November 3rd 2019

12:35

Brooklyn New York

Knock, Knock

The wooden door of the two story house opened slightly ajar as a man of relatively good stature peaked out “Johnny? Is that you?” The door fully opened. The man was roughly in his mid-fifties was in relatively good shape for his age. Upon sighting the young man before him, he smiled with a joy he hadn’t felt in years.

“Hey, uncle Mike. Hope I’m not bothering you” John stated, his tone rather low. “You know me Johnny boy, I’m just glad to see ya! Come on in” The man was excited considering he rarely ever saw his nephew. Running away from home tended to cause things like this to happen but of all the people in the world, Uncle Mike was maybe the only other person left alive who knew of John’s true origins and perhaps the only one who had a care for the young man.

“You know I’m glad I have a visitor. You know, wife’s dead, my kids all grown up and moved out, it’s good to have company. Matter of a fact you came at a good time! 2nd round is about to start!” While mike was excited, John came off relatively disinterested. John stayed quiet as he looked around the living room. For a man who lived by himself the house was in relatively good condition. Mike walked of quickly to the kitchen, fetching both a bottle of beer but John waived his hand to refuse the drink.  Mike shrugged and led the pair over to the couch before the flat screen television. 

“You know Johnny I missed you at your father’s funeral. You alright?” Mike questioned. It was a small talk but hey, something had to pass the time as the fight was set to continue. 
“I was there.” John replied bluntly, his focus also on the television. 
“No you weren’t. Come on. You think I’d wouldn’t be able to see my own nephew at his father’s funeral? No way you was there. Only way you was there is if you was… you know, flying or something” Uncle Mike chuckled at the thought but when he turned to look at John’s blank expression he realized that maybe he just found the answer himself. Suddenly tension filled the room and despite the excited sound that came from the television, the two men sat there silently. While one man reflected on his super human abilities, the other recalled that the person next to him had abilities that nobody seemed to understand. 
“You know John, that could have been you” Mike said as he gestured towards the television trying to lighten up the situation.
“I would have beaten them all.” John replied, another blunt answer. Mike shrugged in agreement but noticed there was hardly any arrogance to his response; in fact John said it like some clear cut fact that was to be expected.
“Hey you right… ya super heavyweight space man” Mike chuckled at his statement but John again refused to budge. Maybe the joke had a rather sharp sting to it. “Look John you know I’m messing with ya. I’m just really glad to see you. When I heard you ran away from home, I was heart broken. Then a few years later your back all grown up and all of a sudden your dad kicks the bucket and you aren’t at the funeral, shit man I thought I lost you again”

“Did my father ever talk about me when I was gone?”  John asked, not bothering to address his uncle’s previous statement. The question caused Mike to pause. “Look Johnny, I know you got to reconcile a bit with your father before he passed but I mean it when I say that he tried to be a father to you, he just couldn’t help himself. Some of us grieve in different ways and when your mother died, he just… didn’t know how to act. But yeah he did miss you” Mike took a long sip of his beer and sighed. “You know Johnny, when you was growing up you could do no wrong. They called you uh… Super Boy? Yeah that was nick name or something right?” Mike clearly wanted to change the topic of conversation, he wasn’t in the mood for a depressing conversation. 

“I hated that name.” John replied.

“Hah, you may have hated that but it was true. You were the best damn athlete I ever saw, you did everything right. I think the crazy thing about you is how easy you made it look, like you weren’t even trying. Then when you got to high school and all these kids tried to clown you, jeez John you were ruthless. You talked real good shit, just like your dad did back when he was fighting”
“It was the only way I knew how to have fun.” John replied his focus remained on the fight but his tone lowered, there was sadness in his voice. “Any time I played serious, kids got hurt. At least by talking some shit I could entertain myself but you know how it is… winning by itself was boring”

“Yeah… you really were something else.” Mike took another sip. “Look kid real talk… I’m sorry. Sorry for everything. You don’t gotta tell me how you could afford that fancy jacket and shoes and stuff but… you are special, no bull shit”. John gave his uncle a concerned look knowing full well that his uncle was implying things or possibly assuming things in his own head. 
“If you think I’m here cause I killed someone… I didn’t. But yeah I’ll be honest, I haven’t done things exactly legally” 

Mike took another long sip and belched stretching his neck before turning to his young nephew “I know kid… I know. I aint one to judge, your father and I… we did all sorts of dumb shit too growing up. But you know, I think you gonna do something special, soon. You are too gifted with all this super space shit that you are gonna be something special, you’ll see.”
“I hope you are right uncle…Thanks.” John replied. At least for this moment, John believed him. As Hayes scored his knockout victory and celebrated wildly into the night with his team, John stared back at the television, possibilities running in his head on what could have been.