Stanley Kirby's Secret
Short Story
by Samuel Blackwell
From a very early age comic book super heroes fascinated Stanley Kirby.
It's hard to say what it was that made this his life long obsession.
Was it the superhuman aspect of these characters?
Was it their want and need to always help mankind?
Was it their ability to always say and do the right thing?
It could have been all those things.
It was however, the bright colorful graphics that first caught his eye.
He was four years old, at a supermarket with his mother when he first
spotted them. He had seen the comic book stand from across the store, as
he got closer his eyes were drawn to the bright colors. Young Stanley
ran to the stand and stood there in awe at these magnificent works of
art. The covers were full of perfect-bodied men and woman in brightly
colored costumes. His jaw wide open as he pulled one off the rack and
began to thumb through the pages, the pages that seemed to jump out at him.
Stanley found his happy place that's the way he would describe it years
later. The age old question are nerds made from their environment, or
is it biological. Stanley will tell you that by the age of four he felt
a void in his life, and comics filled that void.
To say that Stanley was a nerd would be putting it lightly; Stanley was
a flaming nerd.
Almost every physical attribute a nerd could have, Stanley had it,
nasally voice (check), greasy unkempt hair (check), black horn rimmed
glasses (check), high water pants (check), tight short sleeve shirt buttoned
all the way up to the neck tucked into high water pants (check), and at
thirty two still living with his mother, in her basement (check).
At Val's Comic Emporium, we find Stanley behind the counter in a heated
discussion with two preteens on why the 70's Captain Bolt is much better
then today's updated version.
Stanley grew up buying comics at Val 's Comic shop. In high school
Stanley started working for Val, and has been there ever since. He pretty
much runs the shop for Val now, not making much more then minimum wage,
but he loves what he does.
Stanley looking at his watch, interrupts the conversation, "Oh my, it's
closing time guys." Stanley abruptly announces. "I gotta lock up; I got
a hot date with my girl Nancy tonight." By hot date, he means online
chat, via the Internet. He met Nancy in a chat room titled Lonely Prison
Woman two months ago, she's incarcerated on the other end of the
continent. The relationship consists of conversations where she will string
him along, until she can sweet talk him into sending her cash. Once he
agrees she will tell him that something's come up and she has to get off
line, she'll tell him how hot he is, and how hot he makes her and that
she can't wait until the time that they will be together.
9:25 pm, Stanley looks at his Seiko watch for the fifteenth time in the
last three minutes. He is at the bus stop two blocks from the comic
shop, waiting impatiently for the number 14 downtown bus; it is due in ten
minutes. Next to him sits a beautiful young woman with long flowing
black hair that stops just above a lower back tattoo, of course Stanley
almost strains his eyes trying to get a look at this dark haired beauty
without making it obvious. He notices that she has been crying.
Out of
nowhere a Ford Gran Torino pulls up, and screeches to a halt. The car
is jet black with a giant white skull and crossbones air brushed on the
hood. Inside the car sits a mullet haired, tattooed shirtless man
smoking a cigarette. "Come on Lucy get in the car, I said I was sorry." The
man says as his cigarette dangles from his lips. "Go to Hell!" She
yells, "Go back to your whore." At this point the mulleted man puts the car
into park, and is now standing in front of the woman. Dressed in only a
pair of dirty jeans, he is pleading with her to get into the car. She
refuses, with that he opens the door and begins to pull her into the
car. She tries to pull away from him, and then he hits her hard in the
face, knocking her into the car.
"I believe the lady wishes to stay." Stanley says, "I order you to
unhand her this instant."
Stanley grabs the man by the shoulder turns him around and with one
punch sends the man hurling to the pavement.
"What are you looking at?" Dink. The Mullet Man says bringing Stanley
back to reality.
Stanley doesn't say a word, he is mortified as the shirtless man slams
the car door shut, with the girl slumped over in the passenger seat. He
takes two steps and his face is now an inch away from Stanley's.
"Nothing,...That's right your looking at nothing....Dink." He says and then
hisses at Stanley. Then the evil Mullet Man speeds away with the
unconscious girl. Stanley pulls an asthma inhaler out of his pocket and gives
it two squirts down his throat. (Okay I missed that one. check) For the
next couple minutes Stanley replays different scenarios of the events
that just occurred over in his head, each one a little bit different,
but in each one he saves the girl.
