Somebody watchin' might wanna make romance

Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye

I just want to share a few lines from Blackout with you that I kind of like, from four different sections of the first chapter, each featuring one of the four main characters. Blackout is set during July 13-14, 1977, in New York City.

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“--Ten minutes after eight and seventy-four degrees here at the WABC studios. Harry Harrison with you, stay well, stay happy, stay right here with Marvin Gaye.” Marvin’s falsetto crooned over a dance beat and Faith smiled.

Time to run.

She paused long enough to pull her front door shut and then lit out down the street, startling the omnipresent pigeons and morning commuters. She didn’t get up to her top speed; Lionheart had asked her to keep it under a hundred in city limits unless the team had been deployed or was responding to an emergency. People still gaped after her as she whipped past them to leave dust and trash scattered in her wake, but New York was still New York, and the residents of the Big Apple had seen it all. Just Cause had been a mainstay in the city since the early ‘50s, and American Justice before that. Parahumans were like any other celebrity: interesting for a moment, then supremely boring until something else came along.

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Harlan bent forward and studiously shoveled cereal into his mouth, hoping the crackle of his corn flakes would drown out the coos of his mother and sisters.

“I think you look real pretty, Leenie,” said Reggie, who then stuck her tongue out at Harlan.

“Thanks, sweetie,” said Irlene. “What do you think, Harlan?”

Harlan glanced up and shot his older sister his most withering look. It infuriated him that as much as he couldn’t stand her, she was always friendly and even kind to him. Just once he wished she’d get angry, call him a name, scream at him. Such a display of real, human hate from her would give them common ground from where they could forge a real sibling relationship. But no, she always smiled pleasantly at him and spoke to him with love. He knew he was supposed to reciprocate, but he felt nothing, and that made him hate her even more because she brought out the worst in him. “You look like a strawberry slush with whipped cream,” he said in a weak attempt to be mean.

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“Please,” said André. “Do you think I was born yesterday? I know who you are. Him. La Tornade. Tornado. The hero of the Just Cause team.”

Tommy looked away. “So what if I am?”

André smiled sadly. “You are a superhero. I am only a florist.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Ah, Tommy. You are a sweet man, full of love and life, but it is not for me to share. Your heart belongs to another. I could see this from the moment I met you.”

Tommy pulled away from André and slipped out of the bed, the sheet wrapped around him like a robe. He went to stand by the window and looked out at the city beyond the fire escape. How many hours had he spent flying between those towers? How many miles had he logged with his cape flapping behind him as he tried to outrun his own feelings? “You’re wrong,” he said at last. “I’m just another swinger, André. That’s all. I’m not in love with anyone.”

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“Honey … I don’t mean to pry … but did a man do that to you?” asked the woman beside her.

“What? Oh …” For a moment Gretchen had forgotten her black eye, tender nose, and bruised cheekbone. She’d covered it as best she could with makeup and put on some large sunglasses to hide the rest. “No, uh, I just … fell.”

“Hmph,” sniffed the woman. “Well, I hope you’re on this bus to get away from him, honey. Men are pigs.”

“I’m not …” began Gretchen. Then she sighed and smiled. “Yeah, I am getting away from him. And he was a pig.” A flash of blue and white caught her eye and she saw Tornado flit between two buildings. That brief glimpse more than anything helped to solidify that she’d finally gotten away from Donny and Dyersville.

The towers of Manhattan sprang up around her as the bus was swallowed up by the city.