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Junior Asparagus had to grab hold of his yellow baseball cap and slam it onto his head before it flew over the ledge of the apartment building and onto the street below.
"Is it usually this windy up here?" he asked the mushroom boy beside him.
"Nah, we're just gonna have another rain storm tonight," his host replied. "Alvin won't be much longer now."
It was just the four of them on the roof: Junior, his best friend, Laura Carrot; his school friend, Angus Mushroom, and Jonathan, Angus' cousin who lived in the building. For nearly fifteen minutes now they had taken turns between watching the strips of cloudy sky visible between the tall downtown buildings and keeping an eye on the apartment building across the street, just in case their target found a way to reach the far roof from an unexpected direction.
Laura swept the binoculars which Jonathan had borrowed from his dad in a 360 scan, but then she lowered them, blinking.
"And you're certain Altruistic Alvin can come from any direction?" she asked Jonathan.
The boy nodded. He was a gray mushroom like his cousin, about a year or two older than the other three, and he had a more of a street-savvy demeanor than Angus.
"Yeah, I guess it depends if he and Miss Vicki stop somewhere on the way home from The Daily Apple," he reasoned. "Sometimes she has shopping bags and things."
"And maybe tonight Altruistic Alvin had to join in a police chase or stop a robbery," Angus suggested hopefully.
"Anything is possible with Alvin," Junior agreed and took a turn with the binoculars.
Things had been going great for Junior all day. On the previous Saturday, his dad, a mild-mannered teacher at Veggie Valley Grade School, had bravely helped the superhero, Altruistic Alvin, capture members of the Prickly Pear Gang, and Dad had learned that Alvin watched his online, Friday-night Bible study. Then Petunia Rhubarb, Applyburg's most popular TV reporter, had interviewed Junior's family in time for the six o'clock news. So when he had walked with his dad into the first-grade class that morning, all the other kids had stared at them in awe. Several crowded around Junior, begging to hear all the details. Some invited him to their birthday parties on the spot or offered to give him the gummi worms and Pringles from their lunches. Junior, who was always quick to accept payment of any sort, had shared his story over and over again, and by recess, he had amassed quite a treasure trove of junk food that he could not keep it all to himself (without getting sick), so he had shared it with Laura.
"This could be a great new business," Junior had said to her. (He was always coming up with ideas for new businesses.) "We can charge them anything! Think of the profits!"
Laura had smiled wryly, used to his opportunistic habits. "Maybe we should stick to selling lemonade to make money. We get into less trouble that way."
While they had been feasting, Angus had approached the pair with an amazing tale of his own (not quite as amazing as Junior's weekend, but pretty cool nevertheless). His cousin, Jonathan, lived in the apartment building across the street from a lady who was friends with Altruistic Alvin, and Jonathan regularly saw Alvin bring the lady home to her apartment via his now famous hovercraft. Jonathan had taken photos of the pair, and now he was trying to find a newspaper that would buy them, but there was one little problem: he was not able to get pass the lobby of any newspaper building in order to talk to the editors face to face.
"The photos are too valuable to just mail or leave with a secretary," Angus had explained. "They might print the photos without paying for them. But you and Laura deliver papers for The Daily Apple, right? You can help me and Jonathan get into his office without security seeing us."
"Well, if you're trying to sell them to Mr. Bob, he probably won't take them," Junior had informed him. "Everybody at the paper says he hates printing nice stories about Altruistic Alvin."
"But he likes money, doesn't he?" Angus had reasoned back. "If you help us sell our photos, we'll give you a cut."
That had got Junior's attention, but he had known enough to ask to see the merchandise first. Fortunately, Angus had brought along one of his cousin's photographs, which he had then presented to the pair. Sure enough, the picture had shown the roof of an apartment building in the city, and Altruistic Alvin and a blonde cucumber lady were stepping off his hovercraft while a floor lamp remained on the platform.
"That looks like Miss Vicki," Laura had noticed, squinting at the image. "She takes pictures for The Daily Apple. She's super nice to us kids who deliver papers."
"And she knows Altruistic Alvin," Junior had pointed out, his large eyes gleaming.
Junior had then pressed for Angus to get them onto the roof of his cousin's apartment building in order for them to make sure. After school, Angus had used the payphones in the east wing to ask his aunt if he could bring some friends to see Jonathan, and the three kids had taken the bus downtown. They had picked up some disposable cameras from the drugstore down the street, and now they waited for their quarry.
