by Brian Elling
Sumo pulled his T-shirt over his head and rubbed glue all over his chest. Then he ran across the room, bounced on the beanbag chair, and . . . SPLAT!
“It’s working. It’s working!” he yelled.
Then the glue lost its hold. “Correction! It’s not working!” Sumo slid down the wall and flopped onto the floor. “Your turn, Jeff!”
Jeff winced. “If it’s okay with you guys, I think I’ll just be a butterfly.”
Jeff unzipped his sweatshirt and held the two sides out like they were butterfly wings.He bounced around the room and flapped his arms. “Oh, look at me! I am a majestic butterfly!”
“Whee! Inchy, now you have friends!” Clarence exclaimed, inching along the floor.
“I’m so high up,” said Sumo as he wiggled along the top of the dresser. Clarence and Sumo crawled all around the room like caterpillars.
Jeff bounced on the beanbag chair. He had a huge smile on his face. “Woo-hoo! Butterfly backflip!”
Clarence climbed into the hamper and then out again. Sumo wriggled under the bed.
As they played, Inchy verrrrrrry slowly climbed out of his bowl, across the floor, up the wall, and out the window.
By the time Clarence remembered to inch his way back over to Inchy’s bowl, it was empty! “He’s gone! Inchy’s gone!”
Sumo and Clarence ran to the window. Jeff flapped over using his fake butterfly wings. “I am a majestic butterfly.”
They looked outside and saw Inchy climbing up a tree. Sumo climbed up onto the windowsill. “We gotta catch him.”
But Clarence stopped him. “No, Sumo! Remember . . . If you love something, let it go, and if it uses its own spit to make a cocoon and then returns as a moth to eat holes in your sweater, then it was meant to be yours.”
They all stood at the window in silence for a moment, watching Inchy climb higher up the tree. Sumo put his hand on Clarence’s shoulder. “That’s deep, Clarence.”
Inchy climbed so high that he was totally out of sight. “What now?” Sumo finally asked.
Clarence thought for a moment . . . “Three-way staring contest! No blinking!”
Clarence, Sumo, and Jeff watched their favorite cartoon, Supreme Court Squad Extreme! Jeff folded his laundry into neat piles as Clarence hopped back and forth over them, with a pillowcase tied over his shoulders like a cape. “I wish I was a superhero,” declared Clarence. “Then I could have superpowers.”
Jeff used a ruler to measure the length of two socks. A perfect match! He rolled them together into a ball. “Clarence, you can’t be a superhero. You don’t even clean your room.”
“Sssshhhh!” hissed Sumo. “We’re getting to the good part.”
On the TV, a robot judge talked to another robot whose hands were in magnetic handcuffs. “For your crimes against humanity, I charge you with—” CHRRZZTTT!
The program was suddenly cut off! Then the logo for Channel 3 Action News flashed on the screen and the deep voice of a newscaster boomed out of the speakers. “We interrupt this program for a breaking news report!”
Sumo rolled over on the couch and planted his face in a pillow. “Oh man! We were just about to hear the arraignment!”
“Sumo! This could be important!” Jeff yelped.
On the TV, newscasters sat at their desk. They all looked very serious. A map of Aberdale was on the screen behind them. A huge storm swirled on the map with clouds and rain all over it. “A freak storm is about to hit Aberdale. Residents are advised to stay indoors and eat comfort foods.”
Clarence’s face lit up. “You guys, maybe my superhero name could be Super Weatherman! And then I could control the weather with my mind!”
Sumo jumped off the couch. “Yeah, and Jeff could be your sidekick, Anchorman Boy! But his superpower would be doing stuff like sitting and reading.”
“You guys.” Jeff sighed as he balanced a perfectly squared pair of underpants on top of a pile. “I don’t want to pretend to be super. I want to be super. You know, because I’ve done something amazing. Something real!”
Sumo leaned against the frame of the window, bored. “You mean like spending six hours folding laundry?”
“Exactly,” Jeff declared. “Every one of these T-shirts has fifteen precision folds. Now that’s an accomplishment!”
Sumo stared out the window at Jeff’s backyard. Clouds gathered on the horizon. They were dark and threatening. A white button-down shirt and a pair of khaki pants hung on the clothesline, swaying in the wind.
Clarence jumped in front of Jeff. “I don’t know, Jeff, my weather powers are pretty real.” Clarence wiggled his fingers in front of Jeff’s face. “Like, right now I’m making it foggy!”
“Clarence, stop!” Jeff exclaimed. “This is serious. You’re gonna mess up my crease!”
Jeff finished folding his last T-shirt and put it onto the pile. “Okay, and now the moment we’ve all been waiting for!” Jeff took a deep breath. “Dress clothes!”
Then the sound of thunder exploded outside. BOOM!
