“I’m starving.” Penny said to nobody in particular as they all walked the long hallway out of the shelter towards the woods and back home for lunch.
“Special delivery.” Caleb announced as the kids poured out the big metal door buried behind decades of overgrowth in the heart of the Madrona woods.
“Caleb!” Cassie exclaimed.
“It’s addressed to you Mr. Jordan.” Caleb handed the package to Zach.
“What is it?” Zoe asked.
“If it’s what I ordered, it’s gonna keep us from getting in trouble with our parents while we’re down in the cave.” Zach smiled at Zoe.
Binny rolled her eyes.
As if on command, Zach’s phone buzzed. Zach looked at the screen and shook his head. “He wants me to pick up some groceries this afternoon on the way home.” Zach muttered as he responded affirmatively via text.
Zach looked up from his phone. “You guys go ahead. I’m gonna stay and get this set up.”
Cassie turned to Gabe and Zoe, “Want to come to our house for lunch? I bet my Dad will make peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Sometimes he lets me dip the sandwich in Nutella between bites.”
“Can we go? Can we go?” Gabe turned to Zoe.
Zoe thought for a moment. “Do you guys promise to come right back here?” Turning to Binny? “Would you mind if I stayed and helped Zach? I’m not that hungry.”
Binny glanced back and forth at Zoe and Zach. “Yeah, okay. No problem.”
§
“I’m hooooome.” Penny yelled as the front door clattered behind her. “What’s for lunch?”
Serena raised her eyebrows at Quincy at their daughter’s noisy return. “Hi Pen.” They said as they peered through the kitchen door to welcome her.
“We’re making salad and salmon.” Serena added.
“Where’s Jonathan?” Penny asked.
“He ran out to the bookstore.” Quincy said.
“Oh. Well, I’d like to talk to the both of you actually.” Penny said.
The seriousness of Penny’s tone got her parents’ attention. Serena and Quincy sat down at the kitchen table and gave her their full attention.
“Here we are.” Quincy said in a soft voice.
Penny sat down opposite her parents, seemingly bursting with energy, and took stock of her parents before she started talking quickly.
“Thanks for sitting with me. I know that our family has been broken for a long time now. Dad, with you living far away, and me and Mom living up here. And I also know that this isn’t your fault."
Penny’s parents exchanged glances.
“Mom, I know that over this past year I’ve broken a lot of things. And I’m really really sorry about that.” Penny looked to her father briefly, “I’ve been really clumsy.” And then readdressing both of them, “But that’s over now. Well, maybe not quite over. I still might break things. But I can fix things too. I can fix things!”
Penny leaned back with her arms crossed as if she’d made her case.
“Of course you can honey. Everybody breaks things. And of course you can fix things.” Serena said, somewhat confused at the direction the conversation had taken.
Quincy raised his finger, his mouth open, a worried look on his face, but said nothing.
“No Mom. Don’t you see. I can fix things. I broke this, and I can fix it.” Penny responded to her mother.
“Oh Penny.” Quincy said, his voice filled with sadness.
“Fix what honey?” Serena asked, suddenly nervous at the response.
“Us. Our family. I broke us, and now I can fix us.”
Serena burst into tears. Penny’s father’s eyes were red-rimmed.
“Why are you crying? It’s okay now. I will fix everything.” Penny smiled at her parents.
“Penny,” Quincy took his daughter’s hand. “You didn’t break us. None of this is your fault.”
“OK. Fine. But I can still fix things. I can fix things now.” A note of uncertainty crept into Penny’s voice. Penny spoke more quickly, “Dad can move back in. And we can be a family again.”
Now the tears were streaming freely down Quincy’s face.
“Honey. Look at me.” Serena held up her tear-streaked face to her daughter. “I know things have been hard. I know things have felt broken. And I know you want Daddy to live here with us. But the changes we’ve been going through, they’re not your fault, and they’re not reversible.”
