You’re the guy I came looking for

“You should have seen me in gymnastics! I was working it out! Everybody was standing around watching me! Coach asked me what had gotten into me. I told him ‘vitamins’!”

Kimberly was so excited about the abilities she began to discover. Nobody could get a word in edgewise by the time the three of us got back together. We were standing out in our favorite parking spaces on the side of the strip where Pizza Hut was before going in.

“I can hear anything I try to hear. All I have to do is concentrate. Can you do that, JET?”

“Yep.”

“What about you, Mo?”

“Yes. I think we all got the same abilities, but Jet still beats me racing.”

We all laughed. “Probably because I’ve been using these abilities longer.”

“I don’t know,” Kimberly said. “Let’s go around here and try the jumping thing our friend had us doing.”

Mo and I looked at each other and smiled. We walked around the back of the building and looked around.  Kimberly said, “Let’s see if we can jump on top of the building.”

“What!?  I’ve never tried anything like that before,” I said.

“Chicken?”

“Of course not, let’s do it!”

Mo said, “On three. One, two, THREE.”

I didn’t jump, I watched them and… They did it. Right on top of the building and disappeared.

“Woah…” I whispered to myself before I heard them laughing. They came to the edge laughing together — Mo brushing himself off.

“He landed on his butt,” Kimberly laughed, holding her stomach.

“What are you waiting for?” Mo yelled

“Shhhhhhhh” I whispered. “I’m coming…”

That’s when I showed them my trick. I took three steps back, looked around, then ran up the side of the building, caught the edge with my hands and pulled myself into a handstand before landing on the roof.

Kimberly and Mo were stunned.

“Wow!” Mo yelled.

“SHOW off!” Kimberly yelled, and pushed me.

I took a couple of steps back and laughed.

“Could you have jumped, too?”

“Let’s see,” I said, and winked.

I looked around, jumped down, then jumped back up. “Yep!”

We laughed together for a few minutes before we heard someone yell, “Who’s up there?”

“Uh oh,” I said as we all ducked down. “Shhhhh.”

We heard someone walk around the back. “Come on down, you three.” It was Mr. Lee from the Pizza Hut.

We all walked to the edge and looked over. He was standing there in his apron with his hands on his hips.

“You three have to be more careful. What if someone had seen you?” He then waved for us to come down, only there was no ladder. Did he know?

“Yesss, I know. Let’s go, while nobody’s looking,” he laughed shaking his head.

Mo said, “He knows.”

“He knew what I was thinking,” I said.

“Sure do.  I can hear all three of your thoughts.”

We jumped down. Mo stumbled back and fell on his butt.

“Gotta learn to stick your landings,” Kimberly chided.

“Yeah, yeah, Miss Gymnastics,” Mo said as he got back up.

“You three need to go around that way,” said Mr. Lee, pointing to the other end of the strip mall.

“But we’re going to your store,” Kimberly explained, pointing in the other direction.

“I know it’s the long way, but it’s what our friend said you need to do.”

“Well, why didn’t he tell us himself?” Kimberly asked.

Mr. Lee just turned and walked back around toward our cars.

“Well, that was rude,” said Mo with a grin.

We started walking the way that Mr. Lee told us to when we saw a crowd of people near the end. We looked at each other. then started jogging to see what was going on.

As we got closer we could see there were three guys blocking a young woman from leaving.

“Leave her alone!” I yelled, at the same time Kimberly yelled, “Hey!”

“Mind your business,” one of the guys said, then turned back to the lady. The other two started walking toward us.

Kimberly said, “Uh oh,” as she took out her phone to call 911.

“Hang up the phone, Kimberly,” our friend said. We looked at each other.

“Did you hear that?” Kimberly asked.

Mo and I both nodded our heads.

Our friend said, “Mo and Jet, take these two. Kimberly, run ahead to help.”

So Mo and I started walking to the left. Kimberly then ran to the right side. One guy tried to grab her, but she was too fast. She ran two steps up the wall, and slapped his hand away. That’s when Mo punched him in the throat. He hit the ground, rolled against the building — and didn’t move.

I ran to meet the other guy, who started to pull a gun, so I grabbed his wrist, turned it until I heard the bones crack, then side kicked him to his head (trying not to kill him). And he dropped quickly, still breathing.

I looked up to see Kimberly going around the corner with the lady. The remaining guy was chasing them. Mo was almost at the corner before I started running, too. By the time I got around the corner, Kimberly and the lady were nowhere in sight. Mo had his hands up and when I came around the corner, the guy turned and shot at me.

I saw the bullet coming toward me, but I didn’t move. I watched it hit me in the arm, then crumple and fall in slow motion. I heard the bullet hit the ground, then a second shot rang out. This time the guy was aiming at Mo. I watched that bullet head toward Mo in slow motion; Mo dodged to the side and we both watched it go past his head and lodge in the side of the building.

“Jump,” said our friend.

So, Mo and I both then jumped onto the top of the building. That’s when we saw Kimberly and the lady, who was now crouched down covering her eyes, saying, “No no no no no no.”

“What the %&$$(!” we heard the gunman say down below.

The three of us stood on top of the roof looking at the lady for a few second before we heard the police arriving. I started a crouched run to the other end of the building, back toward where our cars were.

“Come on!” I whispered loudly. They all followed me. We all stopped, and stooped down.

“What now?” Kimberly asked.

“Exactly!” Mo chimed in.

“Aren’t you JET?” The lady asked, still wide-eyed. They all looked at me.

She explained, “You’re the guy I came looking for.”