"Yes I think he'll do." A strange voice says in an alien language. "He
definitely has the desire, but we will need to do some tests first."
Another strange alien voice replies.
We see two space alien creatures
looking at a monitor, a monitor that has been and is still viewing Stanley
as he waits for the bus. "I'll capture him." The smaller alien says as
he grabs the joystick and begins twisting the dials on the console.
"No Kyle" says the larger alien, "You always get to do it, I want to." The
two aliens fight over the Joystick, the larger one grabs Kyle by one of
his three nipples and begins to twist hard, giving him a very painful
purple nurple. Screaming in pain Kyle releases the Joystick.
"The reason
I always get to do it, Amun is because you suck at it." The alien Kyle
says as he relinquishes the control of the Joystick to the larger
alien, while rubbing his now sore nipple.
We are viewing the monitor as Amun tries to navigate the Joystick. In
an alley, shoots a silver-flying orb, perfectly round and the size of a
softball. "Watch it your gonna hit the wall!" Kyle yells impatiently
at his oversized partner, just as the orb hits a brick wall, flies
across the alley to a trash can ricochets off the can and proceeds to bounce
down the ally. Stanley hears the noise from the ally and turns to see
the small metal orb slowly roll out of the dark ally.
"Amun you're an
idiot." Kyle says disgusted with his alien partner. Amun tries franticly
to regain control over the now still orb. Stanley watches bewildered as
the orb begins to rise, it is now hovering about eight feet
in the air, it begins to make a low hum and starts spinning as Amun
tries to lock Stanley in his sight. "Hold it right there, don't move, I
almost have you," Amun says as he presses down on the fire button of the
Joystick. A laser beam shoots from the orb, missing Stanley, but hitting
the bus stop sign. The sign immediately disappears leaving only a puff
of smoke in its place.
Stanley jumps up with a scream and begins to run down the empty street.
Kyle now shaking his fists and yelling at Amun, "You moron!" He says as
the bus stop sign re-appears behind them on the spacecraft. The chase
is on as Amun tries to capture him, the orb is half flying and bouncing
down the street behind a screaming Stanley, the laser is hitting
everything but the target, a trash can, a light pole, a cat, an old Buick.
Kyle is now holding his head in his hands, and muttering in utter
disbelief as the spaceship fills with these Earth items. Stanley trips over
a drunken homeless man passed out on the sidewalk, he tries to wake the
man, shaking the man, Stanley yells "You gotta help me!" Stanley and
the drunkard are both watching the now very dented orb bounce toward
them.
"That's it! Playtime is over!" Kyle says as he grabs the control stick
and straightens out the orb, locks it on Stanley, shoots the laser,
with a zap Stanley is gone, leaving the shocked homeless man choking on
the smoke residue. The orb floats for a moment and then shoots straight
up in the air and is gone. The homeless drunkard lays there for a few
seconds and then says to himself, "I quit. No more hooch, I'm going back
to being an accountant."
"Wha'd you do that for? I almost had 'em." Amun says angrily. "No, you
had everything but him." Kyle spits back. The two throw insults back and
forth,
"Jerk!"
"Moron!"
"Butt pie!"
"Turd."
With a loud boom, Stanley materializes on top of the Buick. Stanley
lying on his back is trying to come to grips with the situation. "Oh my
goodness, I think I have just been teleported." Stanley thinks to
himself. He looks over the side of the Buick to see two space aliens standing
at attention. One of the aliens is about three feet tall, with a large
egg shaped head, two large black almond shape eyes, a small slit for a
mouth, skinny spindly arms and legs. He is wearing only a pair of
Bermuda shorts and sandals; he has a tattoo across his belly that reads
Metallica and just above the tattoo three nipples. The other alien is much
larger almost seven feet tall, the face looks the same as the smaller
alien, except for a lip ring. This one has a very muscular build and
seems to be wearing some kind of tight fitting space suit.
"Greetings Earthling." The smaller alien says to Stanley
telepathically.
"I am Commander Gorgon, from the Nebula 12 Galaxy, and this is Mork
from Ork."
At this point Amun looks at Kyle with eyes blaring, and whispers in
their alien language. "Mork!? What the hell's wrong with you? Just stick
to the script." Kyle trying not to giggle replies "Nanu Nanu". Amun not
amused shoots back. "That's it when we get home, I'm telling dad."
