Superheroes In Denim

by Lee French

  John

  So many vegetables, so little time. John prodded a tomato plant, causing a small fruit to expand to the size of his fist and turn red. Andrew asked for a tomato to use for making lunch, so he’d get a tomato. Plucking the mature fruit, he offered the plant some general nurturing, a thing he’d been doing on a rotation with all of them since he started the garden a few weeks ago. So far, he had beans, corn, tomatoes, a few types of quash, several varieties of berry, and carrots. The property had come with a pre-existing apple orchard, a patch of mixed grains, and a wild herb garden. He’d coaxed all three into submission already.

  The list of seeds he wanted grew every day, but at this point, they’d survive with what they had. Until he could get someone rig cold frames for him, he needed nothing else. On the other hand, he’d give his right arm for some lettuce or broccoli. More variety. Of course, all of it had to be preserved for the coming winter, so maybe waiting would turn out better.

  “Hey, John.” Hannah’s voice made him look up on his way back to the house. The pretty blonde smiled at him.

  “Hi, Hannah. How’s the basement project coming along?” He held up the tomato as an explanation for his current destination.

  “Actually, I have some questions about it. Can you come with me down there? Looking for some guidance on space and storage and that sort of thing.”

  “Of course. I just need to drop this off.”

  She followed him to the back door. “How are the plants?”

  “We’ll have a large harvest over the next few weeks. I’ll give each variety a week off, then force them through it again. I’ll be busy, but that’s alright. We should have our first apple harvest in a month. The grains have been my lowest priority because we don’t really have the equipment to harvest and process them efficiently.”

  “Good. What do you think you’ll be able to do over the winter?”

  John shrugged. “I can grow some things indoors in pots, I suppose, but we don’t really have any pots.”

  “Is there any way you can, I don’t know, winterize the crops? I mean, you can change the plants, right, not just make them grow and mature?”

  He opened his mouth to refuse, then he shut it. Could he do that? “I have no idea. It doesn’t seem like a good plan to rely on it.”

  “Fair enough. Work on it and let me know. In the meantime, what can you do to extend the shelf life of the vegetables we will have?”

  “It depends.” He frowned, working through what he knew he could do and what he only guessed. When he opened the door, still thinking, he noticed someone approaching.

  “Hey, Ai. Do you have a minute?” Hannah pushed the door open wider. “I’ll be right back, John.”

  Hearing the name of the other person, John’s cheeks flared with heat and he blinked at Ai. The willowy Japanese woman smiled, her icy blue eyes crinkling at the canted corners and making his brain churn to a stop. Today, she wore her long, black hair in a loose braid. It bounced as she moved.

  “Sure,” Ai said, her voice drifting on the air like dandelion seeds.

  When Hannah stepped past John and let go of the door, the spring snapped it shut. John stumbled forward a step and blushed harder. He ducked his head and hid his face as he darted into the nearby kitchen while Hannah and Ai walked out. Thankfully, Andrew didn’t care and took the tomato without a word.

  Andrew sniffed the fruit while John faced the counter and knocked his forehead on a cabinet. “Smells good. Thanks, John.”

  “Right. Yes. Good. Brilliant.” If he could die, maybe that would fix everything.

  “How is it that so many of you guys get so caught up with the women here?” Tony’s light Hispanic accent held blunt disapproval. “They’re our sisters.”

  “We don’t know that,” Andrew said, his heavy Creole accent marking him as a proper chef.

  “What else makes sense? That we all just happen to have the same eyes by some freak coincidence? ”

  “We could be cousins.”

  “And that makes it all okay?”

  Not paying much attention to them, John stepped to the side to watch Hannah and Ai through the window. Ai tucked an errant wisp of hair behind her ear. Hard work must have tousled it free and an errant breeze made it tickle her cheek. He imagined her with all that coiled on top of her head like a Chinese princess from the stories his mother used to tell him as a child. A small spray of baby’s breath and miniature roses would complement her well.

  “Are you even listening?” Tony shoved John’s arm.