“Things can go back to how they used to be. We were happy before, and we can be happy again.” Penny was rapidly losing the courage of her convictions, but she raced through her words as if getting to the end of her sentences would make them come true. “I can fix things.”
“No sweetie. We can’t go back to the way things were. None of us have the power to make that happen.” Serena told her daughter.
Penny had been so sure. The hum of the generator. The lights coming on in the shelter illuminated the idea in her mind. She could fix things, fix every thing. But no. Even that wasn’t good enough. Her family would be broken forever. Penny shattered.
§
“Helloooo. Helloooo. Helloooo.” Zoe was lying on the floor of the shelter in one of the storerooms repeating herself into a metal grate. Zach had explained that it was a ventilation shaft to let air in and out of the shelter. Zach was above in the woods trying to find the other end.
“Helloooo. Helloooo. Helloooo.” Zoe knew that Gabe was her responsibility, but Binny clearly had experience dealing with little siblings. And besides, Zach needed help. But of course that’s not why she had stayed behind. The real reason was that she simply wasn’t that hungry.
“Helloooo. Helloooo. Helloooo.” Zoe pictured Zach up above hunting among the trees and growth for a small vent. Maybe metal, or concrete. Zach hadn’t been specific. Zach was sure all this effort would be helpful in finding who was hurting the animals. It was really very nice of him to take on her cause. He really seemed to want to help.
“Helloooo baaaack.” Zoe heard Zach’s voice coming through the vent. Tinny and a little bit far away, but still, it was him. He’d found the other end of the shaft. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
Zach arrived in the storeroom with a screwdriver, a cardboard box, and a big smile on his face. He immediately got down on his side and started unscrewing the metal vent panel.
With the panel removed, Zoe saw a small cable dangling from the shaft above. Zoe watched Zach take an electronic device from the box Caleb had delivered, plug the dangling cable into it, and plug the box into the nearby wall socket that was now live courtesy of Penny’s amazing new power. Zoe hoped nobody saw the look on her face when they all realized that Penny could now fix things as well as break them.
Zoe’s eyes wandered down to Zach. He looked so serious and determined. “Now, will you tell me what you’re up to?”
Zach got up from the floor with a big grin on his face. “Nope. But I’ll show you.”
Zach pulled out his cell phone and dialed some numbers. In a moment Zoe’s ringtone was echoing off the walls of the shelter. Zoe had to pull her phone out of her pocket and look at the screen before she realized what Zach had done. Zach just stood there grinning like an idiot.
“Wait, how did you do that?” Zoe asked.
“How many bars do you have?” Zach responded.
“Five.”
“Me too.” Zach was triumphant.
Zach must have seen the look on Zoe’s face shift a bit as he quickly changed his tone. “What’s wrong?”
“That was really smart.” Zoe conceded.
“But?” Zach asked.
“But nothing.”
“Your face is disagreeing with your words.”
Zoe laughed despite herself. “Fine. Fine. It’s just, that was really smart. And you weren’t even using your power. Penny’s got this amazing new thing she can do. What Binny can do is just ridiculously cool. And I know this is totally selfish sounding, but I’m just feeling pretty lame.”
“I saw what you did. It was pretty amazing too.”
“A hole in the ground? You think making a hole in the ground is amazing? The Grand Canyon is an amazing hole in the ground. What I did was distinctly not amazing. I mean, really does it even technically count as a power?” Zoe was getting worked up.
“I can’t do it.” Zach said.
“Neither can I. At least not on command. It just happens when I get really upset.”
“Well, even without a power, it’s great to have you here.” Zach was being conciliatory.
“Oh yeah, why?” Zoe asked. “What about me is so great to have around?”
Zach flushed.
“You don’t have an answer do you.” Zoe demanded.
“I… I…” Zach tried to get the words out.
“I don’t need your pity you know.”
“I know. It’s not pity.” Zach fumbled.