Junior scanned the sky with the binoculars, wondering what could be taking a superhero so long (it wasn't like he had gotten stuck in traffic) when he caught sight of a shape moving in the sky.
"He's here! He's here!" Junior cried, hopping with excitement and nervousness.
"Quick! The stairs!"
They all piled back through the door and crouched on the stairwell, peeking through the crack.
The great hovercraft which Junior had ridden briefly on Saturday grew closer and closer, allowing him to make out the details of the riders. Driving the platform was a tall onion with limbs, who wore a cape that billowed in the breeze. Behind him, a pretty cucumber lady in a pink dress held onto him for safety, even though a belt connected her to the craft. Right behind her stood the floor lamp, and his hand-drawn smiley face seemed to take in the whole world with perpetual serenity.
Adjusting for the increasing wind, Altruistic Alvin steered the hovercraft right above Miss Vicki's apartment building, then lowered it gently onto the roof. Miss Vicki unbuckled her safety belt, and she gestured toward the stairs, saying something. Altruistic Alvin nodded cheerfully, and he followed her to the door with a spring in his step.
"He sometimes stays for about five minutes and then leaves," Jonathan explained, standing up as the pair disappeared. "If you want to take pictures of his aircraft, now's the time."
Junior and Laura both approached the ledge with their disposable cameras that they had picked up at the drugstore on the way over, and they snapped as many photos as they dared.
"Why does he take the lamp everywhere?" Laura wondered.
"That's Lampy," Junior answered with authority, gazing at the smiling bell-shaped shade through the tiny viewfinder as he wound up the camera for the next shot. "Alvin uses him like a slingshot to catch bad guys. That's what he had my dad do, remember?"
Jonathan suddenly whistled to get their attention. "Get down! He's coming back out!"
They all dove behind the ledge just in time. Over the noise from the street below, the sound of a door clicking shut again reached them. Junior counted to ten and raised his head enough to peek at the opposite roof. Altruistic Alvin now carried a sandwich in a bag, which Miss Vicki must have given him. He said something to Lampy, then turned on his vehicle. Junior ducked again, and the craft hummed, switching keys as it rose into the air. The noise zoomed off in one direction and faded into the distance, mingling with the other melodies of the city.
Junior turned his head, catching Laura's eye, and the two shared a grin. They pushed themselves to their feet, as did the cousins, and Laura waved her disposable camera in the air.
"Oh, that was so fun!" she laughed.
"We're like real spies," Junior chuckled, holding up his camera as well. "We can drop these off at Photo Hut on the way home!"
"But you're still going to show the newspaper editor our photos, right?" Jonathan pressed. "Fair's fair."
"If Mr. Bob will accept them," Laura answered, "but like we said, he doesn't like Altruistic Alvin that much. He acts all grumpy when Miss Vicki brings in her photos of Alvin."
“Great. Another closed door.” Jonathan let out an aggravated breath. "You'd think some people would want our superhero photos, even if a kid took them. Superhero stuff is supposed to make a lotta money."
Junior raised his head, and a smirk began to settle on his face.
"You're absolutely right," he said slowly. "Superhero stuff should make money. In fact, lotsa people would pay big bucks to see a superhero up close like this."
"Yeah, and we get to see it for free," Angus replied proudly, not catching on.
"Sure, sure," Junior answered, and his eyes practically gleamed with dollar signs, "but just imagine for a moment what we could do with this kind of entertainment. If kids knew about this, they would come from all over the city and pay whatever we charge them."
Jonathan and Angus both straightened, their expressions matching Junior’s.
"Charge them?" Angus repeated.
"Sure!" Junior grinned, starting to pace, feeling a sudden energy as the ideas flowed. "We tell some kids that we can let them see a real superhero, but they can't tell anyone. Then we bring them to this building; Jonathan buzzes us all in, and we come here. We'll stay out of sight, but we'll let them take pictures for a few extra bucks, as long as there's no flash."
"But what if Altruistic Alvin is late bringing Miss Vicki home?" Jonathan asked.
"We'll give out rain checks, but no refunds," Junior said firmly.
The mushroom cousins exchanged excited grins.
"We'll make a fortune!" Angus cried.