  “What?” John blinked at the Cubano man and shook his head. He’d lost the thread of his thoughts and wanted to punch Tony for making it happen. Afraid of the consequences, he shook his head. “I needed to do something in the basement.”

  Andrew grinned as he slid the diced tomato off his cutting board and into his stock pot.

  Tony rolled his eyes. “You all make me sick,” he grumbled as he stalked out of the kitchen.

  “Ignore him,” Andrew suggested. “He’s probably just cranky because none of them will sleep with him.”

  John shrugged and went for the basement door. “He does have a point, I just don’t care that much. It’s hard to get upset about it when we were all science experiments to begin with.”

  “Sure. How about zucchini for tomorrow? Say, ten foot-longs.”

  “Yeah. No problem.” John trekked down the stairs into the cool air of the basement. They’d covered the bare earth floor with rug remnants and sheets of broken plywood rejected for the renovations upstairs.

  Columns held up the floor above in the gloomy space. One lone washing machine churned laundry in the corner with a freezer beside it. They had nothing else down here now. After spending the first two weeks here, enough bedrooms had been finished upstairs for everyone to get their own slice of privacy.

  The boards creaked as Hannah walked down the stairs. “So, as you can see, not much has happened down here.”

  “What are you looking for from me? I realize I have spatial planning skills, but…” John shrugged.

  “You’re the one who’s going to be producing the things we need to store down here. I’m looking for your thoughts on how to set this space up to accommodate that.”

  “Ah.” He surveyed the room without seeing it. “We’ll need shelves and bins, mostly, some racks might be helpful, but not necessary. Shelf paper would be good, I suppose. I really don’t have a good idea about how much of that will be necessary, though. After the first round of the rolling harvest, I should have a better idea. For now, just cram as many shelves as possible down here while people are still working on everything else.”

  “Do you think we’ll eventually need to have this whole space filled with your shelves and bins? ”

  “Probably. For now, though, we can use a single dresser, about six feet long, and a standard bookshelf. I’ll have a lot, but we’ll go through it pretty fast. And we’ll need a ton of jars for all the pickling and preserving and all that. That’s what the bookshelf is mostly for.”

  Hannah nodded her satisfaction. “That’s pretty much what I needed to know. Thanks, John.” She gave him a grateful smile.

  “I’m glad I can help.” He failed to see how she couldn’t have figured that out for herself, but shrugged and followed her upstairs again. Maybe she just had too much to do. While she plunged back into the organizational fray, he checked the window and saw Ai walking among his flowers. He gulped and headed to his room.

  His tiny bedroom had enough space for a bed, a closet, a nightstand, and some shelves. Three plants in pots grew on his windowsill. One, the bamboo, reminded him of his mother. The aloe had a soothing presence and the ivy felt like a jolt of caffeine when he touched it first thing in the morning.

  While he stood in the doorway, breathing in the aloe scent on the breeze, someone brushed past him.

  “Hi, John.”

  He noticed Ai waving at him out of the corner of his eye and turned in time to catch her smile and look away. Too lat
e for her to see, he smiled and waved. And felt like an idiot. Before he figured out how to say something, she stepped inside her own room and shut the door.

  He banged his head on his door. If only women could be as easy to deal with as plants.

  “Goodness gracious.” Christopher, the resident Tejano empath, tsked as he approached. He patted John on the shoulder. “Oh dear,” he said with an exaggerated sigh and pity in his eyes.

  John considered shutting the door in Chris’s face rather than figuring out how to deal with him. But that would be rude. “What?”

  “You know, she will never find out you like her if you don’t say something.”

  Rolling his eyes, John took a step into his room. “Yeah. Thanks.”

  “No, wait! Wait. I wanted to ask you for something.” Chris pressed his palms together in front of his chest. “I know you have a ton to do and you don’t want to talk to me, but please, please, pretty please? I’m on a mission.”

  John sighed. “What do you need?”

  “Do you have any daisies growing out there right now?

  “No, there’s feverfew, but no daisies.”

  “Oh, poop. Can you grow some?”

