chapter 9

Deciding to walk around before she went home, Ebony wanted to gather her thoughts after what happened not that long ago.

In the crowd of people now on their separate ways home or to work or to wherever their business was, Ebony did not look out of place. In fact, no one gave her a second look...no one save for a little girl who was impressed by Ebony's beauty and said so to her mother as they waited for a bus.

Then, it happened...

A car being driven by a driver who had spent most of the afternoon hanging around a sleazy dump of bar drinking glass after glass of what might be termed alcohol, but was probably more like a mixture of paint remover, rubbing alcohol, and toilet duck, sped by...

...and crashed into a nearby group of people at the same bus stop before coming to stop at a nearby brick wall.

"Omigod!" Ebony gasped in horror as she made a run towards the accident site to see what she could do.

Luckily, many of the people hit in the group didn't seem to be injured seriously. A few of the other passersby helped look after them. She noticed the driver, looking like he was uninjured despite the damage to the front of his car, coming out of his car, seemingly in a daze.

"What the feck is going on?" the driver slurred. "Why are all you ***s standing so close to the road for? Who built that wall that I ran into? I'm gonna sue you all for wrecking my car!"

Then, the driver threw up.

Then Ebony saw the same woman she had met earlier screamed in horror.

"What's wrong?" Ebony turned to her.

"My kid is missing!" the woman's eyes darted around trying to find her. "That car was coming straight for us! I rushed out of the way, but I lost hold of my daughter! Her name's Nomsa! She's 3 years old! Has anybody seen her?"

Everyone looked around, but Ebony then noticed a pair of little girl's shoes sticking out from underneath the car.

"Omigod!" Ebony quipped. "She must be under the car!"

"Oh, no!" the mother leapt to where the girl's shoes were sticking out, "Nomsa! This is Mommy! Are you all right?"

"M-momma?" a little girl's voice could be heard. "I think I'm okay. But, I can't move. This car is heavy, Momma!"

"We've got to get that kid out from under that car!" a bystander said. "Somebody call 911!"

Ebony could smell gas leaking from the car's gas tank. "But, that car is leaking gas! We've got to get the car off of her before it explodes!"

"Everyone!" the bystander then demanded. "We've got to get this kid out from under this car NOW! If we wait for the police and fire department come, it'll be too late! Everyone get ready to lift!"

"I'll pull her out!" Ebony volunteered.

About a dozen strong men moved around the car to lift it while Ebony took her place near Nomsa. "We're getting you out of there, Nomsa," Ebony tried to calm down the child.

Twice the men tried, but they could get the car up high enough for Ebony to pull out Nomsa. Twice, they failed.

They'll never get her out at this rate, Ebony thought to herself. I think I better use my powers to help them. I've never used them on something as large as this before.

"Keep at it!" someone yelled.

Ebony concentrated of the car...she only had to lift it high enough for her to get the kid out from under it. It shouldn't be that hard with the other men lifting as well.

Ebony started using her powers as the men started to lift the car again.

This time, the car started rising up slowly.

Ebony began to feel her clothes getting tighter in the wrong places. But, she managed to help the men lift the car off of Nomsa. All she needed was a few seconds to hold the weight long enough to do the job.

Luckily, she did.

"Got her out!" Ebony exclaimed.

The men dropped the car and moved away...just as the sirens for the police, ambulance, and fire department began to be heard.

Ebony looked at Nomsa. Despite some dirt, scrapes, and scratches, she didn't look seriously hurt. Her mother was crying with joy as she took her daughter eagerly and held her tightly.

"Oh, Nomsa," her mother smiled. "You're safe now!"

"Yeah," Nomsa replied. "And this lady did it!"

Ebony looked a little nervous.

"Yes," Nomsa's mother replied. "She pulled you out thanks to the help of those men."

"But, she started lifting the car," Nomsa pointed out. "And, she looks like she's getting fat."

Ebony noticed she had gained about 20 pounds on her frame and it was noticeable to all whom met her mere moments before.

"I've got a bit of a weight problem," Ebony patted her belly as she lied about what happened. "But, I can lose it if I wanted. Besides, without a girl like me, you'd be still under that car."

Then, the police, EMTs, and fire department came to bring back order to the accident scene. Statements were taken, the drunk driver was arrested, ambulances took people to the hospital...

...and Ebony waddled her way home.

"That was quite a day," Ebony quipped to Judy again.

"You saved 2 people on the same day," Judy replied. "We all wish we had days like that. It got people to watch your show."

"At first," Ebony added. "But, I needed something to get people to keep watching me as time went on."