My Super Birthday Present
by M.C.
To repay an act of kindness, a high school student's girlfriend gives him the ultimate present for his 18th birthday.


Before I start, let me introduce myself. My name is Mitchell Cochrane - but
since everybody simply calls me Mitch, you can too. Anyway, when I was a
seventeen year-old senior in high school, the most incredible thing happened
to me; and it changed my life forever...

I was walking home from school one day about six months before my 18th
birthday, and when I turned onto the street where I live, I saw a rather sad
sight - I saw Linda Lee Danvers, the girl who lives across the street from me,
sitting on the curb; crying. I had known Linda for several years by then, ever
since she and her foster parents moved into our neighborhood. But even though
we were approximately the same age, I never really got to know her very well -
we seemed to be on different wavelengths. But even though we weren't friends,
I felt I had to say or do something to cheer her up. So I sat down beside her
on the curb.

"What's the matter Linda?" I asked as sympathetically as I could.

"I have no friends Mitch, none at all," she cried. "Everybody thinks I'm
weird...like I'm from another planet or something."

I honestly didn't know how to react in this kind of situation; I'd never been
in one before. So I did what I thought a hero in a movie might have done - I
put my arm around Linda and gently pulled her towards me. "It's O.K. Linda,"I
found myself saying,"I'll be your friend if you really need one." After about
a minute of silence, Linda asked,"do you really mean that Mitch, or are you
just saying it to try and make me feel better because you're taking pity on
me?"

This was a tough question and put me on the spot. For the truth is (as I
mentioned before) that even though Linda had lived right across the street
from me for several years now, I hardly paid any attention to her. It's not
that she wasn't pretty or anything (the truth is, she had a beautiful face),
but she always struck me as being kind of different, in a way that I just
couldn't quite explain. But seeing her here crying on the curb because she had
no friends prompted me to say,"yes Linda, I truly mean it; I'll be your
friend. Do you want to go to dinner and a movie this Friday night?"

An awkward moment of silence followed between us. Then Linda stopped crying,
reached over and grabbed one of my hands (I was amazed at the strength of her
grip), and said, "that's very kind of you Mitch...and I accept." And that
simple incident on the curb of the street in front of our homes began a most
extraordinary relationship between this rather unusual girl and me; one that
would change both of our lives forever.

That Friday night I had my first date with Linda, and we both enjoyed it
enough to have another, and then another, and another. But the more I got to
know this mysterious girl who lived across the street, the more I was
convinced that there was indeed something 'different' about her; something
very, very different from all the other girls I had dated. Like, for example,
sometimes I would call her and either her foster mother or father would answer
and say,"Linda's not here right now Mitch. She'll call you when she gets
back." It didn't happen once or twice, but many times. If she didn't have any
friends (other then me of course) then where was she? Very strange indeed. And
whenever I would ask her about it, Linda would simply shrug her shoulders and
say,"I had stuff to do."

But despite this, I found myself falling for this cryptic girl. She was fun to
be with, very pretty and VERY smart. When we were learning about Einstein's
theory of relativity in our physics class, she seemed to actually understand
it. And as we were walking home from school that day, Linda tried to explain
it to me - needless to say I couldn't even begin to understand it. But when
she told me that Einstein was wrong when he stated that nothing could travel
faster than the speed of light, I asked her how she knew that. Linda responded
with a giggle and said,"perhaps someday I'll show you Mitch."

"Show me what, Linda?" Her only reply was to give me another one of her
cryptic smiles.

The more time we spent together, the more we wanted to spend together. I once
asked her why she didn't seek out any new friends; and her reply, "you're the
only friend I need Mitch." Then one afternoon on the day before my 18th
birthday, Linda called me up and asked me to come over - she said she had
something 'very important' to discuss with me. As I walked across the street
to her home, Linda was waiting for me outside her front door. She immediately
led me inside and straight into her bedroom.

"Where are your foster parents Linda?"

