A Dinner To Remember

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The Johnsons is the most perfect family. Or so the world thinks.

Ours is a family of superheroes; my Dad is the world's strongest man, my mother is the fastest woman ever. My two elder siblings are telekinetics, they can move objects with their minds. I am the last born, and I shoot flames from my fingertips.

The world is always in need of the Johnsons, my family jets from country to country, saving lives, preventing wars and pandemics. The world celebrates them, they're heroes. Yes, they. Because I'm always the one left behind.

My parents think I'm still too young to go on missions, they want me to stay at home where it's safe, so I can learn algebra and master the use of my powers. I'm eighteen for Christ's sake! I can handle myself.

Every week, when the family travels round the world, I'm left all alone, in our big empty mansion. Bored as heck. The only family time I get is on Sundays at dinner. But superhero talk was forbidden. Unfortunately, it is all I want to talk about.

I'm sick of being alone, while they all hang together. I need my family to see my worth. I need them to understand I'm no longer a kid. I can take care of myself.

I've thought long and hard about this, I've looked at all the possibilities and the fastest way to get what I want. And I've come to an uneasy conclusion.

I have to become a villain.

Yes, it's the only way. I have to go against everything my family stands for. That way, they will notice me.

Will there be consequences? Hell yeah. But I'm past caring. My mind has been idle for too long and it's yearning for activity that's not algebra.

So, with my mind made up, I begin to plan. I use the better part of one week to set it all up. Then on the sixth day, I stroll out on a cheerful morning. And I seize a bus full of school children.

I give them enough food and water, give them instructions and enough threats to keep them in check, then I lock them up in an abandoned warehouse somewhere in Apapa, Lagos State. Next, I begin to place clues all around the city, clues the would lead my family back to where I've always wanted them. Me.

By the time the story of the mass kidnap hits the airwaves, I'm back home solving algebra. While my family follows my breadcrumbs, I'm shooting tongues of fire at targets my father had built for me.

They don't return home until dinner time on Sunday. But I'm not surprised. Matter of fact, I had known that will be the time they will come back.

I had taken the liberty to prepare dinner. The dinning table creaked under the weight of the sumptuous meal I was serving. Apart from shooting fire and villainy, cooking could be my superpower.

It's as I'm placing the last fork on the tray, the door flies open and my father storms in. He's a huge and formidable looking man. Normally I would be intimidated, but at the moment, I'm a bit high on my bravado.

"Boy!" He bellows, he calls me 'boy' whenever he's in a mood. "Show yourself!"

"I'm here." I reply, taking my seat at the table.

I watch idly as my family storm into the dinning room. They are a beautiful bunch actually, together they look not just like a family but like a team. I feel completely alone and isolated then. Their silver suits and white capes glows under the light of the chandelier. They are uniforms I don't have yet. And now, I doubt I will be getting any. Unless I make mine of course.

"What on earth did you do? What were you thinking?" My mother cries, her voice pitched with emotion.

"It's dinner time mother," I tell her, beginning to help myself to a healthy serving. "And no superhero talk during dinner. You and Dad made the rules, not me."

They all watch me incredulously. The last thing on their mind is dinner. They want to find out why I would seize a bus full of children. I'm the son of superheroes. And my action was villain-ish.

I just want to spend time with my family. It doesn't matter if the time is spent with them interrogating me or chasing me across the country. Provided it's family, I would be satisfied.

That's why the clues I had dropped led them to me, instead of the warehouse in Apapa. If they're going to find those children, they would have to work for it.

But in the meantime, they have no choice but to seat and eat. Doing otherwise would have been breaking the precious rules of the family.

It's the most quiet dinner we've ever had, causing me to rethink my actions. I wanted their attention, and now I had it. But will it be worth it?

One thing is pretty clear though, once this dinner is over, a lot of things will be sure to happen. This family will be changed forever. Either for better or worse.

And for me, this could be my defining moment. Will my family accept me as a superhero? Or will I have to forge my path to become the most fearsome supervillain to walk this earth?

I guess only time can tell.

But for now, I'll try to enjoy the meal I had prepared. It could be the last one I get to have with them.

_{The End}