All You Ever Wanted To Be
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be "super"? Of course you have. But have you ever had that come true? Oh put your hand down, you have not. But I have, and it was amazing. And I know what you are thinking, "Did he swim in toxic waste or a freak radiation accident?" Well not quite. If you keep your mind focused on me and not on your stupid theories I will tell you my story.
The name's Thomas Lapore. I have a full filling life as a struggling artist. I am 35 years old and married to the most interesting and gorgeous woman, Nisa. We have two wonderful children Vincent age 5 and Ariya age 7. We live in a somewhat nice house in Southern New York. Only 45 minutes from New York City. My career is going basically nowhere. As a graduate from St. Thomas Aquinas College with a degree in Fine Arts and a passion for photography, I am struggling for a job.
I can't find worth a lick of jobs. But I have a few talents under my belt. I like to call myself a "Triple P Threat", which means I am a painter, photographer, and poet. But none of those P's got me a job. My wife, Nisa has a job as a successful Graphic Designer. She graduated from Briarcliffe College with a degree in Graphic Design so she got a job instantly from her internship. Yet I am left in the dust trying to get a job.
One blistering summer day I was on my laptop trying to organize my résumé to catch the eyes of employers, when I decided to give up on it because it was far to hot. I leaned back on the sofa and sighed greatly. My kids came running in from the living room chasing one another as they tend to do when they have nothing else to do. Nisa came into the living room from the kitchen. "Tom, when are you going to fix that air conditioner?" she said then wiping the sweat off of her forehead.
"I have told you this over and over; I am not Mr. Fix-It," I said to her. "Well at least find some way to cool this house down, it is 103 degrees outside," she said sounding disappointed in me. But I wasn't going to let that effect me. I got up and walked to her and blew in her face. "Cooler now?" I said smirking like a wise ass. "Oh very funny smart ass," she said folding her arms. "Hey, we have small children here. So watch your damn mouth," I said chuckling to myself.
"Yeah keep laughing Tom, you'll stop when I tell you Vincent broke another one of the Raymore's ceramic gnomes," she said smirking in revenge. "Geez, again? What's with that boy?" I said. "Well you are his father, maybe you need to talk to him," she said. "Oh yeah that will be easy. Sitting Vincent down and talking to him is like trying to get a dog to speak English, it's impossible," I said getting up. "But you need to get him to stop, Walter said he was going to call the cops next time he does it again," she said. "Oh great, that's all we need right now. Okay, I'll go talk to him. Oh and if I don't come back please send a search party," I said walking out of the room.
I walked into the family room and called out his name but got no response; I walked upstairs and called out again but still no response. I walked into the kids' bedroom and saw Ariya sitting on her bed playing with her Barbie's. "Ariya have you seen your brother?" I asked her. "Last time I saw him he was out in the back yard playing with his baseball and bat," she said not looking up and brushing her Barbie's hair. "Okay thanks sweetie," I said. "No problem daddy" she said still not looking up. I walked back downstairs and out to the backyard where Vincent was practicing his swinging.
"Hey Vincent, I need to talk to you," I said to him stepping out into the 103 degree heat. "No can do dad, I am practicing, if I keep at it I might be able to play Little League next year," he said "But Vinnie we have to talk," My son knew once I called him "Vinnie" he knew that it was important and he dropped his bat and ball and walked over to me. "Take a seat," I told him and he sat down in the bench we got and built from Joanne's Fabrics.
"Your mom told me you broke another one of Mr. and Mrs. Raymore's ceramic gnomes," I said to him as he was pumping his legs back and forth underneath the bench. He sat there silent for some time not really looking at me. "Vincent…" I said staring right at him. "Okay, okay! I did," he exclaimed. "Why?" I asked him. "Because….they scare me," he said looking down. "What? Don't be ridiculous, how can a gnome be scary?" I said almost laughing at his statement.
"Then go look for yourself dad," he said. "Okay, I'll be right back, don't you go anywhere," I said and walked over towards the Raymore's house. Half way across our backyard I spotted one. I almost stopped in mid-tracks. I walked over more look closely at the gnome, I nearly turned pale. That gnome was one ugly creature. It had a tall red cap and long white beard. It had rosy cheeks and the most frightening smile I have ever seen.
"………………..Wow," I said aloud. Walter Raymore saw me through one of his windows as I was turning back to walk towards my backyard. I got back to my yard and my son. "Well?" he said to me. "You're completely right, that thing made me turn white," I said having fear that the gnome would come alive an attack me. "I told ya," Vincent said. "Okay, okay, but that's no reason to break them. So what you are going to do is write a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Raymore apologizing for the damage. And you are paying with your allowance for a new one," I told him.
"What? No, that's not fair!" he said getting up. "Oh and breaking the gnome was fair to Mr. and Mrs. Raymore?" Just then Walter Raymore came out towards the divide in our lawns. "Hey Lapore!" he called out to me. "Oh crap," I said to myself knowing it was him. I turned to Vincent, "Now you go up to your room and get to writing, and I don't wanna hear any "but's"," He slumped his way inside and I turned to face the "Wrath of Raymore". I was saying swear words to myself as I approached him but I kept a smile on my face.