"They went to visit my dad's brother in San Francisco Mitch and won't be back
until Tuesday. We have the house all to ourselves until then."

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

She motioned for me to sit down on her bed. After I had done so, she began.
"Mitch, you and I have been friends for six months now - I take the time you
put your arm around me when I was crying on the curb as the official beginning
of our relationship. And in that time I've grown very fond of you. You're the
kindest, sweetest, most compassionate boy I've ever met; and I'd really like
to take our relationship to the next level." She paused for a few moments as
if she was thinking of what she wanted to say next."But in order to do that,
I'm going to have to reveal to you a secret about me; one that you can never
tell anyone... EVER! So, in order to show you this secret of mine, you must
first promise me that you'll keep it to yourself and never tell anybody - it's
a secret that only my foster parents know about."

I was very confused now, to say the least. What secret could this 18 year-old
girl possibly have that I could never tell anybody? But by this time I had
grown so fond of Linda that I agreed to her terms. "I...I solemnly swear to
you Linda, that I will never reveal your secret to anyone...ever."

"Good, I was hoping you'd say that," she said with a smile. "Now prepare
yourself for a little shock Mitch." Slowly, Linda reached up and tugged on her
long, brown hair and, to my surprise, it came off; it was a wig! All this time
Linda was wearing a wig, making her look like a brunette. But when she removed
her wig, her natural blond hair fell down over her shoulders. And as Linda
fluffed up her beautiful blond hair, I couldn't help but think, "she looks
very familiar somehow." But as shocking as what Linda had just done was, what
she did next totally blew me away. She began to slowly unbutton her blouse.
And as she did so, I saw what she was wearing underneath - a blue costume (she
calls it her uniform) with a large, bright red letter "S" in the middle, and I
gasped; my girlfriend Linda is...is...SUPERGIRL!

"What's the matter Mitch?" Linda asked with a giggle. "You look as if you've
just seen a ghost; tee, hee, hee."

"I...I'm not sure what I'm looking at. Are you...are you Linda; Linda Lee
Danvers? Or are you Supergirl?"

"I'm both you silly boy you. But my 'real' name is actually Kara Zor-El, it's
the name my parents gave me on the planet Krypton where I was born. But you
can call me Kara for short."

As I sat on Linda's - or Kara's - bed, I was trying to come to terms with what
I was now experiencing. Was my girlfriend really Supergirl? I mean THE
Supergirl - the super strong, invulnerable girl from the planet Krypton whose
parents sent to earth before her planet disintegrated? (Sorry Superman fans,
but in my fantasy, there's only one super person, and she's an 18 year-old
girl). My head was spinning. Sensing the confusing state I was in, Kara sat
down next to me on the bed. Now it was her turn to put an arm around me and
gently tug me toward her."I know you're probably a bit confused now Mitch, but
I am indeed Supergirl. But I'm also Linda Lee Danvers - your girlfriend for
the past six months. And I don't see any reason why anything in our
relationship should change because of this."

"But...but you're Supergirl, Linda...I mean Kara. You're like the strongest,
most powerful being in the entire universe. How can that not affect our
relationship?"

Kara sighed. "Because I'm still the same girl that you saw crying on the curb
six months ago because she didn't have any friends. The one you put your arm
around and promised to be her friend - and kept your promise. The one who has
come to know you as the kindest and sweetest boy she's ever known. You are the
best friend I ever had Mitch; and nothing about that has changed - nor should
it just because I also happen to be Supergirl. I hope you're not intimidated
by me. Are you?"

"Well no - at least I don't think so. It's just that I wasn't exactly
expecting this. What should I call you anyway? Linda? Kara? Supergirl?"

"When we're alone, like we are now, you can call me either Kara or Supergirl;
it doesn't matter - after all, they're both who I am. But when we're out
together in public and I'm in my disguise, you should only call me Linda.
O.K?"

I scratched my head. "Boy, I always felt there was something different about
you. But I never realized just how different, different can be."

