I would like to dedicate this story to my mother. She never met a stranger . Everyone she met she considered a friend. I learned much from her for the years she was on this earth. She was a giver, she never spoke badly of people, she had an intense desire to work hard and to always lend a hand to anyone in need. I hope to be more like her. In random acts of kindness we can achieve miracles. In that one act it ripples like a stone tossed on a great lake, it ends up touching all on it's far distant shore.
Chapter 1
Who would have predicted my whole life could change in an instant? I never thought much about the world, people, even much on helping anyone other than myself. Then suddenly my whole world was turned upside down.
I entered the old comic shop same as I did every day after school. There was never much to do in my neighborhood. I don't live on the rich side of town and nowhere close to the ever growing suburbia neighborhoods west, or the swank massive homes south. Not even the east filled with bungalow's behind maple tree lined sidewalks were similiar to my home. I live more out in what people call the styx and was always the last to get dropped off by the school bus. My dad moved here from the midwest, the dustbowl he used to say. He found this big spread of land that came with an old farmhouse and barn.
I don't have many class-mates for friends. The all say I am weird, a dork, a nerd. I used to get mad about it, until I found The Batcave. A guy from Georgia moved in off old highway 74 and opened up the shop. He and his wife live upstairs. I decided to kill some time before going home. In an instant I was hooked. I picked up my first Batman comic and was instantly swept into another realm. My hands couldn't turn the pages fast enought. The owner chuckled and introduced himself. He said his name was Bill and his wife was Annie. I remember like it was yesterday, shaking his hand and telling him my name was Tommy.
I became a regular and couldn't wait to attack the shelves. He said he picked this place for a reason. He said as a kid his folks drove to Lake Lure for a summer vacation. Bill said his dad told him in the back of the stationwagon for him and his sister to sit up and pay attention. He told them they were going past the Batcave and maybe they would see Batman. The thing was he said that he and his sister didn't know who Batman was. His dad told them stories by the lake that whole summer. "It was the best summer of my life!" he had said.
I soon learned all I could about this masked avenger. He became my idol, a great man whom I looked up to. At night if I ever felt depressed I would think (I wonder what Batman would do?) Part of me actually started to grow. Not my height so much, but my mind and also my heart. I learned about a man who made his sole purpose to help others in need. I wanted to be like him. I wanted a purpose.
It was the last day of school. I couldn't wait for the bell to ring. I remember staring at the clock and could have sworn it actually stopped. I ran throwing by backpack to old number 113 for my final ride out of the hell hole. The bus always dropped me off be the comic store. It never drove down our one half mile of driveway. I remember staring out the window hoping the old piece of metal would hurry when I over heard a conversation that changed my life.
Two of the most popular girls of the entire high-school were seated behind me. I always just called them all Heather after the movie as I felt it suited their lifestyle and attitude. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The Wyonona of the duo sat sobbing as her flawless twin hugged her. I pretended to slip on my ear buds and jam out. She sobbed about her home and a fire and how everything was ruined. She said not a shred of the house remained. The twin whispered for her not to worry and to spend the nignt with her. She promised her a good meal, a good movie and afterward they would paint their toe-nails. She went on and on about that she had tons of clothes and they were the exact size. Winona finally stopped sobbing.
The two girls got off the bus. I watched as she walked hunched over rubbing the tears from her usually cover-girled face. My heart began to thump. I actually felt her pain. I had never lost everything, but I knew the pains of what high-school gave. It was a daily dish of shut-up and pretend to fit-in or slide in a corner and zone out. It was not a game I played well, but this girl, well she had it all, or did. Any cheerleader is an instant shoe-in. She dated the star quarter-back and was runner-up for the big maid of honor of what-ever that thing is called for football. She was even smart and not to mention undeniably attractive. I wanted to help her. I knew she didn't even know my name, and sadly I grabbed the yearbook out of my backpack and struggled through pages to find hers. Her name was Alice. I blinked thinking of Wonderland. It suited her. I said her name outloud .Alice Chandler. I vowed that she would never cry again. I vowed that I would save her. For once I thought not of myself, but of this girl that I actually thought I despised. I had to admit she seemed so fragile. I also knew she seemed real, nothing like the faker's I swore I would forever keep at bay. I remembered she was even smart, and read she was in student government, chorus, cheer-leading, and drama. I could still picture her with her eyes all wet with tears. She had just melted my once frozen heart. I turned more pages and found On another her laughing with her face cocked to the side and her nose slightly crinkled. Under it it said best smile. I was hooked.
I got off the bus sliding the yearbook back and zipping up my backpack. Bill stood at the door waving me in. He noticed immedialy my mood and tried to cheer me up by telling me of the latest arrivals. I couldn't manage a smile.
I never talked much to my dad about things. He seemed too busy for any of that but Bill always seemed to listen. I finished reading the latest addition of Batman and slumped on his chair behind the register. I told him about Alice. I admitted that I knew I had sworn off women especially those of the cheer-leading kind, but this one I told him was different.
Bill leaned back against the wall and listened as I vented for over an hour about school, my teachers, the jock's and even about me. I told him in closing that I was handy with building. I told him how I had helped my dad re-build our old barn. I told him I wanted to help build her house back. He nodded and punched the baby monitor. He and Annie didn't have kids just yet. They had purchased it the first week they found out they were expecting.
"Annie, we've got a flat-liner!" he had said.