Spoon Suit Man: Part 22 (Spidophile)

When we last left our hero, he had left his sidekick to walk home alone in the rain. - Lauren

"Oh oh oh oh oh is is it? Is it?" said a high pitched frantic voice. Ben turned around. Hanging upside down by his feet from the bottom of a fire ladder in the shadows of a dark alley was a shadowy figure.

"Plucky? What are you doing here?" he grumbled. The figure backflipped off the fire ladder and performed a series of cartwheels.

"I'm ever so plucky!" he chirped.

"Good for you, rainbow head." Ben walked away,  still miserable. Plucky skipped up beside him on his hands.

"You going to to to to to to the ball tomorrrroooowwww???"

"Sure."

"You need some costume advice?"


 "Sure."

"Since you're going as meeyyeeyyeyye..." Plucky paused to run up a nearby wall, flip onto a flagpole, backflip off the flagpole, land on his hands, execute a few cartwheels, split-jump into the air and come to earth in a handstand on top of a fire hydrant. "Wear something colorful!"

He grinned. Rain was pouring down his neck into his nose and darkening his spiky three-toned blue hair. Ben looked at him, imagining what he would look like in the red and orange spandex.  For a while the two young men stared at each other, the rain pounding the world around them. Then something occurred to Ben.

"Plucky, are you dressing up as me?"

"Suuuuuurrrre am am am am am! What should I wear?"

"Wear something nerdy. Something that a neglected and unappreciated sidekick would wear." Ben sniffed a little and wiped his eyes "Dratted rain."

"I like rrrrrrrrain!" shrieked Plucky, springing into the air and landing in a crouching position on the hydrant. "It tastes g-g-g-g-g-g-ooood."  he exclaimed, bringing his face very close to Ben's.

"You're insane." said Ben in a low voice. Plucky's electric green eyes got even more enormous.

"Caffeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed the eccentric teenager. And with that, he leaped away into the wet night. Ben trudged homeward, kicking a rock ahead of him through the puddles. A car roared past him, spraying him head and foot with dirty water.

"SCHLAPPSCHWANZ!" he yelled after them. A large man came up behind him, shoving him aside in his hurry to get out of the rain. With one hand, he held a newspaper over his head, with his other he knocked over a woman who was stepping out of a grocery shop. Ben gasped in anger as the man didn't even stop to apologize. The hero approached the woman and helped her up.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" he asked sweetly. The lady looked up, and Ben's heart missed a beat. He stared with his mouth open. She was gorgeous.

"Yes, thank you, sir. Looks like there are heroes abroad tonight." she looked harder at his face. "Say, you probably get this alot, but you look just like Dr. Spork."

Ben swallowed a mouthful of rainwater and groped for his voice.

"I am Dr. Spork." he managed.

"Oh!" She blushed prettily. "It's very nice to meet you, Doctor."

"Call me Ben."

"Call me Marci." She smiled. A beautiful smile. "Marci Gray from The Daily Lowdown."

"Oh." Ben scrambled for words. "I heard that the Lowdown's covering the The New Spork Superhero Masquerade Ball this weekend."

"Yes! In fact, I'm attending so I can interview the celebrities. Maybe I can interview you for the paper, if you're going?"

"Yes! Yes, I will be going." Ben took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes. "I will definitely be going."

"Great!"  She picked up her grocery bag "I have to go now."

"Oh, right." Ben helped her gather together her groceries. "See you tomorrow."

"See you too, Ben!" Marci waved as she walked off into the rain. 


Ben stood under the streetlamp until she disappeared into the night. Then, staggering like a drunk man, he turned around and headed for home, walking smack into the lamppost. 


A good wet while later, Ben entered Sven's apartment and collapsed on the couch, soaking Sven's hundred-year old hand embroidered blue silk couch pillow made by his great-great grandmother. 


Ben nibbled absentmindedly on a potato chip he found on a cushion, wondering for the thousand and oneth time exactly how he had gotten into this mess. Did Nicole really like him? Ben shuddered at the thought. No, that couldn't be it. But he couldn't think of a better reason for her behavior. 


"She sure is weird." Ben said out loud. 


All the girls I know are weird. An image of Marci flashed through his mind. Except Marci. he corrected himself. She's so normal and nice, not a crazy dictator or a super powered spidery person or my cousin's secret lawyer girlfriend. The only normal girl I know.  Ben smiled to himself. He couldn't wait for Saturday. 


Yes I can! He sat bolt upright. How would he get away from Nicole long enough to have his interview? 


With a groan, Ben buried his face in a cushion. My life is so complicated.


Ben sniffed miserably and headed into the kitchen to look for something to eat.


Will Ben figure out a way to have his interview? Does Ben know where his cousin keeps the Pop Tarts? Find out on Thursday!


Next section: Spoon Suit Man Part 23 (Lauren)