In the Public Eye: Part 2

I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid I wanted a Batmobile pretty badly.

The big metal doors rattled open, revealing the hanger and kicking up dust. Travis and I both sneezed.

In the far left corner, a light shattered and went dark.

Still that didn’t detract from the awesomeness of the scene. I mean, you’ve got this huge room that could just as easily be on an aircraft carrier or the Death Star, and in the middle of it you’ve got the Heroes’ League jet, covered with some kind of form fitting white plastic, surrounded by a few other things under tarps.

Travis and I started pulling the tarps off. We’d uncovered Night Wolf’s Corvette (still black and shiny) and Captain Commando’s motorcycle (red, white and blue) by the time we heard the hum of the elevator.

“Cassie’s back,” I said. I was pulling the tarp off a rack on the wall. The rack held ten small, silver jetpacks.

“Here’s what they did,” I said. “All the people who couldn’t fly got jetpacks so they could get to HQ and grab their stuff. They don’t have much of a range, but they fit in a briefcase.”

“Think it could hold me?” Travis picked one up. It wasn’t much longer than his hand.

“No idea.”

Cassie stepped into the hangar, still in costume from patrol. “What are you guys doing?” Then she noticed the motorcycle. She didn’t even wait for an answer before hopping on the seat. “Oh my god, Dad’s motorcycle. Does it work?”

“He’s going to get it to work,” Travis said.

I didn’t even have a chance to object. By the time I was able to think of a response, Travis started in on how to solve our response time problem.

“The only problem I see with using this stuff,” Cassie said when he was finished, “is that I don’t know how to drive a motorcycle and none of us can fly a jet. Nick can teach us how to use the backpacks, but the rest of it…”

“I can fly a plane,” Travis said.

“Jets are different,” Cassie said.

“I think I know someone who might be able to get us lessons,” I said. Then I told them about the FBI and Isaac Lim.

“You were just sitting on that for days?” Cassie said.

“I was going to tell you on Monday at lunch,” I said, “but then Kayla showed up.”

“She’s my friend,” Cassie said.

“I know,” I said, “but she still blew my only chance to bring it up.”

“Never mind that,” Travis said. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to qualify to work with the FBI?”

“We don’t qualify,” I said. “I think they’re just allowing us in for the publicity.”

“Who cares?” Travis said, “All that matters we get their stuff, or hey, our stuff. It’s our tax dollars paying for it.”

“Whatever,” Cassie said. “I’m changing back into clothes and taking a shower. Don’t come in.”

As she walked away, Travis asked me, “You think you can get this stuff working again?”

“I think so. Grandpa was pretty good about leaving directions.”

“Cool.” He walked back to the table and started looking at his Spanish cards.

I picked up one of the jetpacks. They wouldn’t be hard at all. The jet? That would be a challenge, but oh, so cool. I tried to remember where I’d seen the jet’s plans and documentation.

I found it in one of the file cabinets in the main room along with the car’s manual, the motorcycle’s and most of the others. The jet’s documentation was hundreds of pages long.

As I flipped through the three ring binder, I heard Cassie shout something from the bathroom.

I walked to the door and said, “What was that?”

“I said,” Cassie shouted again, “Who keeps on messing with the toilet paper?”

18 thoughts on “In the Public Eye: Part 2”

  1. As I flipped through the thee ring binder

    Likely requires an r.

    They had some nice vehicles! Hope none of these kids with learner’s permits wrecks them, lol.

    1. Over the top is superior ,in general. But if you have pets/ young children .- some cats/dogs/ toddlers really like to spin the roll( typically by slapping/ clawing the outer edge down) over top means pile of (typically shredded) paper on the floor. Around the back means it just spins and never gets unrolled. Much less messy that way. That’s how it gets that way, after that it becomes a subconscious habbit.

  2. Ah, that’s the point. It isn’t convenient and so people use less. It used to be the default configuration for public places.

  3. I always thought of TP orientation as a religious war. Those who care don’t need a logical reason. Many (most?) people don’t care.

  4. New thing occurs to me. When you were a kid?
    I still want one. I would be delighted with Adam West’s version.

      1. More a comment that some how you don’t want one now. And nothing wrong with 70’s and 80’s. 70’s means you may have experienced a true Block buster. Meaning the line to see that little science fiction movie. That wrapped around the entire block.
        The Christmas of ’77 where they tried to give cardboard promises of toys yet to come. Don’t lament your age. Revel in it because you lived in those good times.

        1. I do remember seeing Star Wars.

          In Holland, Michigan (where I grew up), there were two, single screen theaters downtown (which was normal for the period in most of the country).

          Owing to the fact that this was pre-VCR, Netflix, DVDs, and so on, it wasn’t uncommon for hit movies to come through the theaters multiple times.

          I missed the first time through even though I’d seen the commercials and wanted to go, but went the second time. I’m told that lines went around the block some nights on the first time through. When I saw it, it wasn’t that bad–which was good because I was six and my attention span wasn’t that long, meaning that the wait wasn’t too bad for the adults taking me to the theater.

          Also, I still have my Star Wars action figures, but we played with them too much for them to be worth money now (not that that’s really a concern).

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