Sheila Six Hands (Prompt 10)

Sundays are a bane for the people who follow a schedule. Every Sunday brings along its own surprise. Things never work out the way you want to. The same happened with Sheila. Like every Sunday morning, she was awake early in the morning while her family slept. Sunday meant a luxury breakfast, but it also was the day to tidy up the house, gossip with friends and family over the phone, and spend some quality television time, watching reruns of sitcoms for the umpteenth time. For any other woman, that would have been it, but Sheila was different. To many, it might seem odd and hence she kept it a secret. Sheila took a cleaning spray in one hand, a duster in another. She held her phone in one and a dirty plate in another. She took a jar of hot lemon water in one and the other she kept on standby. To explain it better to the confused or mathematically challenged reader, Sheila had eight limbs i.e. two legs and six hands.

As her hands washed the dirty dishes, she enjoyed watching weird, though sometimes funny, videos on her phone. She sipped the hot lemon water which would help her detoxify her lean, not-so-young body. In a matter of minutes, all the dishes were clean. Next, she went on to tidy the rest of the house. Her extraordinary and extra four accomplices helped her manage that in under an hour. Sheila, like most other women, did not think of herself as a stickler for cleanliness, but the men know what I am talking about. She next went on to cook breakfast. Eggs benedict for Jackson with a side of sausages and bacon. Boiled oats with yoghurt for Gary and pancakes for her loving husband, Kent. Just as she was finishing up with the pancakes, Kent sleepily walked into the kitchen, yawning widely. His eyes blared open at the sight of her gifted wife.

‘Baby! The boys are already awake. You risk too much.’ Kent chided her.

‘Good morning to you too, my loving husband. You are just so calm about everything.’ Sheila joked.

‘Come on. Enough with the sarcasm. Hide them before they come down.’

‘Okay. Just a few more seconds. Breakfast is almost done.’

Sheila placed the last of the pancakes on the plate and poured an unhealthy amount of maple syrup on them. She placed her four auxiliary hands behind her back and covered them up with a sweatshirt. For the unimaginative, this might seem a painful way but Sheila had been hiding her gifts for as long as she could remember and was quite comfortable with it. She kissed her husband on the mouth and then called out to her sons for breakfast.

The family sat together around the table. There was a clutter of crockery and a bit of shouting and fighting. Kent calmed down the agitated boys by staring at each of them with a strong, angry glare. Sheila couldn’t help but chuckle. The same angry glare that terrified the boys, made Sheila laugh. After a week full of long hours at work, Sheila looked forward to the time she spent with her family.

As is the case when one starts enjoying his life, the universe sends across an obstacle in your path. It’s like a game of Mario. Every time you think the road ahead is smooth, evil turtles come rushing toward you.

Sheila's phone rang, not with the usual tring, tring, as one would expect but with the song Candy Shop. This made the boys laugh. If you are as much on the phone as Sheila usually was, it was important to feel positive while answering your phone and not dread the oncoming conversation. Hence, the ringtone. Sheila answered the call laughing along with the boys, but her expressions soon turned sour. Kent followed Sheila into another room. Quite apparently they needed some privacy.

‘I need to go. Something has come up.’ She said to Kent while fishing out her Scorpion Lady costume from her cabinet. Scorpion because, well, spiders are just too common.

Kent looked like he wanted to complain or maybe even get into an argument, but like a good supportive husband, he held his tongue.

‘Should we expect you for dinner?’ He asked.

‘Ohh yes, baby! I should be back by five.’ Sheila had finished putting on the costume. It was getting a little tight around the hips. Maybe she needed to exercise more. As a side note to the reader, ‘Don’t ever say that to a woman. Ever!’

Sheila exited her house from the back door, making barely any sound at all. By this time, if you are an engrossed reader, you would have realised that our six-handed Sheila is a superhero and like most superheroes, she flies. She used her auxiliary hands as rotors and whirled them at an exorbitant speed which propelled her body upwards in the air. Staying on Long Island meant the neighbouring houses were quite a distance apart and that gave Sheila the advantage of keeping her identity a secret. She flew towards the rich but stinking city of New York to foil yet another attempt by her arch enemy Tom Fiddler.

Sheila had landed in front of the Federal Reserve Bank building. She stealthily entered through the entrance, which she might not have since the guards already lay dead. She saw Tom fiddling his hands against the vault door, trying to get it open. ‘Oh Tom! When will you give up?’ 

‘I was wondering what kept you. You are late, Scorpion Lady.’ Tom replied back in a villainous tone but all that came out was a squeak. He tried to follow that up with evil laughter but failed miserably and ended up coughing.

‘You had to do this on a Sunday. Sundays are for family.’ Sheila shouted as she started to approach Tom.

‘Not so fast. I came prepared.’ Tom signalled, waving his arms up in the air. Suddenly there was an army of fifty soldiers wearing black bulletproof jackets between Sheila and Tom. This time Tom mastered the evil laugh and got back to work. Sheila had her work cut out.

At this point of the story, I expect the reader to know how things turn out. Sheila jumped about from pillar to pillar and from roof to ceiling, avoiding the bullets being fired upon her. She is able to do that because she is a superhero. Have you ever heard about a superhero being shot? She punched and kicked her way through the army, always ensuring that the soldier only loses consciousness and doesn’t die. Ethical much? And somehow, with just one kick or punch, the soldiers start falling down like pins on a bowling court. Finally, after kicking the last standing soldier in the gut, finally, she approaches Tom Fiddler. For those who want further details on this ‘filled with action’ scene, please read Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Blood.

Tom, meanwhile, has successfully entered the vault and is fiddling around with the gold bars trying to stack them together so that they are easier to lift.

‘Heya again, Tom!’ Sheila says standing with her legs slightly apart and her arms crossed, all of them. A hero pose.

‘What?’ Tom exclaimed in surprise. ‘But how is that possible?’

‘Come now Tom. Time to surrender.’

‘No. Never.’ Tom threw a handful of grenades at Sheila. 

Using her hands to their optimum, Sheila plucked the grenades out of thin air and threw them aside, away from the two of them, before they burst. A loud explosion shook the foundations of the Federal Reserve building, which disturbed the stack of gold that Tom had created, and the gold bars spread out across the floor, making a mockery of all the effort he had put in.

Tom cried out in anguish. Yet another attempt had been foiled. Hail Scorpion Lady!

The cops finally arrived at the scene to arrest Tom.

The chief cop muttered to Tom while cuffing his hands behind his back, ‘Your fiddling days are over Tom. Let’s see how you get along behind bars.’

‘You don’t understand. They fired me. They fired my ass.’ Tom cried out, trying to persuade anyone who would listen that he had no other choice.

The cops thanked Sheila. Some of them took this opportunity to click a photograph with her, which would probably go up on their social media. Definitely!

Like a good superhero, Sheila thanked the cops for their help and before anyone could stop her, disappeared from the scene, homebound.

She arrived just in time for pre supper. Kent had the barbeque out and was grilling steaks. He had invited a few friends over. The rest of the day went on socialising and enjoying brews under the starlit sky.

The next day as the alarm blared, Sheila woke up with a smile on her face. That’s right. Superheroes look forward to Mondays. Only if you could too. She got ready for work and readied her boys for school. She kissed her husband goodbye and joyfully left for work.

Sitting in front of her laptop, she let all her arms loose. She was alone in her cabin and her arms had been slightly rigid after the fight yesterday. Typing furiously on the laptop, using two of her hands, she let the other arms hold her phone, documents, money, and a wall clock, which is weird, but it helps me complete the prompt.