Chapter Eleven

"And your grandpa and I have been together ever since," Mary Jane Parker said as she reclined on the king-sized bed that she shared with her husband of forty-one years, concluding her bedtime story. Her arms were wrapped around her six-year-old granddaughters, Jessica and Jennifer Yama, the children of May Reilly Parker-Yama and James Yama. In her lap, sucking on his bottle, lay her grandson, three-month-old Peter Benjamin Parker II, son of Benjamin Richard Parker and Donna Lambert-Parker, affectionately called "Repete" by his father and grandfather, "Cousin Petey" by the twins, and "Little Tiger," by his grandmother.

Jennie looked perplexed. "I don't understand, Grandma. Wasn't Mr. Jonah mad at you for spitting on him and running away from John?"

"Oh yes he was, angel," Mary Jane replied earnestly. "And he wanted to make all sorts of trouble, telling the people who wrote articles for his newspaper to say bad things about Grandma so that people wouldn't want to see her shows. But you know what happened?"

Confused, the little girl shook her head.

"John told him to leave Grandma alone and stop writing lies about Grandpa. And he did."

But Jessie, the more precocious twin, in a display of perception that one could only describe as remarkable for a small child, gave Mary Jane a lovingly stern lecture about the ethics of romance. "Grandma, it wasn't right for you to make John blame his daddy for making you run away. You should have told John and Mr. Jonah the truth, that you loved Grandpa."

Mary Jane smiled and sighed. No use trying to put anything past these little kiddiewinkies, she realized. "Honey, you're absolutely right. That is exactly what I should have done. But sometimes telling the truth is not easy, especially when we don't want to admit it to ourselves. But you'll be happy to know that all was forgiven. John didn't stay mad at Mr. Jonah for very long. He married somebody else and is now living happily ever after on the Moon, running the big base up there. We still good friends. And he's always been a big fan of Grandpa."

The baby, meanwhile, had let the now-empty bottle slip out of his mouth, and was starting to nod off. Mary Jane gently picked him up, put him on her shoulder and gently patted his back. Contented, Peter II burped, and then made another noise that sounded like a burp, but wasn't.

"Okay, you little munchkins," Mary Jane gently ordered as she got up from the bed, still carrying Peter II over her shoulder. "Time for bed."

"Awww Grandma, you said we could stay up and watch one of your old movies." Jessie argued, obviously stalling for more time. "I want to see the movie you won the gold statue for." She pointed to the Oscar statuette standing atop her grandma's dresser. Mary Jane had won the 2014 Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Karla Faye Tucker in Liberating Light, the true story of a convicted murderess who became a born-again Christian while awaiting her execution.

"That was before the story," Mary Jane reminded them. "Besides, that movie's not for kids anyway. I didn't even let your mommy watch it until she was seventeen.

"I don't wanna see a movie!" Jennie said emphatically. "I wanna watch . . ." she turned her head toward the wall opposite the bed and yelled, "Spongebob!"

Programmed to respond to voice commands, the wall was instantaneously transformed into a floor-to-ceiling flat-screen holovision that conveyed the story of Bikini Bottom and it's quirky inhabitants in three dimensions. But to Jennie's disappointment, the show was coming to an end, with Plankton notching up yet another failure in his nearly fifty-year quest to steal the crabby patty formula from Mr. Krabs.

"That's not fair!" Jennie pouted.

But Mary Jane stuck to her guns. "Now kids," she said firmly. "I promised Mommy that you'd be asleep when she got back. So come on, brush your teeth and lets get going."

"Can we sleep with you tonight, Grandma?" the girls begged in unison. "Please!"

Mary Jane quickly found a way to discourage that ambition. "Well . . . okay. But you have to do something first."

"What?" they asked eagerly.

"Help me change Little Tiger."

"Eeewwwwwwww!" they squealed, jumping out of their grandmother's bed and scurrying down the hall to the bathroom.

Gets 'em every time, Mary Jane laughed silently as she quickly changed Peter II and put him in his crib for the night, musing about him acquiring his powers while still an infant and crawling all over the ceiling.

