Superheroine Emily

My real name is Emily Ħaġar; my Superheroine name is Emilymaltija.

I am not the only Superheroine, you know – there is a whole camaraderie (good collective noun!) of us… Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Olga Mesmer, Natasha Irons, Gertrude Yorkes, Jean Grey, Anna Mercury…

We all have different superpowers. Some of us can fly; some of us can read people’s minds; some of us can move things with our thoughts, and some of us are incredibly strong.

Some of us can breathe underwater; some can fight fire with fire, or water with water. All of us can cook and run fast.

I am Maltese, and I was born in the Stone Age.

Since you are reading this, it means, of course, that one of my Superpowers is Time Travel. I do not have a watch – but I have an hourglass, which is almost the same thing to those of us who can read The Sands of Time properly.

Whenever people need me, the sand in my hourglass begins to whirl around, as if there is a sandstorm. It speaks to me in a way that is at once ancient and modern, tangible and virtual. I look at it closely.

I see a picture, and a date, and I know where and when to go to help people who need me. I do not limit myself to helping the Islanders – but, well, they are my People, so they have priority.

Although I say so myself, I am the most intelligent Superheroine of them all, because some of my friends rely on their laptops or iPhones to receive messages. They laugh when they see me concentrate on my hourglass, because they think I am playing the fool They say Dust in the Wind cannot possibly mean anything – but I know better. 

I also have a Superpower that allows me to imitate the talents and aptitudes of others, albeit very little of it. For some reason, this capacity is only present when it is absolutely necessary for it to be available.

Let me give you an example. If someone’s cat is stuck in a tree, and I have to save it, I feel a surge of power from the top of my head to the tips of my fingers and toes, and I know that it’s there.

So, although I cannot fly, well, in a way I can, as I will explain later, I can imitate the cat and climb the tree quickly, without getting hurt, and speak Cat Language to reassure the cat that I am a friend. Some cats take a long tome to be persuaded to trust someone who they do not know, but eventually, after I would have explained it ten times, they cotton on to the fact that if they remain in the tree, they will not be getting any supper, and they will not b sleeping in their cosy beds.

Feral cats, of course, do not have any beds to go to – and I have been scratched by many of them… but it’s an occupational hazard that I don’t mind; as long as I do my duty, everything’s all right.

While I am still in Car Mode, I leap down from the tree with the cat in my arms, and land on my feet.   

I feel another tingling in my arms and legs, and I know that the Imitation Superpower has disappeared for the time being.

Some of my friends can become invisible. I cannot do that. But I have a Superpower that is as close enough to that as does not matter.

I can stand absolutely still, and people think I am a statue – like one of those Mimes who cover themselves in clay sludge and stand at the entrance to shops, so people take photographs with them, and leave money in an upturned hat.

My extra-sharp hearing gives me the ability to hear whatever they say, and then I report it to the Police. I often leave documents in the letter-boxes of Police Stations, with records of what I would have heard, and sign them “Your Secret Friend” and I read in the papers that the criminals would have been nabbed because of “information received”.  

But the Superpower I love best is the gift that I have to cure and heal people. Last Wednesday, for example, a woman was run over by a car, as she was crossing the road on a zebra crossing, if you please. The pedestrians screamed so loudly that I was instantly made aware of the accident.

I zoomed to the site, and until the ambulance came, I aligned the broken bones in her arm, and mended it, and stroked her cuts, and they healed immediately. Nobody noticed what I was doing, and when the orderlies came up to her, they were surprised that there was huge amount of blood on the ground, but no indication from where it had come.

Since Malta is an Island Republic, I can swim very well. I also have a Superpower that allows me to breathe under water. So, when the sea is rough and there is an accident, and people are in danger of drowning, I can rescue them without having to wear bulky sub-aqua equipment.

As I said, flying is beyond me. My weapon of choice is the bow-and-arrow set. One of the arrows is special. I aim it toward where I want to go. As it flies, an invisible rope unwinds from the haft, and then I slide along it and arrive at my destination.

Sometimes, but not always, I can walk through walls. Like the other power, it only emerges when it is absolutely necessary, like when I have to save a Damsel in Distress, and she is locked inside a castle.

Since I am a book-worm, it is a good thing I have night vision. When my parents say “Lights Out”, I can still read in the dark.

Apart from that, I can understand a thousand languages, partly because Maltese has a lot of words from different languages in it. I can also understand the language of all the animals I have saved so far – I do not know whether I would be able to understand the languages of those I have not yet met… but I assume I could, given my derivation-imitation Superpower.

My ninja friends have taught me martial arts, and I can do magic tricks too, but those are not really Superpowers – I just use them to entertain children at parties, which I attend when I am not on a Mission.