Jon ended up chickening out and not going to a just-for-fun Save the Citizen match after school. He feared he would do poorly and be mocked by his classmates. Instead he just headed home, happy that he didn't have any homework. He began to pack a suitcase for the trip to Philadelphia. He opened his closet to find something nice to wear on Thanksgiving Day. He hadn't seen his grandparents for a year or so. They usually called him on his birthday and sent him cards on the holidays stuffed with a five or ten dollar bill.
He decided to wear his dress slacks, a tie, and a white button up shirt for the holiday, and then the rest of his clothes that he packed were just jeans and long-sleeved shirts.
Since he had free time, he started doing a round of push-ups. He had slacked off of his routine since school started, and no bulging muscles were in sight. The carpet seemed to burn his hands as he counted each push up inside of his head. If only just some muscle would come of his exercising, he would be happy. He didn't have to be ripped like Stronghold or Shaun Wilson, study body president—he just wanted to be stronger.
After he was done with those, he washed his face and then started reading Bitters's book of famous super figures. Not only were there heroes and sidekicks, but also profiles of noted villains throughout history. Some of the descriptions of their villainous deeds made Jon sick to his stomach. He mentally noted which category they fell under as he read through them. Bitters had been right when he said that the most common type of super villains fell into the 'punisher' category. Given their brief histories, most seemed to have a horrid family life as children, or something dark happen to them that they couldn't cope with and so turned to villainy. It was rather sad.
When he was younger, he thought villains were just evil because they wanted be—now he realized that they didn't want to, but had to because they could never be happy again—in some cases.
His mother returned from the flower shop earlier than usual, telling Jon that she and Vault had been out on an emergency call to stop someone from jumping off a building. Vault leaped up and grabbed the individual, returning them safely. His mother had used her silver tongue to convince them that life was too precious to end.
"So how was your day?"
"It was okay. I turned in my research paper a day early. Do you remember the historic incident of Arachna's sidekick, Widow?"
His mother raised her brows at the scandalous name, "Why yes. Why do you ask?"
"Is it possible that Widow didn't do anything wrong and it was Arachna's fault—she just blamed it all on her sidekick?"
His mother narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Where did you hear that?"
He was taken aback at her tone of voice, which reeked of scandal. "Sue Tenny did a research paper on it."
His mother lost the suspicion in her eyes and raised her brows again, "Tenny? Sue Tenny, Wallace Tenny's daughter?"
"You know her dad?"
"He's quite famous. He works closely with the secret technology branch of the government's scientific advances department—some his devices have literally saved the world."
Jon did not know that. Sue never mentioned anything so important. Perhaps she was so used to it that it didn't strike her as something special.
"But what do you think about Widow?"
"You can't simply refute the Coalition's ruling, no matter how long ago it—"
"But is it true!?" He didn't mean to be so short, but his mother's stalling was annoying.
She shook her head, "I can't say."
"Can't or won't?"
"Can't."
Jon held his breath in irritation, wondering just how dangerous it was to question the Coalition's power.
"Help peel potatoes for dinner," she demanded before going into the kitchen.
He sighed and did as he was told. She turned on the radio and 'My Sharona' was playing. The radio stations played too much in his opinion and now the beat would be in his head the rest of the day.
He found him peeling potatoes to the beat.
Dada Dada-da. da. Dada Dada-da. Da. Dada Dada-da. da. My Sharona!
His mother was bobbing her head to the song as well as she chopped vegetables—it appeared they were to having a casserole for supper, but it would be delicious unlike the one had eaten for lunch.
Thankfully the song ended and was replaced by Blondie's 'Heart of Glass'
His mother actually sang the lyrics out loud, not caring if he heard her.
He cut all the potatoes into fourths and put them into a pot of water.
"Is that all you needed?"
"Yes, thanks son," she leaned over and kissed his forehead. He made a face and wiped at it, thinking he was too old for such endearing actions. If Medulla or any of the guys would have seen that, they wouldn't let him live it down.
He went to living room and turned on the television to catch the end of a 'Brady Bunch' rerun.
His father came home, they ate supper with minimal conversation, and then he went to bed—of course the shouts of malcontent from his parents were audible through the floor of his room. Would they ever find a peace?
The next day at school, all the rest of his classmates turned in their papers and Bitters didn't feel like lecturing so he told them to write a two page essay on what they were thankful for and why—it being so close to Thanksgiving.
Everyone groaned but took out pieces of notebook paper to get started.
'Why I am Thankful' by Jonathan Boy 11/20/'79
I am asked for what I am thankful for this year, and I must say I should be thankful for many things. I am thankful for life; my life, my friends, and my family. If I wasn't thankful for life, I might as well be dead. I am thankful for heroes and their sidekicks, because they make the world such a better place.
