Book Read Free

Project Superhero

Page 6

by E. Paul Zehr


  We each did it three times. The first time Audrey didn’t do anything and it dropped right through her hands and hit her foot. We both started laughing. I asked, “How did you manage to even walk to school today?” We were both rolling around laughing for quite a while. Too long, according to Mr. Pratt.

  Next time, she got 10 centimeters and then 12 centimeters. This worked out to 0.14 seconds and 0.16 seconds. Which was pretty good. I got 10, 12, and 5. The 5 was actually the best in class and works out to 0.10 seconds.

  Mr. Pratt showed us this table:

  Excellent <7.5 cm

  Above Average 7.5-15.9 cm

  Average 15.9-20.4 cm

  Below Average 20.4-28 cm

  Poor>28 cm

  I was feeling pretty good about myself after that. Until I got home, that is. I thought I would show little sister Shay how quick on the draw big sister Jessie was. So I did the test with her.

  Shay got 6, 7, and 5 for her three tries. She wanted to know if that was any good. I said, yeah it was okay, I guess.

  OK. She was looking over my shoulder when I wrote that. She seemed happy enough with “okay” and has moved on to the kitchen to get a snack. Shay is so fast! She could actually be Batgirl now!

  Like Mom is always telling us, we are all naturally more talented at some things than others — so Shay is really fast even though she hasn’t been doing any Batgirl training — but others can work hard to be just as good or better.

  You can’t beat hard work (according to Mom).

  I’m still thinking that over . . .

  FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28

  More Batgirl questions: Is it possible to see and hear more than normal? Or smell more? How does Batgirl use her Jedi mind-tricks to fool opponents?

  Batgirl’s mind — her ability to out-think bad guys — has got to be her best weapon. And her best defense. She needs to train a mind that sees what others overlook, to work all the senses to the maximum, and to unleash her inner superhero-ness.

  Training with Auntie G this week I found out a very important thing. Something that a Batgirl-in-training needs to understand. Vision is the queen of our other senses. Like when I’m sitting in our car at a stoplight and another car pulls up beside us. Sometimes when I look over at that other car as it moves forward it feels like our car is moving backward! It’s a visual illusion.

  Auntie G did this thing where she lined up in front of me in a fighting position. Then she kind of crouched a bit lower. It totally looked like she was shrinking into herself! Anyway, it looked like she was getting further away from me but then — BAM! She jumped right at me and did a kick.

  I could not move at all. Her kick came right up and hit me — not too hard, just a tap — right in my tummy. It totally took me by surprise. I had a total reaction fail.

  Auntie G said that visual illusions are very powerful. Super-bat-fantastic-powerful. Batgirl knows this and she can use it to her advantage when she is getting herself out of trouble! She knows how to use her movements to delude bad guys (and bad girls). Just like Auntie G showed me.

  Next Auntie G says I need to try some exercises that Batgirl would do to help improve her ability to pay attention to the world around her.

  I’m tuning up my senses: hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and touching.

  This sense training stuff is harder than I thought it would be. First up, last Saturday, was smell. To be random, I wrote out all the senses on paper strips and drew them out of a hat. Very high tech. Audrey would have for sure written a whole computer program just to do this!

  Anyway, Auntie G said the way to do it is the same with each sense and that I should do one sense per day. As soon as I wake up, I remember which sense I am going to concentrate on that day. And then really focus on it. All day long.

  TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9

  Today I was supposed to focus on taste, but oops, I forgot all about that when I woke up. I just ate my breakfast without concentrating, which kind of ruined it. I remembered when I was showering but then forgot until after lunch, which was too late to be of any use since I’d already eaten two meals by then. And a snack. And I had some gum too. And mints. Too late, too late, too late. Argh.

  So instead of exploring my taste buds — or my “taste bugs” like Shay used to say, so cute! — I explored hearing. I worked really hard to focus on only certain sounds or certain things.

  So, when we were in science class, I focused on just trying to hear Mr. Richardson for a change. Ha!

  OK. No. Seriously, I usually listen to Mr. Richardson. But today I tried to hear the ticking of the clock. It was pretty cool because it was hard to hear at first but once I heard a bit of a tick, it got easier to hear it more and more. It’s like my brain identified it as something important and then I could hear it better.

  Unfortunately, while I was busy listening to the clock go tick tock, I really did zone out on Mr. Richardson.

  Which made me think of asking Audrey for her notes later.

  Which made me think of Audrey.

  Which made me look across the class to Audrey.

  Which is why I saw Cade leaning forward in his desk whispering something to her.

  Which is why I saw her laugh and Cade laugh. But I wasn’t part of the “whatever they were laughing about.”

  Which is why I feel like I’m on the outside looking in.

  WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10

  Argh. Arrgh. Arrrgh. Arrrrrrrrrrrgh! Group assignments!

  Normally I’m okay with group assignments. It just depends on the group. Group projects where the teacher assigns the members? Not OK. Argh. I am so glad that the Superhero Slam is solo. Just me and Batgirl.

  Because guess who is in my group? Dylan, of course. And, of course, Dylan is driving me to shouting! Group assignments with lazy group members are not my thing! Group assignments where the teacher puts people who don’t care with those who do?

