SuperZero

You’ve heard of superheroes, of course. Batman, Superman, He-man.

Then there are supergirls – Catgirl, Batgirl, who knows, even Ratgirl.

There are superanimals like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. All these heroes can perform amazing tricks. They’re really good at everything and good looking besides. Although, I personally don’t think that men with little pointed ears on top of their heads are very good looking. But then, you always see the girls going batty over Batman.

So much for superheroes. But you haven’t heard of any superzeroes, though. Well, you can hear of right now – ME! I’m really good at nothing – good for nothing. I’m one big ZERO. In short – a SUPERZERO – that’s me.

Ma says, “You’re very sweet.”

Pa says, “Everybody is good at something.” Only, I haven’t discovered my hidden talents yet. They are too well hidden. If you don’t believe me, here’s a list of my shortcomings

I am short for my age
I am ugly
I am terrible at school work
I am lousy at games
My feet smell (of dead fish)
I’m scared of the dark, dogs and drowning.
……..Well, the list goes on, but, I think you have the picture.

Sometimes Ma says, “You have two left feet.” Because I’m always falling down. Sometimes Pa says, “You’ve got ten thumbs,” because things are always falling out of my hands.
My sister’s pretty good at singing. And pretty besides. My cousin’s good at playing the casio. And good looking besides. Most children are geniuses (that means VERY clever) with their computers. Me? Oh I can’t manage any of these things. In fact, I can’t even get ill right. Everybody gets a cough, cold and fever once in a while. But my cough and cold are my constant companions. My nose is always a big, red balloon. It runs so much, I’m amazed that it hasn’t run away altogether! My cough is so bad that I can’t play games the way normal kids do. If I run for a minute, I run out of breath, wheeze and pant as everyone else whizzes past me.

Yes sir, Superzero, that’s me.

We’d gone on a picnic – all of us. Supercasio cousin. Supersinging sister and of course, Superzero. Along with all parents. Everyone was having a great time – running about, playing, eating and drinking. All, except, of course, me. I couldn’t run or play and watch. I couldn’t eat and drink half the stuff – no chilly, no cold drinks, no sour stuff. So I sat by my miserable own self, enjoying miserable own company. We were on the banks of a river and soon every one decided to go boating. But remember, one of my BIG fears was of drowning. So I stayed put where I was, although everyone asked me to go along.

I watched a line of ants marching towards our food baskets and attack sandwiches. They were pretty yucky, so I let them. I enjoyed watching the way they ran in a line, passing the message on that there was food available. I imagined myself to be one of the ants. A captain ant – or rather — a commandant who shouted instructions at the junior ants. They all listened to me. Mama ants, papa ants, aunts and uncles. Ants in frocks, ants in sarees, ants in pants. Everyone of them rushed to obey my orders. I was the commandant of all ants. I was the SUPERHERO ant. Superzero no longer.

“ATTENTION!” I shouted and suddenly noticed a little crowd around me. Pa, Ma, sister, cousins, uncles and ants (sorry, aunts). They all stood around, smiling at me.
“That was very good, you know,” said my sister.

“You’ve got a great sense of humour”, said Pa.

You could become a story teller, or a writer!” said Ma.

So, you know what? That’s what I’ve decided to become – a writer.
A story teller. I can just see it in the paper now: the headlines would read: SUPERZERO the HERO! The photograph would show —

So, read the stories by Superzero – they’re just a laugh away!

Elephants Don’t Diet!……
If The Tooth Be Told!……
Lion on The Loose!……
The Weepy Wempati!…..

There are some exciting activities for you SuperZero Funtime Activity

717 words | 8 minutes
Readability: Grade 5 (10-11 year old children)
Based on Flesch–Kincaid readability scores

Filed under: stories
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