Spring 2025, Casita de Soledad, Central Arizona
“So?” I asked her, my eyes taunting her, daring her. “Where should I start?”
Her brown eyes wandered before meeting mine, her shoulders shrugging as she said, “Well, if you must do this, start at the most important part.”
“The origin story? How we became superheroes? That’s it. How it really all began, not the PR-scrubbed version that everyone knows.”
She shook her head, “No, no. Those stories are good and heroic, and close enough. Everyone knows them, start at the most important part.”
I had the feeling I was being tested. It wasn’t the first time she made me feel that way (not by a long shot), nor the last.
“Uhh,” I said, my index finger pointing heavenward. “The climactic battle when we defeated the Arcturian Alliance, and then go backwards from there. That is—”
“Not the most important part,” she said, cutting me off. She walked over, her hand resting gently on my chest. I felt the electrical tingle I had felt since the first time we had touched. It still thrilled me each and every time.
I nodded my head and smiled, she followed suit. “The most important part is…” I began, watching her right eyebrow arch. “The most important part is when we met.”
She smiled wide and full, rewarding me with the grace of her pleasure. “That’s my man, my Neutrinoman,” she said, invoking an old ritual between us.
“That’s my girl, my Lightningirl,” I replied, sweeping her up into my arms, feeling the electricity course through me as I carried her towards the bedroom. She giggled a girlish giggle, and my writing was forgotten for the day.