The Four-Year Old Super

Most parents have to wait until their kids 12th or 13th birthdays to know if they're super; Billy's had only four years to wait, before their son poked a hole into a sheet of reinforced glass in the living room. Sharon Blake, the boys mother and an intermediate budgeting supervisor at one of Chicagos three PNC branches, still recalls her sons debut into the world of super-humans with a strange mixture of unease and pride. “It was 5:40 when the elevator finally came to a stop at our floor”, she would say, always beginning her story with the end of her day at the bank. Sharon, now a senior budget analyst at her bank, never misses a chance to inform or remind others that she does indeed work for a bank, and at a famous one too. “And what's the first, the very first thing I see when I walk through my front door and into my living room? Young Billy,” (at at this point in the story she either pauses to point to her son if he is physically present, or simply for dramatic effect) “Young Billy, over there, cutting scribbles into half-inch thick reinforced glass with his pointer finger!”. Then she would laugh, a little too hard, and shake her head as if to say “Kids, right?”.

Fortunately for us, Bills sister, the lovely and now infamous vintage surrealist artist Gloria Blake, remembers the incident quite differently. “Mom nearly shrieked hard enough to shatter the window panes Billy hadn't stuck his finger into yet.”, she recalls, sitting across from me in faded jeans and a fashionably perforated woolen sweater adorned with wilting plastic roses and gaily colored moths. “Good God, she nearly gave me a heart attack and I was seven! Seven year olds shouldn't have heart attacks, that’s not a thing that should happen...right?!” she says, her lovely opal eyes, blue with flecks of green and red, flashing with mock exasperation. “I swear, our mother was such a dramarama mama; you'd think she didn't have a superpowered bone in her body, the way she flew off the handle sometimes.”, she continues. “And honestly? I think, looking back on all that now, that she wanted to pass for plain human.”. That is as far as Gloria is willing to expand upon that subject, as her relationship with her mother has grown increasingly strained ever since Gloria was outed as a polygamist two years ago by a spurned ex-girlfriend on Twitter. “I'm going going to need to think very carefully about the life I shared with my mother before she declared me a witch and a toxic influence at family gatherings.”, she says, running a finger through a lock of auburn hair. “There are a lot of beautiful memories there, and I'd hate to completely ruin all of that with a careless word.”. Returning to the subject of the advent of her brothers super-powers, she remembers Billy being “incredibly brave”. “It must have been a lot for a four-year-old to process.”, she says, eyes lost in thought. “Though, knowing Billy he probably took it perfectly in stride. He's always been a lot like Dad in that regard; Nothing fazes him for long.”

Billy's father, a senior video game developer at Further Realms Studios, has his own memories of that day to share. “I still remember Janice calling me during a meeting with our head character model designer”, he says, with a smile that is still a little forced, ten years later. “She's talking before I have my phone out of my pocket and over my ear; first she's panicking about the windows, then she's gushing with pride over our boy, who, as it turned out, had just joined our family as its second superhuman.”, he says, rather dryly. “I remember being quite surprised at Janice, though I never said so at the time; she sounded too thrilled to be reminded of her opinions toward the larger super-powered community.”, Mr Blake says, with a little laugh. “It wasn't until much later, about a week or so from the day, that Bills superpowers became an issue. I think at that moment she was just happy to have been there for our boys superhuman baby steps”, he says with a soft smile.

Excerpt from Jack Whedon's first draft of the Blake Family biography, circa 2026




2013, Fall

“I wah-na see the snay-akes, I wanna see the rhynose, I wanna see the ly-” exclaimed Billy, bouncing excitedly on the Jeep Gridirons leather seats before being scooped back into Glorias arms with a high pitched squeal. The car settled back onto its suspenders at once, and Boris, whose alarmed eye Gloria caught in the rearview mirror, exhaled once more. “Thank you sweetie”, he said as he steered the family car off the I-94 and into Fullerton Parkway. “S'okay Daddy”, replied Gloria, peeking over Billy's head to catch a glimpse of the Zoo, which her father had assured her she'd be seeing very soon a few minutes ago. Boris flashed a smile of approval back at Gloria before turning his attention back to the road. “She really does have a way with Billy”, he thought as he turned east and started down the road towards the Lincoln Park Zoo. That had been painfully clear to him since last night, as he stood breathless in the play room's doorway, his eyes frozen on the throbbing red welt on Janice's cheek.