Zoe waited for Zach to say something else. But he didn’t. “Whatever.” Zoe walked away.
§
Quincy came back into the kitchen. He’d stepped into the hallway to text Jonathan to take his time at the bookstore.
“Sweetie, let me ask you a question. When you grew out of your shoes last year, were you broken?” Serena asked her daughter as she rubbed her back.
“No. Of course not.” Penny’s eyes were red-rimmed and puffy.
Quincy sat back down opposite Penny and Serena.
“But your shoes didn’t fit anymore. They didn’t really work the way they had.” Serena said.
“I don’t always wear shoes anyway.”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is the point?” Penny was getting frustrated.
“The point is that people grow. And it’s not just their feet. People grow in different directions, and sometimes things don’t fit the way they used to.”
“You’re talking about you and Daddy.”
“Yes.” Serena responded to her daughter.
“So are we going to throw Daddy out like we did my shoes?” Penny asked.
“I’m not sure I like where this analogy is going.” Quincy smiled.
Penny shot her father a look making it clear she didn’t think he was being funny.
Serena continued, “Well, some people when they get divorced, they do kind of throw each other away. But even though your father and I don’t fit the way we used to, it’s not because something broke, it’s because we both grew.”
“You mean Daddy likes boys now.”
Serena looked at her ex-husband, her eyes forming a question.
Quincy girded himself to answer his daughter. “Yes. That’s true. But it’s not just that. Your mother is the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. She’s my best friend. And she’s given me the single best thing in my life – you. But we’ve both grown and are trying to figure out how to best rearrange our family.”
Penny’s anger was fading a bit, replaced slowly by a determined look.
Serena interjected, “We know it feels bad. We know it feels like things are broken. And we’re so so sorry. But I promise, we’re growing. And these feelings are growing pains. We’re going to get through this growth spurt, and find that we’re taller, and stronger, and even happier.”
“When?” Penny asked.
“When what honey.” Quincy answered.
“When will the growth spurt be over?”
“Soon. I hope soon.” Quincy Yang said to his daughter and to himself.
§
“Come in.” Zach said closing his laptop quickly.
Jay Jordan came into his son’s room and sat on the bed. It was late, and the girls were already asleep. His face looked serious. “We need to talk.”
“OK.”
“You forgot to pick up the things I needed for dinner tonight.” Jay began.
“Oh. Shoot. I’m so sorry.”
Jay cut off his son before he could say anything else. “Look, I know you work hard during the year, and that’s why your mom and I haven’t scheduled you for all kinds of activities during the summer. But I need a minimum of help from you around the house, and to be honest you’re not even doing that.”
“I like that you’re out and about most days. The fresh air is good for you. But your head seems to be in some far away place. It worries me. I’m expecting you to be responsible for your sisters while you’re all out. But if you’re so distracted that you can’t remember to pick up some things at the market, I worry that you’ll be too distracted to look out for your siblings. What is going on with you?”
For the second time that day, Zach felt tongue-tied. Zach was distracted. With super powers, and missing animals, and setting up their headquarters, and Zoe of course. But there were exactly zero of those things he was going to tell his father about.
And besides, Zach was annoyed that his father was questioning whether he was being responsible for his sisters. That’s most of what Zach spent his time doing – being responsible. For his sisters, for the missing animals, for their friends.
Zach had even spent a bunch of time today making sure that his cell phone wouldn’t be out of reach when they were in the shelter. He’d done that so his father could always get in touch. Wasn’t that more important than some stupid groceries?
Zach’s mind raced with a hundred retorts to his father’s patronizing concern. But all he said, was, “Sorry.”
“I love you Zach. I really need you to step up a bit.”
Jay kissed Zach on his forehead and left to go to bed.
Zach didn’t have time to dwell on his frustration with his father or with his life in general. The moment the door clicked closed, Zach raced to reopen his laptop.
Damn! Zach thought. Jay’s little father-son chat had cost him $350.