The bus to New York was big. And it was bright orange. I felt like I was walking into a giant pumpkin.
“Take the window seat, Freddie,” Mom said. “You’ll have fun looking out.”
All I could see was brown fields, old buildings, and a few cows here and there. And all I could think about was running. Were my new zapatos as fast as my old ones? Could I zoom along the side of the road and beat the bus? Or outrun the cows if they chased me?
“Try to sit still, Freddie.” Mom touched my knee.
Being on the bus was like being in school too long without a playground break. My legs got squirmy.
“Don’t kick the back of my seat!” A blond lady wearing earbuds turned to yell at me.
“Sorry!” I hugged my legs against my chest.
“Be patient, Freddie,” Mom said. “New York will be worth the wait.”
I hoped so. And I hoped I could use Zapato Power there—and that running superfast wouldn’t get me super lost in a big city.
Mom handed me a book. The moving bus made the words jump. That left me looking out the window again. I rubbed the buttons on my wristband and pretended I was outside, running to New York with my super zapatos.
A few seconds later, I heard a man’s voice.
“Eduardo kissed Vivian on her soft red lips.”
Who was talking mushy stuff? On a bus?
I popped my head over the headrest. The blond lady with the earbuds was holding a book in her hands.
“Vivian, you are the love of my life.”
I turned to the seat behind me. A little boy had his hand in a bag of cheese puffs. His cheeks looked too orange to be talking in a deep voice to someone named Vivian.
“She closed her dreamy blue eyes.”
Yuck! Mom wouldn’t want me hearing this! Why wasn’t she covering my ears? Because she was asleep! The noise wasn’t bothering her at all.
“Eduardo! Run away with me tonight.”
I looked all around the bus. The sound wasn’t coming from the side or the back. It was coming from the blond lady’s earbuds! How come I could hear it?
I stared at my Zapato Power wristband. It was warm. I rubbed the buttons a little. The wristband cooled down and the mushy voices stopped.
Uh-oh! Did my new zapatos give me super hearing? What about super speed? And super bounce? Could they do all three? I had two buttons on my wristband. What if two powers was all I got? Which ones did I want the most?
Super hearing would be good when I wanted to hear what grownups were saying. Would I like it as much as running fast?
I had to get off the bus and find out what my new shoes could do! But I was stuck in the window seat, watching more brown fields and buildings go by. How much longer till New York?
Just when I thought I couldn’t wait another second, I heard another sound. This time, it was something everybody on the bus heard, not just the lady with earbuds and the boy with Zapato Power.
Bang! Bumpity! Bumpity! Bump! Bump!
Mom sat straight up. “What was that?”
The driver pulled over beside an open field and told us to get out. We had a flat tire.
“Mala suerte,” Mom complained.
It was bad luck for Mom and lots of grumpy-faced people getting off the bus. Not for me! I could finally test my new sneakers.
I circled the field three times. Just like always, Zapato Power smoke whooshed out of my heels. It covered me in a cloud, making me invisible. No one, not even my mom, noticed me disappear and come back in a blink.
¡Fantástico! I still had super speed!