The Madrona Heroes Register: Underneath It All

Chapter 1 - The Shopping List

“But how are you going to remember everything if you don’t write it down?”

“I’ll remember.”

“There’s no shame in admitting you’re not superhuman you know.” Zach’s father admonished him gently.

“I said, I’ll remember.”

“I always suspected you were part elephant. And you’re stubborn like an elephant too.”

Zach Jordan thought of a sharp retort but swallowed it as he knew that once his father was making dopey jokes, any response would only encourage him further.

“I’ll admit that your skin isn’t nearly as leathery as I would have expected for an elephant but I suppose that will come with time.”

“Dad!” Zach was getting annoyed.

“Fine, but don’t’ forget the parmesan cheese. We’re out.”

“Uh huh.” Zach was already moving towards the back door to collect his bike and head uphill to the neighborhood market.

On his bike Zach was free. Free of his father’s constant requests and free to think. Zach didn’t mind helping, it just felt like he was always the one being asked to help, while his younger sisters were getting away without lifting a finger. Zach knew that the increase in his responsibilities was somewhat due to his parents no longer living together, but he didn’t like to dwell on that too much. And besides, there were so many other things to think about as Zach biked up the Madrona hillside.

It had been almost exactly a year since the adventures of the previous summer. Once he and his siblings had narrowly escaped the scrutiny of the scientists at Luce Laboratories, the Jordan kids’ main challenge, other than schoolwork, had consisted of keeping their powers a secret. 

For Zach it meant not doing so well at school as to raise eyebrows, but still getting good enough grades to keep his parents happy. For Binny it meant not being nearly as nosy as she could be. And for Cassie it meant near constant admonishment from Zach and Binny that she was not to show off about her power no matter how desperate she was to tell someone - anyone. Luckily Cassie still couldn’t disappear on command but Zach and Binny still kept a close eye on her and on a couple of occasions had needed to resort to discrediting Cassie’s statements or distracting people from Cassie’s sudden exits. 

Zach wasn’t sure that his extraordinary memory skills were really that much of a “super power” anyway. Not compared to mind-reading and invisibility (if Cassie ever figured out how to do it on command). Even Penny, could break stuff just by touching it. Zach imagined there were more uses for that kind of thing than his ability to retain pretty much everything he saw. His powers definitely made school easier, and he was pretty sure he could be the world record holder at memorizing Pi, but the relative uselessness of his skill was another topic Zach didn’t like to think too much about. 

Zach consoled himself with the fact that being one of only four people on Earth with an actual super power was better than being one of the remaining almost seven billion without one. Even more importantly, school was out for the summer. Other than doing chores for his father Zach could spend his time hanging out in the woods, or riding his bike with the summer sun on his back. On his bicycle, Zach shed his worries about revealing his super powers. And as far as whether his power was as good as the others, for the moment, it just wasn’t that important.

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Angel Hair pasta – two packages, one bunch of fresh basil, and a block of parmesan cheese, Zach recited Jay’s shopping list word for word in his head. Zach collected the ingredients one-by-one as he walked the handful of aisles of Madrona Dry Goods – the small neighborhood market located in the commercial heart of the neighborhood.