  “Out of nothing?” John snorted. “No. I need a seed or a cutting that’s still alive. Get me that and I can grow anything.”

  “Okay. I can do that. Thanks, John!” Chris waved and glided up the hall.

  “Sure. Whatever.” John shut his door and kicked off his dirt-stained sneakers. He needed garden clogs. Looking down at his jeans, he decided they were too dirty to keep wearing and shucked them. His t-shirt, too. Weariness rolled over him. Using his power took a lot out of him, and he’d been doing it almost nonstop since he got here. Sitting in just his boxers, he reflected that he should have grabbed a sandwich.

  Too tired to bother getting one now, and also thinking he needed to get a bathrobe, he lay down and relaxed. As he drifted on the edge of a nap, someone knocked on the door. His eyes snapped open and his heart jolted. He had to pant to catch his breath. Whoever decided to disturb him could go to hell.

  “John?” Ai called through the door. “I’m sorry to bother you—” Before she finished the sentiment, leaped to his feet and yanked the door open. She looked at him and binked, then turned away with a blush and a giggle. “Oh, wow, um, yeah.”

  He remembered his state of undress. “Oh, crap.” Pulling the door partway closed, he hid behind it. “Sorry. Not really as awake as I could be, I guess.”

  “Um, yeah. It’s okay.”

  Much too embarrassed to look at her now, his gaze stayed on the floor, the wall, the door, the doorframe, anything but her. “So, um.”

  “Yeah. Um.”

  “Uh, did you, um, want something?”

  “Oh! Right. I wanted to ask you if I could help with the harvest. I mean, I can go pretty fast, and it’s not just my legs, it’s all over.”

  Mention of her legs drew his gaze to them. She wore shorts today, leaving her shapely calves and knees bare. He let his gaze meander up her thighs until he remembered she’d asked him a question. Snapping his gaze to her face, he gulped and hoped she didn’t notice how long it took. Another second later, he grasped the question. “Um, yeah, that would be great. It’ll go a lot faster, especially the grains.”

  If he considered it from a particular point of view, this would be a lot like a date. Exactly like a date, in fact, except without date-style activities, a set day and time, and dignity. “I’m not sure how soon that’ll be, but I’ll let you know…I guess the day before.”

  “Okay, cool. Are you alright?”

  “Yeah, I was just…” He waved into the room, trying to recall the word for trying to sleep. “Um.”

  “Oh.” Her eyes went wide. “Ooooohhhhh. Okay, I am really, really sorry for bugging you, then.” She took a step back.

  He blinked once. A beat passed. The way she covered her mouth and grinned made him realize what she thought he must have been doing. “Wait, no, that’s not what I meant.”

  “It’s okay, it’s cool.” She waved him off and took another step. “You’re a guy. No big deal.”

  “Well, yeah, but I’d much rather do it with you.” It took a moment for his brain to catch up, notice, and be completely mortified. “Um, nap. Tired. Sorry.” He shut the door, hoping she didn’t knock again. Or ever talk to or see him again.

  Can’t UnSee

  Kaitlin

  “Don’t even.”

  Jayce stopped and blinked, hands raised to show he meant no harm. “I only came—”

  “Ssht.” Kaitlin flicked her hand at him in irritation. Had she let him come one step closer, she knew he would’ve knocked the table with her glass, spilling water all over her laptop. “Don’t care. Go away.”

  “Fine.” Jayce huffed and left.

  Already ignoring him, she switched focus on her web browser from her favorite stock ticker to her broker’s online portal. Based upon the vision she had five minutes ago, she needed to sell three stocks before the end of business today and buy four more. Tomorrow, she’d sell those four and make a killing.

  Of course, since her precognitive power allowed her to play the stock market, she already had over a million dollars. Five weeks ago, her power went active and she started with two hundred bucks and a freebie online trading account. Now she had a personal broker—selected by her visions—to do her bidding. He made a ton off her in commissions. Most of it went to pay outrageous medical bills for his daughter.

  “Kaitlin?”

  Glancing up, Kaitlin saw one of the many interchangeable female blonde residents of this superhero safe house. “What?”

