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When the clock ticks leading up to when the school day ends at three, Terri is excited. Her mom is busy with some sort of work conference and so her dad is picking her up. She nervously watches the clock, still trying to listen to whatever topic her teacher is droning on about. It was important to pay attention. She needed to keep her grades up.
Her tiny fingers tap along the desk as she anxiously waits for the bell to ring. It had been a couple of months since she had seen her dad. She had hoped he’d come to her birthday party, turning ten is a big deal after all, but he hadn’t even stopped by. It’s okay, she knew he was busy. Maybe he’d come to her soccer games once she got on the team. He always liked soccer.
The bell rang and Terri practically flew out of the classroom. There was a disgruntled huff from one of her classmates whose foot she had stepped on, but she didn’t have time to care. The hallways passed in a blur as she burst out the front entrance. Bounding down the front steps, her tiny form scans the area.
The elementary school had a large front lawn for parents to wait for their children. Most sat at picnic tables in the small, paved area next to the garden off to the far left. They sat impatiently, staring down at their phones with an occasional bored glance to see if their child had appeared in front of them. Terri’s mom wasn’t like that.
Veronica Marlowe waited for Terri with a smile every day. She sat on the same park bench, in the same spot. Her face would light up when she saw her daughter. Terri would run up to her with a matching grin and she would ruffle her hair and ask about her day. The following answer would often last the entire ride home and into snack time. She would recount every detail of her day while chewing on celery sticks. Veronica would listen intensely to every word. She had never been late.
Terri’s dad was not sitting on the bench. He did not know about the bench. So, she was determined to look elsewhere. She watched as parents became reunited with their children and the previously bustling campus dwindled down to a few stragglers. Including herself. She had never been a straggler before and wasn’t entirely sure what to do. In her panicked state, she spotted a boy from another class. He sat at the picnic tables looking sullen.
In a moment of bravado, she marched right up to him.
“Why do you look so sad?”
He looked at her, eyebrows furrowed. She stood confidently, hands on her hips. The two stared at each other, neither one seeming content to look away. It was the boy who broke first, sighing as his gaze returned to his shoes.
“My dad’s late because he took my sister camping and they said they would be back today but he’s late and my mom’s still at work,” he explained, trying to conceal the hint of bitterness in his voice.
“My dad’s also late but that’s just cause he’s really busy, you know? He probably just got caught up with something really important,” she rants, stopping when the boy’s eyes become distant. She plops herself down beside him on the bench, getting him to look up. Tears glisten in his eyes. She had to think fast.
“Do you want to go to the park with me?” she asks, a wide smile on her face. There was a park, beyond the terrible one at the elementary school. It was about a ten-minute walk away. Her mom had taken her there dozens of times, more so recently so she could practice for soccer tryouts. It was the perfect solution. No one could be sad at the park.
“We’re not supposed to leave the school before our parents get here.”
It was not the perfect solution, as it turns out. Terri considers this information for a moment. She certainly did not want to be gone when her father got there. He would be so worried about her. Plus, getting in trouble by leaving without permission would only stand to stress her mom out even more than she already is. She searches the school yard. A tall teacher half heartedly surveyed the kids still there. She grabbed the boy’s arm, pulling him to his feet. He yelped in response.
“Come on I have an idea.”
Which is all the explanation he gets as he is haphazardly dragged halfway across the school lawn. He only manages to straighten himself out when he realizes that she had dragged him right in front of a teacher. Her smile doesn’t waver.
“Mister? Can me and my friend go to the park please? And when are parents get here can you tell them we’re there?” she asks, the perfect essence of innocence. The teacher glances down at them, almost unaware of their presence. He doesn’t seem to truly be looking at them.
“Uh, yeah sure,” he croaks awkwardly. Terri nearly jumps at the answer, immediately pulling her new friend towards the sidewalk. She was excited to have a new friend. Especially since she didn’t have many friends. Maybe he could be her best friend. Second best friend, after her mom of course. Her thought process is interrupted by him digging his feet into the ground.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea. I don’t want to worry my dad or anything and-,” He trails off, fiddling with his hands. She furrowed her eyebrows.