Kara giggled when I said this. Just then a strange devise next to her bed that
I had never seen before began to ring. "Sorry Mitch, but I have to answer
this." Kara pressed a button on the devise and began to converse with someone
in a language that I had never heard before. After several exchanges, she
pressed the button again and the devise turned off. She looked at me and said
with a smile,"Honey, it seems like I have a bit of work to do. Would you like
to come along and watch your girlfriend in action?"

"Yes I would. What are you going to do? And what is this thing? (I pointed to
the strange devise).

"This is a very advanced technological communication devise which allows me to
converse with a special sort of police force which tries to keep peace in the
galaxy. They call them- selves the 'Intergalactic Peace Organization' or IPO
for short. Because Earth isn't advanced enough - after all, you've only gone
as far as your moon - they don't bother with you, or I should say us as I also
live on Earth now. But a lot of the more advanced civilizations in the galaxy
do participate. When the IPO discovered that I have these incredible super
powers, they invited me to join their organization to help keep peace in the
galaxy; and I agreed. And this - Kara pointed to the strange devise next to
her bed - is what they use to communicate to me in a sub-space frequency
(think Star Trek) whenever they need my help. And its seems that they need my
help now."

"Why? What's happening?" I was still reeling from what my 18 year-old
girlfriend was telling me. Was Linda, or Kara, really Supergirl...the
Supergirl? I still couldn't wrap my mind around that.

"It seems that a group of huge, ferocious creatures on another planet are
encroaching on a large city and the IPO requested that I should go and deal
with the situation. So, sweetie pie, do you want to come? I have a spacesuit
all ready for you." Kara then went into her closet and came out with a bright,
silver spacesuit and helmet - the kind the astronauts wear. "I think it's your
size Mitch, and we can communicate with each other during the trip through
these microphones."

"Where did you get this Kara?" I asked as I tried it on (it did indeed me fit
perfectly).

"From NASA, honey,"

"And they just gave it to you?"

"I know you never heard about this on the T.V. or read about it in the
newspapers, but I've saved the lives of many astronauts over the past several
years; it's always hush- hush though. So this spacesuit is not really a gift,
they owe it to me. And with it, I can take you anywhere in the galaxy. So, do
you want to come with me honeybunch?"

"Sure Kara, I'd love to. How far are we going?"

"Not very far, relatively speaking that is. It's just a little over 100 light
years."

"What?" I gasped.

When she saw the expression on my face, Kara giggled."You'll see Mitch; it'll
be fun." Kara led me outside to her back yard where the trees hid us from
view, scooped me up in her powerful arms and took off like a jet...only much,
much faster. Incredibly, we past by the moon in just a few seconds; then Mars
about two minutes later. "Because I'm afraid that if I fly too fast - we might
hit an asteroid or a meteor - I'll have to go slow until we pass through the
asteroid belt honey (which is located roughly between the orbits Mars and
Jupiter). Although they can't hurt me, you're not invulnerable. After we pass
Jupiter I can speed up." Then she added,"do you remember that day we learned
about relativity Mitch? And I said that someday I might show you how I knew
that Einstein was wrong about the speed of light being the ultimate velocity?
Well, it looks like today is that day."

It couldn't have been more than three minutes later that we did indeed pass by
the largest planet in our solar system. Supergirl then made a slight detour so
that she could show me Saturn. "Isn't she beautiful honey?" Kara asked as we
whizzed past the giant ringed planet. "I think Saturn is one of my favorite
planets. O.K. Mitch. Since we've left the asteroid belt far behind us, I can
now really put 'the pedal to the metal' so to speak." And so she did.

It's impossible to describe in words what it's like to travel at this rate of
speed (think of warp factor nine in Star Trek and you might get some idea).
About three minutes after leaving our solar system we zipped past a small
group of stars. "That's Alpha Centauri A and B Mitch," my super guide said.
"There's also a small dwarf star called Proxima Centauri in this system too,
and at slightly more than four light years from Earth, they're the closest
stars to our solar system; excluding the sun of course."