  “I don’t mean to bother you. I can come back.” The woman wrung her hands and bit her lip.

  “Too late.” Kaitlin tapped on her keyboard, waiting for the request. She finished typing orders to her broker and the woman still stood in silence. Apparently, she couldn’t handle blurting out her problems. “What do you want?”

  “I was wondering…” She glanced to the side and blushed. “The thing is, I think I might be pregnant.”

  “And this has what to do with me?”

  “Clive and I were going to drive to the nearest town and pick up a test, but I thought maybe…?”

  Kaitlin gave her a long, slow blink. She’d never been used as a pregnancy test before. The novelty amused her as much as it annoyed her. “Sure. Why not? Saves time, right?” As an added bonus, no one ran the risk of being seen or tracked because of a silly errand. Shifting her laptop to the side, she held her hand out.

  The woman tensed and stared at the hand.

  After several long beats, Kaitlin arched an eyebrow. “Are you going to let me touch you or what? I barely know you and this has nothing to do with my future. If you want me to read this, you gotta take my hand.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” Moving with enough tension to coil a rusty spring, she touched Kaitlin’s finger.

  With a roll of her eyes, Kaitlin snatched her hand. She closed her eyes, expecting a vision instead of an impulse or information delivered straight to her consciousness. Two deep breaths later, she focused on the knowledge she wanted and mentally pushed the button to make her power activate.

  The imagery rolled over her in a tidal wave. Bullets, blood, water, ash. An elevator dinged. Acid sizzled. Chunks of stone and masonry blew apart.

  Kaitlin snatched her hand back before anything became clear. She covered her mouth against the impulse to throw up.

  “Oh my gosh, are you okay?” The woman crouched and reached for Kaitlin’s face.

  “Don’t touch me,” Kaitlin snapped. “Get out. I can’t help you.”

  Letting out a startled gasp, the woman stumbled backward. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “You didn’t.” Kaitlin turned her attention to her laptop, expecting it to soothe away her nausea. As the woman reached the doorway, Kaitlin realized why she felt like barfing. “Stop,” she called out. “Yes. You’re pregnant.”

  “T
hank you.”

  “Whatever,” Kaitlin muttered at her laptop. “Never touching her again.”

  Weapons

  Lily

  Sebastian chased the tiny silver dragon in the sunshine. It lured him away from the herb garden, away from the cars, and away from Lily. She sat on a tree stump, practicing with her power. Bobby stood beside her, watching her son with his hands in his pockets. His command of his dragons did nothing to boost Lily’s confidence with her own power.

  To make this effort useful, she focused on creating a new blanket for Sebastian. Everyone said they’d get snow here this winter. She and Sebastian would experience that for the first time together. Only five minutes after she heard someone say that, she realized snow only happened in the cold. This place would need more blankets.

  Her hands itched for half a second while she activated her power. A white nimbus outlined her fingers and flowed into solid material. More and more slid out of her until she had a one foot square. The solid, inflexible sheet of thick, white material had nothing in common with the fuzzy blue blanket she wanted.

  With a heavy sigh, she tossed it onto the stack of her previous failed attempts, now numbering ten. It hit with a wood-like clunk. The stack rattled again as the bottom failure dissipated.

  “I’m useless.”

  “Naw.” Bobby flashed her an encouraging smile. “Just ain’t what your power is good at, is all. If’n you can make it permanent, you’d be real good for building materials. Could probably redo the barn in a snap if’n you can make it all one piece.”

  “But that’s so…” She sighed again, not sure how to explain. Bobby’s power let him do nearly anything. The same was true for so many of them. Even Lizzie could use her fire in umpteen ways, including somehow powering the water heater even in her absence. Lily’s own ability seemed so limited and pointless. She could make building materials and tools that lasted half an hour.

  “Maybe you just gotta relax. You seem kinda tense.”

  “Maybe I’d just be better off without an audience,” she snapped.

  Bobby held up his hands in surrender and backed away. “No problem. I’ll go wrangle the boy.”