The Adventures of Normalman

Scene seed from Mick Stevens' comic (see comic 11) in the New Yorker:

A man wearing a cape with a shield that contains the letter and lies facedown in a field. The caption is: "The Adventures of Normalman".

My scene, "The Adventures of Normalman":

It was the car doors slamming that woke John Moses from his slumber. It was 4 a.m. and too late for his neighbors to slam doors. Wiping sleep from his eyes Moses padded across the hardwood floor and wished as he often did that he could afford to buy an Oriental rug.

From the second floor window of his flat in the rowhouse, Moses saw a Ford Focus its doors open like dragonfly wings and three teenagers with silk masks over their faces. "Superheroes, just what the neighborhood needs," muttered Moses. One of the boys held out his hand with a ball of flame in it and Moses turned to race through his flat's door and down the stairwell. Moses envisioned himself as a Parkour star, but he missed the last step and smashed forward into the wall and tasted blood on his lips.

Outside, the Focus flickered with flames as the teenagers laughed. Their laughter became higher pitched, almost hysterical, when they saw Moses run towards them in his thin cotton robe.

"Cut that laughter out. The car could catch these buildings on fire."

"So," said the boy who had lit the car on fire.

"We live here," said Moses. He had little time before the fire ignited the gas tank. One of the boys looked like Raimi's kid. "Hey, don't I know you?"

"You don't know us old man," said fireball boy. "Come on, let's scram." Raimi's son stood with his hands out but didn't turn to follow the other two boys as they ran down the alley.

When the other boys were out of range, Raimi's son said, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry's worth nothing. Help me put this out. I won't turn you in." Blood was still dripping down Moses' face and onto his white robe.