"This is an amazing experience Kara," I exclaimed.

"This is nothing compared to what I'm going to show you in the future honey.
I've always dreamed of having a boyfriend with whom I could share all the
things I've seen and done. But I was always afraid about revealing my true
identity to just anyone. You see, I've put a lot of very bad people behind
bars. And if they or their accomplices ever found out who I was, it would make
my life a living hell. They can't hurt me of course, but my adopted parents
and my friends - like you for example - would always be in danger. How could I
ever hope to protect them all and live a normal life? But now, finally, I have
a friend whom I can trust; and I'm certainly going to make the most of it."
Over the course of the next twenty minutes or so, Supergirl pointed out many
more interesting objects to me as she flew past them. "O.K. honey, we're
approaching the solar system of the planet we need to get to, so I'm going to
start decelerating now."

Without even feeling a thing, my super girlfriend went from going thousands of
times faster than the speed of light to just a few thousand miles per
hour."Hmm...there they are. I see them."

"How can you see them from here Kara? We're still several thousand miles away;
aren't we?"

Kara giggled. "There's an awful lot about me that you don't know yet sweetie
pie. But in time you will. So just be patient honey." We landed on a hill
overlooking a valley. Behind us was what appeared to be a very large city.
"The creatures I have to deal with are all inside that huge cave over there
Mitch."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I have X-ray vision honey. I can see through just about anything,
anything except lead."

"So what are you going to do with them Kara?"

"As we were flying in, I noticed that there was a large, uninhabited island in
the middle of an ocean. I also notice that there was an ample supply of food
and water - more than enough to support this clan of ferocious beasts. That
way they'll have a home and won't be a threat to the humans in the city behind
us. As much as is possible, I try not to hurt the monsters I occasionally have
to fight - or the people too for that matter - anymore than I absolutely have
to."

"So how are you going to get them to the island?"

My girlfriend giggled and playfully pinched my cheek (as I could breathe
normally on this planet, Kara had removed my helmet). "You'll see honeybunch.
Stay here and enjoy the show." She then flew down and walked into the cave.
For a few moments everything was quiet inside; then all hell seemed to break
loose. I heard horrific roars and growls coming from inside. Then I saw a huge
beast - built like a gorilla only he must have been at least thirty feet tall
- come literally flying out of the cave. When he hit the ground, he rolled
over a few times before stopping. He was soon followed by another, and
another, and another... This went on for several minutes before "WHAM!" the
last monster came flying out. I counted twenty in all! All beaten unconscious
by my incredible super girlfriend!

Kara then walked out of the cave (her beautiful blond hair wasn't even
mussed). She smiled at me and gave me the 'thumbs up' sign. "You see sweetie
pie, they weren't so tough. Now I'll fly them to their new home and then we
can return to Earth." Kara then stacked the battered, unconscious creatures
into four stacks of five each and then proceeded, one-by-one, to lift each
stack and fly them to the island. Each stack must have weighed at least 1,000
tons as these creatures were enormous, but to Kara they seemed as light as a
feather!

"There," my amazing girlfriend said after she delivered the last pile of
monsters to their destination. "I don't think they'll be bothering anybody
anymore. Mission accomplished. Now honey, let's go back to Earth. I'm sure you
still have a lot of questions to ask me."

I decided to time our return trip to Earth. I pressed the button on my watch
as soon as we took off from the alien planet and stopped it when we landed in
Kara's back yard. And the answer: for this incredible girl to fly 100 light
years it took a whopping 30 minutes! I then did some quick calculations on my
cell phone: 24 hours in a day times the 365.25 days in a year equals 8,766
hours in a year. Since the planet was 100 light years from earth, that means
light would take 876,000 hours to reach earth from the planet we were just on
- and Kara flew back in just 30 minutes! That means that Supergirl can fly
1,753,200 times faster that the speed on light! (Check it out if you don't
believe me).