"Hello there Walter, nice day huh?" I said hoping he was in a good mood…..but he was far from it. "Oh cut the crap Lapore, you know why I want to talk to you," he said in a stern voice. "Is it about my son breaking your gnomes again?" I asked. "Yes, that's exactly it, this is the fourth time Lapaore, and this is the last time. If I find one more broken gnome in my garden, I am calling the police," he said putting his hands on his waist.
"Well rest assure Walter, he won't do it again, I have already talked to him." I said. "Yeah sure, that kid has problems in the head," he said. My anger exploded inside me. How dare he say that about my kid. But what was I supposed to do. I didn't need any trouble from him so I just turned and walked back to my house. I stormed in and slumped onto the couch and in a very anger mood. Nisa walked into the room and saw my face.
"Is something wrong Hun?" she asked me sitting down next to me. "Is something wrong? That old goat said our son has problems in the head," I said very angry. "What?" she said putting her hand over her mouth. "Yeah, he has some nerve saying that. I just wanna punch his damn face in," I said making a fist. "Tom, you know that won't help any," She said putting her hand on my knee comfortingly.
I sighed deeply, "I know, but god that really pisses me off." "I know babe, but try to forget about it, Walter isn't right," she said giving me a small kiss on the lips. I kissed her back. "Thanks Nisa, I needed that," I said smiling at her. 'Anytime sweetheart," she said smiling back. I gave her a big hug and my anger went away. "Well it's almost four o'clock and knowing you you're about to cook dinner, so I'm going to go for a walk," I said getting up.
"Okay dear but don't go too far, I'm making your favorite, grilled steak," she said getting up and walking towards the kitchen. My mouth began to water. The day may have been unproductive and bad but it sure was gonna end good. "Okay Hun, I'll be back soon," I said opening the door. "Okay buh-bye dear," she said as I walked out the door and shut it behind me. I looked out at my neighborhood and saw the lines on heat.
"Damn, I hate this freaking heat. But I sure do love that woman," I said aloud and thinking of her cooking some grilled steak in nothing but an apron. I smirked on my way down the concrete walkway and across the driveway. I reached the end of the driveway and I stood there feeling the intense heat and rays of the sun. I thought to myself on which way should I take my walk. I looked down each side on my block. One end is where the neighborhood gets richer and the other side is not so rich.
I decided to stay with my class of people and walked down the lesser rich people. And I thanked the Lord that Raymore lived on the closer side to the rich, because there was no way I wanted to walk by his house. I walked down and looked at the houses seeing the great or the horrid paint jobs. The air started to become filled with a stink that made my nose curl a little. I knew I was approaching the county dump. So many foul odors filled the air as I got closer.
I walked a small ways more and reached the actual dump. The mounds of garbage reached up at the sky almost looking like it was trying to contaminate the pure blue sky. I walked into the dump's entrance and came face to face with it. I became intrigued with the mounds. After all I was a garbage picker. I lived by the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure" since I was a young child. If I saw something I liked and was good enough condition I would pick it up and take it.
It all basically started when I would go with my mom to the local Lutheran cemetery where she worked as the secretary, and during the days I had no school I would go and wander the cemetery. I found the pile of garbage from the clean up of the stones and was amazed. So as I stared at the endless abyss of garbage I thought that I might possibly find something in rather good condition. So I stepped in and put my gaze towards the ground.
At first I didn't see much. All I saw was rotting garbage like coffee grinds and orange peels. But I ventured more into it and begun to see more interesting things. I saw old bikes and baby carriages. I took a few steps and saw a Barbie doll with a missing arm. I took it and put it in my back pocket. I knew there were spare parts for the Barbie's in the kitchen cabinet and I could give it to Ariya. I looked around some more and saw a baseball mitt. I picked it up and looked at it.
The stitching was torn but easily fixed and it seemed to be Vincent's size so I kept it to give to him. I wondered around the dump a little more to try and find something for Nisa. I looked closely for a gift for my one and only love but couldn't find really anything she would like. I saw the back edge of the metal fence surrounding the dump so I knew I was running out of space to look for items. I reached the fence and found nothing. "Damn," I though to myself stomping my foot into the garbage heap.
My foot hit something hard and I looked down and saw what looked like the spine of a book. I pulled the item from the garbage and cleaned it off. I examined it and it seemed to be an old cook book. I put it under my arm and proceeded to the front of the dump. I got to the entrance and started to walk back home. The sun was still blazing so I decided to walk fast to escape the heat. I ran a few steps to get a small head start and slowed and walked but at a fast pace.
I took the book out from under my arm and decided to flip through it. I first quickly flipped through the pages and not seeing anything. No words, no pictures, no anything. I was a little bummed I got my wife a shotty gift. But I saw there was writing on the first page and I turned to it and read what it said. "To thee of usual life…I grant thee my powers…so thus shall save all humanity." "What in the world?" I said looking at what I read.
The pages begun to glow a bright yellowish green and kept getting brighter. It got so bright I couldn't see. The light engulf me, it became too much for me and I fainted. I had no idea what was going on. What was this book? What did the words mean? What was that light? And what was going to become of me? I had no answers and perhaps I might not ever but one thing was for certain, my life was about to change…..more dramatically than I ever thought possible…