Nikki Powergloves- A Hero is Born
Page 18
Chapter Seventeen: Nikki becomes a farmer (minus the overalls)
Nikki had been watching with fascination as her green gloves sparkled with beauty. With a jolt, she was aware that something was different. When she looked up, she was confused. Where was Spencer?
She could tell she was still on a farm, on the side of a barn, but she didn’t think it was Farmer Miller’s place anymore. How did she get here?
Nikki could hear voices nearby, so she crept toward them and peeked around the corner of the red barn.
“What are we going to do this year, Jerry?” A woman was talking to a man; he was probably her husband.
Her probably-husband responded, “We’ll make it through, dear, we always do.”
“No, not this year. We could barely pay our bills last year with a full harvest and now look at it,” she motioned to the fields. Nikki followed her gesture to see a wide expanse of land. There was something lying on the ground, covering the entire field. “The storm destroyed every single stalk of corn before we could get anything from them. It’s too late in the season to plant again. We are going to have to sell the farm, Jerry!”
Jerry the farmer pulled his wife to him and hugged her as she wept.
Nikki felt sick to her stomach. This farmer and his wife had lost their livelihood because of her. She had to do something. The growing gloves! She watched as the couple walked into the house, and then she scurried across the lawn and onto the fields. In order to keep this a secret, she was going to have to work fast.
Nikki went all the way to the furthest corner of the cornfield before closing her eyes and, using every brain cell she had, imagined the corn growing again, into tall, strong stalks. She was careful not to overdo it; she didn’t want suspicions to be raised by unbelievably tall cornfields.
Opening her eyes, she almost screamed with happiness when she saw the result. The fallen stalks were lifting themselves up and dusting themselves off, as if they were humans that had fallen over. The bent stalks were magically straightened and then the growing began. The stalks looked like new as they grew taller, and Nikki watched with delight as green ears of corn popped out from every side.
She knew that soon the farmer and his wife would notice that something was different and come running out. Wanting to see their reaction, Nikki ran along the side of the field so she could watch from afar. Sure enough, a few minutes later Nikki observed as the woman opened the door to let their dog out. When she did, she glanced up at the field and nearly keeled over backwards in surprise.
The woman let out a loud “Ooooweee!” and yelled, “Jerry, Jerry, come quick!” The farmer emerged and the two of them ran to the fields. They touched the stalks delicately, as if they were worried that the slightest disturbance might knock the crops over again.
“This is just the miracle we needed, honey. Someone is looking out for us after all. We’re going to be just fine,” Jerry said, embracing his wife once again. The couple wept tears of joy together and Nikki found herself tearing up just watching them.
Nikki felt good about what she had done, but was careful not to have too much pride, as she knew she had caused their problems in the first place. But she was excited for the next day, when she would be able to try to use her new powers to clean up the rest of the mess she had made. Only then would she be ready to start learning how to become a real hero.
Not knowing exactly where she was, Nikki swapped her green gloves for the light blue flying ones and shot off into the air. The farmer and his wife were too busy counting their blessings to see her rocket upwards and across the sky.
Nikki quickly found her bearings and headed in the direction of her house. She was very careful to stay high enough so that anyone that happened to spot her would mistake her for a bird. She helicopter-landed in her backyard—behind her dad’s tool shed—and dialed Spencer’s cell number.
“Come to my house right away, Spence. Do I have a story for you,” she said.