Kara simply giggled when I brought this to her attention. "I could have
actually made it home sooner honey; but again, I had to slow down when we
reached the asteroid zone between Jupiter and Mars as I didn't want my sweetie
pie to get hurt."

We entered Kara's bedroom and fell on her bed and cuddled for a few minutes.
"You're amazing Kara. The things you can do; they simply defy explanation. How
can you do these incredible things? Fly over a million times faster than the
speed of light. Knock out twenty huge beasts in just a few minutes, lift them
up and fly them away as if they were feathers? Where in heaven's name did you
get these unbelievable abilities?"

Kara smiled and again playfully pinched my cheek. "You're sweet Mitch, and I'm
glad I revealed my true self to you. I really do need someone outside of my
foster parents that I can be myself with. Now, as to how I acquired these
abilities? Well to be honest honey, I really don't know. All I do know is
this: I left Krypton shortly before it disintegrated as a normal ten year-old
girl; and when I arrived on Earth two years later, I had somehow acquired
these amazing super powers. As I was asleep for most of the trip, I didn't see
what might have happened. But it's not just me, it's everything I brought with
me - my hairbrush, my comb, my toothbrush, the clothes that my foster parents
made into my uniform - even the spacecraft itself which crashed into the
ground; it didn't sustain so much as a single scratch. Everything that came
from Krypton seems to be indestructible. So the only explanation I can think
of is that something must have happened on the way to Earth."

"What could that possibly be Kara?"

"Well, on Krypton, we studied about an atomic theory that claimed if atoms of
matter and anti-matter meet in conditions at - or very close to - the
temperature of absolute zero (which is -273 C or -459 F) when all atomic
motion stops, instead of annihilating each other as the matter and anti-matter
would under normal conditions, they would fuse together to form a 'super atom'
- which would be virtually indestructible. So it's possible that somewhere on
my voyage from Krypton to Earth, my spaceship passed through an area of
anti-matter and fused with it. This would probably explain why a normal girl
like me who stands five foot-seven inches tall with an average build and
should probably weigh around 125 pounds, actually weighs 250 pounds!" (or
133.6 KG.)

"O.K. Kara, that might explain your indestructible body, and maybe even your
incredible strength; but what about your X-ray vision, your super hearing, and
being able to fly at these fantastic super speeds?"

Kara shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "I don't know honey. But, for whatever
reason, I do have them and I try to make the most of them by using my super
powers to help people; like we just did today (I laughed when Kara used the
word "we"). Please don't underestimate just how important you've become in my
life Mitch. I may be Supergirl, but I'm also the same girl you saw crying on
the curb outside my house six months ago because I had no friends. The one you
sat down next to, put your arm around and said you'd be my friend. And you
did, and I'll never, ever forget that."

A few moments of silence followed before I asked,"What other interesting
things have you done Kara?"

My beautiful super girlfriend smiled. "Well Mitch, do you remember that time a
month ago when I came in 15 minutes late for class and said it was because I
had overslept?"

"Yes I do Kara. We spent two hours in the detention room after school that day
because of it."

"That's right sweetie pie. Now, let me tell you the 'real' reason why I was
late that morning. As I mentioned earlier, the Intergalactic Police
Organization recruited me to assist them whenever they needed my help - like
today for example. Well, the night before I was late for class, they contacted
me because they had an emergency situation. It seemed that in a solar system
about 200 light years away from Earth, there were two separate civilizations
of sentient beings. One, on the third planet from their sun, was inhabited by
very peaceful beings, while their neighbors on the fourth planet were very
mean and warlike, and ruled by a nasty emperor. When the orbits of the two
planets were at their closest, the emperor decided to send a fleet of
spaceships to conquer the peaceful planet and take it over. So the IPO asked
me to intervene and prevent the invasion.

