Chapter 9 - All The News

My usual caveat - you don't want to read below until you've read the previous chapters. You can get Chapters 1-7 here, and Chapter 8 here. I was originally going to entitle this chapter Batman, but it's really more about the news media. This is only the first few paragraphs, the post below includes this complete chapter as well as the next.

Chpater 9 - All The News

It was 5:51 am. No sense bothering with the snooze alarm, he hadn't been asleep. All that coffee, he supposed. That gave him an extra nine minutes, so he took an extra long shower; even so, he was sitting down to his eggs a little early, just before the 6:30 news cycle started. A pretty young blond had on her very serious face as she finished the latest repetition of today's big story – an office shooting spree connected to a brutal domestic murder in the Pacific northwest. She closed the report with “... and his whereabouts,” dramatic pause, “are still unknown.”

The newsmuffin's face morphed seamlessly into its cheerful demeanor as she transitioned into the next story. “And another man whose whereabouts are unknown is the anonymous hero who saved a little girl's life yesterday morning then disappeared on a city bus.”


Although not completely unexpected, it was still a shock to see the grainy picture of the back of his own head pop up on the television screen partially obscuring Maya's joyful tear streaked face. It must have been taken at the moment before he'd handed the child to her. He was amazed at how many emotions the camera lens had captured in that instant in her expression, not appreciating that it was his own memory filling in the gaps between the pixels. The rest of the television audience only saw a grateful mother, which is why they were able to chew and swallow their breakfasts while the report continued.

“The mother, Maya Williams, was too distraught to provide us with many details, and Child Protective Services is still investigating how the toddler fell out of the window to begin with. But one thing we know for certain, this little bird owes a lot to the Commuter Hero who returned her,” dramatic pause, “to her nest.” The smile went flat again. “We'll be back with more on the Seattle Shooter after these messages.”

The Commuter Hero. Suddenly, Jim had a secret identity – he was just like Batman. Except for the rubber mask and muscles, of course. And his identity would not stay a secret for long. He didn't know any of his neighbors and they would never have had a reason to take an interest in him before. Still, Jim Parish was a creature of habit and someone would surely be able to connect his daily trip to the bus stop with that picture and figure out where he had come from. Maya had found him without any trouble. It didn't occur to him to at first to be surprised that the reporter hadn't, although it finally did occur to him to swallow the forkful of eggs that had been languishing in his mouth.