"Gather everyone into the house now!" My father removed his sweat soaked top as he stormed through the shed door. I ran to the cabbage patch to relay his message to my mother who was with the twins. "Ma, papa wants us to get inside the house." Not yet aware of the urgency of the report, she continued punching the soil with a hand trowel. "Is he already inside?" she asked. "No. He was sweating a lot then he took off his shirt and went into the shed." I could see the ice running up my mom's spine. "Did he say anything else to you?" she asked. Seemingly stuck in her awkward pose. "No. He was just talking to himself." "Saying what smelly? Tell me everything you heard!"

The hand trowel swung menacingly close to my face as she advanced on me. My frantic mind was trying to sort out the order of my words so as not to aggravate her further. "He said 'Josias thinks I'm a fool. He's going to regret himself today. This fool is going to deal with Mr smarty pants once and for all.' Then he disappeared inside the shed."

Tossing the trowel to the edge of the patch, she picked up the dirt browned twins. The two packages were causing her to fumble over the maze of spinach and tomato divides. "Let's go smelly!" she called out. My small legs stumbling and tripping in my attempts to follow her footsteps. As we turned the corner to the front of the house, my father was already exiting the shed. "In the house now!" he reiterated upon seeing us. There was a container gushing liquid in his left hand as it swung back and forth from the pendulum handle. His right hand balanced a spear, some large feathers and a black belt.

We poured through the front door. "Lock behind you," my mother ordered. The twins were placed on the floor as she ran to the kitchen. We followed her and watched as she pulled out the adjustable step ladder haphazardly from its unstable position. The unpredictable swing momentum knocked her left shoulder but thankfully missed her head by an inch. Without flinching she snapped the ladders hinges and ascended toward the top drawers. Frantically rummaging through the contents, she finally pulled out a rectangular box the size of an average medicine container. She descended the ladder without hardly looking at where she was stepping.

The box was opened to reveal a black paste. Dipping her thumb inside, she smeared a cross on each of the twins forehead. I finally felt scared watching her. Maybe it was the look on her face as she whispered something with each line she made. After smearing my forehead as well, she took us all to the furthest room and told us to wait there. Returning with the biggest, thickest blanket, we all scrambled inside it.

In the darkness with my mind finally calm, I remembered. My Spectraman toy was in my room. I fought my way out of the claustrophobia to the chagrin of my mother. "Smelly, get back in here right now or else." I bolted for the door as her hand reached out. I was using Spectraman's ultra speed so there was no way her hand could've caught me. "If you don't come back this instant I'm going to beat you so bad you're going to forget i'm your mother!" I didn't care about the threat, or the imminent beating thereof. Spectraman couldn't be left alone while we sat in safety. I needed to protect my superhero at all costs.

The doorknob almost broke off from my turning it with such haste. My room was quite for a change. Technically it was OUR room. My sisters and me. But i would stay out as much as possible when they were in the house. Not that it helped since if they weren't following my mom they were following me. They got in the way a lot. Never giving me time and space to fight evil forces with Spectraman in peace. Either that or they were crying like little lost sheep. Or puppies who got locked outside. One would hit the other, then the other would pinch the other. And so on and so on. Mostly they cried for the toys I was holding. So I'd have to give them up upon my parents orders. But Spectraman was where I drew the line.