He could still see it on his from where he sat now, glancing at his wife curled up in the passenger seat, asleep. A small but noticeable bruise left by his son's petulant fist. From what he'd gathered from Gloria later that night, as Janice slept off the painkillers, Billy had not taken kindly to Janice's attempt to separate him from his Ipad. After gentle coo's and playful tickles has failed to persuade the four year old superhuman, she'd resorted to simply picking him up, only to be punched by his thrashing arms. It had been Gloria who'd eventually managed to calm him down enough to walk him to his bed, and had even managed to have him asleep before 8:00. Needless to say, he'd decided it'd be best to leave Billy in Gloria's hands whilst they figured things out.

The Zoo's entrance slid into view, eliciting squeals of delight from both children, who promptly began bouncing together in the backseat. Boris felt concern well up again- Gloria was, as far as both he and his wife knew, a non-superhuman. Like most parents they would have to wait until her 12th or 13th birthday to find out; but for the time being she was as fragile as he was. Yet somehow...even the bouncing seemed tamer than before, when Billy had made the entire car bounce along that highway like a dune buggy. He wondered if even Billy was aware that he was holding himself back around his sister. A single glance into vacant, joy-filled eyes bouncing in and out of view in the rearview mirror was all he needed to answer his own question. “All right, all right, cut it out you two”, he said, and Gloria settled down almost at once. Billy followed suit, settling back down onto her lap, panting lighlty. He heard Janice stir in the seat next to him as he steered the car into an available parking space, and was quietly grateful. At least there'd be another pair of eyes on Billy now.

“Hey you”, she croaked as she sat up, smiling.

“Hey”

“How was the drive? I thought I'd wake up halfway here, help keep an eye on Tyson back there.”, she said with a smile he was grateful for.

“It was good”, he said, and left it at that. Today he'd let Billy be Gloria's for a bit. He was sure Janice had forgiven Billy for last night; he was a child of four after all, and she his mother. Still, he reckoned she deserved to have Billy off her hands for a day. Between her career and Billy she was being run ragged.

The family stepped out into the sun, with Gloria helping Billy out of the large automobile. Boris noted how thorough she was with some amusement, fussing over her brothers parka zipper and his wild blonde hair. Today is going to be a good day, he thought as he smiled and took Janice’s hand. To his mild surprise Gloria came running up and engulfed her mother in a huge, warm, hug. Billy watched with detached interest, and took Gloria's hand after she took her mothers. Together they walked into the Lincoln Park Zoo, hand in hand, a picture perfect family.


Boris was having a good time, despite himself. The swell of the crowds, the echoing laughter and chatter of children running in the corridors, the bittersweet smells of vegetation, hay and animal shit...they helped lift his thoughts up and away from last night. He even caught himself pretending to be just another visitor, taking pictures with his family and laughing at other dad's jokes. And then he would catch sight of a kid breathing fluffy little white clouds through his nose without an e-cigarette in sight, or of a lady elongating her arm to catch a wandering balloon, and his thoughts would be in the playroom once more. He smiled as he took a picture of Janice kneeling with the kids in front of the zebra enclosure, and wondered what parents had worried about before the aliens touched down in the 60's. He pictured a bell-bottomed housewife fretting over finding Junior with a pack of cigarettes and snorted in amusement. At least she'd never have to worry about getting her head swatted off by an upset child.

