SPIDER-MAN: TEN SECONDS, ISSUE 4

Black.

As if from a distance, “Peter.”
Closer this time, “Peter.”
“Peter?”

Peter opens his eyes to find that he is chained up, lying on a couch, in his tattered Spider-Man costume, minus the mask, with Aunt May in a chair looking over him.

“Wha, Aunt May? Where am I? How did I get here? I still have my costume on!” He begins to struggle and is on the verge of tears.

“Ssshhh, Peter, relax.” She pets his hair. “We are in Matt Murdock’s office. Daredevil brought you here.”

“Why am I chained up?”

“I wanted to make sure you stayed put.”

“Oh my God! How long was I out? I have to go! People could be dying!” He struggles again, becoming hysterical.

“Peter. PETER! Listen to me!

He stops.

“Peter, it’s OK.”

He relaxes reluctantly.

“Peter, I already knew that you are Spider-Man. Do you really think that you could keep a secret that big from someone so close to you? Here have some water. Drink it slowly; I don’t want you to choke. I knew that you were going through one of your “Peter Parker no more” phases, but when you wouldn’t take my calls, I figured I would have to get a little more drastic. I went to see Matt Murdock and had Daredevil find you and bring you here, to me, so that I could have a talk with you. So, why don’t you tell me what all the fuss is about?”

“Aunt May, someone died because of me. If you know that I’m Spider-Man, you must realize that I take pictures of myself, using the timer on my camera. Well, about two weeks ago, I was doing just that. Someone was being mugged in an alley, so I stopped to set up my camera. It only took about ten seconds, but in that time, the mugger shot the muggee and took off. I took him to the hospital as fast as I could, but he still died soon after. If I hadn’t stopped to set up my camera to make some money, he would still be alive! It’s my fault he is dead.
And it’s my fault Uncle Ben is dead too. When I first became Spider-Man, I was only in it for myself. At one point, the police were chasing a criminal and he ran past me. They yelled for me to stop him, but I didn’t, because it wasn’t my job to. The man I let run by, was the man who killed Uncle Ben.” Peter starts crying.

“Ok Peter, let’s work backwards. First of all, you need to take care of yourself. You can’t do anybody any good if you are a mess. Second, in this world, the way it is, you need money to live. I understand how bad you feel about making a living indirectly from other people’s suffering and the good you do, but until the government decides to pay everyone for their good deeds, you have to make a living somehow. Third, you are in no way at fault for any of those who died, including Uncle Ben. The only ones at fault are the ones who pulled the trigger.”

“But..”

“But nothing! That is the truth, and you take that into your heart right now young man!”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Ok, now part of why you came to those conclusions is because of your scientific mind. While your mind is amazing and capable of great things, it can also be your undoing, if you let your ego get the best of you. Your ego worked out a scenario, in perfect “post hoc, ergo propter hoc” fashion, which led you to the conclusion that YOU are responsible for those deaths.”

“Post hoc…? Where did you learn…?”

“Your dear old Aunt May is a lot smarter than you think. Anyway, you decided that it is up to YOU whether someone lives or dies. You gave yourself the Power and Responsibility of God. You know Peter; we never talked much about God when you were young, mostly because we didn’t need to. Religion is taught much of the time to make kids behave, and since you were such a good boy already, we didn’t feel the need to “put the fear of God” into you. Also, we knew that with your scientific mind, it wouldn’t be your language. You would want to prove whether or not God exists, but it doesn’t work that way. We figured that at some point you would come to terms with God in your own way. But right now, I feel that you need some perspective on God. Peter, why are you Spider-Man?”

“Because I was given this Power, and I have the Responsibility to..”

“Peter, you were also given the Power of that amazing scientific mind of yours. What about the Responsibility to use that?”

“…”

“We already know that a big part of why you are Spider-Man is out of guilt. Guilt because of what happened to Uncle Ben and how you thought it was your fault. But Peter, what do you enjoy about being Spider-Man?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hahaha, that fact that you don’t know what I mean is exactly the problem. Do you have fun cracking jokes, being sarcastic and embarrassing and punching out bad guys?”

“Yes.”

“Does it make you feel good to do what is right? To be the good guy?”

“Of course.”

“Do you feel amazing and free when you are swinging through the buildings of your city on your webs?”

Now with a smile, “Yes.”

“Peter, that is why God wants you to be Spider-Man. Not out of guilt or responsibility. Because you LOVE being Spider-Man. Because it is one of the things in this world that makes you the happiest. Because it is WHO YOU ARE. Peter, that is why Uncle Ben wants you to be Spider-Man, and it is why I want you to be Spider-Man.”

Peter weeps.


EPILOGUE

That weekend Peter calls aunt May. He is wearing his costume, minus the mask. (It is clean now.) She isn’t home so he leaves a message.

“Hi Aunt May, it’s Peter. I just want to thank you again for our little talk the other day; today is a brand new day for me. Oh, and I also wanted to let you know that I’ll be a little late to dinner tonight. I’m going to be out “doing what I love”, hehe. Ok, I’ll see you tonight. I love you.”

He pulls on his mask, leaps out the window and begins his patrol, swinging off into the sunset.

“Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig. Does whatever a Spider-Pig does. Can he swing from a thread? No he can’t, he’s a pig…”

At almost the same time, while Peter is leaving the message, Aunt May and J.J.J. Sr. are just walking in the door with a lot of luggage.

“Oh Jay, what a wonderful vacation that was! We will have to take two week cruises more often! It is good to be home, though. I hope Peter didn’t miss me too much. I think I heard him leaving a message as we were coming in.”

She hits the button and listens to his message.

“I wonder what talk he’s referring to? I am glad that whatever it was, he is doing what he loves! Well, if he’s planning on coming to dinner tonight, I guess I should get started making it.”

THE END