Jon stopped writing, because all the truths he had come to discover about heroes made him reconsider his last sentence. But not all heroes were corrupt or complete jerks—and it wasn't fair to the good ones if a few bad apples ruined their image. He shrugged and kept writing.
I am thankful for the Electric Light Orchestra(ELO), because their music rocks and it makes my day feel better if I hear one of their songs on the radio—unlike the Knack, their My Sharona song plays way too often and gives me a headache, and so does some of the disco. I also should be thankful that my family can support themselves well enough I have a house over my head and food to eat. I am thankful for my grandma's pecan pie.
He glanced around the room to see if anyone had finished but most were writing away. His eyes stopped on Sue who was sitting at her desk but she wasn't writing—she was looking at a blank piece of paper. He wondered what she was thankful for, and if her paper gave any indication it would seem she was thankful for nothing.
I am the most thankful this year to have made new friends, because I am shy, I didn't make any most of my years at normal schools. That brings me to my last item that I am thankful for, my powers. As miniscule as they are, I know they make a difference no matter who says differently.
It wasn't exactly two pages in length, but it was dumb assignment—busywork so that Mr. Bitters didn't have to make an effort on the day before Thanksgiving break.
They went to lunch and Sue sat with Jon, Medulla, and the rest of them that day. Jon kept true to his promise to himself and had brought his own lunch. It was the leftover casserole, but worlds better than the kind served in their cafeteria.
"So, Cassie isn't in school today."
"Maybe she's still sick," Jon suggested to Lance, who had brought the subject up.
"Yeah maybe."
"I wonder what she's sick with?" Medulla wondered.
"She could have gotten the flu," Phil shrugged.
They weren't too concerned about Cassie, since she would probably get better but it was just so odd what happened to her during Phys-ed.
"That assignment was a drag," Medulla noted, moving to another topic.
Jon nodded with absolute agreement.
"What assignment?" Lance wondered.
"We had to write a two page essay on what we were thankful for and why," Jon explained.
Sue was quiet as per usual, but she looked up from her food and frowned, "It was hard."
"Nah, all you had to do was bullshit it," Medulla assured.
"I threw in some random stuff, just to fill a page," Jon added.
"I didn't write anything."
They stared at her. Jon swallowed, "Are you not thankful for anything?"
She shrugged, "I couldn't think of anything."
"That's why you bullshit it," Medulla reiterated.
Sue's frown was fixed but she didn't say anything else.
Bitters gave them sidekick logic problems to solve for the second half of the day, which was tedious and everyone's attention wandered elsewhere—anxious for the end of the day and to finally be on break. Jon tried to concentrate, but he, like his classmates just didn't have the patience to think the problems through. Bitters sat at his desk, grading the research papers and sipping coffee the whole while. In Phys-Ed Coach Split was in two and he had them run laps, do stretches, and then had them play flag football. Jon was tackled on his turn immediately by a bulky hero junior. He was glad to get back to the bleachers after his match was over. The only light of his unsatisfactory day was the fact he was going to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving with his family.
As Soon as Jon got home from school, His father was in the car and their suitcases were in the trunk.
Jon hopped in the backseat, but something was amiss. The passenger seat was empty.
"Where's mom?"
"She's decided to stay here for the holiday."
His heart started beating in a panic, "WHY? She always comes to Thanksgiving."
His father adjusted the rear-view mirror, and in its reflection he could see his Dad frowning, "Well, I guess she won't be this time. Now get up here in the front seat, son."
Jon still didn't understand what was going on, but trudged out of the backseat, walked around and got into the passenger seat. He buckled his seatbelt, still in a dark mood.
"So what is she going to do here while we're gone?"
"Probably be on call for the Faulty Vault, crimes increase on the holidays since so many people are out of town."
"But she never had to do that before!"
"Tell me about it," he grumbled then put on a false smile, "Philly, here we come!"
Jon didn't understand how his father could be so indifferent to this. Why was his mother staying home? Whose choice, whose idea caused this? He didn't feel complete going to such a family holiday without a part of it.
His dad backed out of the driveway, and they were off. His dad turned on the radio and it was, thankfully, the end of 'My Sharona.'
'Mr. Blue Sky' started playing next, and even though it was by ELO, it didn't make him feel better like he had written in his essay. He crossed his arms and leaned against the window, wishing that Sue could have come along—then at least he would have someone to talk to and she might have even become thankful for something. He sighed, and his warm breath hit the cold window and created a fog.
The truth was that he was not thankful for much more than he was thankful for at that moment.