“Don't even ask, its perfect”, he said, handing Janice back her phone. “Oh like you'd know”, she shot back with a smile, tucking a loose auburn coil behind her ear as she looked at the picture on her phone screen. Boris watched her fight to keep a straight frown as she flipped through the last five pictures, before settling on the most recent. “Okay, it's FINE. That's all you get.”, she said as she bounced up to kiss him lightly on the cheek. Boris only smiled with her and marveled at how well she'd hidden the bruise. It blended almost flawlessly with her rouge.

The kids watched their parents with mild amusement, with Billy scrunching his eyes up and sticking out his tongue a mile from his face as Gloria giggled. Janice rolled her eyes up to heaven and leaned into his arm, whispering, “Treasure these moments, Boris. They'll be all you have to keep you warm on those lonely nights we'll be up waiting for one of those jokers to come home”. “Don't jinx it”, said Boris. He was half serious; he didn't even want to imagine what life would be like after Billy's hormones kicked in and Gloria's powers (if she had any) arrived. For now he was just content to have them be two little kids, smiling and watching the macaques swing around their enclosure with wide eyed delight.

They had been in the reptile room for nearly five minutes when they heard the sound of plexiglass being torn apart coming from behind them and heard Gloria shriek, “Billy NO!”, sending their temperatures plummeting to the soles of their feet. Boris and Janice had turned to take a picture of the chameleon family in the enclosure opposite the anaconda's, leaving Gloria and Billy momentarily unattended. It was a mistake Boris would regret for years to come. They turned in unison, their eyes widening into twin spheres of horror as they watched their four year old son wiggle his way through the hole in the plexiglass he'd carved for himself and into the anaconda enclosure. They barely even registered Gloria's tear streaked face as they rushed to the enclosure screaming, pleading, even threatening their son through the hole as he plodded towards the mass of sleek blackness coiled up in the corner. An alarm was raised, and people leaned in closer to see what the hubbub was about before seeing the hole and stepping back. Something about tranquilizers was screamed into the rising din.

The only ones oblivious to all this were Billy and Rhonda, the 30 foot long, 560 pound 15 inch thick green anaconda he was currently sharing an enclosure with. The toddler plodded towards the monster, his eyes wide with blind wonder, his fingers reaching for her smooth, plated sides. Boris and Janice howled in despair and dark grief. Gloria could only look on in horror, her voice caught, hitched in her throat. And then the snake stirred.

“Yes! Baby, come back to Mommy and Daddy, come back to us Billy!”, Janice bellowed, her voice strong and hoarse as she reached out for Billy through the jagged hole. Billy had paused, and was looking at Rhonda with what seemed like dawning realization. The snake reared up her diamond shaped head, more curious than threatened. She had been a goddess to the soft creatures that fished and bathed along the bank of her river, feared and worshiped until the fearless ones had come with sleep in thin tubes. She did not fear this little one. On the contrary, she pitied it; few creatures had ever been stupid enough to enter into her presence so lightly.

Billy took a step forward, and the snake hissed, indignant. Boris moaned, impotent. And then everything happened at once. The exhibit flooded with gas as the snake lunged at Billy, a sinewy missile of bone and muscle. Janice backed away from the glass, coughing and sobbing, hand clasped over her mouth to stifle a scream that would not come. Then there were sounds of a struggle. A faint cough, a child’s cough that only Boris heard. Then a grunt; and then as explosion of blood and gristle, followed by a shockwave that rippled clothes and shattered the exhibits glass. Janice's cardigan caught a few drops of the beasts blood as the glass fell to the ground and the crowd behind her surged fearfully back.Gloria found her voice at last, and screamed, a high shrill scream that set of a wave of anxious babble. And in the tumult of who's and whats young Billy was temporarily forgotten, even as he stumbled out of the ruined exhibit with his eyes streaming and his face scrunched into an acute expression of strain and nausea. Only his family, and a few smartphone cameras caught him as he emerged from the haze and tottered into him mothers arms, smearing her face and chest with Amazonian snake blood. The Blake family stood in stunned silence, numb beyond words. And then Billy found some, as he squinted into his mothers eyes; “I caught a snay-ake, Mom!”