CAPTAIN QUIXOTIC

Ceremonial music plays as a woman in a sleek black dress approaches the podium. She raises her arm and the edge of her hand meets her brow as she scans an audience that stretches as far as her squinted eyes can see. A gentle breeze tickles the hem of her dress as she lowers her hand and clears her throat, a sound that echoes across the crowd before dissipating in the wind.

Thank you all for being here today. I know that Paul...Captain Quixotic as most knew him, would be honored to see how many lives he touched over the years. He never kept count and he always told me that the only thing that mattered was the next person that needed his help. He loved people, and his only goal was to help people. To change the world, by changing lives.

Captain Quixotic was unstoppable. A symbol of ‘better.’ But Paul had his struggles. He understood what it meant to be on the edge, and he used Captain Quixotic as a way to reach out and pull people away from it. He would be proud to see that even in death, he reached out one last time. Thank you.

Sharon takes a moment to collect herself and then walks away from the podium as a young woman steps out onto the stage. She places a paper on the angled podium surface and starts to say something, but the echo over the audience gives her pause as she adjusts to the effect. She slowly leans forward toward the bundle of microphones once again.

Growing up, we always heard the legends of Captain Quixotic. How he could save anyone, anywhere, no matter what. In high school, some friends and I decided to test that. What fun is it to live in a world with a superhero if you never even get to meet him?

So we decided to jump my friend’s car from the old bridge across ROOKER’S CANYON. Six stories of free fall before we hit the shallow water below. We feared for our lives when we went over the edge and screamed as we braced for impact. Just like we had always heard, Captain Quixotic showed up and caught us before we hit the bottom.

Kathy bumped her head on the steering wheel from the sudden stop, but Captain Quixotic took the car, with us in it, and dropped it in the parking lot in front of the ER. The entire trip was dominated by his voice as he explained that we were playing with fire, and reminded us that he might not be around one day. We laughed at that part because no one believed it was possible. ‘Captain Quixotic is immortal,’ we thought.

He disappeared in an instant, and we found a card sitting on the dashboard. There was a phone number on it and it said ‘Anything is possible, as long as you have hope.’ I have since lost that card but I still have the hope he gave me that day. Thank you, Captain Q.

As the young woman steps away from the microphones a loud squeal roars from the speakers and echoes across the landscape, causing many in the audience to throw their hands up over their ears. The media booth lights up as people scramble to stop the sound. It goes silent as a group huddle over a table full of knobs and buttons. The sound slowly comes back as a few digital artifacts float through the lines.

A young man steps out from behind the curtain and approaches the podium. He takes a sip from a bottle of water and sets it on the ground next to him. He leans in toward the microphone bundle and starts speaking with a trepidatious quiver but quickly finds his voice.

It’s funny. From a young age I always knew what I wanted in life; very little. I had prioritized everything to get to a place of comfort. I set goals, I found paths to those goals, and I focused on achieving them. The only thing that interested me about the rat race was crossing the finish line as soon as possible.

By the time I graduated high school I was already halfway done with college. And after 2 years of that, I had graduated with my Bachelor’s degree. I quickly found a job that paid me a perfect amount of money. I achieved everything I had aimed for.

I had a great work schedule and the rest of my time was ‘me time.’ I played video games with my friends in the evenings, went out on the weekends, and went to see every movie that came out. I had everything I had ever wanted.

My friends got married, had children, and bought the dream house. They found happiness and I became bitter. No one ever had time for me, but I had all the time in the world. That led me to frustration and digital escapism where I had friends 24/7 that would listen to me. That’s when Captain Quixotic came into my life.

My parents were worried and my friends had distanced themselves when one night while out a pretty girl approached me at a bar. We sat there and talked for quite a while. She listened to everything I said, without judgment. She took in all the seething hatred and ideology that I had pent up over the last few months and then handed me a business card. She told me that I sound like I could use a little hope before getting up and walking out of the bar.

There was a phone number on the withered old card and it said ‘Anything is possible, as long as you have hope.’

I called that number the next day and the line rang once before giving me a ‘disconnected’ message. But something felt good about making that call and I believe that single ring must have meant something because it didn’t take long. He showed up floating outside my window and as I stared blankly and asked if I wanted to talk.

He flew me up to the roof and we sat there looking across the city as I rambled on and on about how the world wasn’t fair and how frustrated I was with everyone and everything. And Captain Quixotic just listened the whole time. I eventually ran out of words and for the first time in years I felt like I had been heard.

Captain Quixotic reached out and hugged me. He didn’t say much as he took me back down to my apartment and unloaded me onto the fire escape. I offered him the card, but he told me to keep it. He told me that he believed in me and that there is so much I could do for the world with a little effort.

I make more money than ever, and I donate more money than ever. I am closer with my friends and family than I ever was before. And I volunteer my ‘me time’ with organizations that help deprogram people that have been exploited and indoctrinated online. I don’t need much to be happy, but it was Captain Quixotic that taught me that everyone needs a shoulder to lean on. Thank you, Captain.

The last words of the speech echo and a deep rumble moves through the air as everything in the area starts to vibrate. There is a small reaction from the crowd but things quickly settle down again as it dissipates and a middle-aged man walks from behind the curtain. He opens a spiral notebook and folds the front around to the back as he lays it on the angled surface in front of him.

About 15 years back I was in a dark place. I was trapped in a life I didn’t love, but I was too worried about how others would think of me to actually do the unthinkable. Until I found a way out. Or what I thought was a way out.

I worked for a power utility company, and it was my job to go up in the cherry pickers and do repairs and maintenance. I was still new enough to the job that an accident wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. So one day as I’m up in the picker, I've decided that if I touch the cable to myself, I’ll be fried for sure. I moved the cable toward my body when a hand suddenly came out of nowhere and grabbed my wrist.

I looked up, and floating right in front of me was Captain Quixotic. He looked me in the eye and said ‘This isn’t how you want to be remembered. There is always a better way.’

He told me to meet him on the ground and then disappeared in the blink of an eye. He returned just as quickly with authentic pizza from Italy. It was still piping hot and easily the best meal I’ve ever had.

We sat out on the green embankment next to the road and ate. He only asked me one question and I opened up like a faucet. I told him how I hated my job, my house, my car, and how I felt trapped in my life. He told me that there are solutions to my problems and made me promise that I would apply for new jobs that would make me happy.

He left me there with the rest of the pizza and flew off into the sky. When I got home that evening my house looked great. The gutters were clean, the door wasn’t falling off the hinges, and the broken window had been replaced.

I found a card in the pocket of my jeans that evening. It had a phone number and it said ‘Anything is possible, as long as you have hope.’ I applied for one new job every evening when I got home from work, and two on the weekends. I’m now living the life I always dreamed of because of Captain Quixotic. Thank you.

A buzz started to erupt from the audience as people started checking their phones. The man on stage pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen in disbelief. The words were something he never thought he would see coming from the emergency alert system.

ALL CITIZENS ARE ADVISED TO SHELTER IN PLACE UNTIL FURTHER ORDERS ARE GIVEN.

AN UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT HAS BEEN DETECTED JUST BEYOND THE THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE. FURTHER UPDATES WILL BE ISSUED AS MORE INFORMATION IS DISCOVERED.

A roar of excitement and concern grows across the audience as people read the message and try to process what it means...