“Don’t worry, the teacher will tell him where we are. Plus, we’ll show how responsible we can be. Really, it’s a win-win all around.”
The boy looks back towards the school and then back at her. He takes a deep breath and relaxes his shoulders. She stares at him expectantly and he gives her a nod. That’s all she needed to immediately start sprinting down the sidewalk with the boy trying to keep up.
The pavement pounded beneath her feet and each breath she took felt like she was taking in new air. This was her first time going to the park without her mom. Despite what she said, part of her feared that her parents would be upset when they realized that she had left the campus. A small twinge of guilt at the idea of her father panickily scanning the campus for her, only to come up empty handed. She glanced behind her. The boy was about twenty feet away and was already out of breath. Most fourth graders don’t do stamina training. She slowed her pace to allow him to catch up.
He had looked so sad when she was talking to him. Like he was used to being left behind. Like he expected it. Perhaps it was naïve to assume that she could fix that. But a distraction could help.
After a minute, he finally caught up to her, huffing and wheezing. He stood bent over with his hands on his knees while Terri patted his back. Maybe she was going just a bit too fast.
“Can we go slower?” he asks between gasps. She nods and the two resume at a leisurely pace. Autumn had finally broken through some of the California heat and the weather was cool enough to wear a light jacket. The leaves had lost most of their color, tittering on the edge of falling off the branches. It was the perfect day to play outside, and she hoped that it would cheer her new friend up.
“What’s your name? It just feels kind of weird that we’re hanging out and left the school, but I don’t know your name.”
“Oh right,” she had completely forgotten about her name. “My full name is Theresa, but everyone calls me Terri!” she bounces as she explains.
“My full name is Normally, but everyone calls me Normal,” there’s a slight laugh in his voice that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“That’s not a name,” Terri says, matter of fact, “That’s an ad-ject-ive,” she sounds the word out. She had just learned what it was and was very excited about being able to use it. So excited that she doesn’t notice Normal’s face fall at the statement. “It describes a noun, which is what a name is. Your name should be a noun.”
“It is my name,” he exaggerates. He curls his hands into fists, threatening to break skin. His pace does not change, but tears threaten the edge of his eyes. Terri stops.
“No, yea, you’re right. I didn’t mean it like that. Or anything. I just- I wasn’t trying to- I didn’t,” she stammers, unable to think of what to say. She had done it again. She screwed up again.
“No, no, it’s okay,” Normal sighs, taking another deep breath. She knows it’s not okay. He didn’t look any less tense than he did when she had first said it. But it looked like the conversation was over and so the two continued to walk in tense silence.
It wasn’t a moment too soon when the park became clear in the distance. Terri skipped over, trying not to let the pit in her stomach weigh her down. Normal followed suit, his eyes glued to the ground.
She quickly started climbing towards the tallest part of the playground structure. When she reaches the top, she beckons towards Normal who stood awkwardly at the bottom of the structure. He attempts to scamper up, skinning his knee along the way. Once at the top, Terri gestures around before moving closer to him.
“This is a secret so you can’t tell anyone this, okay.”
Normal nods in response, much to Terri’s delight. She leans closer to him.
“This is my favorite place in the whole world,” she whispers conspiratorially. She leaps back and begins pointing. “That’s the field that I’ve been practicing soccer on, and that’s the swing set that my mom used to push me on, and this is my favorite slide in the whole park.”
She looks towards the entrance of the slide and then back at Normal.
“I thought this was the zoo?” he asks, his confusion clear on his face. This was certainly not the reaction she had been expecting. Obviously, this wasn’t the zoo. She’d been to the zoo. It had tigers and lions and a bunch of cool reptiles. She wasn’t sure how to correct him. She knew she was right, but she had already made him upset today and if she wanted him to be her second-best friend, she would have to be careful.
“No, this is the park, look at the sign!” she exclaimed and sure enough, halfway through the park there was a sign that in bold letters said “Brickwood Park”. Normal squinted his eyes, trying to read the sign. He turned back to her, his face scrunched.
