Joey stared in awe at the tall building through the window at the back of the school bus. It was bigger than ANYTHING he had EVER seen. He was SO excited to be out of his ordinary classroom that had the same view of the same street and the same old tree in the same old school yard. He stood in line on the bus and waited patiently to exit. His excitement was so great that he almost forgot his little red blanket. “HUH!?!?” Joey gasped half excited that he remembered his favorite keepsake and half scared that he couldn’t reach far enough back to grab it from his seat. The line started moving so Joey quickly stepped out of line and grabbed his blanket off the back of the seat in which he was just previously sitting. By the time he was ready to get back in line he noticed Suzy had stepped in front of him. She wasn’t trying to be mean, she was just scooted forward by her teacher. Joey was SO happy that he didn’t forget his blanket he didn’t care WHO was in front of him. He was out of his classroom and had his BEST friend in the WHOLE world with him.
As Joey exited the bus he could see his warm breath in the cold air and stepped out onto the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. He could hardly contain his excitement but he waited patiently as his teacher, Mr. Billywiggles, which is of course his real name and not an attempt to make anyone laugh, was giving out instructions. “Everyone must stay together and in line. We are going to walk in and get on the elevator which is going to take us ALLLLLL the way to the top of the Empire State Building. Now remember children, it is VERY windy up there so if you have on a hat or anything that can blow away then hold onto it very tightly. Keep your jackets zipped up because it is much colder up there than it is down here.” ‘Whew…’ Joey thought to himself. ‘I don’t have a hat’. And they were off to the elevators. He was absolutely elated with the laughter of his friends and other classmates. What a day this was turning out to be. He had NEVER been on an elevator without his parents let alone being with SO many friends all at once outside of the classroom. As he climbed into the elevator with Mr. Billywiggles he noticed all the little round buttons and the numbers. He could count them all. Not on one hand of course because the Empire State Building is VERY tall and there are in fact One Hundred and Two floors. Joey was almost to 36 when the glow illuminated the number reading “102”. “OK, children. Now remember, stay together.” As the doors opened Joey gasped. He had never seen anything like it. He hugged his red blanket tight, not to keep it safe but to just fill its warmth because, in fact it was very windy atop the Empire State Building and the breeze had infiltrated the elevator from the outside.
As he walked with his classmates he heard Mr. Billywiggles talking. However, Joey was SO excited and filled with joy that he couldn’t make out one single word that Mr. Billywiggles was saying. The neared the door to the outside observatory. Joey was just moments and steps from the door to the outside. He held his breath unknowingly as he neared the threshold. Just one more step now. It seemed like the children in front were purposefully slowing down and that time was simply not moving as fast as it was just moments ago but he knew this wasn’t true partly because he knew that all the other kids were just as excited as he was to get outside and partly because he knew time machines weren’t invented yet so there was NO way that time would slow down. With the thoughts of excitement and time machines filling his head he hadn’t realized that not only was he STILL not breathing but he was now standing under a big blue sky out in the open. He could see everything. He gasped, not because he had been holding his breath for a FULL twelve seconds but because of how truly amazing the sight was. He saw all of his city. He pictured himself as a superhero flying over the city and it dawned on him. ‘This is why I brought my red blankie’. He looked around shyly not wanting anyone to know that he was about to play pretend. I mean he was 7 and 7 year old's didn’t play pretend on a field trip which is why he was going to be sneaky about it. He quickly lifted his blanket up over his head and he saw it flapping in the wind envisioning that the blanket was in fact a cape and flapping in the wind on his back. He closed his eyes and sighed in jubilee as he carefully tucked the blanket into the back of his jacket just as he tucked it into his pajama top every night at home just a few minutes before bed so that he could fly through the house and save the lady in distress. It was normally his sister but sometimes his mother needed saving too. Now at this point he simply didn’t care who saw him. He was a hero and everybody LOVES heroes.
At that moment a great gust of wind came. It was so strong that Joey had to stand his ground. After all, he was a hero and no gust of wind was going to throw him off. So he planted his feet stubbornly as if to beckon the wind to blow all the more furiously. Something bright red flashed to the right of his vision. He turned and saw someone’s red blanket flying through the wind and thought said aloud “On NO!!!” Somebody had lost their blanket. The blanket settled on the railing just slightly out of his reach but he knew not to leave the line he was standing in so he willed with all his might that the blanket land safely and be retrieved by its owner. Sadly the wind carried the red blanket over the railing. He felt sad for a brief moment knowing that someone on top of the building was going to be very sad. He was so relieved to know that he had secured his blanket to his own back. He reached back to just touch it knowing how it would devastate him to lose his own blanket and superhero cape. His eyes grew wide. His hand started to move around quickly. He looked to the left and then to the right not looking for anything but simply because he was frightened. The cape wasn’t there. ’Oh NO!!!’ He thought. The tears came instantly. The warm drops ran down his face. It was HIS blanket that flew over the edge of the building. Why didn’t he step out of line to grab it. He surely would have ran for it had he known it was his. Oh WHY didn’t he think to realize that it was HIS blanket? Why would he have ran for HIS blanket and NOT someone elses? As all these thoughts ran through his head he sank to the ground and began to cry. He cried because his best friend was gone. He cried because he couldn’t rescue his sister and his mother when he got home just before bed. He cried because he realized that he would have ran after it for himself and not for someone else. His chest tightened from the slight pang of realization that had he been willing to help someone else save their best friend in the whole world he would still have his. It was right within his reach. He could have stepped out for just a moment and grabbed it.
