penny and Serena’s house. Serena’s words were still echoing in Jay’s mind since their last conversation.

Jay knew he was lucky that he and Julie had remained friends. It was lucky for the kids, but it was lucky for him too. But Julie’s frequent presence aside, Jay was still often a single parent. And despite that, he thought he was doing a decent job.

Jay wondered if he was being insecure, but he was extra vigilant to signs from his children that they were unhappy. Binny’s anger seemed to be currently directed at her mother so Jay was letting Julie handle that. Zach was getting more and more distant and maybe even a touch surly. Was that standard operating procedure for newly minted teenagers or was something else going on?

And Cassie. That’s who Jay was thinking about this morning as he alternated between staring at his blank sketchpad and the reflection of the rising sun on the windows of Serena’s house.

Cassie had always lived in her own world of pretend. Jay had encouraged it. He thought it was creative. It made him feel a connection with his youngest child. But was her pretending going in an unhealthy direction? Was she having trouble separating fiction from reality? 

Cassie seemed so hurt when he’d told her that he was pretending to believe that she had super powers. Could it be that she was trying to relate to her superhero-obsessed father? Was he crushing her dreams and imagination when he told her he didn’t believe her?

Jay started to sketch. Jay always started with the villain. He already had a rough idea of what the hero would be doing, so he needed a formidable challenger that Cassie could vanquish. Jay drew a thin woman with mousey brown hair sprinkled with gray and pulled back tight in a bun. She had a cape. Despite their impracticality, Jay drew all his superheroes and villains with capes. Incredibles be damned!

On her chest Jay drew a huge index finger covering a pair of lips, an action she was mimicking in the scene. Out of the librarian’s mouth Jay drew the sound “SHHHHHHHH” in big gradient filled letters. 

Jay’s evil librarian hated noise of all kind. He didn’t have a name for her yet. The Shusher? The Quiet Storm? Evilbrarian? They were all lousy, but it didn’t matter. This wasn’t her comic. Jay drew his youngest daughter in generously bedazzled pink spandex. Cassie’s entire body glowed brightly, and she was singing loudly. Her voice was her weapon and it was aimed directly at The Shusher/The Quiet Storm/Evilbrarian who’s eyes were wide in shock at whatever effect it was having on her.

Above the battle, Jay drew a logo. In large letters the name Sparkle Girl hung over the scene in 3D. The name jumped off the page. Off to the left he carefully wrote “#1”. A collector’s item, Jay thought.

Julie might object to the “girl” in the name, but figured that when Sparkle Girl got older she’d rename herself Sparkle Woman. Or maybe just Sparkle. Oooh, that was cool. Sparkle Girl’s cape was see-through and prismatic making the gems underneath that much brighter in the comic book sun.

Time passed quickly as Jay colored in his outlines, fleshing out the scene. Before long he was looking at a fully rendered comic book cover sitting in front of him. Jay couldn’t help but smile as he thought about how excited Cassie would be to see she was the star of her very own comic book cover.