"And if we don't have any real expenses, it's basically going to be all profit!" Jonathan sang. "We don't have to rent a theater or anything!"
Laura pursed her lips. "That doesn't sound like a good idea. My dad would call it an invasion of privacy."
Junior snorted.
"Alvin's dropping her off in the open, isn't he?" he drawled. "If your mom drops you off for dance class, are you going to complain if somebody on the sidewalk looks your way?"
Laura shrugged. The mushroom cousins, meanwhile, began to talk quickly.
"We can sneak our customers up the backstairs so that my parents don't see us," was Jonathan's idea. "It'll be like we're secret agents!"
"And maybe we can pop popcorn in your kitchen and sell bags to the kids!" Angus contributed. "If we take the popcorn that's already in the pantry, we won't have to use our own money to buy any!"
Junior nodded vigorously. "If we find more places where superheroes go regularly, we can expand our business."
"Yeah!" Angus bounced in place. "The Chemist and the Milk Money Avenger probably have hangout spots like normal people, and people will want to go there too. This is going to be so cool!"
Junior's grin stretched. "And I will be the president of our business."
Angus and Jonathan promptly glared at him.
"Why should you be the president?" Jonathan demanded. "I actually live here!"
"And I'm the one who told you about this!" added Angus.
"Because it was my idea, and Altruistic Alvin watches my dad's Bible study," Junior sniffed before he reminded himself to be nice to Jonathan. He smiled wide. “But you'll be our vice-president because you'll have to let all our customers into the building and make sure your parents don't find out, okay?"
Jonathan took a moment to think it over, and then he nodded. "That works."
"What about me?" questioned Angus, squinting at him.
"You'll be in charge of spreading the words to trustworthy kids." Junior told him. "If grown-ups find out, they'll put a stop to our business and make us refund all the tickets, so you have a really important job. No tattle tales, got it?"
Angus thinned his lips. "I'd really like to have a title though."
"You'll be the secretary then," Junior answered, thinking fast. "You can't spell secretary without 'secret,' so you're the secret-ary!"
Angus brightened. "Cool!"
Grinning, Junior swung toward Laura next. "And you'll be our treasurer since you actually like math class, and you're super organized."
Laura, however, knitted her invisible brow. "I'm not so sure about this, Junior. We haven't asked Altruistic Alvin or Miss Vicki if it's okay to make money off them."
"Oh, they won't care," Junior insisted. "If we give a part of our money to a church or a charity, then they'll have nothing to complain about, right?"
She still looked uncertain. "Well…"
"Besides," Junior added, "don't you think Altruistic Alvin would be okay with the son of his Bible-study teacher becoming an entrepreneur at such a tender age? I'm sure he won't mind."
It took a bit more cajoling, with Angus and Jonathan joining in, before Laura at last caved.
"Why don't we invite Callie Flower to join?" Laura suggested. "She knows a lot about superheroes. She could be a big help."
Angus made a face. "Ugh! Not Callie!"
"Who's she?" asked Jonathan.
"A weirdo," Angus answered. "She's always talking about bugs and LarryBoy. She's obsessed with finding him before the cops do."
"Which is why she'll work with us," Laura insisted with a scowl. "She keeps binders on everything she finds out about heroes and villains, and she might help us find other places where we can see superheroes."
"We'll talk about it later," Junior said quickly. "Let's first see if our business is going to work before we add any more members."
To his relief, Laura begrudgingly agreed. Junior did not like Callie; she was a bespectacled cauliflower who always wore a headband with fake antennas, and she yakked incessantly about the latest heists of LarryBoy, Applyburg's still uncaught supervillain. Laura was the only one in their class who got along with her, and if Junior made a huge fuss about excluding Callie, then Laura would drop out of their fledgling business in protest. As much as Junior liked making money, it would not be as fun without his best friend.
"Then it's settled," he declared brightly. "Angus will find us some customers who won't tattle, and we'll arrange for them to come here. In no time at all, we'll be rich!"
"What should we call our business?" asked Angus.
Junior thought it over, then snapped his nonexistent fingers.
"We'll call it" — he paused for dramatic effect — "Superhero Sightings Co.! Anything that has 'Co.' in the name sounds professional."
"Oooooh!" his friends chorused, fascinated.
Junior adjusted his hat, quite pleased to see how well his impromptu idea was already taking shape.
THE END