“My dad said this was the zoo. Cause it has birds and stuff,” he explained, but the shake in his voice gave away his insecurity.
“But the zoo has way more animals, like tigers and lions and they have birds too! And a bunch of other animals.”
Normal looked thoughtfully. Partially like she just shattered his world but partially like something she really couldn’t describe. Dads were complicated. Terri knew that better than most. She hoped that she hadn’t hurt his feelings again. She hoped that he would accept her explanation so they could go back to playing.
For a moment the world fell still. It reminded Terri of when her mother had told her Santa Claus wasn’t real. She thought of the way she had screamed and cried, begging for it not to be true. Then the aftermath, the crushing realization that her mother, her best friend, had lied to her. Without hesitation, she grabs Normal’s hand, giving him a smile. When your world falls apart, the last thing you want to be is alone.
Normal, after a moment of quiet contemplation, returned her smile. She took the opportunity and ran with it, literally. The two ended up next to the tallest slide at the playground, which Terri happily went down, with Normal following not that far behind. The tension that had hung in the air had seemed to disperse.
The two ran through the park, giggling the whole way. The playground was surrounded by the beginnings of a small forest. The tall trees twisted and climbed, far enough that they looked like they could touch the sky. Terri had always believed they would be great climbing trees, an opinion that her mother deeply disagreed with. She slowed, Normal almost slamming into her at the sudden stop, and stared through the trees.
Normal approached the tree line, reaching up for one of the branches. Before Terri could even think he had pulled himself up and was now swinging his leg from the branch. She hesitated. Her mom probably wouldn’t want her to climb these trees, even if she was with a friend. Then again, her mom wasn’t here and Normal looked like he was having the time of his life jumping from branch to branch.
Her choice solidified when Normal noticed that she had not joined him and reached his hand down to help. She took it, leaving all worries of her mother’s opinions on the ground. She clasped her tiny hand around the bark of the tree. Its roughness attempted to tear at her skin as she followed Normal up. He climbed like it was what he had been born to do. As if it was second nature. Terri struggled a bit as the world beneath pulled further away.
The two kids eventually ended up on two branches, Terri’s being slightly lower than Normal’s. They could see the entire park from their vantage point and beyond. The sun had begun to dip below the horizon, painting the sky in a magnificent array of colors.
“Do you think our dads have noticed were gone?” Normal asked, breaking the silence and tearing Terri away from the mesmerizing sky, though his eyes were still trained on it. She couldn’t help but pick up on a slight disdain in Normal’s voice. When she had first talked to him, he had mentioned that his dad was with his sister or something like that. Maybe his dad was too busy noticing his sister to notice him. Terri didn’t have any siblings, so she didn’t have to share her parents’ attention, or, more accurately, her mother’s attention. Her father was so busy anyways.
“I’m sure they are on their way,” she concluded, leaning back onto the branch behind her. Normal gives a contemplative smile at her answer. Turning toward her, he sighs.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. They’re probably just trying to figure out where we are,” he explained. Seemingly to himself more than anyone else. The children were satisfied with their joint explanation.
Terri felt that it was best to move on to another topic, but not a moment before she opened her mouth to speak, the branch she had rest upon snapped under her weight. As it tumbled to the ground, she stayed motionless for a moment, as if she was flying. And then she was falling. The world around her spun, nothing more than a mix of brazen colors. She felt the bark dig into her skin as the branches that had previously been her way up hit her on the way down.
She wondered if this would be how she died. Cursing herself for not listening to her mother. Traumatizing her new friend. Her dad would be so upset when he found her. If he found her.
She closed her eyes. Normal was shouting at her from above, scrambling down as quickly as he could without meeting her same fate. After what felt like a lifetime, she finally landed on the ground. A second snap echoed through the night sky, although this one was from her leg, rather than a tree branch.
She gave a small yelp. The adrenaline running through her kept her from realizing the amount of disrepair her tiny body was in. Her mind hadn’t fully caught up to what had happened when Normal appeared beside her.
