A week later, I moved out of my old apartment and into my grandmother’s house. My parents had offered me their spare bedroom, but a sudden move to rural Lichtenstein where they were teaching English was out of my price range at the moment. Instead, I took my grandmother, Lucinda’s offer to housesit while she was touring Mesopotamian burial grounds with Count What’s-His-Bucket, her latest paramour. 

 Halfway through my favorite soap opera, “As the Cookie Crumbles”, the doorbell rang. Now, dear reader, after my chance encounter with Artemis a few days prior, I had taken to wearing more “fashionable” lounge-around clothes. Stained tee shirts and oversized sweatpants were not suitable attire for meeting the Queen of Superheroes, and I did not plan on making that same mistake twice. 

 I opened the front door. “Hello.” 

Standing on my doorstep was a man. In an instant, I knew who he was or rather... what he did for a living – superhero. He wore a dark ball cap, thick-framed glasses, and a dark hoodie – the classic hero disguise.

 “Are you Clary?” he asked, shoving his hands into his hoodie pockets.

 “Yeah, why?”

 “My wife and I want to go on a date tonight, and we were wondering if you could babysit. Our daughter only wants you to watch her and is begging.”

 As flattered as I felt, I was also taken aback by, dear reader. For one, the only people who knew where I was staying were my grandmother, my best friend Scarlett, and Ernesto, the pizza delivery man. And two, people didn’t just go knocking on random strangers’ doors asking for babysitters.

 “Excuse me,” I took a step back, hiding behind the door. “But I don’t even know you.”

 The man’s shoulders slumped slightly. “You know my wife. Amy, my wife, said you met in town the other day with our daughter.”

 “Amy...”

 The man looked in either direction before leaning closer to whisper, “Artemis.”

 If his wife was Artemis, then that would make him... Captain Strong. A million lightbulbs went off inside of my head. While I wasn’t as up-to-date on all the superhero gossip as Scarlett is, everyone on Grumbler secretly shipped Artemis and Captain Strong together. The super agent was ten times stronger than the average human and ten times as fast. The internet was convinced that the only suitable partner for Artemis was the Strong Man himself, little did they know that the two heroes were secretly married in real life and had a daughter.

 “Is everything okay?” asked Captain Strong. “Do I need to get anything for you?”

 “No yeah,” I nod. “I’m totally fine.”

 He smiled. The hero was also ten times as handsome as the average man. “Great. Penny has been talking about you non-stop for the last week. I know it’s last minute and an imposition but could you babysit? It should only be for a couple of hours.”

 One of my many faults according to Stupid Carl and all of my teachers since daycare is that I speak without thinking. Before I could come up with a logical reason not to, I reply, “Sure. What time should I be there?”

___

 The two greatest superheroes in the world live in the most average house on the street. The driveway leading up to their front door was covered in sidewalk chalk art.

 I knock on the door.

 I could hear a surge of commotion from inside before the door opened. Artemis offered me a megawatt smile when she opened the front door.

 “Clary!” she said, relieved. “I’m so glad you could babysit for us. Penny has been talking non-stop about you for days.”

 Even in leggings and a Bargain Co. tee shirt, Artemis was still an imposing figure. I wipe my hands nervously on my jeans. “I’m happy to h-help... A-Artemis, ma’am.”

 “Please, call me Amy.”

 Captain Strong jogged down the steps. “Aims, you ready to go? Our reservation is in thirty minutes.”

 “I’m ready, Jason. I'm just filling Clary in,” Artemis replied.

 Captain Strong wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist. “I know I said this earlier, but we really, really appreciate you babysitting for us. Between work and the sporadic monster attacks, we rarely get a night out.”

 A whirl of pink sparkles flew down the steps and launched toward me.

“Clary the Fairy!” Penny squealed. “You’re here!”

Captain Strong tugged Artemis gently towards the door.

“There are dinners in the fridge and our numbers on the door. She needs to be in bed by nine. If she tries compulsion on you, wear sunglasses. She always tries it when it comes to snacks. We’re not expecting any trouble, but if there is trouble and you can’t get ahold of us – I put the numbers of some of our friends in the League of Heroes on the fridge.”

“Aims Baby,” said Captain Strong. “We gotta go.”

“I know Jason,” said Artemis. She tossed a wave over her shoulder. “Bye! I love you, Penny!”

“Bye Mommy! Bye Daddy!”

I looked around the house and then down at the super-powered kindergartener. “So, what should we do first?”

___

 I looked up from the cartoon princess movie that played on mute on the screen. Artemis and Captain Strong entered the kitchen from the garage.

 “How’d things go?” Artemis asked.

 I looked down at the sleeping girl in my arms. Penny’s cheeks were dusted with glitter from our dress-up session a few hours before. “Just fine.”

 Captain Strong scooped Penny up into his arms. Penny mumbled sleepily. “Hi, baby. Let’s get you to bed.”

 “’ Kay, Daddy.”

 “How was the date?” I ask the superhero.

 She blushed. “It was great. Oh, Clary. I am so glad you were able to come to babysit for us. You are a lifesaver, a literal superhero.”

 I looked down at my sneakers. “It was nothing.”

 “Don’t talk down about yourself, Clary,” said Artemis. “You made a huge impact on my family’s lives in just a few days.”

 Captain Strong jogged down the steps. “Pen’s finally asleep.”

 “Oh good.” Artemis smiled happily, leaning into her husband’s embrace. “She’s had such a big day.”

 Captain Strong kissed his wife’s cheek. “How much do we owe you?”

 Now, if I had been smarter or maybe more business-minded – I would have come to the Strongs with a firm dollar-per-hour ratio or even an idea of my budget. But, I am not smart.

 “Um... Fifty?”

 “Fifty?” Captain Strong repeated. “That’s not nearly enough.” He pulled out five, one-hundred-dollar bills from his wallet. “Here.”

 My mouth formed a perfect O. “Mr. Captain Strong sir. That’s too much. It was only a couple of hours.”

 The captain pushed the money into my hand. “Take it. Please.”

 I stared down at the stack of bills. It was more money than I had made in a week of waitressing, maybe even two weeks. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”