"Baby!"
"Jerk!"
"Spaz!"
"Worm!"
"Turd."
The two alien brothers revert back to name calling, to Stanley their
alien language sounds like beeps, clicks and buzzes. "Hey cool it we got
a visitor." Kyle nudges Amun. The two resume standing at attention, and
once again Kyle begins to speak telepathically to Stanley.
"Stanley
Kirby, we are searching the galaxies for the chosen one, we have been
monitoring you for two weeks, and we believe you are the one." Kyle says in
his best Commander Gorgon mind voice, "We will need to conduct a few
mental and physical tests to determine if our findings are true." With
out hesitation Stanley says "Yes!"
Stanley has never been the chosen anything, the thought that someone
especially a space alien called him the chosen one, made him extremely
excited.
Stanley is now laying on a flat table in a white room in nothing but a
robe. He is being examined by the smaller alien. He has been poked and
prodded, and yes even probed, there is really no need to do this but
earthlings don't feel they have been truly abducted unless they've been
probed.
After the examination he is brought to the viewing room, the larger
alien sits next to him.
As Amun gives Stanley a bag of roasted almonds and a small bottle
mineral water, a large flat screen rises up from the floor. As the movie
starts Kyle enters the room and seats himself on the other side of
Stanley. The video screen focuses on a very ugly many tentacled creature, the
creature is badly dubbed in English by television actor and spokesmen
Tom Bosley.
"Hello, if your viewing this then you passed our series of tests, and
have been deemed the chosen one. We at Galaxy Safe Inc. wish to offer
you for a limited time only The ability to be Earth's mightiest hero."
"Through scientific research we have developed a serum that will make you
invincible to any of the Earth's defenses from a small virus, to a full
blown nuclear bomb. This serum, along with our patented Costume, The
Invincible Suit, will give you super human strength, the ability to fly,
be bullet proof, it will even enhance your mind power, and your senses."
"You will be Spectacularman! We offer you the chance to try our product
for a ninety-day free trial. After ninety days if you are not
completely satisfied, you may return The Invincible Suit, at no cost to you."
The chance to be a super hero. The thought keeps rolling around in
Stanley's head. "Yes!" He says enthusiastically. "Where do I sign?"
Kyle/Commander Gorgon pulls out a folder full of legal documents. Stanley
signs every document without reading them. After the last page is
signed, both aliens shake his hand, and then a strange blue mist is sprayed
in Stanley's face, he immediately passes out.
Stanley's eyes open up to the bright light of day. He is laying on the
front porch of his mother's house, his head is resting on a box, he
sits up, looks down at the box that has been his pillow and reads,
Spectacularman! Earth's Mightiest Hero. Holding the box in his hand, he
remembers the night before and says to himself, "It was real, it wasn't a
dream." Quickly getting his keys out of his pocket, unlocking the door,
and into the house, as he makes his way to his basement bedroom, his
mother calls out to him. "Stanley is that you? Stanley where have you been
all night I was worried? Stanley, come in here my bunions are killing
me, would you please rub ointment on them for me?"
After a half-hour of bunion rubbing Stanley is in his room, franticly
tearing open the box. The first thing he sees is the owners manual,
which states in big bold letters, "Do not use any of the contents in this
package until after you've completely read the owners manual."
Stanley
throws it aside and digs into the box looking for the suit, it's at the
bottom of the box, in a sealed air tight plastic bag, on the front of the
bag it reads, "Do not attempt to use The Invincible Suit, until after
you've read the owners manual." Stanley rips into the bag, in seconds is
out of his clothes and into The Invincible Suit. It's a bit baggy on his
small frame. He is now standing in his room, in front of a full length
mirror admiring himself in the dark purple super hero outfit, with
sparkling sequins that look like stars, white boots and a matching white
belt, and a violet detachable cape that is secured with a very strong
unearthly Velcro.
He is in front of the mirror flexing. "It's time to test the suit." he
thinks to himself. He tries to lift a bookshelf full of comic books,
but only manages to knock it over on himself. Maybe the suit needs some
time to acclimate it's self to my body. Stanley thinks. "Flying! That's what I'll try." He says hopefully. Looking at the owner's manual
lying on his bed, he thinks to himself "Maybe I should read that."
