“I will rule the city of Boston now!” Theo said in his supervillain voice.
“Oh, no!” the boys shrieked.
“We need to get down from the tower and go to our command center,” Jack said importantly. Theo was impressed that he knew the phrasecommand center.
“Let’s go!” Sam agreed.
One by one, the four boys slid down the slide, giggling loudly. Once they were safely at the bottom and running towards the play structure, Theo followed. It was surprisingly fun to whoosh down the steep incline and bounce at the bottom. It reminded him of childhood days with his friends at Springfield’s Fourth of July party.
At the bottom, he looked around. The kids had sprinted off to the play structure and were now in a huddle at the top. Theo approached slowly and heard a few of their whispers.
“We’ll go invisible,” Yassar suggested.
“Yeah!” Jack agreed.
“We’re invisible now!” Sam yelled down to Theo.
“I can’t find them anywhere!” Theo said to himself loudly. “Maybe they’re invisible!” He scanned his eyes over the playground, passing right over the boys. They all giggled loudly, which he pretended not to notice, too. Then they sneaked off the play structures, tiptoeing and giggling, and hurried off to the bounce house. Theo wasn’t sure how long he should wait before following, so he looked at the play structure a while longer.
“Mr. Supervillain!” Jack called. “We’re over here! You can see us now!”
“I’ve finally found those pesky superheroes!” Theo announced. “Now I can stop them, and Boston will be mine!”
“Oh, no!”
The game continued, with Theo chasing the boys all around the play area. Finally, they set a “trap,” luring him to the top of the slide and pretending to push him over. Theo lay at the bottom as they slid down and jumped around him.
“We won!” Jack yelled. “Yay!”
“Yay!” The other boys added. Then all four of them ran off to play some other game. Theo got up, dusted himself off, and headed back towards Charles Ackley and the other dads. He was about halfway there when Nina appeared in front of him.
“I saw that.”
“Saw what?” He smiled at her. “My astonishing defeat at the hands of five-year-old superheroes?”
“Exactly.” Nina smiled. “I saw you playing with them. They all looked so happy, Jack especially. Thank you.”
“It was… fun,” Theo said, realizing he’d genuinely enjoyed it. He looked down at her. “How are you doing? Are the moms nice?”
“Um…” Nina glanced over her shoulder at a table of women. They were laughing, too, though not in the same carefree way the kids were. “Sort of. It’s fine.”
It doesn’t matter if she isn’t having a good time,Theo told himself firmly.What matters is that I talk to Charles.
Yet it wasn’t true, even if he’d have liked it to be. Theo knew how hard and discouraging it could be trying to befriend the generationally wealthy.
“How about we head home?” he suggested. Nina’s eyes widened.
“No, I couldn’t ask you to do that. I’m sure you still have tons of networking to do.”
“Nah,” Theo said. He’d never saidnahin his life, but something about this situation brought it out in him. “Leave them wanting more, you know? And I think Jack’s getting tired.”
Sure enough, Jack and the other boys were now lying on the grass, yawning. It was late afternoon, and all the running had hit them hard, it seemed. Theo smiled fondly at Jack.
“You like him, don’t you?” Nina asked. She nudged his shoulder, grinning as slyly as if they were middle schoolers talking about a crush.
“Jack?” Theo asked.
“Yeah.”
