By the time Sid dropped the children off, dark clouds had gathered and it had begun to rain.
The kids dashed into the house and straight into the kitchen, laughing and shaking off raindrops.
Mrs. McGregor was waiting for them with a napkin-covered basket.
“I thought you might want a little snack,” she said. “There’s a thermos of milk and oatmeal-raisin cookies still warm from the oven in here.”
“Oh, boy, thanks!” said Benny. “I’m starving!”
Jessie gave him a towel to dry his hair. “We just came back from lunch!”
“Yeah, but we didn’t get dessert,” Benny pointed out.
“Let’s go out to the boxcar,” Violet suggested. “I thought of something we can do.”
Henry handed out umbrellas from the rack in the laundry room, then they ran across the backyard to the boxcar.
“What’s your idea, Violet?” Jessie asked, setting Mrs. McGregor’s basket on the table.
“Why don’t we make our own comic book,” Violet said. “Sid Hoyt drew comics when he was a kid. We can, too!”
“That’s a great idea!” said Henry. “We can all work on it. Benny and I will make up the story.”
“And Violet will draw the pictures because she’s the artist,” said Jessie, pouring the milk into mugs.
“You do the lettering,” Violet said to her. “You have the neatest handwriting.”
“What’s it going to be about?” Henry asked, biting into a chewy cookie.
“Us!” Benny exclaimed. “We’ll be superhero kids!” He jumped up from the table to “fly” around the room, nearly upsetting his milk.
“Benny, that’s perfect!” Violet clapped her hands. “Our comic will be about four ordinary kids— ”
“Who have special powers,” Jessie said, picking up the story.
“The Super-Aldens each have a different special power,” Henry said.
“And the Super-Aldens work together as a team to help save the world from evil,” added Jessie.
Benny cleared the table so Violet could spread out their supplies: pencils, pens, markers, a ruler, and paper.
“What will our story be about?” Violet wondered, sharpening the pencils.
Henry thought a moment. “I think it should be our story. You know, how we found the boxcar in the woods. Only instead of us staying ordinary, the boxcar gives us superpowers.”
“Grandfather can look for us like he really did,” added Jessie.
“And he and all the people in Greenfield will hear about these superhero kids who fly and do neat things. But Grandfather won’t know it’s us until the end.”
The children got busy. Henry and Benny wrote a story with lots of help from Jessie. Violet drew the splash page. When she was finished, she passed it to Jessie, who wrote the dialogue in balloons coming from the characters’ mouths. They all colored the pictures.
Two hours later, they had completed an eight-page comic book called The Super-Aldens.
“This is so cool,” Benny said, flipping through the pages. “I wish we had more than one copy.”
“That’s a great idea,” said Violet. “Let’s make a couple and give one to Grandfather.”
“The library has a color copy machine,” Jessie said.
Henry checked his watch. “We’ll have to wait until after dinner.”
For once, the children ate in a hurry. Benny didn’t even ask for second helpings. Grandfather excused them so they could ride their bikes to the library.
Benny rode ahead of the others, dodging puddles. “The workers are still at the new house. Can we watch them a few minutes?” he said, hoping the man with the bulldozer would shovel some dirt.
The Aldens braked their bikes.
Benny looked at the cars and trucks parked around the site. When he saw a white pickup truck and a blue station wagon, he remembered the spy.
“I forgot to tell you,” he said to the others. “An old blue car like that one followed us today.”
“Are you sure it was following us?” Henry asked.
Benny nodded. “I think it was the same car we saw when we left Mr. Hoyt’s house.”
“There are lots of old blue station wagons,” Henry said. “But I’m writing down the license-plate number of this one just in case.”
Jessie noticed the woman construction worker putting tools in a metal box. Today the woman wore overalls, with her braided hair tucked under her hard hat. Her boots were muddy.
“It feels good to rest a minute,” Violet said, stretching. “We worked hard on our comic book.”
“The pictures you drew are terrific,” Jessie praised. “You could be a real comic book artist, Violet.”
Violet polished her bike lamp with the hem of her shirt. “I’d love that,” she said. “It would be hard work, but also fun.”
“That lady is watching us,” Benny said suddenly.
“The construction worker?” Henry looked across the road.
“Benny’s right,” Jessie said, lowering her voice. “She was putting tools away, but she stopped. I think she heard us talking.”
Just then the woman turned and ducked into the new house.
“That was weird,” Violet said. “She acts like we’re bothering her.”
“Maybe not,” Henry said reasonably. “She could have forgotten one of her tools.”
Or maybe, Jessie thought, she didn’t want us watching her anymore.
The kids got back on their bikes and rode the rest of the way to the library.
Henry got change from the reference librarian, then led the others to the color copy machine in one corner. He fed the machine coins while Jessie made the copies.
Violet studied the bulletin board above the whirring machine.
“There’s a good children’s program coming up Saturday,” she said. Just then another flyer caught her eye. “Hey! The Captain Fantastic Fan Club is meeting here tonight!”
“Can we go?” Benny pleaded.
“What time is the meeting?” asked Henry. They weren’t allowed to ride their bikes on the streets too late.
“Seven,” Violet replied. “It’s five of now.”
“We can stay an hour,” Henry decided. “If it’s okay with the people in the club.”
Jessie finished copying the comic book, then asked what room the fan club was meeting in.
They found a lot of people inside the room, all chatting about Captain Fantastic and other comic books.
“I didn’t know this many people liked comic books,” said Benny.
A young man wearing a Captain Fantastic button squeezed by them, carrying a cooler.
“I wonder who he is,” Jessie said. “I like his button.”
The young man spoke over his shoulder to someone they couldn’t see.
“Would you get the cups, Irene?” he said. “As soon as we set up the refreshments, we’ll start.”
Jessie realized she’d heard that voice before.
“We know that guy!” she said.
“We do?” Henry was puzzled. “I’ve never seen him before.”
“Yes, we have,” Jessie insisted. “We just didn’t recognize him!” |