She looked. The arch at the college rolled past. The sciences building came into view. The car stopped, she thanked the driver and noticed he had replaced his burned out cigarette with a fresh one. He didn't acknowledge her, just went on rambling about the talk radio subject du jour. 

She smiled to herself and created a thin layer of ice to the door, skating along. It melted almost instantly as her chucks slid  across it. Her hand touched the door and she heard a noise. She looked to her left and saw her office mate hurrying along, a bundle of papers in hand. 

Sylvia reached her, leaned for a second to catch her breath. She waited. Sylvia, formerly Sylvester, was also a TA in the science classes. They shared and office. She was impressed at Sylvester's transformation over the last 2 years of sharing an office space. Sylvia certainly appeared happier.

"We did it!" Sylvia held out the latest issue of the Journal of Thermodynamics. 

She and Sylvia had been working on a research project about using thermodynamic principles to help curb the aging process. They had found the holding cells at a cooler state slowed the aging process, though when exposed to heat they began aging normally again. They had not yet been able to convince Professor V to let them take the principles into the lab with mice yet. 

Professor V's concern was that it would not be seen as a positive as the cells needed to stay reasonably cold, colder than the average mouse would prefer, as well as the average human. The concern too applied that they may have to make a cold chamber, something outside of the school's yearly budget. 

She smiled at Sylvia. "That's really great. Guess maybe professor V will keep us around."

Sylvia laughed. "Right, well, he'll be around at least. You know all that pressure to keep publishing. Guess we'll look at the next phase. Did you get those papers graded?"

Oh the papers. Crud. She changed the subject. "How was dinner with your family yesterday?"

Sylvia's parents were not yet aware of their daughter's transition. She shook her head. "I deepened my voice a little and pulled out that old suit they got me. I guess on the upside they always called me Syl. That wig though, yuck!" Sylvia's hair was not too long, but was curly and dark. Her parents expected her to have a shorter hair cut so she wore a wig to hide her curls and longer hair. "They asked if I had a girlfriend yet, ha!"

She giggled with Sylvia. 

"Oh speaking of," Sylvia continued. "my brother is having a thing, could you do me a huge favor and put in an appearance as arm candy?" 

She looked at Sylvia. This was not the first or second or fifth time it had come up. They weren't really friends. More like colleagues. She nodded, fortunately Sylvia's family knew she was "saving herself" for marriage so there was no grand expectation of public displays of affection. 

She gave it a thought, is this what heroes did? She laughed, pouring a cup of coffee for herself. No, not heroes. Friends. This is what friends did. She poured a cup of coffee for Sylvia and walked it over to her desk. She set the cup down. "I would be honored, Syl." 

She was greeted by a toothy grin. "I prefer my coffee cold." Sylvia laughed. 

She looked hard at her father. He seemed to be effortlessly pedaling the bike. She thought about talking to him, then realized it may be something driver would pick up on. 

Her father looked over, "You have a question, daughter?" 

She nodded, then thought it at him. "What if you're not really here, what if all of this has been a dream?"

He rubbed his chin thinking about it. "The last 18 years?"

"Yes" she thought back.

"People need things to be real, they need to believe in something beyond themselves." 

She waited.

"But to answer your question, yes, I exist in the sense that you can see me, in theory anyone I was connected with in the mortal realm with as long as they wanted to see me."

"Mother could see you?"

He laughed, pushing hard on the brakes of his bike, the back wheel rising in the air. She gasped, looked back, then noticed he had returned to his previous position. 

"Wouldn't that be something... No, she has her beliefs too firmly cemented. Plus she doesn't need me." He paused looking down, "she never did."

She looked at him, he looked incredibly sad. Then the sadness blew off his face like a theatre mask being whisked away. 

"But we each have people who need us, your mother needed you, you have her a sense of humanity, showed her the life wasn't just about the law and trials and judiciary committees."

She thought about it. "Is that why she thinks I need a sidekick? That it will, what, give me a sense of purpose?"

He shrugged. "We all need a sense of purpose, daughter." He tipped his hat, the bike faded, he faded, the top had remained another moment before it too faded.

Purpose. She thought about the word. Her mother had purpose. The driver had purpose. She thought hard about her own purpose. For the longest time her purpose had been to study and understand her abilities, to learn about thermodynamics. Would this shift her purpose? Could she hold onto both? 