Standing for a moment contemplating Stanley shakes his head, "No I'll figure
it out. To the back yard." He says as he snaps his fingers. In the back
yard Stanley counts to three and begins to run ten steps and then leaps
into the air, only to fall and skid along on his belly getting grass
stains on The Invincible Suit. Stanley's mother looks up from her chair
to see her thirty-two year old son running back and forth in the back
yard in a super hero costume, She takes a long drag off of her cigarette,
shakes her head and then continues watching an old repeat of Bonanza.
Stanley now lying on his back looking up at the sky completely
discouraged spots the roof of his house. "That's it!" He shouts with
excitement. Now on the roof of his house Stanley is certain that if he jumps off
the sudden drop will cause the suits flying capabilities to kick in.
Some of the neighborhood children have started to gather on his driveway
and are watching with great amusement as Stanley leaps off the roof as
he yells, "Up! Up! And AAAAAAGH!," His body makes a thud as he lands
face down in his front yard. Some of the kids have surrounded our dim
hero, as they help him to his feet, they ask him to do it again. Stanley
limps back into the house, and says to himself "Okay, I m ready to read
the owners manual now."
Sitting on his bed, still having difficulty breathing after his leap of
faith, Stanley is now taking a closer look at the owner's manual. What
he has discovered is that there is a second element to becoming
Spectacularman. A box full of tiny cartridges, the size of a triple A battery,
each cartridges contain a four hour dose of the serum.
Page four installing the serum. Stanley is standing by his bed now
following the instruction.
1) Open small cover on belt buckle.
2) Place one cartridge into designated slot on belt buckle.
3) Close cover. As Stanley closes the cover, the suit starts to make a
humming noise.
4) Closing the lid will activate the serum; you will feel a slight
discomfort.
At this point Stanley begins To scream, as if he is on fire, as the
serum seems to enter his body through every pore the suit is touching.
Stanley falls to the ground, after several minutes a six foot eleven inch,
completely muscle bound super hero stands were Stanley Kirby's five
foot three, 98 pound body used to be. "Stanley are you all right?" His
mother yells from up the stairs. "I'm okay." A deep voice rumbles back to
his mother.
"Stanley are you getting sick? You sound kind of hoarse." His mother
yells to him. Stanley trying to disguise his new voice, "I might be,
I feel a little cough coming on." He says in a whiny high-pitched voice.
"Make sure you put vapor rub on tonight." His mother orders. "Yes
mother." His new deep voice says back.
Stanley now looking at his new body in the mirror, bending slightly to
get a full shot of this spectacular body, he notices that his glasses
look awkward on his new larger head. As he takes them off he realizes he
no longer needs them, all his senses have been heightened. Even his
hair has been altered gone the greasy balding mess, replaced by a full
mane of jet black wavy hair.
Testing his strength, he picks up his computer desk with two fingers.
"This is incredible, no, this is Spectacular." He thinks to himself.
"Spectacular Man!" Stanley says proudly in a deep loud voice. "I've gotta
try the flying." Stanley thinks to himself as he takes the manual and
makes his way to the back yard, not yet knowing his own strength Stanley
accidentally rips his bedroom door from it's hinges. In the back yard
we see that night has fallen, Stanley is thumbing through the manual to
page 22. Flying,
1) Place right arm in the air.
2) Bend knees.
3) Make slight jump (careful to not propel yourself too hard.)
From her chair Stanley's mother notices a silhouette of a very large
caped man in her back yard. "Stanley!" She screams as she sees the figure
shoot straight up in the air, and out of sight. Spectacular Stanley is
now shooting straight up, within seconds he is out of the earth
atmosphere, trying to find his place in the manual.
4) Level off; just think it, like you would move your legs or arms.
(This may take a little practice.)
* Note: if this is your first time and you find yourself hurling
through space try saying the word STOP! Loudly.
Stanley yells, "STOP!" as he flies past the moon.
He slowing comes to a halt, Stanley is amazed to find that he is in
outer space and the fact that there is no air does not seem affect him. As
he floats in space he is reading the page titled, Tips on Flying. Tip
number one, Try swimming through the air, this is a great way to get
used to flying. "Good idea." he thinks to himself, as he folds the owners
manual and shoves it into his belt, and begins to swim back to Earth's
atmosphere.