"By the time I arrived, the fleet was closing in on the planet. So I
positioned myself directly in front of the invading fleet with the planet
behind me and warned them to return to their own world or else face the
consequences. And do you know what these nasty people did? They fired a
missile at me armed with a hydrogen bomb!"

"What! A hydrogen bomb Kara? What did you do?"

"Well like I said honey, I had the planet at my back so if I had moved aside,
then the missile would have struck the planet, with devastating results. So I
let it strike me instead."

I gasped. "A hydrogen bomb Kara? What happened?"

"The blast did muss up my hair a bit, but that's about all." When Kara saw the
stunned look I had on my face when she said this she began to giggle. She
gently took my hand and said,"honey, when I say that my body is
indestructible, I mean INDESTRUCTIBLE! Nothing whatsoever can harm me."

"Wha...what did you do next?" I asked, still trying to come to terms with what
my girlfriend had just told me.

"Well, the first thing I did was take out my hairbrush from a pouch in my cape
and brushed my hair back into place. It's not so much that I was showing off -
though that was part of the reason - but I wanted to show them that even their
most powerful weapons were utterly useless against me. Then, after I finished
with my hair, I flew to each spaceship - there were ten of them - and ripped
out their rocket engines; rendering them useless. After that, I flew each one
of the ships back to their planet and placed them in front of the emperor's
huge palace. I then ordered all of the crews and soldiers that were on the
ships to get out immediately. And after they had done so, I smashed them all
to pieces. As I said before honey, I try not to hurt people any more than I
really have to."

Kara paused and giggled before continuing. "And finally, I took their nasty
emperor across my knees and gave him a well-deserved spanking. And while I was
spanking him, I also issued him a stern warning - that if I was ever called
back to deal with him again, it won't be just his warships that I'd smash up,
but also all his roads, bridges, dams and power grids. I'd set his world back
100 years."

Kara paused again. "I'm not a 'tough girl' by nature honey, I'm really not.
But one of the things I've learned about being Supergirl is that occasionally
'tough' is the only language some people seem to understand. Going easy just
doesn't work. I doubt that nasty emperor will be bothering his neighbors
again. Then I flew back to earth as fast as I could. But after all that - a
400 light-year round trip plus stopping an invasion that would have led to
countless deaths without even hurting one single person - except, of course,
the emperor (smirk) - what did I get? Two hours of detention after school for
arriving fifteen minutes late for class! Sometimes a girl just can't win, can
she?"

Kara then smiled at me and gently squeezed my hand. "But it was very nice of
you Mitch, to share my detention with me and keep me company."

"Well Kara, I am your friend, aren't I?"

"Yes you certainly are. You're the best friend I ever had." She leaned over
and, for the first time in our relationship, gave me a kiss on the mouth. "In
fact, it was during that time in detention that I decided that I would reveal
to you who I really am. But I waited a month so I could make it a birthday
surprise. So honey, happy birthday!" Kara then put both of her arms around me
and gave me another kiss, this time a very long and passionate one which was
followed by a lengthy session of lovemaking which lasted all afternoon and
well into the night...

When I awoke the following morning, Supergirl was gone. Her bedroom window was
wide open and she had left a note on a table next to the bed. It read:

"Sorry honey, but I got called away again. I'll be back ASAP so keep the bed
warm for me. Love, Kara."

I got up, made myself a cup of coffee and returned to her bed. It couldn't
have been more than a few minutes later that I felt a gust of wind and saw a
blur of blue enter through the open window. "I'm back sweetie pie. Did you
miss me?" Three seconds later (quite literally) Kara had undressed herself and
was lying next to me in bed.

"Where did you go this time Kara?"

"To the South China Sea. A cruise ship and an oil tanker collided with each
other. I had to separate them and fly the oil tanker to a dry dock before the
oil began to spill out and pollute the water. Then I towed the cruise ship to
the nearest harbor. I hope I didn't wake you when I left sweetie pie. I tried
to be as quiet as possible."