Seeing the crumpled child on the ground, Mr. Billywiggles walked over to Joey. “What’s the matter Joey?” Joey just looked up with tears in his eyes. He couldn’t answer and Mr. Billywiggles didn’t need one. He noticed Joey and the red cape upon his back just moments before it had gone over the edge. Mr. Billywiggles knelt down and looked Joey in the eyes and with all the heart and warmth he could offer said “It’s going to be OK. I promise.” Mr. Billywiggles offered his hand to Joey to help him and Joey accepted. He rose to his feet and began to collect himself but he couldn’t stop the tears from coming. The rest of the tour seemed like an eternity. Finally the time came to go back inside and get back on the elevator. As Joey entered the elevator he didn’t bother to look at the glowing light counting down from 102 to 1. He didn’t bother to look up at all. He stared at his feet all the way down and watched the occasional drop of saltwater ping off his shoe onto the floor. Though he was still sad that he lost his best friend he was more disappointed in himself that he was too selfish to save someone elses blanket rather than his own. As the elevator doors opened he stepped out. He looked up finally and noticed the bus waiting to collect the students. They would be headed to Central Park now for lunch where Joey planned to fly around the park and save Suzy from all sorts of dangers. But no more. He would just sit and have lunch alone with a park full of friends.
Now Mr. Billywiggles was standing at the door and he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. There was an older gentlemen just on the other side of street from the bus. The man had brushed away the snow that had been settled on the concrete path so he had a place to sit and stay somewhat dry. As Joey approached the door Mr. Billywiggles pulled Joey aside. When all the children had climbed onto the bus and were in the care of the bus driver Mr. Billywiggles knelt down and said “Joey, I know that you lost your blanket but can I show you something?” Joey swallowed hard with sorrow and nodded yes. Mr. Billywiggles pointed across the street. As Joey’s eyes followed the direction Mr. Billywiggles was pointing he noticed it, flapping in the breeze, his red blanket. He saw nothing else through his relief as tears began to flow anew from his eyes. He looked up longingly at his teacher and without having asked the question Mr. Billywiggles was already answering with a nod as if to say ‘Yes. We can cross the street.’ Mr. Billywiggles held out his hand and Joey grabbed on with all his strength.
As Joey and Mr. B crossed the street it became clear to Joey that his blanket was in the possession of an older gentleman. The man was sitting in the corner. He looked dirty and as Joey and his teacher approached Joey noticed he smelled dirty too. He was shivering too. As Joey and Mr. Billywiggles neared the man huddled in the corner Mr. B asked “Do you want to ask for your blanket back or shall I?” Joey didn’t know how to answer. There was a familiar pang as his chest tightened. Somehow Joey found the words to tell Mr. B. “No sir, I can do it.” They were not just a few moments from reaching the man that appeared to be cold, dirty and hungry. Joey found himself holding his breath once again for no other reason than the excitement of the unknown. At that very moment the man in the corner looked up and though he was obviously uncomfortable a warm smile came across his face. Without Joey having to ask the man said “Well there could only be one reason you came here to my corner. This must be your cape little hero.” Joey nodded silently and then spoke “Yes sir, it is.” The man removed the blanket from his lap where it had been resting and lifted it to Joey and spoke kindly. “Here you are son. Hold onto it from now on.” With a wink the older man spoke again “A hero needs his cape.” Looking past the cape Joey noticed how thin the man’s pants were. It was as if the pair of pants he was wearing were his only pair. Joey also noticed that there were holes in the pants and it was snowing outside. Joey looked up and met the man’s gaze. He knew he was cold because he was shivering. Joey couldn’t understand why the man was smiling so being as cold as he was. The pain in his chest tightened as he retrieved his blanket from the man’s hands. “Thank you sir,” Joey said has he hugged his blanket tightly. Tears began to roll down his face again but not for loss of his friend the blanket, nor was it for joy of finding something he thought he’d lost forever. As the tears rolled down his face he realized that they were tears of some kind of happiness. As he hugged his blanket one last time he extended it back to the man in the corner and said “Her sir. You have it. It’s cold outside and this blanket will keep you warm.” Among the three of them there was not an eye that did not begin to tear up. The old man in the corner generously accepted the gift and with his voice quivering managed to get out “Thank you.”
With a warm smile to the old man Joey looked back up to Mr. Billywiggles who was taking off his jacket. As Mr. B handed the jacket to the man in the corner he reached up to dry his eyes. They stood there for just a few moments and Joey spoke up. “My name is Joey and it was nice to meet you sir.” The exchanged smiles for the last time and they parted ways. Though the two walked back across the street in the cold their hearts were warm. Climbing back onto the bus Mr. Billywiggles looked caught Joey by the shoulder and turned him around. As he looked at the young man before him he said “You’re a real hero to that man Joey.” As Joey turned around and headed back to his seat he realized that it isn’t the cape on your back that makes you a hero. It’s what’s in your heart.
The end.