After some practice Stanley has developed a knack for flying. We find
him flying through the city looking for a crime or something where he
can try out his new capabilities.
From the air he spots the black Ford Gran Torino with the skull and
crossbones. "My nemesis, The Mullet." He says. Stanley may not be able to
save the girl, but Spectacularman can. He lands in front of the muscle
car, holding his hand out, "STOP!" He orders. The mullet haired man
slams on his break but it is not enough time, the car slams into
Spectacularman, the front end is completely demolished.
Spectacularman is standing unscathed with his hand on his hips, in a
superhero pose. "What in the hell?" The tattooed mullet wearing man says
as he gets out of the car. "Mr. I don't know who you think you are, but
you just trashed my pride and joy, now I'm gonna kill you." He runs
toward Stanley and connects with a blow to Stanley face, The Mullet
screams as he breaks several bones in his hitting hand. Stanley laughs, as
his archenemy falls to the ground in pain. "What's wrong Dink, did my
face hurt your hand?" Spectacularman boasts as he picks the now trembling
man off the ground.
Holding him by the throat Stanley laughs "So no fight left in you, or
do you just like hitting girls." Pulling the now crying man close to his
face, Spectacularman stares straight in his eyes. "I'm watching you. If
you ever touch another woman I will be there to rip your arms off. I'm
your worst nightmare; I m Spectacular Man!" As Stanley says this, the
car door opens on the passenger side, He turns to see the woman who was
abducted from the bus stop last night, her left eye is swollen shut.
"Your safe now miss." Spectacularman says, trying to assure her. "This
creep will never bother you again." She begins to shout obscenities at
Spectacular Man, she runs toward him using the smashed hood of the car
as a spring board, flying through the air she lands on Stanley's head
and begins to scratch, pull, and gouge his eyes, all the while
screaming, "Leave my man alone!" Stanley drops The Mullet and tries franticly to
pull this crazed cat off of his head. He manages to pry her fingers off
of him and throw her to the ground, she rebounds and hisses, as she
once again lunges at him, Stanley cutting his losses immediately flies
away.
The rest of the night is spent catching thieves, robbers, muggers, car
jackers; he was even able to rescue an elderly woman from a burning
building. For the last hour a buzzer has been going off in his suit, he
has been ignoring it, but for the last ten minutes the sound has become
unbearable. Flying over Lake Chicawanna, Stanley is looking through the
owners manual, when he finely comes across the chapter titled, Beeps
and Buzzers. After reading it, he quickly realizes that the buzzer on the
suit, was a warning to let him know that he had an hour left before the
serum wears off, the loud buzzer was to let him know that he only had
15 minutes left. The owners manual also stated that there is an LED
timer on the belt buckle to show exactly how much time he has. He looks
down at his timer as it counts down, 4..3..2..1 "OH crap." Stanley says,
now back to his ninety eight-pound form as he plummets to the earth.
Tonight Stanley is lucky; he has Lake Chicawanna to break his fall. He
hits the lake with a splash.
All is quite at 4:30 am, in Stanley's neighborhood. The silence is
broken by the sound of wheezing, as we watch a very asthmatic, nearly
blind, wet, cold, and tired Stanley Kirby makes his way home. He has just
spent a grueling three hour trek. At one point he was chased by a street
gang trying to take his cape, and on two occasions two large dogs tried
very hard to bite a hole in The Invincible Suit.
The front door is locked, Spectacular Stanley leaps the fence to his
back yard in a single bound and a lot of wheezing, and then slips into
the house through the unlocked back door. Stanley, not wanting to wake his
mother sneaks into the house and tries desperately not to wheeze to
loudly. After falling down the stairs to his room, Stanley has propped up
the broken door at his doorway. Fumbling through the room he finds his
glasses, and then to the night stand for his inhaler, after three puffs
he is breathing normal again, with all the strength he has left Stanley
passes out on his bed still in his costume.
"Stanley... Get the phone!" His mother yells from her chair in the
living room. Stanley very groggy, picks up the receiver on his night stand,
"Hello...What?, ..Oh the shop!" Stanley says as he sits up quickly
looking at the clock. He realizes that he has slept all day, it is now 5:15
in the afternoon. He is on the phone with his boss Val Allen, who is at
a Comic convention in Toledo; Val has been calling the comic book shop
since noon.