Sumo looked at the dark clouds outside. “Unless, of course, there’s a huge rainstorm and all your clothes get blown away.”
Jeff gasped and ran to the window. The clouds churned in the sky, right over his white shirt and khaki pants. Raindrops pelted the windowsill. “Oh no! My babies!” Jeff shrieked.
Clarence dashed to the window. “Never fear, Super Weatherman is here!”
Jeff rolled his eyes. “Clarence, this isn’t a game. Those are my pants out there!”
They all watched as wind gusted hard outside. A clothespin popped. The khaki pants dangled from the clothesline by one leg!
Clarence tilted his chin up high and planted his hands on his hips. “Super Weatherman will protect your precious pants! I’m off! Like a lightning bolt!” He ran toward the back door.
Sumo blocked Clarence, playing along dramatically. “Super Weatherman, you can’t go out there. It’s too dangerous!”
Clarence stood nose to nose with Sumo. “Step aside, mortal!”
Sumo crossed his arms. Clarence faked left. He faked right. Then he dove under Sumo’s legs!
Sumo reached out for Clarence, but he was too late. “CLARENNNNNCE!”
Clarence flew to the back door and grabbed an umbrella out of its stand. “Aha! The Umbrella of Protection!”
He charged out into the storm! At the end of the yard, fat raindrops poured down onto the clothes, as they whipped around in the wind. Clarence popped the umbrella open and held it above his head. He ran as fast as he could to the clothesline.
“Super Weatherman, you’re my hero!” cried Sumo.
Jeff and Sumo watched Clarence run into the storm. More dark clouds moved fast across the sky. Wind blasted the house.
Clarence charged forward against the heavy wind! “Neither wind, nor rain, nor sprinkler system shall keep me from protecting the innocent!”
Clarence struggled to keep the umbrella over his head. But the wind gusted hard and yanked it right out of his hand!
Whooosh! It flew up into the cloudy sky and disappeared over the house.
Clarence got blown back by the wind. “It will take more than that to stop Super Weatherman!”
The harsh gust ripped the pair of pants off the clothesline. Jeff watched in horror from the window. “Nooooooooooooooooo!”
More thunder rocked the sky. BOOM! BOOM!
Clarence dove across the yard as the pants flew toward the muddy ground. He belly-slid across the grass and caught the pants right before they landed in a huge puddle!
Jeff and Sumo jumped up and down as they watched from the window. “Hooray!”
Clarence stared at the angry sky as the white shirt tugged against its clothespins. Pop! Pop! The shirt hung on by one sleeve!
Clarence jumped on top of the picnic table and thrust his hand to the sky. “Back, s
torm! In the name of Super Weatherman, I command you!”
A huge gust of wind tested Clarence’s balance. Black clouds rumbled with more thunder. BOOM! BOOM!
Clarence stood firm. Rain streaked his face. “Back, I say! Back! Baaaaaaaaaaack!”
Suddenly the storm clouds roiled and split into two. The darkness parted and sun streamed down into Jeff’s yard, just as the white shirt was about to break free from the clothesline!
Jeff and Sumo ran outside. “That was amazing!” Jeff cried. Sumo clutched his hands over his heart, just as dramatic as ever. “I knew you’d save the day, Super Weatherman!”
Clarence blushed with pride. “All in a day’s weather, my friends!”
Jeff put a hand on each of Clarence’s shoulders. “You’re a good man, Clarence. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you could save my dress clothes.”
Clarence grinned as he laid the khaki pants in Jeff’s arms. “That’s okay, Jeff. Us superheroes are used to being misunderstood! I’m just glad you’ll still be able to get dressed up for special events and holidays.”
Jeff stared Clarence right in the eyes. “Because of you, Clarence.”
Their eyes stayed locked for what felt like an hour, but was probably only four seconds.
“Ah, too many feelings! Let’s go finish watching the show,” Sumo piped in.
Jeff rescued his white shirt off the clothesline and then turned to Clarence. “Oh, and one other thing. You didn’t really stop that storm with your mind, did you?”
Clarence shook his head. “Of course not. Nobody can control the weather. That part was just for show!”
Jeff let out a huge sigh of relief. “Whew, that’s good! Otherwise I’d be pretty freaked out right now.”
Sumo shrugged. “Bummer! I thought you were going to make a huge rainbow come out next or something. That would be awesome.”
The sky behind Clarence changed color. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo.Violet. It was the biggest rainbow they’d ever seen, right over Jeff’s house.
Sumo’s jaw dropped. “Whoaaaa!”
Jeff dropped his shirt in the mud and stared at the sky. “ROY G. BIV! Did you just make that rainbow with your mind?”
Clarence turned and admired the huge rainbow arching across the sky behind him. It was the most beautiful rainbow he had ever seen.
He turned back to Jeff and Sumo . . . “Maybe?”
