Working Title
an excerpt

I wanted to leave the coat on the sidewalk. I had this very dramatic scene all played out in my head, where I'm unbuttoning the coat as I reach the top of the steps and I open it wide to reveal my big purple star and let the coat crumple to the ground as my cape billows behind me and people start pointing - they always point - and shouting Astra! I knew the dramatic value would diminish considerably if I kept the coat slung over my arm, but the fact was it was a Donna Karan and I paid eighty bucks for it and, as I already have pointed out, this job pays jack. So I hung on to the coat and hoped the cape's billowing would be sufficient to grab people's attention.

***

It's not as easy as it looks.

I tell people that all the time, and always I get this indulgent smile back from them, like we're sharing a little secret. I want to be like no, you don't get it - it's really hard. But I quit trying to sell that line a long time ago because nobody wanted to buy it. I guess they have this concept of people like me doing what we do and it's effortless, like any perceived suspense or the idea that the other guy even has a chance, that's something we put in there for dramatic effect. The daring rescue, the by-a-hair escape. But it isn't like that. Half the time I'm lucky if I pull it off at all; if people knew how close I'd come to botching it they'd - well, who knows what they'd think. Maybe they'd just shut their eyes and go on believing like before.

Because people need us. This town believes in me. I haven't let them down yet - they keep telling me this - and I just keep my mouth shut instead of pointing out that I'm still new to this job, and the reals tests lie in my future.

My very near future, if today's Central City Star is any indication. It's not on the front page - that place of honor is reserved for our perennial big news, football and the weather - it's buried on page four of the business section.