Novel Excerpt 3: Superheroes

I'm making myself finish a novel on Fridays.

Excerpt from chapter 1
Excerpt from chapter 2
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Like I said, I grew up dreaming about superheroes. Several novels fell into that category. "The Year of Jubilee" was about two kids that became superheroes.

I used to tell my younger cousins stories at our family reunions that seemed to keep them riveted. One that went on and one was "The Vigilante." It was basically Batman meets Star Wars. The older I got, the stupider the story got to me, but it seemed to hit the spot with six and seven year olds. If I had only written down each episode before even my delayed adulthood began to arrive. It doesn't matter if a story is good if there's someone who likes it.

Probably the funniest--unintentionally--was one I called, "The Birth of a God." A guy wakes up naked in a field in England with superpowers. He can't remember how he got there or who he is. So he wanders to a nearby village and starts knocking on doors, naked and all.

I shared that one with a pretty girl on a first date and never got to a second.

Speaking of dates, I spent about an hour making cappuccinos before the manager finally asked if I had texted April yet. Mrs. Thomas was a hoot to work for, an African-American woman in her forties, I would guess. She had a snappy, almost sarcastic way about her, but it didn't mean anything. It was a way of keeping everyone on task, but you couldn't take it personally.

Why hadn't I texted April yet? I'd said I would.

"What time do you think I could leave," I asked Mrs. Thomas.

"You can leave now for all I care," she quickly replied with a typical look. "I don't know what I'm paying you for because you sure don't do anything around here."

I smiled. If a typical boss said something like that to me, I'd be worried. But it was just a game with her. In a lull, I looked up movies and times and finally hit on one that seemed acceptable. I obviously didn't want some soppy love story. You wouldn't want too much gore. Really a comedy would be ideal, but it would have to be something she found funny, not me.

Now what was her sense of humor? I don't actually remember her having much of a sense of humor. What would a sarcastic nurse find funny? ...