"I'm so sorry Val, I'm not feeling to well, I, I...Over slept.... Yes,
I'll be in first thing in the morning." (Click)... Stanley sets the
phone receiver back on the night stand, and is sitting on his bed holding
his head in his hands, "This feels like the worst hang over I've ever
had." He thinks to himself. Out of his costume and into a bathrobe, Stanley practically crawls up the steps to take a nice hot shower.
Walking past the living room Stanley notices a special report on the
TV. "What's going on?" He asks his mother. "Oh they're interrupting
Bonanza, because some crackpot car jacked a school bus full of kids, and now
he's barreling down the 215." His mother says in disgust. On the
television screen we see an aerial shot from a helicopter. There are two
anchor people trying to keep an inane conversation going with the
helicopter pilot / traffic reporter, Traffic Dan.
Stanley's mother curses at the television, as she flips through the
channels on her remote, every channel is running this hot pursuit. When
all of the sudden the cigarette drops out of her mouth, she watches in
disbelief as a large man in tights and a cape, swoops down from the air
and lands on top of the bus. He begins to pull back the metal roof of
the bus like it was a candy wrapper, Traffic Dan just let out an
expletive, followed by a string of very bad expletives, "Are you guys seeing
this?" He asks in complete excitement, the stunned anchors say nothing.
Mrs. Kirby watches with jaw-wide-open as this flying man in purple
tights pulls back the roof of the bus exposing the crazed bus jacker. He
then grabs the assailant by his collar and tosses him from the bus. Our
super hero then jumps into the driver seat and slowly brings the bus to
a stop. There is complete silence as he turns to see thirty children
staring back at him in complete shock. "Are you children okay?" He asks.
With the same look of shock on their faces, all the children nod yes.
"Good." He says, I'd love to stay and sign autographs, but as long as
crime stays busy so must Spectacularman.
With that he sets the parking break and flies straight into the air.
"Stanley did you just see that?" His mother asks as she looks to see that
Stanley has gone. "Stanley!" She yells, but no answer, after a few
minutes of yelling his name, she will search the house for him, only to
find his bathrobe lying on the top of the stairs to his room.
The old man slowly makes his way home, after a long day. He cashed his
social security check and had several errands to run. Being almost
blind, he had to give up his driver's license last year, so these errands
had to be done on public transportation, turning a half-hour commute
into an all day event. His name is Barry Wallace; he is a decorated war
veteran, who saved several men from his platoon during a very bloody
battle in Korea. In his college years he was Idaho State champion in men's
boxing. He married his sweet heart Mary Talbot, and the two of them
raised three boys and one girl, in a small house in the downtown area.
Through the years the neighborhood has gotten a little run down, but as
far as Barry was concerned this was home. He lost his beloved wife to
cancer last month.
Grocery bag in one hand and using a cane in the other, he slowly moves
along the side walk toward home not realizing that he is being
followed, followed by a pack of wild animals, known as the Fifth Street Gang.
"Old man, what's in the bag?" One of them says as they surround him.
There are seven of them ranging from the age of 16 to 21 years of age. The
leader who goes by the name Fat Tony grabs Barry's cane away from him,
causing him to fall to the ground, dropping his bag of groceries in the
process. The other animals begin to throw his groceries around. Barry
trying desperately to get to his feet says, "In my day I would've mopped
the floor with you punks." Fat Tony, holding the cane above his head
says "Well old man this ain't your day, it's mine." Fat Tony tries to bring
the cane down hard on Barry's skull, but something caused the cane to
stop in mid motion, Fat Tony looks up to see Spectacularman floating
above him holding the cane. "What the hell?" Fat Tony says puzzled. "It's not your day either punk." Our hero says as he takes the cane back
and then with a gust of wind from his powerful lungs blows at Fat Tony
sending him sailing into a tree.
"Are you all right sir?" Stanley asks as he helps Mr. Wallace to his
feet.
Fat Tony now very angry begins to yell at Spectacularman. "You just
picked a fight with the Fifth Street Gang; you're a dead man." One of the
Fifth Street cronies tries to warn Fat Tony, "Hey dude I saw this guy
on TV a couple days ago, he took on a school bus and won, he's some kind
of superhero." Looking him over in his purple tights Fat Tony says,
"Superhero? Who is he Homoman?" With that Fat Tony throws his girth toward
him. Spectacularman grabs Fat Tony by his arms and the two of them
shoot straight up into the air. The gang watches as their leader disappears
into the sky.
