The essence of her personality was reluctance to share her creative side. It stemmed from playing superheros in her childhood.
The other children had already invented their superhero. Norman was Tailman, Edgar was Skiltor the Bone, Elvira was Slyhole and Toby had invented the Charlie Night character, who had the ability to change one thing about another superhero. In their games he had changed Tailman’s obsession with doves, so he now had psychological problems and had to attend counselling once a week. They had a lot of fun with it because Norman knew a lot about being self-absorbed from his father, who also attended counselling once a week. Charlie Night had also changed Skiltor the Bone so he had a dislocated hip, and Edgar was very good at doing the limping motion. It was hilarious and went well with the fact that Edgar was unusually ugly. Slyhole was Slyhole. Toby hadn’t dared to change her, because Elvira was a special girl who had her own ideas – and besides, they all loved how her sexual fantasies blended into the collective fantasy.
And then: the not-yet-invented superhero. They had waited for her to reveal her superhero for more than three month. She did take part as supporting character. The popstar, the influencer, the fitness instructor, but no superhero came up.
One winter evening she finally told them that she wanted to be Wonder Woman. She was proud of having come up with something that was cool and not childish, but a long, painful silence ensued. Then Norman told her that Wonder Woman already existed, which she of course knew very well. They went with it… and it was a catastrophe. Wonder Woman didn’t fit in.
She avoided them for a couple of weeks. Then Toby came over to her house. He began crying. None of her friends understood why she had left the game, and it was obvious to her that none of them realised she had been struggling. Toby crying looked so pathetic with his thick glasses, that for a moment she felt like hurting him, punishing him for this whole immature superhero game. She knew he was being bullied at school – it would be easy, it would be the grown up thing to do. But she wasn’t an arsehole and finally found the courage to tell him that she wanted to be Power Woman instead: Charlie Night changed her name to Slugwoman – the crawling horror who hid in the mud – who never took a bath. And from that day on everything changed for the better.
Later in life she blossomed and invented many superheroes. These fabulous individuals had the absurd righteousness and mental problems of Tailman, the over-the-line humour and nihilism of Skiltor the Bone, the illegal perversions and tender rawness of Slyhole, the theatrical splendour and deep sorrow of Charlie Night and, of course, the random violence and anger of Slugwoman. But times had changed. Middle class etiquette made it impossible for her to show her creations to others.
