Busy Bodies
Alpha Girl's limits are tested as she has too many people to save in too little time.
Denise Vaughan steps out of her red sedan and onto the Rowan James Elementary School parking lot. Before heading for the entrance, she admires the first school she worked for in Callan. Breathing in the familiar air.
Through the windows, which cover almost the entire perimeter of the perfectly circular building, Ms. Vaughan can see the children she’s dedicated her life to. Some are laughing with friends, some are eagerly raising their hands, some have their heads buried in books. They are all growing. Ms. Vaughan smiles and nods in satisfaction before stepping toward the entrance.
“Ms. Vaughan!” the school’s receptionist greets her as she pulls and presses on her shirt and skirt to hide any wrinkles. “Welcome back!”
Ms. Vaughan’s full smile lights up the room. All of her teeth want to make sure everyone can see how happy they are.
“Let’s go Rowan Rabbits!” a robotic voice says over the school’s intercom with artificial enthusiasm. “Would members of the first wave please make their way to the gymnasium for the fundraiser pep rally?”
Ms. Vaughan watches as various staff members walk past the office to the gymnasium on the other side of the school. She finds it odd how little of them she recognizes. The school principal eagerly approaches her.
“If I had seen you walking in I would’ve held the door and rolled out the red carpet for you,” the principal says to start a fight between Ms. Vaughan’s ego and humility. “We’ve gotten so used to the windows you had installed we hardly notice what’s going on outside.”
“Transparency is an essential aspect of both education and community,” Ms. Vaughan recites her slogan for the school’s remodeling years ago.
As the principal nods enthusiastically, Ms. Vaughan notices her dangling earrings moving. The pendant at the end of the small chains is an A with a halo forming the line in the center.
“Principals are wearing Alpha Girl earrings now?”
The principal nervously reaches for the earrings as if she’s wondering how they got there. She begins to justify her earring choice when she’s interrupted by the intercom.
“Let’s go Rowan Rabbits. Would members of the second wave please make their way to the gymnasium for the fundraiser pep rally?”
The principal sees Ms. Vaughan’s annoyed confusion and jumps at the opportunity to turn attention away from her earrings.
“That’s RoRobot. Our new donor tasked some of our brightest students with building a robot capable of handling all intercom tasks.”
Before Ms. Vaughan can verbalize the expression of shock on her face, a loud swoosh is heard outside. In walks Alpha Girl. The principal’s Alpha Girl earrings look like the most traditional and professional school faculty attire compared to Alpha Girl’s actual super suit. A tight white jumpsuit with a big gold logo on the torso and gold gloves and boots. If a student were to model their own look after this, other students would talk about them rather than talk to them.
“They’re very cute,” Ms. Vaughan smiles as she nods at the principal’s earrings. “I wish I had a pair when I was principal.”
“Ms. Vaughan, it is such a pleasure to be standing on the same stage as you at this school today,” Alpha Girl greets in admiration. “Nurse, teacher, principal, superintendent, mayor. The impact you’ve had at this school and on the city is unmatched.”
“Oh, well,” Ms. Vaughan delightfully responds. “I’m not the superhero here.”
Ms. Vaughan downplays her dedicated career, but she really has been arguably the most influential person in Callan’s history. She claims she’s retired today, but she’s said that before. The reality is she believes Callan and its schools should work a certain way, and the feeling of being out of control of that overwhelms her. Her desire to protect the students and citizens is understandable given the city’s corrupted history, but there’s only so much one person can do. At least, there’s only so much one non-super-powered person can do.
Sure, Alpha Girl has been the guardian angel Callan’s always needed, but her power has incited challengers no one other than she can face. And what happens if she’s not enough?
“Let’s go Rowan Rabbits. Would members of the third wave please make their way to the gymnasium for the fundraiser pep rally?”
The whole office faculty other than the receptionist and security guard stand and head out of the office to the gymnasium. Ms. Vaughan notices more than 20 people exit offices and storage spaces that she’s never seen more than three people in at a time.
“Shall we, ladies?” the principal gestures to the door.
The principal escorts Ms. Vaughan and Alpha Girl to the gymnasium. They walk through the library in the center of the school surrounded by staff members on the same route. Ms. Vaughan stares at each one she doesn’t recognize and finds it odd that they don’t even seem to notice she’s staring.
They arrive at the gymnasium, and the students erupt when they see them. One could make the argument that the students are excited to see all three of Alpha Girl, Ms. Vaughan and their principal. But when they begin chanting only one of their names, it becomes pretty clear who they’re excited to see. And when Ms. Vaughan looks around to see all the girls in the stands are wearing Alpha Girl-inspired outfits, she wonders why she was even invited.