Once again I was awed by what my super girlfriend can do. I put my arms around
her and we began a tender cuddle. "Honey," she said softly,"once again, please
don't ever underestimate how important you've become to me. I can handle all
the crap this world of yours can throw at me plus all the other worlds, just
as long as I know that when the job is done, I come home to this - a warm,
tender hug, a kiss and a snuggle. I may be Supergirl, but inside I'm still
very much a normal 18 year- old girl who needs someone to love and be loved;
and that someone is you Mitch." This was followed by another long session of
lovemaking.

Several hours later as I lay in Kara's bed running my fingers through her
beautiful, long blond hair, I asked my super girlfriend,"how do you do it? How
can you be so incredibly strong and tough, and yet so soft and gentle at the
same time? You can beat up twenty huge monsters and wipe out a fleet of
spaceships, and yet when we make love, you're as gentle as a kitten? How can
you have such great control over your tremendous strength?"

Kara giggled and once again pinched my cheek (she really likes to do that a
lot). "It's because I a girl honey; and I've been practicing how to control my
powers ever since I first discovered I had them. But being Supergirl isn't all
about beating up monsters and smashing spaceships. I also rescue people from
danger, like I did earlier this morning. In fact, I once saved an entire
planet from a catastrophic encounter with an asteroid that might have
exterminated an entire civilization."

"Really? Tell me about it Kara."

"Well, about a year ago I was asked to fly almost 300 light years to a planet
that was directly in the path of an oncoming asteroid. And since the
civilization was about 200 years behind where Earth is today - technologically
speaking - they were incapable of preventing the disaster. This asteroid was
about six miles in diameter - or roughly the same size as the one that struck
the Earth some 66 million years ago, wiping out not only the dinosaurs but
also more than two thirds of all the life forms that existed at the time.
There were over a billion lives at stake on this planet and, as I said, they
didn't have the technology to deal with this threat. In other words, no Bruce
Willis to save the day like he did in the movie 'Armageddon' (giggles). But
fortunately, they did have Supergirl."

"How did you stop it?"

"I slammed into the asteroid at super speed, smashing it to bits. And when I
got through with it, there wasn't a single rock larger than a yard (or meter)
in diameter; all of which then burned up in the planet's atmosphere before
reaching the ground. Not one person on the planet was even harmed."

"WOW! What did they do to you after you save their planet?"

Kara grinned. "That's the thing honey, they never even knew about it. Perhaps
some of them may have noticed a bright light in the sky when I smashed into
the asteroid, but in all likelihood, nobody understood what had really
happened."

"What? You saved over a billion lives and nobody even knew about it?"

"Only my foster parents and now you sweetie pie; and the IPO of course." Kara
then gave me another hug and continued,"that's one of the reasons I'm so very
happy that I told you who I really am Mitch. I now have someone to share my
experiences with. I don't do what I do for glory Mitch. I do it because I have
these tremendous abilities and feel I need to use them in the right way. In
fact, the only time I ever asked for anything was when I requested a spacesuit
from NASA for you. As I mentioned earlier, now I can take you anywhere, and
not just so you can watch me beat up monsters.

"How would you like me to take you to a planet where the mountains are so tall
that they make Mount Everest (which at 29,035 feet or 8848 meters is the
tallest mountain on Earth) look like a small hill in comparison. Or show you
waterfalls several miles high (Angel Falls in Venezuela at 3212 feet or 979
meters is Earth's tallest waterfall). There's just so much I want to share
with you honey; now that I can. Because of that simple act of kindness that
you showed me on the curb six months ago I'm going to show you the wonders of
the universe. So, sweetie pie, in honor of your 18th birthday, where shall I
take you first?"

"Hmm...I think I'd like to see these gigantic mountains and waterfalls Kara."

"It'll be my pleasure sweetie pie. So let's get dressed, put you in your
spacesuit and it's off we go."

And the moral of this story is:

Never underestimate the value of a single act of kindness, because you never
know where it might lead.