Within a second they see something hurling to the ground, they realize
it's Fat Tony by his scream. Inches from hitting the ground Stanley
swoops down and grabs the shrieking thug by his left ankle. There is
complete silence from the Fifth Street Gang as they stare in horror at their
leader who is being held upside down by the purple clad hero. The
silence is broken by the sound of Fat Tony peeing himself. The gang runs off
in different directions, it takes Spectacularman only a few moments to
catch most of them. Using a metal light post he securely binds all of
them, and then flies the gang and Barry Wallace to the police station
where Mr.Wallace can file a complaint.
Joel Crenshaw has worked for park and recreation department for almost
thirty years, he was looking forward to a very lucrative retirement,
but the city's new administration has made several cut backs, Joel
Crenshaw being one of them, was laid off, without his pension. At 55 years
of age Joel Crenshaw does not want to start over. This morning he
kissed his wife and told his kids how much he loved them. Hopped into his
SUV and headed toward the city, stopped at his local Starbucks for a
Latte Grande with an extra shot of caffeine, as he has always done. Today
instead off going to the office, Joel will be on the roof of the city's
clock tower with a rifle shooting at people down below. He kills three,
and wounds four others, before the police get there. As the police are
positioning there swat team, Spectacularman lands on the roof. Joel
fires two shots into Spectacularman s chest, as the bullets ricochet off
his chest one of them grazes Joel in the head knocking him unconscious.
With Joel in one hand and the rifle in the other Spectacularman flies
off the roof and down below to hand this criminal and his weapon over to
the police.
"You're the greatest Spectacular Man!" Says Police Chief Robbins. "Just
doing my job." Stanley says as he flies off, while he waves to the
crowed one woman yells "I want to have your baby!"
"Good evening ladies and gentleman, I'm Paul Major with Colleen Alvarez
and this is the, I Witness Action News Six O'clock edition. Our top story
tonight, the Village Campus rapist is finely behind bars, thanks to the
help of Spectacularman. In a related story the purple clad
Spectacularman saved seven fishermen from their cap sized fishing boat off the
coast of Maine. Keep up the good work buddy we love ya." Paul Major
reports while showing the thumbs up sign. "Now to Colleen."
"Thanks Paul, the sixty miners that were trapped in a mine shaft in Taiwan
yesterday, were saved this morning by Spectacularman, he used his
massive body as a drill, making a tunnel large enough for the Taiwanese
minors to escape."
"Three elephants escaped form the downtown zoo today and went on a
rampage through the business district, they were apprehended before they
could cause any harm to themselves or any one else by none other
then...Well lets just run the Spectacular video, oh I said Spectacular." The two
anchors laugh at the pun as the video shows Spectacularman flying the
frightened pachyderms back to the zoo. "And now live to Chuck Harvey at
the steps of city hall."
"Thanks Colleen, we're at the steps of City Hall with a large crowd
gathered waiting for the arrival of Spectacularman. The mayor will be
presenting him with the key to the city. The festivities were to begin at
3:30 this afternoon, but as you can see our tardy hero has not arrived
yet. There is speculation that maybe he is caught up in a some kind of
rescue, there is also rumors that maybe he is just shy, at this point
all we can do is wait, Back to you Colleen and Paul."
Spectacularman will not make it to receive his key to the city today.
About five hours ago he used up the last cartridge of serum. After
ransacking his room looking for a cartridge that might have been misplaced,
we find Stanley on his bed in his underwear, in the fetal position,
fighting to keep his body from convulsing. His bedroom is a shambles, of
dirty clothes, half-eaten food, and turned over furniture. The
Invincible Suit is strewn out all over the room, and the floor is covered in
empty cartridges.
Stanley doesn't realize that it has been almost three
months since he was given the suit. He has spent most of his waking hours
as Spectacularman. Even though the manual recommended not to use more
then one cartridge a day, Stanley found that after a couple of weeks the
craving to take the serum was to overwhelming. Within the last two
months he has lost his job at the comic book shop, things have gotten so
bad that Nancy wont even speak with him.
