Adam Powerhouse: Birth of the Double Zero (Episodes 1 to 9)

By Kevin T. Goddard

Adam Powerhouse is a superhuman boy with extraordinary strength and intelligence. Once a twin, he gains his powers when his mother is struck by lightning while pregnant. The first installment of the series tracks Adam from birth through the 6th grade as he makes friends, starts a band, and fights bad guys. Adam struggles with adolescence and human nature as he chooses between good and evil.

The action follows Adam on the football field, across the basketball court, on stage as a guitar player and lead singer in his own band, and through the streets of downtown St. Louis. Adam makes friends with a girl and an opponent then must decide whether to take them into his confidence.

This short novel focuses on the young adult/tween internal conflict as well as external needs of friendship, autonomy, acceptance, and the desire to find one's meaning and place in the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kevin T. Goddard
• Release date: Mar 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476000565

Kevin T. Goddard

Kevin T. Goddard was born in Springfield, Missouri in 1975. He grew up watching shows and movies like Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dukes of Hazzard, A-Team, and much more action/adventure/science fiction. Kevin is currently a school administrator in Missouri. His family consists of a wife, 8 kids, and a chihuahua. Kevin earned a Doctorate of Education, Ed. D., in Educational Leadership in 2010. He started writing when he was a kid, but as he worked on his advanced degrees in the field of education, his writing turned academic. About 9 years ago, Kevin wrote a short book entitled Adam Powerhouse: Birth of the Double Zero. After finishing it, he didn't know what to do, so Kevin saved it on his computer and forgot about it. When he reopened the file in 2010, Kevin was surprised to find that many of the things Adam invented in 2001 were now a part of reality...cell phones that connected to the internet, skateboards that work more like a snowboard, video games that allow you to be a rockstar, and more! So, he's had to update Adam's world. It continues to evolve and Kevin hopes Adam lives for a long, long time and you enjoy every adventure Adam has. Kevin plans on starting more characters with the help of his two oldest daughters and chronicaling those characters lives through episodes as he has Adam's.

Book preview

Adam Powerhouse: Birth of the Double Zero

Episodes 1 to 9

By Kevin T. Goddard

Published by Kevin T. Goddard at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 Kevin T. Goddard

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication:

This book is for my wife, Melanie. You are my Amy Armstrong. I wish we’d met in 6th grade and had 10 extra years together.

Table of Contents

Episode 1: Life and Death…and Life

Episode 2: Zero to Hero

Episode 3: School, Sports, and…Superpowers?

Episode 4: Bad Guys Beware

Episode 5: Welcome to the Sixth Grade

Episode 6: Win at Any Cost

Episode 7: Two to Tango

Episode 8: The Fight or Flight Response

Episode 9: Summertime in the City

Adam Powerhouse: Episode 1

Life and Death…and Life

A Story by Kevin T. Goddard

Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved.

Prologue

On Adam’s tenth birthday, much to his mother’s displeasure, Mr. Powerhouse (a.k.a. Mr. P) gave Adam a skateboard.

Honey, he’ll hurt himself, Mrs. Powerhouse (a.k.a Mrs. P) exclaimed. She looked disapprovingly as Adam ran his fingers along the thin lines of the skateboard, across the sandy deck, and then underneath along the lacquered belly of the simple transportation device. Then, Adam gave the perfectly balanced wheels a spin. The three looked at the skateboard as the wheels rolled…and rolled…and rolled buzzing quietly as if they were filled with angry bees. Dad broke the quiet, but tense moment.

Nonsense, the boy could walk a tightrope he has such good balance, he plays football all the time, and you’re worried about a little board with wheels? Mr. P gave Adam a wink. Mrs. P pursed her lips, the thin red skin turning white, and didn’t say anything else. Adam could tell his parents would talk about it later, but he was pleased to have something to replace the modified bike he’d stowed away until he could use it more safely.

Later that day, his mom asked him to go to the corner store and get a gallon of milk. Adam grabbed his skateboard and then the crisp five dollar bill from her hand as she held the front door open. Adam jumped on his board and rode out the door before she had a chance to tell him to walk. At the sill of the front door, Adam stepped back on the board to flip the front wheels into the air, then timed a downkick on the front of the board to raise the back wheels into the air. To his pleasure, Adam sailed over the front steps and crashed onto the sidewalk and into his mom’s bushes in a tangle of leaves, branches, and mulch. As his mom rushed down the steps, Adam jumped up laughing, I’m okay! then sprinted down the sidewalk before his mom had a chance to change her mind.

On the way to the store, he enjoyed the sensation of gliding along the sidewalk, feeling the little bumps as he hit each crack between squares of concrete. Kathump. Kathump. Kathump in perfect time. The warm sun seemed exceptionally bright and the trees vivid green. Adam inhaled the cool May air through his nostrils, tasting the scent of the neighborhood’s flowers, noticing the honeysuckle was starting to bloom. Robins and sparrows called back and forth from tree to tree adding to the feeling of just a great day to be alive.

As Adam pulled up to the store, he slowed just enough to let the automatic door slide open with a whoosh then glided to the back where the milk was chilling in the large glass front coolers. The teenaged clerk called a half-hearted, Hey as Adam went by, but he didn’t really care, as long as Adam didn’t break anything.

