Super Avenged: Only Human

“Tyson, you know I don’t have time for this,” I snapped, whirling around as I tried to find our ten-year-old son. I heard a giggle from behind the couch and stomped over there. I shoved a hand down there and felt around, but I couldn’t feel any hair or skin. “Tyson, show yourself right now!”

“You’re looking in the wrong place, Mommy!” Tyson exclaimed happily with another giggle. I straightened up and spun towards where Tyson’s voice had come from.

“Tyson, this is the last straw,” I informed him, forcing calm into my voice. “I’m going to count to five. If you have not revealed yourself by then, you are grounded, mister. I’ll call your father in here and he will find you and you’ll be grounded.”

Tyson just giggled. He thought he was invincible, just because he could become invisible. He fancied himself above Jimmy’s and mine punishments. He could disappear all he wants...but he would have to do it in his room.

“One...” I began, glaring around the room. I had closed all the doors into the room. If Tyson tried to escape out of one, I would know. “Two...three...four...”

“MOMMY!” Claire, our five-year-old, sobbed from upstairs. I sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a split second before glaring around the living room once again.

“You are one lucky son of a gun, Tyson,” I grumbled, turning and walking out of the living room. I hurried up the stairs and pushed open the door into Claire’s room. She sat in the middle of it surrounded by her Barbies and her Barbies’ clothes. Nate, our seven-year-old, kneeled across from her, holding one of Barbie’s tops.

“Mommy, he’s burning Barbie’s clothes!” Claire cried, pointing at Nate. I frowned around at him.

“Nate, you little pyromaniac, will you please stop? I’m having issues with Tyson today and the last thing I need is you catching the house on fire,” I sighed. When you have three young children all with superpowers, every day is an adventure, a very stressed adventure.

“Oh, Mommy, I can control it just fine,” Nate said proudly, snapping his fingers. A tiny flame appeared at his fingertips. Nate could create fire, which sort of concerned me because he would be setting everything on fire when he was a teenager. Who knew that if a human reproduced with a superhero, their kids would end up with superpowers too? Like I said, every day became an adventure.

“Please, Nate, you did this last week too. Why don’t you give your sister a break?” I asked in exasperation. Tyson had probably already escaped outside by now, and he wouldn’t reappear until supper time probably.

“Yeah, give me a break,” Claire snapped, glaring at Nate out of ice blue eyes. She got her father’s eyes; Nate got my eyes; and Tyson has the bluest eyes you’ll ever see, since his is a mixture of Jimmy’s and mine. Claire has dark brown hair like me, though, and Nate and Tyson both have black hair like their father.

“Whatever,” Nate grumbled, rolling his eyes. He snatched up a pair of Barbie’s pants and held them aloft. He then proceeded to snap his fingers and stuck the pants right into the flame. The pants leg instantly erupted into flames.

“Nate!” I exclaimed, rushing into the room and patting the pants out. “How many times have I told you? No fires in the house!”

Suddenly, a loud snarl erupted from Claire’s direction. I turned to find that she’d transformed into a vicious-looking Rottweiler. Claire can transform into any animal she wants to. She barked loudly at Nate and advanced towards him. He scrambled up as she snapped at him.

“Mom, make her stop!” he cried, backing away as Claire advanced.

“Claire, baby, please turn back into a human again. You have plenty of clothes for Barbie,” I said. Claire looked around at me and dropped her ears. She widened her eyes, going for the innocent puppy eyes look. I crossed my arms and shook my head at her, and within seconds she was a human again.

“Nate, leave your sister alone. C’mon,” I said, motioning for him to walk out of the room. Nate stepped out and hurried downstairs to go outside. I headed into the kitchen to continue making the supper that I’d started before Tyson stole a cookie out of the cookie jar and disappeared.

“Hey, Miya,” Jimmy greeted as he walked into the kitchen several minutes later. I snatched a skillet off of the counter and turned towards Jimmy with a serious look on my face.

“Jimmy, I have a favor to ask of you,” I said seriously.

“Sure, anything.”

I held the skillet out to him. “I want you to hit me as hard upside the head as you can with this skillet.”

Jimmy just laughed and took the skillet from me and put it back up. “Chill, Miya. Just tell me about your day.”

“Well,” I walked over to the stove and stirred the Hamburger Helper I was making, “mostly the day went fine. But then, when I started making supper, Tyson snuck in here and grabbed a cookie. He disappeared and I spent about twenty minutes trying to find him. I was just about to ground him when Claire yelled for me. Nate was burning her dolls’ clothes again. She then proceeded to turn into a dog and snap at him, so I had to stop her from doing that. I haven’t got a clue where Tyson went, and I hope he realizes that he’s still grounded, even though I just haven’t told him yet.” I took a deep breath before looking around at Jimmy. “So, how did your day go?”

“Clearly better than yours,” Jimmy said with a smile. “I’ll go find Tyson and ground him for you.” He kissed my cheek before walking out of the kitchen.

((*****))

“So, the kids are all tucked in?” I asked Jimmy as he walked into our bedroom. He nodded and slid underneath the covers next to me. Jimmy and I took turns tucking the kids into bed every night. Tyson sometimes got indignant about it because he thought he was old enough to tuck himself in, but Jimmy and I both knew he would miss getting tucked in if we stopped.

“Miya, what do you say to a late-night stroll through the woods?” Jimmy asked a few minutes later. I blinked into the darkness and smiled.

“It sounds fabulous. Let me put some jeans on.”

A few minutes later, we tip-toed out of the back door. Our house sat right in front of a large wooded area. A trail ran right through the woods, starting in the right corner of our backyard and ending in the left. Jimmy and I linked hands as we strode across the yard to the trail. We rarely got time alone anymore, but being able to be a parent to three beautiful children was worth it.

We talked about meaningless things as we walked. Soon, we emerged into a large clearing. The big silver moon shone in the sky right above our heads, illuminating the clearing with white brilliance. Jimmy and I paused in the center of the clearing, looking up at the moon. Jimmy released my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist instead, pulling me against his side. I rested my head against his ribs and curled my arm around his waist too.

“I love you,” he said quietly, his voice barely louder than the rustling of the trees. I smiled. Almost eleven years had gone by since we got married, and our relationship hadn’t waned. I still loved Jimmy as much as I did eleven years ago; heck, I probably loved him more. Life hadn’t always been perfect for us; but now, it was, and that was all that mattered.

“I love you, too, Jimmy.”

The End!