Bradley Wallace Murphy just turned thirteen, and he's not happy about it. He doesn't fit in at school, he's no good at sports, a bully torments him, he's a disappointment to his parents, and his only "friends" are fictional characters on a TV show c...
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CHAPTER 15
Heroic Deeds and Frightening Riddles
When Bradley Wallace saw John Wagner at school the next day, he nearly gasped aloud. The other boy looked like he spent the night in Hell itself. His mother was fond of using the expression "He looks like death warmed over" and until today Bradley Wallace had never really seen anyone to whom he could apply that description. Wagner looked like he hadn't slept the entire vacation, or eaten much for that matter. He was thinner and there were bags under his eyes the size of Hefty trashcan liners. Wagner glanced once at Bradley Wallace with a dark, guarded expression before hurrying away in another direction. The moment had been brief, but Bradley Wallace saw something in that look he didn't understand - a flicker of incomprehension mixed with traces of what seemed to be fear.
What could have happened in two weeks to change Wagner so drastically? The bully looked so wasted that Bradley Wallace almost felt sorry for him. Almost. The compassion which rose within him was brief, for he forced it back down. His pride would not permit him to feel sorry for Wagner. Anybody else, but not him. He decided the older boy's problems were his own and to leave the matter be.
Nonetheless, it seemed that whenever he looked up from what he was doing, Wagner's eyes were fixed on him, as though searching for an answer to some inexplicable question. But then Wagner would instantly avert his gaze and pretend to be doing something else. Wherever Bradley Wallace seemed to be, he felt the drilling of those piercing grey eyes right through the back of his head. The sensation was unnerving.
At one point, the tickling in the back of his mind activated his subconscious voice, which told him that Wagner knew something about his secret and sought to learn more. He turned and caught Wagner's gaze for a second before the other boy ducked into the bathroom. What could Wagner know, he asked himself for the umpteenth time? And what did he want to know?
Fortunately, Bradley Wallace had an innate ability to know when he was being watched, but he would still have to be extra careful in the future. Wagner was up to something and he was determined that his enemy would not catch him unawares.
He searched every stationery store in downtown San Rafael for a suitable rubber stamp. When he could find nothing that remotely resembled a cool-looking "C", he decided to drop the idea of "leaving my mark," as he put it, at the scene of each rescue. Whilly didn't really care, but Bradley Wallace was disappointed.
He could at least satisfy his theatrical streak with the knowledge that through his mind push, everyone would know the name of Captain Courageous and that would surely make the TV and newspapers.
"It'll really blow people's minds," he exclaimed, grinning excitedly.
Whilly wondered at the boy's poor choice of words, but said nothing.
