With a box of Cheerios in one hand and a can of black kidney beans in another, Kay marched through the grocery mart. It was a busy Sunday and the Metro was full of shoppers of all creeds. The chatter was rumbling throughout the store– a tossed salad of dialects. Many words Kay didn’t understand, either because it was in a language that wasn’t English or because the flurry of sounds made it hard to parse syllables.

  Kay stood above most people in that store. At sixteen, Kay was almost done growing– and the teenage boy had grown a lot. But being dragged to the store to do shopping with one’s mom got Kay feeling insecure. He might have been as tall as most people in the store but they had their lives together, and Kay did not. They were adults, and he was a child.

  But what was Kay feeling embarrassed about? He had done some impressive things that last month. He got into fights and thwarted crime. That was competent! Not many could say they had done that. But with him having been looking for a way to surrender to the crime lords that had his number, that confidence was gone.

  He found his mom in the beverage aisle scanning her eyes on a row of Fruitopia. Kay walked up and put the cereal and beans in the shopping cart, adding to his mother’s horde of weekly goods.

  Looking over the hill of items, Kay asked, “Are we done here?”

  “Not yet,” said Mom, not taking her eyes off the array of juices. “We need drinks.” She waved a finger at the aisles of beverages. “Look around and see if you can find a good deal while I go down my shopping list.”

  Kay did as told. He strafed down the aisle, looking for anything slashed beyond 10% off. There wasn’t a lot. His mother drove the cart over to join him, holding out a notepad. As she checked to make sure she had everything she needed from the store, she struck up small talk with her son. “So how’s school?”

  “It’s good,” said Kay.

  The conversation faded into the chatter across the rest of the store.

  Mom raised her eyes at Kay. “You can tell me more than that.” She narrowed her eyes softly. “You’re my son and I’m interested in your life. What classes are you taking again?”

  Kay blushed. It seemed improper for a mom to be so inquisitive. But he would entertain her. As he scanned the shelves for a good deal, he listed off his classes. “English, Math, Chemistry... World History...”

  “Oh?” said Mom. “I forgot you took a history class. What’s that like?”

  “We learn about history,” said Kay, not trying to sound sarcastic. “Not much to say except that the first part of the curriculum had us learn about how researchers learn about the past. Like, the tools and methods they use.” Knowing Mom would want to know more, he added, “The teacher’s having us do a paper. On an ancient civilization.”

  Kay’s journey down the beverage aisles had he walked up beside an older woman. He tried not making eye contact and kept out of her personal space.

  “And which civilization are you thinking about?” asked Mom.

  Kay pointed at some cartons of orange juice. “20% off. Is that good enough?”

  Mom raised an eyebrow, pensive. “For orange juice? Let’s keep looking.”

  “I’ve started research on the Roman empire,” said Kay. “I’m doing my paper on them invading Gallia.” He paused. “Which is modern-day France.”

  Mom nodded, finishing up her inventory check. “That reminds me of that old game your father used to play. The one with the civilizations. What was it called?”

  “Civilization,” answered Kay.

  “Right,” said Mom with a giggle.

  Piercing through the noise of Metro’s crowd did the speaker play. Kay didn’t know the name of the song but recognized that it was Shania Twain who was singing.

  Mom took a few cartons of juice off the shelf and put them into the cart. “But, um, good. Glad you are doing well in school.”

  They walked to the end of the aisle, Kay having to shift to the side for he and his mother to pass by another shopping couple. Mom waited until the other couple was a few paces away before she asked, “Have you found a girlfriend yet?”

  “Mom!” said Kay, his voice reaching to many around.

  “I’m just asking,” said Mom, swaying her head. “Whatever happened to that girl you had a crush on?”

  Mom was talking about Shanda. Kay never revealed what Shanda’s actual deal was but when he was in the throes of love he slipped some information about Shanda to his mother– his love for her and how he wanted her. Kay said, “She moved away.”

  “Oh, that’s a shame,” said Mom. She took a moment to see how troubled Kay was with the questions. “Hey... I’m only asking because I want to know. I want to see good things in you, Mick.”

  Kay saw she was apologetic. He said, “It’s fine. I am not interested in anyone, though.” Being that would invite more questions, Kay added, “Right now.”

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  Mom smirked. “For now.” She looked over her cart. “I think we got everything; let’s check out.”

  “Yeah,” confirmed Kay.

  Check out was busy so they had to wait for awhile before they could price their stuff and get out. Stevie had felt like she had bothered her son enough so she kept quiet as they drifted towards the register. It had been raining all day and Stevie hoped it hadn’t gotten any worse while she was doing grocery shopping. Alas, when she and Kay stepped out into the night and felt the drizzle on their faces, Stevie pulled out her umbrella from the cart.

  They walked. The rain that might as well had been mist; it splashed Kay’s face and speckled his shades.

  Stevie looked at Kay, watching him power through the rain. She chuckled. “The rain’s getting on ya!”

  Kay grinned at her. “I like the rain.”

  “Really?” said Stevie. “You like rain? When did that happen?”

  When did that happen? Obviously, with Kay’s water mode giving him an elemental connection with the stuff, anyone would mark the date as when Kay starting transforming into the liquid cryptid. But did he like rain before then? He couldn’t remember.

  “Uh, I don’t know.”

  Stevie gave an amused shake of her head. “You’ll catch a cold like that.”

  Kay protested with cheer. “No, I won’t!”

  A chill was haunting Kay.