He was the one crying, ironically enough. Apologies spilled from his lips faster than she could swat them away. It was not his fault that she had leaned onto an unstable branch. If anything, she was the one at fault for suggesting they go to the park in the first place. And following that logic, it was their fathers’ fault for not being on time to pick them up. She was not in the right state of mind to explain this however, and Normal continued to mumble his sorrys as Terri attempted to make the world stop spinning.
The park had emptied in their time there and neither child seemed equipped to get help. Terri hoped that her father would appear, ready to sweep her into his arms and save the day. Normal, still unsure of what to do, began to inspect her leg.
She hissed at his touch, beginning to feel the pain. He pulled his hands back in reflex. His face twisted as if he had eaten something sour.
“I think I-” he began, “I need to try something. Do you trust me?”
She feels her head nod, the world started to go fuzzy in her periphery. Sleep beckoned her and she didn’t feel a need to resist. The pain tried to put her to sleep, but a bright light suddenly jolted her alert. It was Normal. His hands glowed a faint purple color. The pain in her leg went from an unbearable crush to a dull ache. Tears streamed down her face. She hadn’t even realized she had started crying. Her other wounds stitched themselves up as well and, in the end, she was left with only a scratch on her cheek and a bruise on her side. She looked at Normal in amazement.
He looked down at his hands, the glow long gone, with absolute confusion. He looked back up at Terri and then back down at his hands, trying to see if what he just saw really happened. The branch still sat beside her. Her clothes were torn and covered in dirt, with leaves dangling from her hair. Yet there she sat, perfectly fine.
It felt like ages before one of the two decided to speak.
“You’re a superhero,” Terri said, certain. She could not believe her new best friend was a superhero. Normal continued to stare, unable to formulate a response. She stood up on her newly healed leg, grinning down at him.
“How did I do that? I felt something like a tug, and I saw the glow before it was real, I think. If it was real at all,” he explained, mostly to himself but Terri still listened attentively as any good friend would.
“You have superpowers. You should definitely become a superhero if you aren’t one already,” she told him, already planning on how the two would fight crime together. Not that there’s a lot of crime in San Dimas, but a girl can dream. Normal, to his credit, seemed to regain awareness of the world. He stood up and stumbled towards the swings. She followed behind him, her grin twisting into an anxious frown.
“What if this is bad?” he finally resolves to ask, swaying side to side on the swing. His eyes met the horizon.
“You helped me,” she responded, a softness in her tone. She plopped into the swing next to him. “I was really hurt; I probably would have had to go to the hospital and then I definitely couldn’t have tried out for soccer. You saved me today.”
“I was the reason you got hurt today,” he protested, hands gripping the chains. Terri scoffs in response.
“I made my own choice. It’s not your fault that I suck at climbing trees,” she jokes. His eyes do not move. “But you helped me, even though you were scared. Even when you were unsure of the right thing to do.” She stares into him, eyes pleading with him to look over at her.
“It felt… weird. Like my whole body was feeling the same thing all at once. Like the world and I had become one,” he glances over. “That’s dumb, I know.”
“You don’t have to do it again. We don’t have to tell anyone. I mean, it would be really cool if we became like a crime fighting duo, but I guess we don’t have too,” she sighs. She wanted to use Normal’s newfound powers to do superhero stuff, but they are not her powers to decide what to do with. He looked almost shocked at her suggestion.
“Do you not think that it’s weird? Think that I’m weird?” he asks, almost pleads.
“Well, it’s certainly not normal. Or I guess it is cause you did it. You get what I mean. But it’s also super cool. Like it is the furthest thing from lame ever,” she decides, beginning to kick on the swing. Normal smiled as she crept higher into the sky. She contemplates jumping from the peak before thinking better of it. After all, there is no guarantee that Normal would be able to do that again.
“Why are we here Terri?” he asks, eyes watching as she swings back and forth.
“We got bored waiting for our dads.”
“Yeah,” he agrees. “But why me? Why not just go by yourself or see if one of your friends wanted to go?”
