“Sure.”
“Okay, give me a second to get cleaned up.”
Walter came out of the bedroom a few minutes later, showered and slightly more presentable than he had been when he got home, and a minute later they were landing in the parking lot of Best Buy.
Within seconds they were surrounded by people who recognized him, taking photos and trying to get close to him. He didn’t quite know how to handle the attention, but he didn’t want to be his old cranky self either, so he stood there for a minute looking at all the people and trying to figure out where to start. He noticed a young child standing next to his mother. The child was staring at him with wide eyes and smiling, and appeared to be about five years of age.
“Hey there, little fellow,” he said to the child, “I’m Walter. What’s your name?”
“I’m…uh…I’m Mike.”
“Hi Mike, pleased to meet you,” Walter said, sticking out his hand.
The boy smiled and shook his hand.
The crowd pressed closer and so many people were talking at once that Walter had a hard time distinguishing one person from the other.
“Folks…I got a little shopping to do. Can me and the kid here buy some things and then I’ll be right back, okay?”
Walter and Franklin pushed their way through the crowd into the store, and went to the mobile phone counter.
“Can I help you?” the young man behind the counter said, not yet looking up.
“Yeah, need to add a line to my phone. Go ahead kid, pick out a phone.”
“Wait,” the clerk said, “You’re Walter.”
“Yeah…John,” Walter said, reading the clerk’s name badge, “You’ve waited on me before.”
“You’re Walter…from the fire…man, this is so cool.”
“Yeah, cool. The kid’s gonna pick out a phone and I’ll need to add that to my account. And do me a favor, will you? Don’t let anyone see my address, okay? Last thing I need is that crowd showing up at my apartment.”
“Will do, Walter. So, you can really fly?”
“Seems so.”
“How you got those people out of that building. That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. What did it feel like?”
“Felt damn good, just seeing the looks on their faces.”
“I mean…flying…what does that feel like?”
“It’s hard to explain. You ever had the dreams? It’s kind of like that, but not quite. It’s better. I don’t know. It just happens. Now it feels like walking. I don’t really think about it, just point in a direction and go.”
“Man, wait until I tell my girlfriend I met you.”
“You’ve met me before, remember?”
“If you say so.”
“I’m the same guy.”
“Uh…I guess.”
“And there is a line here. I’m not the only customer. Can we add the line?”
“Sure, you got a phone picked out?”
“You got one picked out yet, kid?”
“Sure thing. That one right there,” he said, pointing to a phone.
“Okay,” John said, “it should just take a couple minutes. Will there be anything else?”
“Yeah, the kid’s gonna pick out a couple Bluetooth headsets.”
When Walter had paid for the phone and the headsets, he went over to look at laptops, and it was then he realized that there weren’t any other customers lined up at the mobile counter. They were all following him around.
“Kid, you know much about computers?” Walter asked.
“Little bit,” Franklin said.
“Good. Mine’s like me, over the hill. Think you can pick me out something decent, no more than a grand?”
Franklin spent no more than ten minutes talking with a store associate before he had picked one out and Walter paid for it and started to leave the store, only to find himself surrounded by a crowd of admirers. One man approached with a printed photo of him flying, a screenshot from the news broadcast.
“Hi Walter. Can you sign this? It's for my son.”
“Is your son here?” Walter asked.
“No, he’s at school. I’ll be picking him up. This will make his day.”
“I’ll bet,” Walter said, signing his first name to the photo.
He was pressed by more and more people with photos or blank pieces of paper, wanting autographs, wanting to take selfies with him, or just wanting to shake his hand.
“Excuse me, but I had a long night and didn’t get much rest…”
“I got you, Walter, “ the store manager said, bringing a chair, “Just sit right here,” and to the crowd, “If you could form an orderly line, I’m sure Walter will be happy to see you.”
The crowd was orderly, but didn’t seem to be dwindling, and two hours later Walter had signed more autographs and taken more selfies than he could count, and he wanted to be anywhere else but there. The manager was delighted with the arrangement because the store had been packed the whole time. Walter made eye contact with Franklin and his meaning was obvious. Franklin spoke to the manager who then addressed the crowd.
“Listen folks, Walter has other places to be, so if we could let him leave in the next ten minutes, that would be good.”
There were audible groans from the crowd, but in ten minutes, the people dispersed and Walter and Franklin left the store and flew home. It wasn’t long before Franklin had the new computer set up and was showing Walter how to use the Bluetooth.
“We can’t have you losing it when you’re flying, so you can wear this band around your neck and run a line from it to the earpiece, so if it falls off your ear, you won’t lose it.”
“Thanks, kid, you think of everything. Now, since you appear to have the computer working, you need to get to studying.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now. You want to live under my roof…”
“Okay dude, I hear you.”
“And don’t smart off to me, got it?”
“Got it, Dad.”
Walter rolled his eyes, sat down in his recliner, and turned on the TV. He was on several channels, and after surfing for a minute, he gave up and turned it off.
“Ah hell, I’m a freakin’ celebrity.”
“Now you know the importance of the secret identity.”
“Yeah, didn’t think much about that one. It’s