  After he got home from the store, he helped Mom put the groceries away. Something about the fridge’s chill struck him hard and when he sat down on the couch to watch some TV before Mom needed him to help bake meat pies, his nose began to run and he felt a coldness in his chest.

  As it turned out, Kay had gotten a cold!

  Curses, he thought, sliding on a sweater, Rain is supposed to be my element. Has rain betrayed me!?

  Lying down when Kay and Mom left to do groceries, Urban was still in his room when Kay got back. Mom joined him for a moment to pass time until she and Kay were to get started on making the pies. Worried a cold was coming on, Kay tried to relax and watch TV. MuchMusic was offering a game show where two friends competed to win a prize from their favourite band or something– Kay couldn’t pay attention. He switched it to MuchMoreMusic. That channel focused more on older music and there was a chance for Kay to appreciate a namedrop, although most old music they talked about was from the 1980s, outside of Kay’s “classic zone”.

  Listening to a run-down on Prince’s theatrical contributions got Kay wondering how long everything had been around. Supernatural things, rather! Himself a water elemental, that magic blue lady, and the shadow guy; had those types been around forever? Were there psychics in Roman times? Did an aquatic sprite fight in World War II? Had a shadow man ever seen Purple Rain?

  Purple Rain. Wait a minute–

  “I could have–!” Kay stopped his outburst lest his mother hear him from the bedroom.

  I could have been named that, he thought in silence. Instead of Ghost Thing! I could have been Purple Rain!

  It was so perfect. It seemed obvious. Somebody in a newsroom must have had the idea to dub the water elemental “Purple Rain”. But alas, in all of Ghost Thing’s appearances around the town, photographic or video evidence was from far off, blurring the liquid boy’s look. If the first popular photograph of Kay’s water form showcased how aquatic he was, surely the peanut gallery would have given him a better superhero title!

  Kay sighed and pondered ways to get the public to change what they called him.

  Aubrey returned home. wet hood over her head. She was back from her weekend and ready to face her weekday. She slapped her keys down into the glass bowl by the door and hung up jacket on the hangers before shaking out her hair.

  Rolling up her sleeves and stretching her legs, she shifted over to Kay to see what he was watching. “What’s up?”

  Kay gave her his eyes to acknowledge she was in the room. “Nothing much. Just got back from shopping with Mom.”

  Aubrey peered outside the kitchen window like she just didn’t come from outside. “In the rain?”

  Mom didn’t like the idea either. Kay said, “She forgot to check the weather yesterday and got stuck with today for doing groceries.”

  Aubrey chuckled. “I see.” She walked up to the couch to check out what Kay was watching.

  Without even asking, Kay answered, “It’s an old music program.”

  “I bet,” said Aubrey. There was Kay, watching TV with his sunglasses on. A curious grin came over her. “You know, if you’re interested in music history, you could always ask Mom to bring home some books.”

  That much was obvious. Kay was infantilized by the suggestion, and he tightened his brow. “I know that.”

  Seeing she annoyed her little brother, Aubrey shielded her hands. “I’m just saying.”

  It seemed like every elder in Kay’s life, including his sister of just three years older, had a tendency to mold him. He had gotten used to it; enough that it only sort of annoyed him.

  Aubrey redirected the conversation. “Are you helping mom make week lunches tonight?”

  Kay relaxed. “Yeah. We’re making beef and bean pies. Two of them.”

  Aubrey smirked. “Two of them, huh? Betcha we’re going to have left over pie for supper at least once this week.”

  Kay smiled. “Yeah, maybe.”

  Aubrey giggled and walked off into the hallway to her room.

  It wasn’t long after that Mom emerged from her bedroom and prompted Kay to get started on the pies. Making pie dough was a lot of work but thankfully Mom opted to buy a few pie shells so that they didn’t have to roll out some dough themselves.

  Mom could see that Kay was sniffling. She smirked. “Did you give yourself a cold just to get out of baking?”

  Kay shook his head. “No...”

  It wouldn’t have been the first time that someone cooked dinners while sick, and Kay didn’t look too bad. Mom pointed a finger at the kettle on the stove. “You should make yourself a tea. It’ll warm you up!”

  “I hate tea,” said Kay.

  “Which do you hate more?” asked Mom. “Tea or colds?”

  It was something Kay weighed upon while Mom got the beans out of the fridge. She put the strainer in the sink and dumped the wash of beans into it. They had been soaking overnight.

  “I think tea,” said Kay.

  Mom chuckled, slapping the container on the counter. “Suit yourself.” She shook the beans in the strainer. “Say... do you still keep in contact with that girl? Like letters?” She chuckled to herself, realizing she was there thinking that Kay would have to employ the same means as she would have when she was young. There was over twenty years between her youth and his. “Or email.”

  Shanda. No. She left with out a trace. Kay said, “No. She never gave me an email address or anything.”

  “How sad,” said Mom. Feeling like she had brought the mood down to a deep, dark pit, she tried to lift her son’s spirits. “Maybe one day she’ll come back.”

  “It’s not a big deal,” said Kay, his heart beating in the other direction. “She was just a crush.”

  “That’s how a lot of love starts,” said Mom, smiling gently.

  Kay didn’t say anything. He took the opener from his mother and got at the cans of tomato sauce. He looked around at the other ingredients.

  “Where’s the cheese?” asked Kay, pushing the boxes of pie shells out of the way to see if there was a brick of cheese hiding behind.

  “Urban doesn’t like cheese,” said Mom.

  Of course, thought Kay.

  He stifled a sigh and got out a plastic bowl from the cupboard below. He would have preferred cheese baked into his meat pies.