Terri presses her feet against the mulch, bringing her swing to a quick stop. Perhaps too quick given the sharp pain that shoots up her legs. She probably needs to be more careful for a little bit. Even if Normal did heal her, there could be issues still. It was a welcome distraction from the pain his words brought, however. There was no easy way to say that she didn’t really have any friends, besides her mom. Which, as much as she didn’t want to admit it, was a little lame. She settles on a partial truth.
“You looked sad, and I wanted to help. You and I both know how much it sucks to be left behind. Yeah sure, I could’ve come here alone, but I’m glad I didn’t. I’m glad I got to hang out with you.”
Normal smiles.
“I’m glad I got to hang out with you too.”
The sweet moment is interrupted by a car speeding around the corner and quickly stopping in the parking lot. A stressed man bolted out of the car and looked around in desperation.
“Normal!” He shouted, before spotting the boy and running over. He takes a moment to regain his breath before continuing. “What are you doing here? I got to the school and some teacher said you went off to the park with someone and he seemed weirdly chill about it. Are you hurt? You scared us absolutely shitless Normal,” the man, who Terri is assuming is Normal’s father, takes another deep breath.
“It’s my fault,” she blurts, staring at the ground, “it was my idea to go to the park.” She didn’t want Normal to get in trouble when she was the one who dragged him here in the first place. The man surveyed her for a minute before turning to Normal.
“Is this one of your friends Norm?”
Normal hesitates before he nods. His father breathes a sigh of relief.
“That’s great! I mean, it’s not great that you two left school, but it’s good to see that you have uh,” he stammers. “Are having a good time.”
They both breathe a sigh of relief. Normal’s dad is not mad. In fact, he seems happy that his son did something with a friend, even if that something was definitely not something they should have been doing.
“I’m Normal’s dad, Sparrow Swallows-Oak-Garcia,” he introduces, giving his hand for her to shake. He has a lot of last names, she notes, perhaps too many.
“I’m Terri Marlowe, my dad didn’t show up either and so I asked the teacher if we could go to the park, and he said it was fine.”
“Terri, you said?” Sparrow asks and she gives a nod. “And this was your idea?” She gives another nod, more sheepish this time. She didn’t want Normal’s dad to decide she was a bad influence and ban him from hanging out with her. “Okay, do you need a ride home?”
She was not expecting that question.
“My dad is going to pick me up,” she said a little too quickly. Sparrow gives her a look that borders on pity. She thinks she hates it.
“It’s getting late, how about I take you home and you can call your dad in the car.”
“Okay,” she squeaks, finding her shoes very interesting. Sparrow walks toward the car with the children following behind.
The car was blue and weirdly clean. Terri’s mom always complained about how hard it is to keep the car clean with kids and yet Sparrow’s car was spotless. He looks at them through the window, making sure both kids buckle their seatbelts. Once both were safely settled, the man starts the engine and hands Terri his phone.
She racked her brain attempting to remember her dad’s number. She knew her mom’s number by heart, of course she did, but it was always her mother who called her dad for her. Her thumbs hover over the numbers as she visualizes the movements that her mom did when calling her father. She hits the call button, tapping her leg.
It goes to voicemail.
Normal and Sparrow are looking at her. They’re trying to hide it but they are. She needs to think fast.
“Hey dad, it’s Terri,” she pauses, as if waiting for a response, “I figured you were busy, so I got a ride home with a friend.” Another pause. “Okay, well, I’ll talk to you soon. Love you. Bye.”
She hangs up the phone and silently hands it back to Sparrow.
“So, Terri, what do you like to do?” Sparrow asks, attempting to break the ice.
“I’m trying out for soccer. I’m really excited.”
“Soccer’s good. I’m sure you’ll love it,” he smiles, though it seems more for himself than anyone else. Like he just told some sort of inside joke.
Terri instructs Sparrow through the neighborhood, with occasional chit chat between her and Normal. It’s not long before the group pulls up outside her house.
“I had fun today, Normal. We should do this again,” she says, pulling her backpack out of the seat.
“Maybe not exactly this, but yeah, we should hang out again. The two smile at each other, waving until Terri is inside.
And if later that night, when her mom asks her about how the ride with her dad went and she changed the subject to her new friend. Well, no one had to know.