Karma in the kids section

Karma In the kids section 

Aka ‘My Superhero'

Author: Leanne Taylor

Two small children had entered the library with their parents. The oldest boy was very excited and was looking to pick up a book on dinosaurs. His sister, Layla was looking at a picture book of 'Spot the Dog'.

Their mother, Lisa, decided to read a few graphic novels about Superheroes. She was always fascinated by the drawing styles and had hoped to one day, be a successful illustrator. She sighed, as she felt this was a pipe dream. But she pushed that aside to enjoy her weekly dose of 'Dicky boy', she giggled while checking out the well-chiselled bodies of the main male superheroes. She was sure she was about the age of most of those characters and remembered checking them out in her youth.

Just then, Harry got bored and wanted the book that Layla had. She yelled, "No, it's mine!" Since she still had a lisp being just a toddler. Lisa's little 'fantasy' had to be put to one side to deal with the squabble which was about to break out. She walked over, hoping to resolve the issue quickly, but knew it wasn't going to be easy.

"Now Harry, Layla had that book first. Go pick another if you are done with the dinosaurs," she said as she hoped to diffuse the situation. Lisa went to the front desk to check out the graphic novels she was interested in. Her husband, Eric complimented her on her choices. "Trust you to get a comic on Batman," he smirked, finding his wife's obsession a little amusing. She also smirked, "well he's got a nicer arse than me," she whispered and giggled showing him the front cover of 'Nightwing'. 

They saw that Harry had run over to another little boy, who was reading the book. "Hey, that's mine!" He shouted at the child. Lisa and Eric were not impressed. "Harry Anderson! That's not how we behave. Besides, that's a library book so you know you have to share. And you didn't want it until that little lad got it," Lisa said rolling her eyes. She didn't need any drama and was hoping for a quiet library visit.

The woman beside the small child felt awkward but seemed to tolerate what was going on. "It's ok, I know Jack gets like that sometimes," the female said, making Lisa feel relieved as she was worried her son would get in trouble. 

Although he didn't back down, he started to yell more, occasionally throwing in a bad word. This horrified Lisa as she told him to calm down or they would leave. She attempted a time out, but he wouldn't keep quiet. The young mother just left him in the corner and stood there hoping he would calm himself down and think about his behaviour.

Things seemed to be under control, but then another library guest, who had been tutting the whole time walked over. "Are you going to keep that kid quiet? I'm trying to read here!" She scoffed. Lisa's eyes flashed red, she had metahuman abilities she was trying to keep low key while in public. "Well as you can see, Harry gets temper tantrums and he just needs to cool down. I'm sorry he is bothering you but he is in time out," Lisa tried to diffuse the situation but it wasn't working very well. "This is probably why he has tantrums, you probably let him get away with murder," the opinionated guest glared. 

Black butterfly markings were forming around Lisa's eyes as Eric noticed, and stepped in. "We've already said we are handling it, so please back off," he said to the woman. She scoffed and walked off. Lisa's markings seemed to fade, and all seemed well.

Harry had just about calmed down, when a librarian walked over.

"Excuse me, I've been having some complaints about your kids" she said, she seemed pleasant enough and had only said what she was told. Lisa looked upset, her eyes flashing a deep blue, though she attempted to hide this. Eric shook his head, "Harry was just having a tantrum, we have it sorted," he said as Lisa suddenly picked up Harry and Layla and walked out the library. "Although now I have to calm down the wife, Harry was giving her grief this morning," Eric said. The employee felt bad, "oh I didn't mean for her to leave," she looked sad. She was also worried she didn't handle the enquiry well. Eric sighed, "my wife has low self esteem, doubting her parenting and she gets anxious about being in public places," he said. "I'll go find her and see of she's ok," he said as he knew how stressed his spouse would get in awkward situations.

Lisa was sat on a bench by a discount shop. Eric instantly thought she'd be there. He rushed over as he saw that she had calmed down a little. He held her close, "the librarian didn't know what was going on so she didn't mean to upset you," he said lightly kissing her. She sighed, "it's not just the library, I just feel like I'm not doing a good enough job," she held him close. "Of course you are, you are a wonderful and amazing mummy, and I couldn't care less what some random thinks of you," he said holding Lisa close. "She's lucky I didn't go full mode on her, bad enough we had to move because my powers kept getting exposed. But those kinds of people make me want to not leave my house" she was looked down on. Eric disagreed, "the kids love going out, even if they give us a hard time. And they wouldn't be nearly as happy as they are now if it wasn't for their strong and beautiful mummy putting her troubles aside to make sure they are content," he smiled. Lisa realised her husband was right. She remembered the books she had left behind and so did Eric. "You aren't going to let some judge woman stop you from getting your hands on Nightwing are you?" He smirked, knowing what she was like. "Sure, but that librarian or that miserable June are there I'll send you in instead," she said as they re-entered the library.

The employee saw them and showed them the books, "I do apologise, I just found out that the person who complained about you was getting a lot of complaints from parents. They called a young child over there a brat, called a man a 'crap-bag for a dad' and deliberately knocked into a toddler. We caught them out and they have to leave and not ever enter the children section again. I hope that behaviour and my misjudgement haven't put you off?" She said, nervously. "Oh no problem, I just got a bit overwhelmed," Lisa said, "judgmental June didn't help," she said, rolling her eyes. The librarian nodded, "I'm quite new here, and my brother and sister in law have kids so I should have known better," she said. Lisa shook her head, "no worries'' she smiled slightly. The young worker handed over the books that Lisa was checking out. Eric smirked, " I knew you wouldn't leave without your fantasy lads," he rolled his eyes. Lisa shrugged, "they aren't you though, you're my superhero," she said cuddling into her spouse as her kids sat down to read.