With their teeth freshly scrubbed, they headed off to Grandma and Grandpa's guest bedroom, still clutching their Disney dolls. As she tucked the girls into their beds, Mary Jane noticed Jennie staring at her wedding picture. Despite the overwhelming prevalence of rear-screen digital holography, M.J. still insisted on keeping a few hard-copy pictures around.

"Grandma," Jennie asked softly, Minnie Mouse safely tucked under her arm. "You look the same as you did at your wedding. How come you don't get old?"

"Awww, that's so lovely for you to say," Mary Jane replied as she kissed her granddaughter's forehead. "I guess it comes down to eating right, getting lots of exercise, a touch of modern medicine, and lots of TLC from Grandpa.

"What's TLC?" Jennie wanted to know.

It was Jennie's sister, older by less than a minute, who passed on her worldly wisdom to her sibling.

"It's when Grandma and Grandpa get all kissey-faced!" Jessie exclaimed.

"Eeewwwwwww!" the girls shrieked in unison, diving under the covers.

"That's icky!" Jennie exclaimed from the relative safety of her hiding place.

"Relax, girls," Mary Jane said reassuringly. "Your mommy will explain it all to you when you're a little older." She had observed the same prudishness in her own daughter. It was a Parker family trait that went all the way back to Grandpa's Aunt May.

"Hey, Grandma," demanded Jessie. "Tell us about the time Aunt Donna thought you were Mommy!"

Mary Jane laughed, fondly recalling when Ben brought his fiancée home to meet his family. May hadn't arrived home yet, and Donna had somehow mistaken Mary Jane for her daughter. In a mischievous inside joke, mother and son had let the conversation go on for twenty minutes before letting Donna in on their little secret. An open-mouthed, red-faced Donna demanded to know why Ben let her embarrass herself like that. But Mary Jane had put her at ease, telling her how flattering it was for anyone to think that she was still in her twenties. Even now, Peter constantly reminded her that she didn't look a day over forty.

"Grandma," Jessie asked as Mary Jane got up to switch off the light, "Where is Mommy anyway?"

"Mommy's out with Uncle Ben and Grandpa," M.J. answered. "They're on patrol."

"Swinging around the city in their spider costumes and beating up bad people?" inquired Jennie.

Mary Jane sat down on the edge of the bed. "Hopefully, they won't have to beat anybody up. But . . . yes. That's what they're doing.

"Really?" an awestruck Jessie asked her grandma.

Mary Jane nodded proudly. "Your mommy and Uncle Ben got their powers from Grandpa. It's a special gift. For many years, Grandpa was all alone, trying to make New York City a safer place for everyone. But then when Mommy and Uncle Ben became teenagers, they got their powers too. So, for the last fifteen years or so, they've been helping Grandpa.

"Don't you worry about them?" Jessie wanted to know, the concern in her own voice evident.

"All the time, sweetheart," replied Mary Jane. Even after forty years, not a day went by when she didn't think about the safety of her husband and children.

"But Grandma," a puzzled Jennie asked. "Isn't Grandpa getting too old for that?"

Mary Jane smiled. "I don't think so, honey. Your grandpa will be doing this until he's a hundred and fifty. But eventually, he will stop, and Mommy and Uncle Ben will take over for him completely." She gently tousled both girls' hair. "And one day, you'll take over from them."

"You mean, we'll we get those powers too?" asked a wide-eyed Jessie.

"Yes sweetie, you will," Mary Jane answered matter-of-factly.

"Cousin Petey too?" inquired Jennie.

"Cousin Petey too. And so will your kids, and theirs, and so on."

"Does that mean we'll have to chase bad guys?" Jessie was already thinking about the implications.

"Honey, what you do with your powers will be up to you," Mary Jane reminded her grandchild. "But always remember this; with great power comes . . ." she pointed at the kids, cuing them to see if they remembered the most important lesson that Grandpa had taught them.

"Great responsibility!" the girls chorused together. "Good night, Grandma."

"Good night guys," Mary Jane said softly as she turned off the light. "Remember, tomorrow morning, I'm taking you to the skypool up on the roof."

"Yaaaayyy!" the girls cheered, looking forward to swimming in a pool located three thousand feet above sea level.

THE END

Author's Note: My humblest thanks to all those who took the time to review this story. I don't know when I'll be writing again, but hopefully, I've left open some interesting possibilities. FPR