“Ms. Vaughan, you’re our first speaker,” the principal is forced to yell over the screaming fans. “Let me know when you’re ready.”
“She can go ahead,” Ms. Vaughan declares without raising her voice and without clarifying who she’s referring to. The principal understands. She goes to tell Alpha Girl, who’s taking a quick break from flying around the gymnasium high-fiving students.
Of course, Alpha Girl isn’t bothered by the change of plans.
“Let’s go Rowan Rabbits!” Alpha Girl cheers to kick off her speech. “I couldn’t be happier to be here today. I believe whole-heartedly in this school, and I’m so excited to help raise funds for it. A community has to have its priorities straight if it’s going to thrive. And education has to be a top priority. No one knows that better than the woman I’m proud to introduce, Ms. Denise Vaughan!”
Ms. Vaughan doesn’t move. She’s staring at a group of faculty members. While some teachers, administrators and coaches have been cheering and having side conversations like normal people at a pep rally, most of the staff has been pacing the same distance at the same speed and simultaneously tilting their heads back and forth like a dog who’s heard the word “treat.” The principal taps Ms. Vaughan’s shoulder to free her from her trance.
“Get up there!”
Taken aback, Ms. Vaughan smiles and laughs nervously as she heads to the stage. On her way there, all the staff members she doesn’t recognize stand up simultaneously. They each take a few kids from their spots in the stands and escort them to the gymnasium floor, then grab them and pull them against their bodies. Their arms extend to wrap around and hold up to six children at once. Their feet lift off the ground as rocket boosters protrude from their heels. They blast off the ground, taking the kids with them through the glass ceiling. Don’t get excited, progressives - the ceiling is literally glass.
Alpha Girl is quick to react and leaps to grab one of the flying kidnappers. She manages to get hold of one of their ankles. She pulls it down and the foot below the ankle detaches from the rest of the body. The body regenerates the foot, and the foot regenerates an entire body. The new body doesn’t have skin or clothes though; it’s a shiny silver robot. The robot turns to Ms. Vaughan and stretches its arms 10 feet to grab her. Alpha Girl projects a light laser at the robot’s arms, slicing them in half before they get to Ms. Vaughan.
“What are you doing?!” Ms. Vaughan cries. “Save the children!”
Alpha Girl looks around and sees more of the robot-staff not just napping more students but pulling off their own limbs to generate more robots. They don’t stop, and they’re everywhere. Alpha Girl doesn’t even know where to start. She’s about to bolt toward a section of the gymnasium when a voice speaks over the intercom.
“You see, Callan,” the voice says. “You have no idea how to handle this situation because you just assume she’ll take care of it. But even she can’t be in two places at once. And unfortunately, there’s danger in multiple places today. The Busy Bots won’t stop moving or multiplying, and the only thing they’re doing while moving is kidnapping and holding the victims hostage. Take a look at the video board.”
The video board in the gymnasium that is usually reserved for graphics and highlights of the sports teams shows what must be the view of the Busy Bots as they hold the students hostage at different locations.
“The Busy Bots will all explode simultaneously in five minutes,” the menacing voice continues over the intercom. “They’re each holding roughly six kids who will all surely die upon detonation. We have a choice though; we can see just how many of the children your guardian angel can save, or you can click the link just sent to all your phones and sign my petition to outlaw Alpha Girl’s vigilantism. If I get 100 signatures, I’ll shut the Busy Bots down before I present the petition to the mayor”
The intercom goes silent and the video board shuts down.
Alpha Girl looks around and sees all the adults left in the gymnasium are staring at her, holding their phones in their hands. One of them is not holding a phone though.
“Alpha Girl!” Ms. Vaughan’s voice hits the hero in the face like a dodgeball she forgot to dodge. The queen of Callan education was power walking toward Callan’s champion.
“The children,” Ms. Vaughan’s voice is urgently calm.
Alpha Girl looks around at all the damage the Busy Bots have done. She’s surrounded by shattered windows and shattered spirits. “I’ll never be able to save all of them in time.”
“No,” Ms. Vaughan refuses to be ignored. “You can do anything. I’ve seen you fly into a pocket dimension inside a bear’s nightgown to wake this city up. I’ve seen you burst from a supercharged net to save our mayor. You can do anything… and you have to do something.”
Alpha Girl perks up and a ball of lightning jolts from the top of her head and hovers above it as she processes an idea. “The voice on the intercom was right,” she recalls. “I can’t be in two places at once… but I can tap into my telepathic connection to the citizens to guide the students to safety.”
Ms. Vaughan grabs Alpha Girl’s arms and uses the power of pride rushing through her body to squeeze. “Excellent idea! I knew you could do it.”
“I’ll connect you to the students. You should be the one to lead them.”