Stanley quickly sits up in his bed, vomits on himself, and then lies
back down and passes out. It will be three days before Kyle and Amun are
back, three very agonizing days for Stanley as he goes through
withdrawals, within that three days he will cry uncontrollably,
vomit blood, he will chew holes in his mattress, on the last day he will
have horrendous hallucinations.
It's the middle of the night, the flying orb is making it's way to
through Stanley's house. The orb stops at the living room to see Mrs. Kirby
asleep in her chair, a lit cigarette lies between her lips.
Occasionally her chin will lower and the red-hot tip will hit her chest, as the
burning nerves register with her brain, her head will pop up, starting
the process all over again.
The orb continues through the house, down the steps, the orb vaporizes
Stanley's door, and then floats into Stanley's demolished room, it
hovers above Stanley who has spent the last four hours trying to keep the
spiders, bugs, snakes and bats off of him. "Man Stanley you look like
crap." The Orb says. Stanley opens his blood shot eyes to see the orb
floating above him, thinking it to be another hallucination, he screams
and tries to cover himself up. The Orb begins to hum and with a zap
Stanley is gone.
Stanley materializes in front of his alien abductors.
"Oh Stanley you reek." Commander Gorgon/Kyle says telepathically, "Is that dried vomit you're wearing?"
"You my friend are a fashion
maverick." Kyle says while the larger alien pats Stanley on the back. Stanley
shaking and looking completely pale with deep dark rings under his
blood shot eyes, pleads with his captures "P, Please I need it, please give
me some." Stanley begs.
Kyle says back, "So you had fun with your
three-month free trial, well that's good you can keep the suit, but the
serum will cost you."
With that Amun picks Stanley up and sets him in a
chair and they begin to watch viewing screen, it is the tentacle creature
with the voice of Tom Bosley. "So you enjoyed being Spectacularman, and
now you want to know how you can continue being Spectacularman. In the
star system Nebula 3, there are several planets full of a race of very
wealthy creatures called Lubans, who happen to love human beings. Your
race is quite a delicacy and the Lubans will pay a very high price for
them."
"You earthlings become ripe between the ages of 65 to 85, your job would
be to collect your elderly for us. For every person you bring us we
will give a pack of ten serum cartridges. If you agree and sign the
contract, we will credit you a box of serum cartridges so that you can start
immediately."
Stanley with teeth chattering and body shaking says,
"Yes, I'll sign."
After the documents are signed the two aliens explain to
Stanley how the operation works, every three months they will come for
the ripe earthlings. The earthlings need to be alive because the Lubans like to
eat them as fresh as possible. Deep in the Antarctic there is a holding
tank beneath the ground. Capable of holding at least sixty earthlings,
they suggest that Stanley start to catch the senior citizens a few days
before there scheduled for pick up, with that they give him a calendar
and a tracking device so that he can find the hidden holding tank. They
also suggest the he buy provisions for the humans while they are waiting to be picked up, and if any of them are on medication make sure they bring it along, stating that he will be docked if any of them expire while in transit.
Months have passed; we open the scene to see Mrs. Kirby's chair empty.
Stanley has now taken on three personas, the first is Dirk Dent, Dirk
Dent is Spectacularman's alter ego, Stanley only spends a few hour a day
in his original body, he's usually sleeping when he's in this form. As
far as the neighbors know Dirk Dent was brought in as a roommate to
help pay the bills after Stanley's mother moved back east. Dirk Dent wears
glasses and a glue on mustache as a disguise so that people don't
recognize him as Spectacularman, he also wears a clip on Ponytail, but that's for the ladies.
His second persona is of course the well-loved world
renowned Spectacularman. His third persona is a little darker; he hides
in the shadows, most people have never seen this side of Stanley and if
they do, there no longer around to tell anyone.
Barry Wallace slowly makes his way home after a long day of running
errands, as he shuffles toward home he is unaware that he is prey. A
creature in a black robe and hood, swoops down from the air and snatches
Barry, leaving only a cane where the elderly man once stood. Barry Wallace
has just met the earth's most despicable villain, a sinister creature
so vile that he preys on societies elderly. Stanley Kirby's third
persona, The Grim Reaper.
Stanley Kirby's Secret © COPYRIGHT 2005 Samuel Blackwell.
Reproduction prohibited without permission from the author.
07/21/05