Her head bumped the ceiling of the car and she looked around having been deep in thought. She landed back on the seat. She glared at the driver, he was ignoring her completely, his cigarette mostly gone, his window open blew some cool air around the car as he flicked the last of ash out the window. She thought about saying something, maybe watch for those potholes. She turned around looking out the window expecting a curb, a crater, a speed bump, maybe even a stunt ramp painted up like the American flag begging for Evel Knievel to rise up and take a jump off it. Nothing.

Meet The Quick!

Ingrid smiled and the orb disappeared. Linka had headed off down the hall, Ingrid waved and chased after her mother.

She looked at her mother who had returned to the couch with Samuel, cuddling on her lap. She stroked his velvet ear and smiled at her.

"Yes, mother?"

Her mother continued to smile. "Just thinking maybe you need a side kick, you could teach her all of those important and valuable skills I taught you. Plus she shares your love of science. Is she going to be in any of the classes you're teaching?" 

She shrugged. "Do I need a sidekick? I feel like I can barely make sense of myself at time." She noticed her mother's look; the raised eyebrow. "I'll look into it."

Her mother smiled, Samuel woofed quietly. She shook her head at both of them. 

Her mother looked over her shoulder as she turned toward the door. "Sidekicks are better to have than capes."

She laughed aloud, her hand on the doorknob. "Thank you, mother. Don't work them too hard!" 

She emerged into the outside and noted the sun was gone behind a cloud and a faint shower was falling. She looked at her phone and summoned a cab. 

A moment later a black town car pulled up. She looked at it, seemed innocent enough. She got in, gave the driver the address at the college. He was listening to talk radio and talking back to it, an unlit cigarette bouncing up and down in his lips. 

She watched the cigarette. It bounced about. It didn't seem to follow a rhythm and continued to move even with he wasn't talking to the radio. She smirked. 

She reached up between the seat and snapped her fingers, a blue flame flared up from her thumb. The driver looked at it from the corner of his eye, leaned his head over and lit his cigarette. 

The flame vanished and she withdrew her hand. She watched him puff on the cigarette in between voicing his opinion at the radio. His window buzzed down.

She leaned back, a slight chuckle escaped her lips. She glanced out the window. A man dressed in a top hat riding a big wheeled bicycle fast enough to keep pace with the car. The cyclist tipped his hat to her and grinned. It was her father. She grinned back. 

"The university?" The driver asked. She was still watching her father travel along on the bike.

She nodded, then realized he may not have heard her nod. "Yes, thank you. Sciences building please." 

The door rattled, she looked at her mother. Her mother glanced at the clock. 

"Oh" her mother exclaimed, "it's Linka!" 

She paused, "Linka?"

Her mother nodded and gestured as Linka entered. Linka was her mother's maid, but next to her stood a younger woman. She stared at the pair, she vaguely remembered Linka. 

Linka gave her a broad smile and a bigger hug, like a Russia beat engulfing her in his warm arms. She laughed and hugged Linka back.

Linka gestured, "my daughter, she is going to university next semester, but needs to save for tuition, I offer her to work with me." 

Linka's daughter curtsied then laughed at herself. "I'm Ingrid, though you can call me The Quick!"

She looked at Ingrid. Her father appeared at her shoulder as a parrot, albeit a translucent one that was only blue. "She's an orb carrier, like you." He whispered in her ear, "spare a cracker?" She waved him off her shoulder and he disappeared in an unnoticed puff. 

"A pleasure, Quick. What are you planning to study?" 

Ingrid smiled and looked bashful, "I'm interested in science, especially physics and space and time." She laughed at herself. "Mother says that won't land me a husband though."

"Do you want a husband?" 

"No, I'm more into learning. They would just slow me down."

"Which would be bad being named The Quick," she smiled at Ingrid. "Does that mean you're fleet footed?"

Ingrid nodded. "The fastest!"

"Do you drink a lot of coffee?"

"Nope," Ingrid held up her hand, an orb, bright yellow like looking into the moon day sun appeared in her hand.

She smiled at Ingrid. "Very cool, where did you get it?"

Ingrid laughed "Gumball machine." 

Her father appeared as a tri-corner hat on Ingrid's head. "That's unusual," the hat said.