Truth and Justice

A cacophony of child laughter and stomping of feet filled the small suburban street as small kids in all manners of costumes scurried about filled with excitement about what this time of year brought. A time of scary movies, fun costumes, spooky decorations adorned every house and most important of all to any kid during Halloween, all the free candy. All the while the parents walked behind and alongside their kids hoping that all this running around would tire them out before bedtime and allow them some peace and quiet for a brief amount of time.

 Running ahead of his family eager to get to the next house a small boy dressed as Superman held out one hand like the man of steel does when he flies over the city of Metropolis.

“Randy gets back here, don’t run off too far” His mother cried out hoping to get his attention, but he was so much in his own world that he felt like he was Superman on patrol in the neighborhood.

“Wait for your sisters” She added as she looked down at her two daughters, both younger than their brother. Letting out a sigh she just kept an eye on him making sure he didn’t wonder out of her sight. It wasn’t long before they came to the next house on the street as Randy rushed up the walkway followed by his two sisters. The youngest fell backwards when she saw a scary clown animatronic. Candy spilled out onto the concrete as she looked up in terror at the sight before her.

Just then Randy stepped between her and the animatronic and while he was only eleven years old, he held himself firm against the monstrous form following in the footsteps of his hero Superman.

“Step back scary clown, Superman is here.” He said proudly before turning to his sister and helped her up and picked up her candy. “All better” he said as he ushered her past the clown and to the bowl of candy waiting for them to be held out by a member of the household. The older woman complemented each of them on their costumes, the older sister wore a home-made space suit, and the younger sister was dressed as Rapunzel with her hair braided in the back in a similar fashion to the character in the movie.

After they got their candy from this house, they moved on to the next. The decorations weren’t as scary as the last house so all three of them made their way to the front door with little effort. Randy would find himself admiring the décor of the house. He particularly loved the use of green and purple light to accent the styrofoam gravestones that filled the yard accompanied by an eerie musical serenade.

Once again, the homeowner stepped out when Randy pressed the doorbell and proceeded to hand out the candy to each of the kids. Their bags became ever heavier with candy as the night went on. And with each subsequent house they collected more and more candy. They were halfway through the neighborhood when they reached a house with minimal decorations and Randy would recognize the house as belonging to his best friend, but it would seem no one was home, and they walked up to the porch and to their surprise sat a bowl atop a small folding table.

               The mother walked up with them to see the sign that was left by the bowl. It read “please one per kid, thank you and happy Halloween.”

She looked around for any families nearby and when none were in view, she urged her kids to take several pieces each of the candy. The sisters not knowing any better followed the instructions of their mother and scooped up a couple of handfuls of candy.

“Come on Randy its okay they knew this could happen by putting out a bowl of candy unsupervised.”

After a short hesitation he soon succumbed and grabbed a hand full of candy and placed it into his bag and continued with his family. The rest of the night went on without a hitch and soon Randy put the worry he had in the back of his mind. Since if his mom said it was okay then it was good for him and why would have reason to doubt her. After a short while he was back to his old self pretending to be Superman and protecting both his young sisters from the scary Halloween decorations.

When they finally reached home after a long night of trick or treating, he asked his mom if he could watch Superman the movie before going to bed and she could see the eagerness in his eyes. He practically worshipped Superman and so she would smile softly at him and allow him to watch the movie if he promised to clean up after himself before bed.

 Nodding his head fast with a wide smile on his face he turned on the tv and selected the movie from the streaming service. He kept on his costume as he watched the movie play, the music filled him with joy as even the title whizzing by the screen sent jolts of excitement through him. He could never get enough of the man of steel traveling faster then a speeding bullet and leading tall buildings in a single bound.

The movie played on, and he would find himself reciting all of Superman’s lines as he had them all memorized. Once it came to the scene when he was being interviewed by Lois Lane and something he said soon stuck a chord with him.

“I mean, w-why are you here? There must be a reason for you to be here” Lois asked as she held the small notebook in her hand and pen at the ready.

“Yes. I'm here to fight for truth, justice, and the American way.” Said Superman with unflinching conviction. And when he recited that line Randy paused the movie and said a part of the line back over.

“Truth, justice and the American way… Truth, justice…” he said aloud to himself as he looked at the bag of candy he had filled up from trick or treating. He felt a little sick to his stomach as he thought about what he did. Then another part of him said it was all right and to listen to his mother. In an uncharacteristic move from him he turned off the movie and cleaned up his stuff before turning in that night. The memory of what he did lingering on his mind.

               A week passed as life went back to normal, people of the neighborhood began the work of dissembling their Halloween decorations. Randy had scarcely touched his candy as the memory of what he did haunted him. How could he love Superman so much that he would want to be like him and still allow himself to steal candy. He could feel himself so distraught by this dilemma he hardly left his room the following days after Halloween.

Eventually the weekend came, and he could lie in his room without any worry of going to school and doing schoolwork. But even the respite from school did not elevate his feelings. A sudden thump caught his attention and when he looked up his Superman figure had fallen to the ground and right above it was the culprit.

“Murphy you knocked down my superman figure” the cat simply meowed in response as he picked it up and inspected it for any damage and found none and placed it back on the dresser. But as he looked at it, he found himself reciting that line again.

“Truth, justice and the American way” he said as he turned to look at his bag of candy and at once, he knew what to do. Getting dressed as quickly as he could, then grabbed the bag of candy and rushed out the house to the home of his friend. He could swear he was running faster than a speeding bullet down the sidewalk. He ran faster than he had ever run before he knew he had to make it right.

He finally found himself standing in front of his friend’s home and when he walked up to the door and pressed the doorbell his heart raced a mile a minute when he realized the gravity of what he was doing and afraid of what consequences he faced but he told himself this is what Superman would do.

The door creaked open, and an older woman stepped out looking down at him. “I’m sorry, Jimmy is with his dad at the mall, I’ll tell him you came by.” With a deep breath he held out the sack of candy. “What’s this?” she asked with a curious expression on her face.

“On Halloween night I took more than one candy, and I realized how wrong that was and so as a way to say I’m sorry I’m giving you my entire bag of candy” he said as he held the bag in front of him and she leaned down to take it from him. Looking inside she could see all manners of candy and then went back to him.

“I see, that was a shameful thing you did” she scolded him, and Randy nodded “I know and I’m sorry.” She thought for a moment before handing him the bag back. He was confused as to why she returned it.

“My dear, what you did was shameful, but you showed courage in coming here and confessing. Superman would be proud of you Randy” He soon felt his heart begin to warm and a smile came over his face.

“Keep your candy, it’s okay. We don’t need it around anyway, Jimmy has too much as it is” she said with a light chuckle. “Go on Randy, have a good day and remember to stay out of trouble or might keep the candy next time” she said with a heart-warming smile, and he smiled back before running home feeling like a great weight has been lifted off his shoulders. He could almost feel himself flying through the city of Metropolis once again as he ran back to his home.