Alpha Girl’s words fire a grappling hook at Ms. Vaughan’s chin and pull it up in intrigue. Her eyes squint like they don’t recognize what’s in front of them.
“Alpha Girl, you will lead those students.”
So Alpha Girl closes her eyes and focuses on the students she remembers seeing in the gymnasium before shit hit the fan. She locates their spiritual presences. But she can’t connect to it.
“That’s Edward,” Ms. Vaughan thinks, hoping Alpha Girl can hear. “He’s obsessed with you. When he found out his hometown had a superhero protecting it, he did a voluntary social studies report on you and hasn’t stopped thinking about you since.”
Edward’s eyes light up as he feels Alpha Girl radiating in his head. He’s so excited he shouts.
ALPHA GIRL! LET’S GO!
Suddenly all Edward’s friends, and all their friends, can feel Alpha Girl as well. They all shout with enthusiasm on steroids. The Busy Bots’ communications system recognizes the noise.
“You think you can pull one over on me,” the voice on the intercom in the gymnasium commands. “You’re too late. I’m one signature away from 100. This is one school, Alpha Girl. Imagine how many signatures I’ll have when I send the petition to the entire city.”
Alpha Girl’s broken heart is about to force her out of connection with the students when Ms. Vaughan’s presence is lost.
Ms. Vaughan stands up, pulls out her phone and shows it to the closest camera in the gymnasium with the petition link pulled up waiting for her signature. She throws it as hard as she can at the camera.
The rest of the staff members who haven’t voted pull out their phones and throw them on the ground in unison. It was all very “look at me.” They could’ve just exited the petition website.
“You fools!” the intercom thunders through the gym. “You don’t know what’s good for you. Fine! I’ll do it myself.”
Alpha Girl’s connection to the students becomes clogged with fear. She can see the Busy Bots have initiated detonation sequence. She freezes at the horror.
“You can do anything.”
Suddenly Edward projects a shield of light from his head that protects him and his classmates. Inspiration travels at the speed of light through the student’s minds, and they’re all able to use Alpha Girl’s powers to fight off the Busy Bots. The Busy Bots keep regenerating though.
At the gymnasium, Alpha Girl feels something. It’s as if she just stepped outside after working in a small office for 12 hours. The bliss quickly goes away when she realizes she has more work to do.
She explains to Ms. Vaughan and the rest of the school staff surrounding them in a desperate panic that the Busy Bots are still overpowering the students. As their faces slowly accept that their brain is responding with sadness and defeat, an imaginary ball of lightning emerges from and hovers above Alpha Girl’s head.
“Let’s go Rowan Rabbits!”
Alpha Girl leads the staff to the office, where RoRoBot is plugged into the intercom and unplugs it.
Across the city, the Busy Bots shut down. As the students celebrate their victory, Alpha Girl’s powers return to her.
Entering the office is the young receptionist, who pulls her earbuds out when she sees everyone staring at her.
“Sorry I had to run to the bathroom. What’d I miss?”
I often struggle to not feel overwhelmed.
Even deciding who to spend my time with - my wife, my son, my parents, my siblings, my friends - overwhelms me.
I just feel like I have so much to do that there’s not a clear-cut responsible way to spend my time.
Making a list of my priorities for each day has helped a lot. Although I often forget to do that or feel so overwhelmed just thinking about everything that should go on that list that I don’t even write one.
I felt super overwhelmed trying to finish this story with everything else I had going on the past couple weeks, but I made it a priority and got it done. I feel great knowing I pushed through the challenge and finished what I started.
I hope reading this reminds you that when you feel like you have too much to do in too little time, you can figure it out. There are people who’ve seen you figure many things out. So think about yourself the way they think about you, and do what you’ve gotta do.
“I already told you,” the young receptionist says to the detective working the gymnasium case. “I unplugged RoRoBot myself before I went to the bathroom. We didn’t have any announcements to make on the intercom until after the pep rally.”
“If RoRoBot wasn’t the one on the intercom, who was?”
Alpha Girl is talking to another detective outside the school when a platinum luxury sports car pulls into the parking lot. A man in a white suit with navy pinstripes steps out.
“Alpha Girl!” he eagerly calls out. “I was stuck in traffic on the way to the pep rally, but I heard everything on the radio. Thank you for your service.”
The heroine is humble enough to blush when someone thanks her for her service.
“I don’t think we’ve met. What’s your name?”
Mr. Real smirks with his eyes squinting methodically behind his shades as he introduces himself to Alpha Girl.
Alpha Girl finally meets Mr. Real. What kind of relationship will these two develop? And who was on the intercom controlling the Busy Bots if it wasn’t RoRoBot?
Love this message! You can do anything you put your mind to!
Ms Denise Vaughan sounds incredible 💁🏼♀️!