If you looked at Lester Fetterman you’d think nerd, not super-hero. A skinny kid with glasses, Lester decided long ago that he didn’t much like the real world—he didn’t like school, he didn’t like his classmates and he especially didn’t like his teacher, Mrs. Needlemeyer. He wasn’t sure he liked his big sister and he certainly didn’t like Mean Gene the bully who made his life miserable. As a result, Lester lived mostly in his imagination and in his dreams. In those worlds he was a caped crusader, the scourge of evil doers everywhere. When needed he could call upon a host of superpowers to get the job done.
He could fly, if he needed to. He could hold his breath for hours at a time. He could change shape; he could become Lobsterman, once he was Wolf-man and one time, when he needed to be small, he became Atom-man. He could become whatever he needed to be in order to defeat his foes. If he needed a brilliant idea he became Bright-idea-man; if he needed to be mighty, he was Super-strongman.
Lester’s imagination was like a movie theater, showing action movies exclusively, with free admission and with Lester as the only star. Mrs. Needlemeyer, Lester’s fourth grade teacher, regularly punctured Lester’s day dreams with the shrill call back to reality. “Mister Fetterman will you please pay attention?”
It was a typical Spring day at Caufield Elementary. Mrs. Needlemeyer was trying to get the class interested in the Aztec civilization. It was a hard sell. Recess was over and a long Spring afternoon stretched endlessly into the future like a dirt road in the desert. It was Friday and the weekend beckoned. The whole class was restless. Even Sarah Livingood, the smartest and prettiest girl in fourth grade, was drifting away.