  Not. Cool.

  Yargh. Yargh? What am I, a pirate now? See, diary? That’s how frustrated I am. I have to resort to pirate-talk . . . matey.

  It’s always so brutal when you get randomly assigned to a group. It’s me, Jack, and Dylan. Sigh. Jack did okay, but Dylan?!? Whenever we had work time in class for our mini-project on Confucianism — or it felt more like confusionism — all he did was sit there listening to music on his iPod and doodling pictures of, well, I’m not sure what. Some stuff, on his paper, on the desk, basically everywhere. And he isn’t particularly skilled at doodling, our Dylan.

  I wonder what it’s like for Batgirl. A lot of the time she is by herself doing her own thing. But she has to work in groups too. Like with other Bat-Family members Nightwing, Robin, Batman, and others. Or her major Birds of Prey friends like Black Canary, Huntress, and Hawkgirl.

  Batgirl couldn’t have gotten on great with everybody all the time. But there was always something they had to do, so I guess Batgirl had to figure out a way to do it no matter what. And I guess I do too!

  Anyway, we are supposed to finish up our assignment by Monday. So I finally let Dylan have it!

  Me: “Hey, Dylan?”

  Dylan: “Huh?”

  Me: “We have to finish up our assignment. Since you have done, well, basically nothing so far, you are going to finish it up on your own this weekend. Got it?”

  Dylan (sighing): “Ya, OK. That seems fair, you guys. I really haven’t done much so far.”

  Jack (looking startled, surprised, and unsure what to say at this shocking turn of events): “?”

  Me: “Good.”

  Pretty good, if I do say so myself. Except I am saying so myself, by myself, to myself because that whole conversation took place in my head. I was so going to tell Dylan off today but I just froze and couldn’t do it.

  So that means what really happened is it got left for me to pull the assignment together into a fant
astic pleasing-to-the-eye poster. Which I — by myself — will work super hard on all weekend. And (of course) it will look great but I am also super frustrated. Why should all that fall to me to do? Uh oh. Here it comes again . . . Yarghhh!

  One thing I will say for Dylan, he’s at least honest. We have to give ourselves a grade for effort and input, Dylan said he didn’t really do anything (true) and just wasn’t into it (that is sure how it looked). So he’ll get a worse mark than Jack and me. (It’s not like I want him to get a worse mark. But I do want to get a mark that I deserve.)

  Still, I’d rather get a good mark and not have to work ALL WEEKEND on the assignment. I told Ms. King that too. In fact I told her I’m doing enough work for two assignments.

  She just kind of smiled at me and nodded her head. You know, in that way that adults do when they generally agree with what you are saying but aren’t going to do anything about it.

  At least she kind of grudgingly admitted it and it made me feel a bit better. But I would have felt a lot better if I could’ve just stood up for myself. When am I going to stand up to Dylan?

  OK. Last one: Yarghh!

  FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12

  Christmas is within touching distance. Only two weeks away. It’s almost here! Yay! You know, it really is the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas break is wonderful because everyone’s together . . . AND there’s no homework. ☺

  MONDAY, DECEMBER 15

  Today I got my answer from Jessica Watson! It was so awesome to read her book TRUE SPIRIT: THE TRUE STORY OF A 16-YEAR-OLD AUSTRALIAN WHO SAILED SOLO, NONSTOP, AND UNASSISTED AROUND THE WORLD. And then to write and ask her stuff. And now she has a TRUE SPIRIT movie coming out too!

  Dear Jessica,

  It is really cool to write to you! I’ve been doing a lot of research for my project on heroes. My Socials teacher, Ms. King, has been telling us lots about explorers and stuff. It got me looking up women in history and I read about Amelia Earhart and her flying adventures. That’s when I came across your story!

  It would be great if you could answer some questions.

  When you were sailing around the world, did you ever get really lonely? What did you do?

  I missed all my family and friends from the moment I sailed out of Sydney and there were times when I was really home sick but I never use the word lonely. Lonely is when all your friends are away and you’ve got no one to hang out with! It also really helped that there were people from around the world sending me messages of support.

  Did you have a favorite song you played?

  I didn’t really have a favorite song but before I left lots of ­people gave me CDs of their favorite music, so whenever I would listen to a different CD it would remind me of the ­person who gave it to me. A song called “Forever Young” got lots of airplay!

  Did you ever think about quitting, because it was taking too long or was too difficult? How did you handle that?

  It never crossed my mind to stop or give up, there were definitely times when I was asking myself why on earth I was doing it, but I could always answer my own question. Always staying positive was so important!

  What was the scariest thing that happened to you? What about the most surprising?

  The scariest thing that happened on the voyage was when Pink Lady was rolled upside down four times in one night by huge waves in the Atlantic Ocean.

  One of the most surprising things that happened was having a dolphin swim along next to Pink Lady for six hours during a storm; it was just like the dolphin was looking after us!

  What was the hardest thing that happened?

  There were some really hard times sailing, but the hardest thing of all was actually all the hard work and preparation I had to do before I left.

