Green Dog

Status: finished, edited, ready for a good journal.

A short story:

One thing most superheroes and supervillains have in common is a need for great-looking, durable, custom-fashioned, tailor-made costumes. For that, they might visit Madam Lizzie’s Theatrical Costumes and Supplies, down on Livingston Street. But when would-be superhero Green Dog—aka The Hound of Truth—and would-be supervillains The Stinger and His Swarm show up at the same time, Lizzie and her teenaged daughter have their hands full trying to save themselves, let alone maybe saving the world.

Excerpt:

Lizzie folded her arms and moved to center of the short guy’s field of vision. She looked disgusted, like she never takes that from any customer.

“You need to trust my daughter. I don’t know who you got to draw these up, or if you did it yourself. But compared to her, they’re dinner theater—and my daughter is Broadway! She says she can make them better and she can change them up so we can get them done for you tonight? You’re not going to get better than that. Not anywhere. Not today. Not ever.”

The short guy took a moment to catch up to reality. Then he said, “Well, okay then. They gotta look something like that, though. Okay? We gotta look sharp. We gotta leave an impression they’ll never forget.”

“Why?” Lizzie asked. “Why tonight? What’s the rush?”

“We got a job tonight. A big one. Big time. Uh-huh. This is gonna establish The Stinger and His Swarm as the terror of this town. People gonna know about us, starting tonight. And then this’ll begin the era of The Stinger. This town’s gonna fear The Stinger.”

“And His Swarm,” The Chef said.

“And His Swarm.”

“So? What? Are you guys, like, supervillains or something?” Taylor asked.

“We’re gonna be,” The Chef said.

“Ha!” Taylor said.

“You better show some respect, girlie,” The Stinger said.

“Why? You won’t get your costumes without me.”

“Maybe so, but we can hurt you,” The Stinger said. “Real bad, but make it so you can still draw, okay? Make it so you will draw. We can make you shut up though.”

“Bullshit.”

“Taylor!” her mother shouted.

“Never going to happen,” Taylor continued.

“Oh yeah? Who’s gonna stop us?” The Stinger asked.

“Well, him for starters,” the girl said.

She pointed at me.