Adam stopped and glanced at a car magazine. The cover was always the same. Some souped-up, flame covered 60's muscle car. Mentally, Adam added several gadgets of his own to the Camaro giving it several hundred more horsepower as well as some hidden weapons. Finally, he opened the cooler door and let the fan blow the cool air over him, his baby blonde hair rustling sightly. He grabbed an ice-cold gallon of milk then started to turn around when he noticed the curved security mirror. In the reflection, he saw someone at the counter who was waving something around.

Adam quietly set the milk on the floor and began rolling down the aisle that ran parallel to the front counter. As he built up speed, Adam could hear the clerk arguing with the robber. Adam heard a gun cock and remembered the robbery he’d seen on his computer where the clerk was shot. Rounding the corner, Adam ollied into the air, grabbing a hold of the skateboard and yelled, Hey! as he shoved his feel out in front of him into a flying kick with the skateboard out flat. The thief turned just in time to get a shot off into the ceiling before Adam drop kicked him in the chest with a sickening crunch then rebounded onto his feet to look down at the robber who was groaning.

Adam and the clerk, who had leaned over the counter, watched as the gunman grabbed his head and tried to get up. You’d better get out of here kid, the clerk offered helpfully.

With adrenaline racing through his veins like electricity, Adam jumped onto his skateboard and took off through the automatic door as he heard the clerk shout, Watchout!

He looked back just in time to see the bad guy stagger to his feet while lunging for the door. Adam began pushing with one leg to gain speed, racing for his life now.

Adam cut through an alley and ended up heading toward one of his favorite places: an old junk yard. He had found plenty of cool items there and knew his way around so he figured he could lose this guy among the piles of junk. As he came upon the gate into the junkyard, Adam noticed the gate was shut and the latch was fastened. Just like when Adam was preparing for a play during a football game, he envisioned himself leaning forward and flipping the latch open as he crashed through the gate.

Adam could hear the robber gaining ground as he slowed slightly to make sure he could flip the latch and not be knocked from the skateboard. The adrenaline hummed through his body causing his blood to roar in his ears like Niagara Falls. It was all Adam could do to keep from just trying to plow through the fence. He reached forward, and as he flicked his fingers to flip the latch, the metal fork holding the door closed moved just ahead of his fingers with a hollow aluminum ringing sound so that he never touched it. The gate swung open in front of him, never slowing him down as he barreled through, still fleeing for his life.

Slightly bewildered, Adam shook off his surprise in order to maintain focus. He cut around a pile of old car parts and shot straight into a corrugated metal sewer pipe. The rata-tat of the skateboard’s wheels vibrated Adam’s bones and blurring his vision. Sensing the crook behind him round the corner and raise his gun, Adam pushed off hard at the wall of the pipe, his momentum causing him to ride up one side, squat into the centrifugal force, and ramp down the other in a tight, corkscrew spiral. Never slowing down, Adam let his speed carry him into one more tight turn, the entire time bullets ripping through the air around him as the bad guy unloaded his weapon.

During a third turn around, Adam ran out of pipe and shot into the air upside down, finishing a flip, and landing hard on the concrete of a sidewalk on the other side of the junkyard while the board groaned in protest. Adam sped down the hill and around the corner, finally finding his way home, his heart pounding from the excitement of the chase.

But there is much to Adam’s story that you’ve missed, so maybe you should start at the beginning…

Scene 1:1: Two to One

A tall, slightly ruffled man with blonde, unkempt hair and a slender, athletic woman paused at the top of a small hill to catch their breath. You okay honey? questioned the man with his arm around her shoulder.

Yes, sighed the woman, her shoulders sagging. But I can’t believe we’re going to have twins!

I know what you mean, but we’re going to have the most beautiful babies St. Louis has ever seen!

The woman looked up at the man with wary happiness in her eyes, I guess you’re right. Just the thought of two babies wears me out though.

The man led her under a massive oak tree and spread out a patchwork blanket his grandmother had sown for him once upon a time. He opened a picnic basket and began setting out a celebration dinner. The couple sat for a bit in the quiet, chilly afternoon enjoying cold fried chicken. Every once in a while, one of them would sigh and smile at the other one.

The air sure is getting colder, Mr. P worried. A dark bank of clouds was rolling toward them angrily.

Maybe we should pack it up? Mrs. Powerhouse suggested.

We’ve definitely had enough excitement for one day. Finding out you are pregnant, and twins to boot at that. I can’t believe I’m going to be a dad in eight months! We need to beat this storm out of here and get you someplace warm. Mr. P threw everything into the basket and slid down the grassy hill to the car. He dumped the basket and blanket in the trunk and turned to look back up the hill.

The storm had moved much more quickly than either of them had guessed it would. As Mr. P watched, a bolt of lightning struck the oak tree sending sparks flying. Mrs. P grabbed her stomach, screamed, and began running down the hill.

Mr. Powerhouse hollered, Lay down flat! Mrs. P didn’t hear him or was too terrified to do anything but run. Mr. P began running toward his wife, but he felt like he was running through syrup.

As Mr. P watched, another bolt of lightning struck Mrs. P in the back. She arched her head back in a silent