  What does it feel like to know you accomplished something as epic as sailing around the world by yourself?

  It’s an amazing feeling to achieve your dream! I taught myself that if I work hard and really set my mind to something, I can achieve anything I want to!

  Do you have a favorite superhero?

  I’m not sure I really have a favorite superhero? I don’t think you have to have superpowers to achieve amazing things; we can all do amazing things if we believe in ourselves!

  The way Jessica describes her journey almost makes it seem like no big deal! But I looked up the distances again, and I can’t get over what an amazing journey it was — 23,000 nautical miles over seven months. That’s so awesome! That’s like if I went back and forth between New York and Los Angeles six times! By myself!

  And Jessica is so positive and sure of herself. One of the things I’ve figured out so far is that if you really want to achieve something, you need to be pretty determined.

  And never ever give up.

  THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25

  Yay! Great Christmas! After dinner, I asked Auntie G my question about bones. She had an answer I wasn’t expecting. She said that a long time ago martial artists wanted to toughen up their bones.

  The old martial arts masters knew even way back then that bones in the legs seemed stronger than those in the arms. Auntie G (and Mom chimed in too) said that this was because we bang our legs into the ground all the time. It’s called walking and running! And all that banging makes our bones get strong. Since we don’t bang our hands and arms into the ground all the time, those bones aren’t as strong.

  But training in judo, which has loads of grabbing, grappling, and throwing, and in karate, which involves a lot of punching, kicking, and striking, makes for stronger bones throughout the body.

  That all fits with the picture of my body adjusting to what I do, which Mom and Auntie G have been talking about. But I want to make my bones stronger on purpose. Like for my arms, would I need to be a street performer or work in the circus doing a show where I walk on my hands?

  Nope. Auntie G said they used to do a thing called body hardening back in China at the Shaolin Temple and in Okinawa. And some other places. And when she explained it to me, I really see why it’s called body hardening, all right.

  Basically you bash your body into hard stuff! Yikes. Seriously, punching hard objects like trees and stuff will make your bones stronger. And your skin thicker apparently. And it would make you generally pretty tough, I think!

  To see this taken pretty far, Auntie G told me about this guy named — and I’m really not making this up — Iron Fist. It’s his actual nickname. Marvel Comics even has a martial arts superhero named Iron Fist too.

  The real-life Iron Fist is a Chinese martial arts master who trains his hands every day. He’s got, like, this huge set of gross calluses all over his one fist! Yikes.

  I looked him up online. His hand is MASSIVE. But just the ONE hand. The other looks pretty normal.

  Random hero factoid: In an AVENGERS story called “Superguardian,” this grandpa guy tells his granddaughter, “Heroes make others believe they can do great things. Heroes make heroes.” It’s amazing to think you could do something in your life that would inspire others. It’s like what Bryan Q. Miller said about superheroes as symbols. Like Gandhi inspiring social change in India and Martin Luther King Jr. in the American Civil Rights movement.

  Inspiration is contagious. Batgirl didn’t start out as a superhero. She was inspired and trained by Batman. Superheroes make superheroes. Basically, Batman helped make Batgirl.

  SATURDAY, JANUARY 10

  Mom says I’ve been turning into a bit of an athlete now that I’ve upped my martial arts practice to three days per week. I go to Auntie G’s class on Mondays and Wednesdays and then she does some special one-on-one with me on Saturday mornings.

  I am pretty lucky, actually. My teacher comes right to me! (Pretty sure Batgirl didn’t have Batman swing by her apartment for training!) On weekends, we train in my backyard. Usually she likes to work on fighting drills and footwork with me. Then sh
e goes for a run with my mom after. I guess it is pretty much family bonding day, now that I think of it.

  Auntie G is so into training me! I think she’s been secretly waiting for me to get interested in martial arts. Plus I must be pretty cool to work with. If the definition of cool includes not being that good at something and having to be taught the same thing over and over again.

  Today’s big focus was on getting out of the way. Like when somebody (a bad guy) is trying to attack me. I did okay but I had a bit of a fail at first.

  Auntie G: “Great, Jess, that was good. Now what do you do when somebody bad comes at you and tries to hit you or grab you or whatever?”

  Me: “Um . . . get away?” (I said it kind of weakly, I have to be honest about that.)

  Auntie G: “O-kay, but where are you going to go that’s ‘away’?”

  Me: “I think . . . backward? Yeah. Backing up is away, right?”

  Auntie G: “Yes, it is away, sort of. But you are still right in front of me. Here, let’s try it.”

  And then Auntie G started chasing me all over the place with kicks and punches and strikes and lunges and I just kept trying to back up — fast — and get away. Except my plan only got me stuck against a tree.

  Auntie G: “OK. Now what? What have you learned?”

  Me: “Well.” (I was huffing and puffing pretty good at this point.) “I guess I give up and I’ve learned that you are scary-faster than me.”

  Auntie G: “Of course I’m faster than you; I’ve been doing this for a long time. You will get faster too! But I want to talk about this ‘give up’ stuff. There is no give up when somebody wants to hurt you. There is no stop or ‘I quit.’ OK?”

 

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