“Only one way to find out.”
Walter got back on the track and pushed it, eventually going so fast Franklin had trouble counting the laps. One lap was blending into another as Walter would pass him by and be there again in under a second. He gave up trying to count and put the stopwatch back in his pocket. He did some mental math, trying to figure out how fast Walter was running to be doing an entire lap in under a second. He picked up Walter’s phone and began shooting video. Five minutes later he thought he detected smoke and when he looked up, Walter was nothing but a blur going around the track.
It looked like the blur was showing no signs of slowing down, not until Walter lost his footing and slid off the track into the building next to the field, knocking a pile of bricks loose.
“Whoa…what happened?” Franklin said as Walter was dusting himself off.
Walter pointed down toward his shoes, which were nothing but smoking ribbons.
“You were booking. What did it feel like?”
“Like nothing you can imagine. I didn’t feel like I was going that fast, but like everything else was just so slow. It was weird. I could feel the wind, but it didn’t sting. You would think it would sting, going that fast. How fast was I going, anyway?”
“Have to do the math…let’s see…man. I don’t believe it.”
“How fast?”
“Right before you had the blow out? 750 miles an hour.”
“Almost Mach 1…holy moly.”
“Mach 1…the speed of sound?”
“Yeah, it’s around 760 something.”
“You do that again, you’re gonna need better shoes.”
“Not sure where we’d get those. I felt like I could go faster, like there was a whole other level.”
“That is so cool. I wonder what else you can do.”
“You want me to try to leap a tall building or something?”
“You don’t think you can do that, do you?”
“I don’t know…man…I’m hungry.”
“You probably burned a ton of calories. Hey, you up for a drive?”
“It’s the middle of the night.”
“Saw on TV that IHOP has an all you can eat pancake special going on right now. I wonder where the closest one is.”
“Oakley.”
“How far is that?”
“Not far, up off exit 8.”
“You could run there in a minute, but I’d never keep up with you.”
“Hold on, kid.”
Walter ran home put on a pair of shoes and was back in seconds. He then scooped Franklin up and in less than a minute they were walking in the door of IHOP.
“Five miles in a few seconds?” Franklin asked.
“I was taking it slow. Not sure what you could handle. Let’s eat.”
Ninety minutes later, Keisha Thompson walked back into the kitchen, shaking her head.
“The old dude’s still going at it. Might need some more.”
“That guy’s been eating this whole time?” Larry Owens asked.
“Yeah, the young guy with him had a breakfast combo and a couple pancakes. The old guy’s been eating solid the whole time. I’ve never seen someone eat so much.”
“We got anyone else in the dining room?”
“Just those two Xavier students, but they’re just having coffee right now.”
“Check on him before I make more.”
“You guys doing okay? You want more pancakes?” Keisha asked.
“I’d love to, but maybe I should call it quits. I’d hate to look like a pig,” Walter said.
“Little late for that,” Franklin said.
“You said it. I didn’t,” Keisha said.
“Okay, maybe I went a bit overboard,” Walter said, “We’ll take the check now.”
“Let’s not go home just yet,” Walter said.
“Where we gonna go at this hour?”
“I don’t know. Walk around Meijer? Just don’t feel like going back yet.”
“You could try to jump over the Meijer building.”
“And if someone sees me?”
“Who’s gonna see you? There’s nobody in the parking lot.”
“Maybe I should start small, like this,” he said, jumping over a parked car in one easy leap.
“Impressive, but a far cry from a tall building.”
Walter did a standing jump and cleared three parked cars this time, still with little effort.
“Come on old man, you’re not even trying. Remember the track?”
The next time, he squatted down and leapt into the air, clearing half the parking lot and the Meijer grocery store. A few seconds later he came back over the building, landing with a thud next to Franklin.
“Man, you cracked the pavement. Gotta work on the landings. What was it like?”
“That was fun. Like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I feel like I’m twenty again, but I couldn’t do that when I was twenty.”
“At the end, it looked like you changed direction in the air.”
“Yeah, that was weird. I wanted to land next to you and I just moved that way. I can’t explain it.”
“Dude, you know what that means?”
“Not sure, and I’m not sure how much you say dude.”
“I’m young. That’s how we talk.”
“And I’m old. We don’t talk like that.”
“And most people your age can’t fly.”
“You think I can fly? I just jumped over a building.”
“You were controlling it. I bet you can. Give it a try.”
“I’m not sure how to try that.”
“Just jump up and then try to move around. I don’t know.”
“You mean like this?” Walter said, as he jumped in the air and did a figure eight before coming back and landing next to Franklin.
“That was it, dude…sorry…Walter. You were flyin’ man. How did it feel?”
“Kinda cool. See, I can talk like a kid too.”
“I bet it’s gonna be like runnin’ at the track. It’s all in your head, man. You think you can just take off easy like?”
Walter jumped up and hovered a foot off the ground.
“You mean like that?”
“Man, that is so cool. I wonder how fast you can go.”
“Maybe we should just head home now.”
“Just give it a try. I’ll be in the store when you get back.”
Walter jumped up in the air and moved left and right a couple times, then accelerated up at an exhilarating pace. Before he knew it, he was above the clouds and still speeding up. He went higher and overtook an eastbound 747 like it was sitting still. Seconds later he broke the
